Digging Up the Past

As you can imagine, Thanksgiving is not exactly a big holiday in Rwanda. Fortunately for me, though, because we are an American NGO, I got Thursday and Friday off from work. Theodore, our Camp Manager from Nyabiheke and my housemate, suggested that maybe the US Embassy would invite me over for Thanksgiving. No chance. The closest I came to celebrating was seeing a group of muzungus on my way back from the store. I said Happy Thanksgiving; sorry, they said, we’re Canadian. Oh well, I enjoyed my Thanksgiving feast of oranges, cereal with whole milk, rice, and goat.

The real celebration was actually on December 1^st in camp – World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is a worldwide celebration of everybody’s efforts to stop the spread of HIV, and to take care of those already infected. We started the day with traditional Congolese Dancers marching through camp, holding a banner that said World AIDS Day in Kinya-rwanda. These guys danced all the way into camp with spears, shields, and headdresses of white hair, and were a perfect act to attract curious people to our celebration in the Multi-Use Hall. When they arrived, the local agencies involved in camp, UNHCR, Save the Children, MINALOC (local government), and of course, ARC, addressed the crowd (probably about 1000 people). We then had sketches about HIV/AIDS from our Anti-AIDS Club, as well as dances from the Congolese Women and the Modern Dance Group. Although it was a logistical nightmare to organize, I think the day garnered some momentum around HIV and Voluntary Counseling and Testing in camp.

In addition to the activities inside, we ran some soccer and volleyball games for the kids. Because the permanent soccer field is not ready, we made a small temporary field for the day. The kids used the jerseys donated by Gotshalks Soccer, and they were so happy. Each team did warm up dances, and a lot of people came out to watch.

But, amidst the preparations leading up to the day, there was another shocking reminder of what it is like for people in this camp. We printed t-shirts for the day, but we only had enough for about 180 people – enough for our performers on the day, our staff, and our guest speakers. When we were giving them out to the people, we just couldn’t control the crowd. It turned into a free for all before we knew it – people who weren’t in the clubs trying to get them, people in the clubs trying to get two. And it wasn’t because they are greedy, and it certainly wasn’t because the t-shirts were of the highest quality; a t-shirt really helps these people. As I thought about it, I remembered that these people were forced from their homes, after which their homes were probably destroyed and they took only what they could carry. Can you imagine living in a place where a single t-shirt goes such a long way?

Well, about a week after World AIDS Day, I started to feel a little sick to my stomach. I went to the health center to get tested; well, the nurse came back a few hours later, and said in French “Don’t worry, it’s not malaria, and it’s not worms.” Oh, that’s good. “You have mushrooms in your stomach.” Oh, great, mushrooms in my stomach. It turns out that it is just a sort of fungus that grows in your stomach from bad water or bad food, not too serious. I took medicine two times a day for about a week, and I think the mushrooms have been killed. I hope.

After the mushroom incident, I knew that it was probably time for a break from village life. And over the past few weeks, here are a few other things that convinced me it is time for a break: as I was sitting in Nyabiheke, a lizard fell on my head and I just brushed it off; five minutes later, a mouse ran from the dining room into the kitchen, and I just said oh well; yesterday, I felt something in my shoe, reached in to get it, and pulled out a hairy caterpillar that left stingers in my fingers; I am only allowed one half a squirt of face wash per day so I don’t run out; I forget what a hot shower feels like, seriously. Lucky for me, I am leaving for Rome tomorrow to see my girlfriend and my mother. I have never been more excited for a vacation in my life.

In other news, we officially broke ground on the soccer field. We hired about 90 refugees to come level the field with hoes, pickaxes, etc. They started on December 9^th, and we are scheduled to finish just before Christmas. The good news is that the field might cost less than we had planned, so we will be able to put in a volleyball court and a basketball court as well. Hopefully we can get a whole playground for these kids for less than $5000. But, we have had some setbacks, although they were a little different than setbacks we might have had back home. For example, on the second day of digging, the workers found a few human bones in the dirt, and what started as a few bones turned into a pile of bones. We had to call in the local government to take care of it, but work continued as usual. We don’t know, and we really won’t ever know, if they were victims of the genocide, but I think they probably were. In fact, as they were digging up the bones, a group of kids were standing on top of one of the sand piles. I thought, in a more symbolic sense, that in trying to make a place for these kids to play, we were digging up the tragic past of Rwanda. I watched the kids as they watched the bones surface, and I hoped the playground would be everything it needs to be for these kids.

Okay, I am leaving tomorrow morning for Rome, so I have to cut it short here. I come back to Rwanda on January 3^rd, and I will be writing more frequently then. I have some nice pictures of the field and World AIDS Day but they are not uploading for some reason - I'll add them next time. Happy holidays everyone – thanks again for reading.