African Time

er 20Day three at the university and I have maybe done about three hours of work in total. The Rector of the school is away on business and as such - everyone is taking a very laid back approach to their work week; however, I get the impression that this is typical as the gentleman I am working with said to me yesterday, "there is a saying in Africa - 'don't do all of your work today or you might get sacked' - " Meaning if you do all your work, your boss will assume that your position isn't necessary and get rid of you.

Our days start at 7:30 - or so we thought. There is no where to get breakfast before we work so have rigged up a plug in kettle to make coffee with instant Nescaffe, sugar, and powdered milk. We each sit on our bed eating cheese and croissants. We do our dishes in the "shower", which is just a shower head in the bathroom and a drain (no separate contained unit or shower curtain). Upon arriving at 7:30 and finding no one around - we were told, "7:30 African time" which basically means 8:00am. We walk about 20 minutes from our hotel to school each morning. As there is one main road - it is congested with people who greet you with "bonjour", strange stares, or don't even notice you - there are vehicles that pass bellowing out black exhaust, and bikes which haul bunches of live chickens/hens. Each morning we pass a group of men and women - walking in twos and dressed in a light pink colour. These are prisoners. We are pretty much filthy by the time we reach school from the soil dust and car pollution.

We are still trying to figure out what do to about lunches. We found a cafeteria on campus which I think we will use. The school also has a arboretum through which we walked yesterday. It is incredible how many devote Christians there are in this country. Catholicism being the largest denomination. During lunch groups of students head into the forests with their bibles to pray in group, listen to an individual speak about the bible, sing, or pray individually.

Our day ends around 5:00 - 5:30. However, the sun sets at 6:00 so is typically dark by the time we make it home. The walk home is incredible as the town is set up on a hillside. We walk by looking down into a valley where there are banana trees and rice paddies. I will stop and take a picture one of these days.

The last couple of days we have walked up into the town and purchased some necessities and then stopping for dinner and a beer or two. Right now there is a plethora of foreigners in town as there is a French film company doing a movie here right now. We are starting to see some familiar faces around town and last night had a beer with a gentleman from Germany and his 16 year old son who are here helping the Twa people (the local pygmies) build suitable housing. I was frustrated as the two spoke about how the Twa didn't seem to want to learn how to build houses the new way. The way the two spoke they believed it was mandatory for the Twa survival to build homes the way the German's said they should. I understand their frustration as they have raised funds to buy materials, paid for their own travel expenses, sacrificed their holidays to "help" the Twa; however, they are doing it without consultation with the Twa themselves. This is often the case with development projects that exist in developing countries. We insist that they do it our way - because - well it worked for us.

One last interesting note is on the genocide. The campus has a grave which has been made into a memorial of the teachers and students who were killed at this university. This killing during the genocide resulted in the closing of the University for a few years. When I commented on the very young age of the Deans in the faculties, Patrick (the gentleman I work with) stated that it was because of what happened in their "past". Apparently each Wednesday in this region of Rwanda, there is a community gathering during which time prisoners from the genocide are brought forth in front of the local population. The local people then have the opportunity to speak out against the individual charged with violence against an individual (rape, killing, or mutilation) or a property. The locals can also speak in favour of individuals in order to free them from prison. The Rwandese we have met do not say much about what occurs during these sessions so we have had to look it up on the Internet. According to what we have read, this is the way Rwanda has decided to use their culture in the form of restorative justice. However, those who were responsible for organizing what occurred during the genocide are being tried at the Int. Human Rights tribunal in Tanzania. Apparently you need a 'licence' to attend these meetings - so Claudine and I were not able to attend, which is disappointing - but we both realize that we have absolutely NO right to attend these meetings. Claudine was told not to come in until 2:00 today as everyone would be at the tribunal. However, Patrick told me to come into work in the morning, but he is not here....oh wait -here he is.