Shangrila

I have had the great fortune to travel to many countries in the Eastern hemisphere; however, none have made such an aesthetic impression as Rwanda. Called the "Payes de Milles Collines" - Country of a thousand hills, the beauty of this country takes your breath away. The contrast between the laterite red soils, the lush vegetation, blue skies, and hills makes this place beautiful. Kigali, the capital city, is exceptionally clean and is in the process of being rebuilt many years after the genocide. We live in a 'city' which is a two hour drive from Kigali. The road wound through the many villages built up in the hills. There was no reprive from human settlement on the land. Villages tended to blend into eachother, the population densitity is quite high. The homes are mostly made out of laterite clay of the land.

We arrived in Butare with the Public Relations Officer and a driver. We met Chris, who is the assistant to the Rector of this University and a very friendly man. However; our housing we were expected to live in was not so friendly. We were shown into a single room in a concrete motel with a single double bed and a bathroom which was not inviting in anyway. The biggest problem was that were were expected to share a single room with only a desk and a double bed for the two of us to share for three months. Our faces must have shown the surprise as we had been told we would have a four bedroom house with a livingroom, kitchen, tv, bathroom and yard. However, apparently there is a French film beign filmed in Butare on the genocide so all hotels and houses are rented. However, after driving around for some time we were put up in hotel that is run by nuns....yeah....I find that funny as well (there is a glow in the dark crucifix above Claudine's bed). The rooms are relatively clean but, small with a desk. However, we each get our own room, bathroom, and balcony. The difficulty lies in the notion that for three months we have to 'eat out' and there is no common place for us to sit. We have paid for the month $333 CAN; however, are hoping that in a month a house will become vacant.

This morning we are at the University. It is still not clear exactly what we will be doing. I will be in the Staff Development Office - and apparently my Director speaks no english - only French...so...hopefully my time here will bring back the language which has left me gradually over time. And...my Director is not here yet (they are not sure if he will be here today) - so I have time to write.

We did meet a higher adminstrator (I don't want to be specific on names) who is from England. We sat in this room with Chris, the Rwandese Rector's Assistant. I was amazed at how Chris's entire disposition changed when sitting in the room with his foreign boss. He almost physically became smaller. We also noticed this change in another Rwandese we had met earlier in teh morning. When he came in to speak with his foreign boss, his eyes dropped to the floor and he became very passive. It was incredible to witness...and demonstrates how Africa is still playing the role of the colonized.

The University is in teh process of restructuring as they want to incorporate a more Westernized system (par for the course around the world). This involves both the manner in which they employ staff, expectations of staff, organization models, teaching strategies, evaluation methods - the whole ghamma. As I said, I am still not sure in what capacity I will be working at this school; however, am keen on learning from what is occuring here.

Just a final note that I apologize for my post-colonial rants; however, this experience is causing me to question a lot of what myself as an individual is doing and what we as a global society have done within Africa.

The people here are kind and have a great sense of humour. Although there will be tough times, which will be lonely, I am going to enjoy getting to develop relationships with the Rwandese I will be working with.

As a final note - i think I have fried my cord to my laptop so am not able to post pictures. I will work on this sometime soon and get some pictures up for you to see.