LCR Members Visit Rwanda - June, 2009

For photos, please visitJohn Didicher's Picasa Albums: Barbecue  |  Volcano National Park  |  Kabale Village

Also, read John Mellott's Journal

July 26, 2009

This is the last day of the trip and it seems like I just arrived here last night and at the same time like I have been here forever. We started to wind up the GPS office work and think about packing.

Karl arrived about 10.30 and stated he has a lot of paper work to do before he leaves on Tuesday and today’s the day to catch up. Well the Lord was not on the same schedule as Karl. As we are talking about all the last minute details to finalize, the phone rings. It is the US Assistant Ambassador who has been in the county a few weeks and will be here for 3 more years. Karl met her at a function at the Embassy last weekend and mentioned the project about the Pygmy’s. (she happens to be short and said she was interested in short people) Since Karl had not heard from her, he didn’t think anything more about the meeting.

The Ambassador was calling as she remembered Karl saying that he normally goes to the village on Sunday and wondered what time he was going? Well yesterday we said good bye to the people and said we would not be back, but if the Ambassador wants to go, we’ll go. Next we are having trouble finding our truck because we did not have one scheduled. No problem, the Ambassador will bring the Embassy’s. Karl asked Kate and me if we would like to go and I said he needed to work on the Ambassador and did not need us tagging along.

So about 14.30 they met the village people, with the usual many handshakes, hugs, etc. Also the Ambassador had been practicing her local language, so she was a big hit with the people. Someone came to Karl to tell him about a very young woman who is pregnant with her first, whose water broke and is not doing very well. They had called the local midwife and she also says the girl needs to go to the health center. Now the girl’s house is far down the ridge and it is a long way up the steep hillside to the Embassy’s vehicle. The Ambassador's husband is a pretty big man, so he picked her up and started carrying her up the hill. But it does not take long before he needs help, so four men came, picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to the vehicle.

In the car is the Ambassador, her husband, Karl, Eddie, the woman in labor, her husband and her mother-in-law. (notice if Kate and I had gone there would not have been room for everyone) At the health center the nurses say she really needs to go to the Hospital. In the meantime, Karl is showing the Ambassador around the health center as she has not been out of the city or seen any villages since her arrival.

Now they all get back into the US Embassy’s official vehicle, a silver Tahoe with air conditioning and blacked out windows (as opposed to the old truck we road in) and headed to the hospital.

At the hospital Karl knows where the maternity ward is located, so all follow him into the ward. (Ambassador, Husband, Karl, Eddie, wife in labor, husband and mother-in-law) The hospital checks the young woman and finally agrees to admit her. As Karl and the Ambassador are leaving, the guards come up to them and say they have to pay a fee of 30,000 fr. for her stay there. The Ambassador, who now has real interest in these people, told Karl she would pay half if he would pay the other half.

God is so good . . . all the time. Our final parting miracle!

July 25, 2009                          

On the last Saturday of each month Rwanda has a cleanup morning until about noon. People are to stay home to clean their house, then get together with their neighbors and clean up their neighborhood. Now if you are out in a car or walking, the police will stop you and if you are not cleaning up, they will put you to work on the side of the road helping whoever is near.  They have a card that has to be signed by someone to show you were part of the cleanup effort.  Does this sound like a good idea or what?

Because of the cleanup project, we were late in going to the Bwiza village. We used this time to say good bye to John Mellott, as he was leaving about 19.30 for home. 

We brought two loads of cow manure for the terrace project and burlap bags to transport it. The villagers loaded the manure in the bags and put it on their heads to carry it to the terraces. Men and women carried the bags, young and old.  I think one of the oldest women was carrying one of the biggest loads. Oh by the way, about this time it started to sprinkle, yes a light rain - very welcomed.

We then gathered at the village square to give the people vitamin A and deworming pills. We also weighed the children and measured their height. This was a very meaningful time. I was in charge of weighting them, but the very little ones were not too excited with this big white person picking them up and putting them on the scale. Karl, Kate and I left the village for the last time on this trip, but our hearts are still with them.

July 24, 2009

Today at our village, Bwiza, we walked to the well (hole in the ground dug several days ago) to see if any water has collected.  We were pleasantly surprised when we saw there was about 13 inches of water and it was still about 3 feet around.  Now the village has a new place to collect water.  As we were standing there a villager came and filled his jerry can (about 5 gallons) in less than 1 minute!  Then he got out of the hole and poured it on the ground!  Well maybe he was just cleaning out his can.  Then he got back in the hole, filled it up and poured it out again.  We couldn’t imagine what he was doing?  We called Dr. Dan on the phone so he could talk to him and Dr Dan said he was going to put something in the spring to make the water cleaner (not sure what that will be, but stand by ).

