The Luxury of Cooking

We have moved back to Kigali because we found an apartment/hostel which has a kitchen where we can cook and is the same price as where we stayed in Kibungo. It’s back to intermittent flow of cold and hot showers (NOTE: showers not bucket showers which are extremely difficult when you have long hair. I seriously wish I chopped a few inches of my hair off).

I am really looking forward to the Sprinkles project to kick-in in March and doing some field work with INATEK students. I feel like this would be a great opportunity for me to see where I fit it and compare the ways of Nepal and Rwanda when it comes to INGO projects like these. These past few days have been mostly researching and synthesizing information for a funding proposal for DIZA and a lot of cooking in our new kitchen (only for the next 2 weeks) which we thoroughly enjoy.

I realize that I’ve been writing a lot about food but I guess it’s one of those things I’m very passionate about (who isn’t right?). Four of us have been having loads of fun preparing and cooking 3 meals a day with the occasional frustrations of having to do things “our own way” but there is definitely more fun, excitement and laughter in the process of cooking, eating and cleaning up. I was told it’s good practice for when I get married. I am really enjoying cooking with/for 3 other people –it definitely makes the food taste better J All of us LOVE spicy food and aren’t picky, vegans or vegetarians, and don’t have weird diet restrictions (except for the two Caucasians who don’t like chewing on cartilage and bones or organ meats). It definitely makes cooking more fun and less stressful.

 Here’s some of the meals we’ve made so far:

Breakfast

-Pancakes (flour = rice, soybeans and groundnuts) and flambéed bananas in coconut oil and sugar syrup

-Peanut butter and honey on white bread/brown bread

-Boiled eggs

-Fruit salad (pineapple, passion fruit, papayas, bananas)

(This breakfast is definitely way better than what I have in Canada = cereal and milk)

Lunch/Dinner

-Avocado + tuna sandwiches

-Chicken/veggie stir-fry with rice

-Chicken curry with rice and papaya + tomato + cilantro chutney (new invention Molly and I came up with)

-Home-made soup with lots of veggies (For the broth, we used the scraps of bones left over from the whole chicken we bought)

-Mexican food (beans and rice, guac + salsa)

So what do you get when you put 3 girls in nutrition and 1 in science together? Some delicious meals, no wasting of foods and awesome team work. [I forgot to mention how nothing goes to waste when we're cooking: we used a whole chicken for 4 meals! We used the breasts of the chicken for stir-fry, the legs and thighs to make Nepali style chicken curry and the left over bones to make broth for chicken soup.] We have the luxury of cooking for one more week and then we are going to be eating meals in restaurants while we are doing field work in Musanze and Nyaraguru with the MNP (micronutrient powder) Project.

Chicken and Veggie Stir-fry

Chicken Curry, Papaya/tomato Chutney and Rice

A pot of home-made chicken/vegetable soup

The lovely salad + buffet food

Market in Kibungo

Wednesday and Saturdays are the market days in Kibungo where many small-scale farmers bring their produce to sell in the market. This market reminded me of the Kalimati market in Kathmandu and reminisced the days when my dad and I would go shopping for fruits and vegetables on Saturdays. The market in Kibungo was not just fruits and vegetables –it ranged from clothing items to cooking utensils. The smell of anchovies flashed memories of that one area in the Kalimati market where there was just various types of dried fish.

As we walked through the market, all the vendors called for the mzungu’s to come buy their products from them. The fruits that were available at the market included: big juicy pineapples, tree tomatoes, passion fruit, papaya, bananas, oranges and avocado. The vegetables that were available included: green tomatoes, red tomatoes, celery, cilantro, chilli peppers, carrots, onions, eggplant and beans. It felt good to buy fruits and veggies that were in season because in Canada, we are so used to seeing strawberries and avocado all year round which are shipped from Mexico and California. I was not only satisfied with the taste (fruits and veggies taste so much fresher and flavorful) but I was happy to be supporting the local farmers and their families of Kibungo who worked very hard to grow and carry their produce all the way to town.