I met with Patrick the well man at 14.00 to look at the area near the top of the hill by the school.  I wanted his opinion as to the chances of finding water there.  Usually they drill for wells in the valleys where the chance of finding water is the best.  They are not excited about taking a chance at drilling further up the hill.  As we were driving up the hill he kept saying it’s a long way from the low areas, but at the top of the hill he looked at the rock formations and said we might find water in this type of rock.   PTL!  He will be doing a water survey at the end of August so we can have a better idea of the chances.  It would sure make life easier for the villagers – they could carry their water down hill instead of up.

We had pizza tonight for John Mellott’s last supper here before heading home tomorrow.

July 22, 2009              

Up bright and early and off to the north.  We drove about 2 ½ hours to the Volcano National Park near the Congo.  On the road we met a person who knew where there were Pygmy villages.  We picked him up (not sure where he was going, but he went with us) and drove for another ½ hour on dirt roads.  Then we turned off onto a volcanic rock road (Remember my 3 roughs road?  This was rough, rough, rough, rough – yes 4+ roughs) for another ½ hour.  We found a village with only 5 huts that were very basic, made out of only sticks and leaves.  Keep in mind that it gets very cold at night and early morning. The only land that they have is the land that their hut sits on. These people were kicked out of the National Park about 10 years ago when the park was designated to save the gorillas.  They are allowed to work in the fields nearby, when there is work, where they make about 700 fr per day ($1 = 565fr). They have no way to better themselves, no land to grow their own crops own, no way to make crafts or a wage to get ahead.

We then drove to another village in the same area next to the park and found a village that had maybe 20 huts or families. This village was in two sections separated by about 500 feet, but they were in the same sad shape. 

(This is an editorial comment: we can save an area for the gorillas, but we cannot find an area for the people who lived peacefully with the gorillas.)

The ride to and from the north was very beautiful as we went over the mountains and thru the valleys and saw a very different terrain than we have seen so far.  The pictures in Picasa are of the two villages.

July 21, 2009

After a weekend which included site seeing in Kigali (the slums as well as the McMansions – they have both) a lot of organizational meetings and a trip to the craft market, we started out early today.

We went to see the well driller to ask if it is feasible to drill a water well on top of the hill at the school.  My idea was to put the well behind the school and then the Bwiza village could use it and carry the water downhill instead of uphill. He says they normally drill in the low areas and are not hopeful of finding any water up there.  Also, if they drill and find a dry hole, we still have to pay.  He suggested a water survey that would cost $500 to do, but would give us a better idea of locations for finding water. We then came back to the hotel and waited around until about 11:00 when we went to the Bwiza village with the governmental Agriculture man.  We wanted him to inspect the terraces they had made and make suggestions for improvement, what to plant, etc..  He was very helpful and will be coming back, but we have to pay him too.

We then went down to the spring to see if we could find additional water.  I selected a spot downstream from the existing spring (don’t want to mess up what they have) and John Mellott supervised a man to dig and see if they could find additional water. I was supposed to meet the well driller at about 15:00, so I made the long walk back up the hill (I did not die today).  After all that, he never came.  At about 17:30 Eddie started to hand out the food for last week (6 kg of beans and flour per family) and the people started singing and dancing. They are really good.

John Mellott arrived and reported that the spring had about 6” of water in about a 4’ diameter hole, so that sounded good.  We will keep watch on it the next few days to see what happens.

Got back in time for pizza, laundry and a shower before turning in.  An early day tomorrow – we leave at 7 a.m. to head north a long way (with 5 in the truck) and visit some new villages.  Wiped out – goodnight!

July 17, 2009

This was a memorable day in the village of Bwiza. Besides their having built 11 terraces so far, we had decided to host a BBQ for the village. The difficulty was how to make everything fair and equal so everyone would think of it as a good experience. Before we could come to a decision, the village took over. Eddie (our man in the field) was at the village yesterday and hinted that maybe we would buy some beef for a BBQ and their ears perked up.
Someone mentioned that a man in the neighboring village had a cow for sale which they could butcher and then make the BBQ. Before you knew it the man was there with the cow and price negotiations were under way. The original price was 130,000 francs – the villagers offered 60,000 with the ending price of 90,000. (+/- 500 fr to $1. or about $180. – for a whole cow).