                      

The produce was usually sold in buckets and small divided piles which were usually between 100-200 RWF ($1=~600 RWF). The produce are usually put into brown paper bags instead of plastic bags (even before Vancouver!). Molly, Mona, Kristina and I ended up buying a lot of tree tomatoes, passion fruits and mangoes. We were pretty tired of eating the same buffet for two weeks twice a day (which consisted of rice, beans, ebitoke, and goat meet) and cost us 1900 RWF/meal (around $3). We would also fill our plates and would want to crash right after that big meal cancelling our 1 hour of INSANITY workout at 6 am. Being the nutrition students, we bought lots of veggies at the market and decided to make salad for dinner which was delicious. Green peppers, carrots, beans, tomatoes and avocado with salt, lime and vinegar drizzled on top.  Fabien, the receptionist at St. Joseph’s, however did not enjoy the salad. He was polite and asked us if any of us wanted anymore. Eating raw vegetables is definitely not part of the Rwandan diet and he probably wondered why these mzungu’s are eating raw vegetables for dinner.  

The new hairdo

After being in Rwanda for a few days and seeing the different braided hair styles, I was adamant in getting braids in my hair. I didn't really think about how long it would take or how it would feel after getting them -I just decided to go for it. I might as well blend in with the Rwandans right? 

I thought it would take a couple hours and Mama Trust estimated that it would take 3 hours but it ended up taking 5 whole hours. It felt like a plane right because I sat 5 hours on that chair unable to move my head or body the way I wanted to rest it. It was amazing watching Mama Tru braid my hair so fast. She ended up mixing fake hair since my hair was so silky. She said that it would last for 1 month for me.

The new hair-do

Mama Tru did a great job!

View from the back :)

Confession: I couldn't even keep this hairdo for 2 days when I was supposed to have it for at least 1 month. I've already taken it out because it was so tight it was uncomfortable and I felt like there was another kilo of weight added to my head. (gosh, so much for blending in)

The 2 week update

Field full of banana trees... (I still can't believe how amazing this picture turned out)

I can’t believe I’ve already been in Rwanda for two weeks already. Although the nutrition project hasn’t started yet, we have been keeping ourselves occupied with gathering information for writing funding proposals for DIZA, learning Kinyarwanda, keeping in touch with family back home and exploring the culture and the town of Kibungo.

Kigali vs. Kibungo

Currently, we’re living in a small town called Kibungo which is 2 hours away from Kigali. We are living in a hostel called St. Joseph which is opposite of a local university called INATEK (Institute of Agriculture, Technology, Education). I really enjoy living in Kibungo more than Kigali because I feel that there are more interactions with the local people and I feel that I’m more exposed to the cultural norms of Rwanda. Although Kigali is very comforting with the nice hotels, the Western restaurants and frequent use of English and people staring at you less, it is 3 times more expensive than Kibungo and I feel like I’m just stuck in the guesthouse using internet or watching movies ( We could probably do this in Vancouver or anywhere else in the world).  We decided that we’d bus to Kigali whenever we had meetings with World Relief or UNICEF and during the weekends to take it easy and dance the night away to Rwandan music. By the way, if you think you party hard you should come to Rwanda because clubs and bars don’t close at 12 am or 3 am. They close whenever people start leaving which means it could go on till 6 am in the morning. It’s 1:30 am and 4 of us Vancouverites are already yawning and ready to go back home.

The clean streets of Kigali

Interaction/Communication in Rwanda

By the way, I have a new identity here because people think I’m Chinese and no one remembers my name because it’s so difficult to pronounce (so I’m just thinking of adopting a new name). When I tell people I’m from Nepal, they look baffled so I just say “aba-chinois” (Chinese) and then they smile, nod their head and say “tsawa” (okay).

I'd like to think that the children are not following me because  of my new hairdo :)  I'm totally blending in (ya're right)

As we stroll through the streets of Kibungo, children in their school uniforms follow us (now that I’ve got my hair braided, they just follow the 3 other girls) all the way to town, practicing their English and teaching us Kinyarwanda. They stare at us and then talk amongst themselves and all I understand is “mzungo” (foreigner or equivalent to kwire in Nepali). 