So today we went back to the village at about noon and saw they were still working on the terraces. Next we had to check out the cow to see if it was healthy. Someone came who looked at its teeth, eyes, hoofs etc., which Dr. Karl did too saying that is how they look at people. John Mellott called a cattle friend in Atlanta on the international cell phone (it was 6:00 am in Atlanta) to ask what to look for to make sure the cow was healthy and got the same answer. All looked good so the villagers then very humanely killed the cow and butchered it. Every, and I mean every, part of the cow, (meat, stomach, organs bones, head, etc) was cut into 48 pieces which were placed in 48 equal piles - one for each family in the village.

One man in the village makes skewers, which they used to make brochettes (shish-ka-bobs). Sprinkled with a little salt, they were cooked over an open fire. The meat was good, but we didn’t eat much as we wanted to leave it for the villagers. Having meat is probably a very rare event for these folks. (we had pizza when we got back tonight)

There was no way our team could have planned this event that would have brought the villagers together like this did. It was another God thing. He so good, all the time. We just have to get out of His way and let Him work. This was a very memorable day!

P.S. One man kept the cow’s horn – when asked, he said he was keeping it in memory of this day.

July 15, 2009

We started out a 9.20 am in the truck and of course stopped for fuel, then drove for 2 hours south on paved roads until we turned off on a rough, rough dirt road. We drove for another hour until we found the first village.

We stopped in front of a water hydrant (Rwanda Style) and most of the houses were new on land with a gentle slope and good soil. Life is good. Some agency was helping them with clay adobe type houses with clay tile roofs. Talked with the people and they said there were other villages that had more problems than they did and they would show the way.

We then went to a village about 2km away. Their houses were grass style houses, but they were making roof tiles out of clay and doing a good job. Their water was about 30-40 minutes walk away and health center about the same. They said there was another village needing help, but we did not ask how far away (should have asked). We drove about 45 minutes longer on a rough, rough, rough (yes three roughs) road? Their village was about the same with grass type houses and making roof tiles. The water is about 30 minutes away and the health center is about 2 hours away. When you ask the women if they go to the health center to deliver they say no, but maybe it’s understandable with a 2 hour walk.

The ride back was LONG. We drove back 45 minutes until we dropped our guides off, then one hour until we reached the paved road and 2+ hours to home, cramped in the back of a truck. It was not a fun ride!

For supper we had our regular shish ka bobs, fries and beer. GOODNIGHT!

July 14, 2009

Today we stayed home to down load our GPS data and sort to Google Earth. We have data from 5 days and for the many more that we will be collecting that need to be stored for future use. It has been a full day of work. Tomorrow we will be heading about 2 hours away to survey some other villages with the GPS, as well as the ground home survey with pictures for the families. In the evening, we will be picking up John Mellott from the airport.

Dear Betty, I just wanted to let you know that I caught John hanging out in the village of Bwiza with the local matriarch, who is reported to be 90 years old. This picture tells only part of the story. Is it the beard or the belly that she likes? We haven't quite figured it out yet. I'll let you know if things heat up.

 

July 13, 2009

Today we traveled about 60 km to the East to visit 3 villages in the area we were in last week. These villages are flat and have water within 200-300 feet, therefore they live fairly well and not much different from the Rwanda people around them. Not that their living conditions are great. They have no lanterns, cook outside and have only a small plot of land for farming. We will continue to look for areas like Bwiza who have a much harder life. Also, on the way back we ran into a rain shower, hard for about 10 minutes – my first African rain!

July 12, 2009

We made it to an English speaking Lutheran church today, but that does not mean you can understand everything. The church was a long way off the main street and not near any areas where English speaking people would be. So why English? Anyway, there were about 12+ people in the church and they used the service from the green book. (not many good singers for the songs that were sung - really bad actually) The service was led by lay persons, and the sermon was longer than 8 min. (much longer). But I am very glad I went.

We went to Bwiza this afternoon, as we wanted to see how the stone wall or walls were doing. Well the stone wall they started on Friday was not worked on as far as I could see, very disappointing. As we were looking at the stone wall, a woman next door started pointing over the hill. There in the valley, between the two ridges, are two new terraces! It is a sight of beauty as they had constructed two soil terraces, on their own, in good soil with sod, just as the person from the Agriculture Department had shown US. THEY however had not seen the pictures nor had we told them.