I have never had the experience of going to a country where I didn't speak the most spoken language. I lived in Nepal for 18 years and then moved to Vancouver where language was not an issue. As expected, not knowing Kinyarwanda and not being able to communicate with people who only speak Kinyarwanda has been very difficult at times. I love starting the conversations by saying “Muraho, amakura? (hello, how are you?) and after that, it goes downhill. Sometimes people keep talking to me in Kinyarwanda even after I give them an “I don’t know” look and they still expect me to reply or say something. All I can do is smile back while I tell myself, “ok, time to learn more words.” So far, I’ve learned how to greet/thank people, bargain a little and say my numbers up to 6. In addition, I’ve also been practicing my French here and there (since many Rwandese speak French) to prepare for my trip to France in May.

Greeting someone in Rwanda

One aspect that I really like about the Rwandan culture is the way they greet people and acknowledge people. When you greet someone (a friend, someone your own age), you touch cheeks three times and then shake hands no matter whether it’s a girl or a guy. If you’re walking into a room full of people or dinner at a restaurant, you can’t just get away with a “hey, what’s up” wave, you have to go around and greet everyone including people you don’t know. I like that everyone in the room is recognized/introduced when they walk in and I find that it just breaks the ice instead of you wondering who that person may be. The whole greeting experience isn’t as easy as it sounds. When someone is older (or more respected person) than you, you have to wait for the older person to give their hand first which is completely opposite of Nepali culture where the younger person is expected to greet the elder person first. There is also a proper way to shake hands: shake hands like you normally do with your right hand while you put out your left hand on their right hand or your right biceps (yes, kind of confusing and I’m still figuring it out.) 

Molly, Kristina, President of DIZA (Jean-Mari), myself and Mona @ Chez Lando for a meeting

This post was supposed to be a 2-week update but I honestly haven't even covered half of it. There is just a lot to share... Stay tuned for more updates!

Murabeho!

xx

CHAPATI!

As Mona, Molly, Kristina and I walked into the DIZA (DUFATANYE INSHUTI Z’ABANA ASSOCIARION-“friends of children association” compound in Rwamagana, we could hear kids talking in Kinyarawanda. The only thing I understood was “mzungu”(foreigner) and the next thing I know, I was surrounded by these young children running away from their classrooms while their teachers asked them to come back into their classrooms. Each of us were swarmed with children –each of them wanting hold our hands. They were the cutest, most outgoing kids who just wanted to hold hands, take pictures with our camera and wear my sunglasses. I had 5 children holding on to my hand while they were trying to push each other away from my hand so they were the only ones holding on to my hand.

The kids running to me and holding on to me :)

After the 1994 genocide, the Fred Rwigema orphanage was set up for the children who were separated from their families. The orphanage was closed in 1997 since the government of Rwanda wanted to put orphaned children in foster homes rather than orphanages. DIZA formed in order to continue supporting the most vulnerable children. DIZA provides support to children through sponsoring the children for costs to go to school and educational materials. Sponsors are from many countries including France, Canada, Ireland and England. It costs $355/year to sponsor children in primary school and $550/year in secondary school. The primary beneficiaries were children who survived the genocide but DIZA also helps children from families affected by HIV/AIDS, disability and poverty. DIZA also has a Nursery school which is used to educate sponsored children along with other children.

One of our projects while we're in Kibungo is to help write proposals in order to get more sponsorship for children who are currently on the waitlist and funding to build a primary school as DIZA’s main goal is to provide excellent education for the children. We are currently conducting a situational analysis for DIZA and working on running focus groups with the help of Eric Platini who is the coordinator of DIZA.

"CHAPATI" -this is what they say as the picture is being taken...

Me and the kids again :)

Back to the children. They were the most adorable kids I've seen who loved posing for pictures. The best part about taking their pictures was when they all yelled out "chapati" instead of "cheese". I wonder why it was chapati and not cassava or bananas or some Rwandan food. I thought the funniest/cutest thing was when the child refused to go home with her mother and wanted to stay with my friend Molly during our meeting with the coordinator. She ended up sleeping on my friend Molly's lap during the meeting which was the sweetest thing. They also enthusiastically sang and danced to songs in English and I wondered whether I was as hyper and excited as they were when I was a kid. 