This is a God thing I believe and what makes the time and effort here worthwhile. I think they were really proud of themselves too.

Also, Bill and Noel from our team, have been taking pictures of the families in front of their houses. Then they are interviewed to see how many people live in the house, their ages, any in school, where they work, do they have animals, etc. They also ask the names of the children. At one house they asked the child’s name who was about 12-15 months old and found they had not named him yet. Karl says it is normal not to name children when they are born because they do not know how long they will live. This is totally out of our realm of thinking. After the interviews, Bill, with his battery operated printer, gives them a color photo of their family – this is very popular in the village.

All in all, a very good Sunday!

July 10, 2009

Today started out like a normal (define normal) day, heading out to the village of Bwiza with tools to work on the terrace walls. We wait for the truck that is to be at the motel at 9:00 am (but you tell the driver 8:30 am) then we waited some more as we decided we needed food for the “work for food” program. Two people went to the market to buy cassava, a root plant and beans then  about 11:00 am we are finally ready for the “normal day at Bwiza” - (wait we must first stop for fuel - another normal).

With 4 men in the cab and 4 women in the back of the truck, we arrive without much fanfare. But then Eddie (our man in the field) sees one of the boys coming home from school limping and asks “why are you limping?”  “I have something on my leg,” and he pulls up his pant leg, Karl looks at it and sees it is a bacterial infection that goes all the way to the bone.  “How long have you had this?” “Two and a half years” he answers.  Karl then indicated to us that this type of infection would take a minimum of 6 weeks of IV treatment as well as an operation to get the infection out of his system.  In Rwanda the most he could hope for was two weeks, if it wasn’t already too late.  Two of the girls agreed to go with the boy and his mother to the clinic, about a half hour away by truck.  They had all been given medical cards a year ago, but for some reason (probably the 5 mile walk) don’t use them.

Finally we can start to work on the walls.  We met the men of the village to negotiate the wall construction.  We had tools and food for their work in the truck.  Since it was lunch time already, most of the men were not around. We waited, and then finally we were able to sit with the men under a small tree to discuss building walls.  After some time we asked them to show were they wanted to build the first wall.  They went to a very steep part of the land, so we moved them up the hill a little and marked off a level line for them to start.  Some discussion among them started (I am not sure what).

After we walked back up the hill to the truck, the men ended their discussions and came to get their tools. Just then the girls, the infected boy with his mother and her baby arrive.  We unload the tools, lunch, and water, left the “food for work” in the truck and sent them off to the clinic.

Next we began negotiating the food for wall program.  Karl talked about the tools as not just things to build walls, but a future for the village in that they can grow food and feed their families. They agree and decided who would keep the tools.  They were ready to start construction of walls when someone came running up the hill saying his wife is having a baby and is having trouble.  She is now at the bottom of the hill in the banana groves. Karl went with the man and I agreed to stay with the provisions. We called the truck to see if they could come back for this mother, but they were almost to the clinic.

This mother had been interviewed on Tuesday by our medical staff and never told them she was 8 months along and her water had broken.  On Wed. she noticed that there was no longer movement, but still didn’t tell anyone.  The baby was still born today, Friday, fortunately the Mom was OK.  When asked why she hadn’t said anything, the grandmother said that this was the way they have always done things.

OK, back to the wall construction, they have moved to a different place where the land is not very steep and really didn’t need a wall.  There are 20 or so workers, really working hard.   The men are digging and the women carrying rocks on their heads not even using their hands.  They were not building as I would have, but they were doing well.

The funeral for the baby took place right away.  It is the husband’s job to dig the hole for the child – for the first time with a real shovel and pick.  (Isn’t God’s timing interesting).  So the men go down the hill from the parent’s house and the baby, who is wrapped in cloth and put in a cracker box, is buried. I did not witness the funeral, but Eddie said they prayed over the body what sounded like Catholic words.  There was no crying or emotions shown.  This may be a very normal occurrence.

By now it is near dark and we distribute the food to the workers and head back from, for us, was anything but a normal day!

July 8, 2009

Today we started 8:30 am to travel 65 KM to a new village,   one of many Potter’s villages in this district.  We first stopped to meet with Pastor John’s wife.  She and her husband, Pastor John,  Lutherans in Kigali that Sue Adams has talked to a lot on the phone, have started a school and a hospital. (We are trying to make it to their church service on Sunday if possible).