He took my sunglasses and wanted his picture taken-what a stud?

Anyways, hope you have enjoyed reading my posts... I shall keep updating you. 

Cheers!

xx

Visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre

Visiting the genocide memorial in Kigali will definitely be one of those memories that will stand out the most for me. I am still astonished with the fact that the so called “ethnic cleansing” was still taking place which was so not long ago. Around a million people were killed  for the “final solution” of the Tutsi “problem” while around 2 million were huddled in refugee camps across the border. What made me sad and angry was the fact that the international community was letting all this happen even in 1994 when internet, telephone, television are the main sources of communication and when we know all this has happened before. It made me remember a quote from one of the novels I had to read when I was back in high school: Evil prospers when good men do nothing. What did the international community think was happening when people were getting hacked with machetes, young girls were being raped and killed and poor children were being killed and displaced from their families?

" The graphic display of the exhibition is broken by two'Windows of Hope' which depict the scene during  genocide and steps leading into the future"

The Genocide Memorial consisted of many different sections: memorial gardens, burial chambers, memorial sculpture, wall of names, windows of Hope, a walk through the events that led to the genocide, the genocide, reconciliation, children's memorial (to name a few). Seeing the mass graves and knowing that thousands had been buried there after such brutal and painful times was very difficult. I held back tears when I went to the mass graves and inside of the memorial where the body remains and articles of the genocide victims were shown. It really was painful seeing the “three rooms” which had pictures of all the genocide victims, some body remains and pieces of clothing along with stories of survivors of the genocide playing on the screen. The most powerful part of the memorial was listening to the survivors talk about forgiveness.

"There will be no humanity without forgiveness. There will be no forgiveness without justice. But justice will be impossible without humanity." 

Even after such inhumane acts towards their families, loved ones and their own people, Rwandese have really moved forward and learned to be so forgiving with each other. I am simply amazed at the progress in Rwanda –from the clean and organized streets to the sense of responsibility as citizens of Rwanda. Meeting people who lost their families in the genocide has really made me rethink many things about my life. Even after seeing and going through just heart-breaking and devastating times where they have no family members left, it is inspiring to see these young Rwandese smiling, wanting to move forward and really wanting to excel in their career. I know the situation of Rwanda and Nepal are completely different but it frustrates me about the situation of Nepal and how it has not moved anywhere in the past 10 years –actually I think it has gotten worse. From 16 hours power cuts a day to unnecessary violent protests that shuts the city down to a man named Prachanda who once promised people that everyone will have equal opportunity owning a mansion, expensive cars and holding a bank account with millions of dollars in his account.  Where is this sense of responsibility among the citizens of Nepal? We really do have a long ways to go as Nepalese citizens.

It is definitely sad walking around the organized streets surrounded by beautiful hills that was once a chaos. I would highly recommend everyone to visit this powerful memorial and feel and hear the stories of the genocide in Rwanda which only ended in 1994. It really made me look at my life and the events in my life in a whole different light.  

First few walks around Kigali, Rwanda

Muraho from Rwanda! It has been 6 days since I've been in Rwanda and I feel like there is already so much to share. I have to say one of things I really enjoy is FaceTiming with my friends in Vancouver and California and my mom in Nepal and telling them about how amazing and fascinating Rwanda is. It’s amazing how technology (I’m speaking FaceTime here) can connect and make us feel so close with our loved ones regardless of the fact that they’re thousands of miles away. At the same time, it is nice to be away from the internet and connect to the life and daily happenings here. I must walk you through my 6 days here because there is a lot to share!

                                                              ***

As I walked off the stairs on the plane at 8pm, I smelt that warm smell of burning wood and a certain type of plant (which I'm still unable to identify): the smell of home in Kathmandu. It was late so not everything was visible outside as we cabbed to Beasejour Guesthouse in Remera opposite of Chez Lando. As much as I was excited to see Kigali, I was also very exhausted from the 25 hour flight from Vancouver and just wanted to sprawl on a something that was not chair.