Our next stop was at a vocational school that teaches the Potter’s and Rwanda kids a trade; the girls were learning to sew on old treadle machines (no electricity) and the boy’s were learning wood working.  The girls commented that they did not have enough material or sewing machines to practice on.  Karl had an idea to make bags for the Rwanda coffee and tote bags for grocery shopping, thus giving them business and a trade.   The girls on our team are going to begin designing them tomorrow. The boys in the village were making fold up camp stools.  As we had been looking for stools, we ordered some, making them feel useful while earning a little money.

Then we met the Mayor of the district, and after some discussion, he gave us permission the visit the other villages.  He stressed that we need to report back to him before we start any programs in the villages.  After lunch under a tree, we started through the village of Bigbiga (or something like that).  This village was much different than Bwiza, which is very isolated, has no water, and is miles from a paved road (actually a long way from any road), and has no flat land.

This village had a mixture of people, was only a quarter mile from a main paved road, 2 miles from a hospital, 200 feet from water and was flat, offering agriculture and jobs.   One family was even doing good pottery work.  The homes were better than in Bwiza, but still very poor and rural.  There were many children, but they did not look any better than Bwiza. The people said there were a lot of orphans in the village (some maybe HIV related).

Tomorrow we will meet with the Department of Agriculture to discuss the terrace approach for Bwiza,  and the ladies will work on designing the bags for the girls vocational school.

A long day - goodnight from Africa

 

July 7, 2009

The water truck came past the hotel last night, but this morning the water is not on. Hoping that maybe some will come before too long, but we will see.      7:30 Found out we do have water just my hot water faucet was leaking so they turned it off.  Shower tonight!  Went out to the village about noon, had problems getting a truck, then walked the village and looked at the site where we could put walls to help agriculture, erosion as well as teaching a trade. We met with the council and discussed the resources needed for the different types of walls.

We left about 5:00 pm and drove to the local clinic which we discovered was about 2.3 miles the way the crow flies, or more like 5 miles if you have to walk, which they do. Came back, had a shower and the group went to have pizza.  Saw a “Didier” pizza on the menu and had to try it – tasted good.  Long Day

July 6, 2009

The city is about a 20 minute cab or bus ride from our hotel.  Today was a day of walking and walking, looking for picks, sledge hammers, Pry bars, Cement, and other items for the walls and well material.

July 5, 2009

Today we went to the Bwiza village in a crew cab pickup truck with driver. The crew of 8 and driver sat 6 inside with the 3 ladies in the back.  The first half of the trip was on paved roads the next fourth was rough road and the last fourth was rough, rough trails.  We then hiked along the ridge of the village to the other end to see the new quarry before hiking to the center square (meeting people along the way and shaking hands or hugging.)  We  continued to  hike to the spring, which is located about 500 elevation difference, below where the truck was parked.

The spring was worse than it looked in the photos (in the photos it looks like a mud puddle).  We then hiked back up to the truck for lunch (I should have walked more at  home, but here it raises 500 foot in about 1000 foot distance). I thought I was dead.  After fixing a tarp from the truck to the trees for shade from the noon time sun we shared cheese, crackers, fruit, water and energy bars. About 2:30 we walked back to the square where the whole village showed up to welcome us with dancing, music, hugs, and handshakes. The women were seated in front on the hillside under the trees and shade, with the men seated in the back higher up the hill among the trees.  We started with welcoming comments from Eddie (our man on the ground) and Karl.  They introduced our team and Karl said we all came from far, far away.  He then asked them if they knew why we had come, and with one voice they said because of LOVE. Wow………….

Eddie told about some of the projects that we would be working on during the time we are in the village.  The project that we had talked about the night before at dinner was to construct rock terraces, as the land is so steep.  It would provide flatter land in order to plant food and help keep the soil from running off down the hill.  We found out that a rock mason just moved back to the village.  We asked them if these terraces were something they would like and they said YES.  We asked them to form a committee (they don’t know about teams yet) which they did with 2 members of the village council, the mason, the quarry man, and someone that knew something about planting.

We had a committee meeting in which I got a design approved and decided where the first wall would be built, (in front of the village chief - who would have guessed).  We decided how many would be workers, what equipment they would need, and how many walls would be built.  How to pay the workers (money or food), has not been worked out yet.   It gets dark here at 6:00 pm sharp, so we packed up, had many last minute hugs and the sun set just as we were leaving.