Next morning, I wake up to the sound of buses and motos driving by from my room, however, it’s not the loud and incessant honking of horns. I step outside my room and feel the warm sun which makes me more excited than I usually am when I wake up in the morning (and for those of you who know me well, I am a super perky and chirpy person in the morning). It’s amazing to wake up every morning feeling that warm sun as opposed to the groggy, dark, rainy weather that makes you want to sleep in bed all day. It's even more exciting thinking about how I will be in warm weather for the next 7 months! yahoooooo

Beausejour Guest House -where we stay in Kigali

Wandering around the streets of Kigali

I have never travelled to another developing country besides growing up in Nepal and I’m simply fascinated by how clean it is in Rwanda. The cars, motos and buses are running smoothly on the 2 lane roads separated by palm trees in the middle and another 2 lanes running the other direction. I don’t even see a piece of garbage out on the streets. Plastic is strictly banned in the country and all the supermarkets pack the groceries in a brown paper bag. I also found out today that Rwanda has a public cleaning holiday where all the citizens are required to help clean which I find very interesting. It makes me wonder how and why Nepal still hasn’t reached this point where citizens and the government feel the need and responsibility of keeping their country clean.

Walking around the streets of Kigali, I did not feel like an outsider because people did not stare at you or follow you while you were walking. I also did not feel like I was being forced by people on the streets to buy their tourist products. I really thought it would be like Nepal where you’d be followed and stared at by the locals everywhere but this was not the case in Kigali – NOTE:Just KIGALI.  

I simply loved the idea of moto-taxis and reminisced the days in Nepal where I’d ride on motorbikes in the streets of Kathmandu. I really like that you’re able to cruise down the streets on a hot sunny behind a motorcycle. Nepal, definitely does not need motorbikes being taxis because it’s already so populated with motorbikes and I can’t imagine the streets if more motorbikes are added as a means of public transportation. Although it does provide jobs for many Rwandese, I wonder about the number of accidents every year and whether it benefits the environment having four of us ride 4 different motorbikes rather than taking one van. We have no issues getting the moto-taxis because as soon as we find one there would always be 5 moto-taxis rushing behind to give the mzungos (foreigner or white person) a ride. I definitely enjoyed practicing my Kinyarwanda by saying “muraho” (hello) and “murakoze” (thank-you) to the moto-taxi drivers and their approving smiles, corrections and replies has definitely encouraged me to learn more Kinyarwanda.

*whistle *whistle

Me on my first moto-taxi -He told me the first picture I took of us was not nice and made me retake  the photo and voilà!

We were invited to Molly’s friend Liberee’s house in Kabeza for lunch and this is where I had my first local beer, Primus and Rwandan food. The pasta was definitely a Western touch but it also had pieces of goat liver (which is very high in iron!). My favorite dish was the one that was very stew-like which had bananas, carrots and peas. The white starch is ugali (made from cassava and flour).

Delicious Rwandan Food

Chandni, Liberee, Molly and Kristina at Liberee's house :)

In Rwanda, having a beer is almost equivalent to having pop and people almost don’t consider it as alcohol. I have seen more people drink Primus than drink Fanta, Sprite or Coke. Also, I’ve noticed many billboards advertise beer rather than fruit juices, food products, cars or beauty products. The billboards are almost always beer ads (Outstanding beer for outstanding people), health messages about malaria or being on time. This one definitely made me laugh.

Don't be late :) Nepali time = Rwandan time

On Saturday night, we were able to experience the nightlife in Kigali. We went to a local bar called Olympiade which had performers lip-syncing and really dancing (it’s too bad I’ll never be able to do the same *sigh) to East African music and Western music (ranging from Michael Jackson to Bob Marley). I was also able to try my first goat brochette and stomach brochette which is a deliciously barbecued meat -similar to kebabs.

Liberee and I eating our brochettes

Stomach Brochette 

This does not even cover the 6 days I've been here...just wanted to give you all a quick update. I will have another post up soon on the Genocide Memorial, my adventures in Kibungo and the work that four of us are doing.

Murabeho :)

xx