Tea(m) spirit

In the spirit of team spirit we set out on a weekend of bonding and socialising at our most favorite place in Rwanda, the Kivu Sun Hotel (now Serena) at lake Kivu. And really the whole team including cleaners and drivers came along. As my boss is going to leave Rwanda I guess staying in such a hotel for a Betriebsausflug was a little bit of a farewell present, they all definitly loved it.



I think I have already made and displayed plenty of pictures of this place, here is one with the smoking Nyiragongo in the back.







To give the whole thing a little educative touch we visited a tea factory near Gisenyi that produces for export. It was actually quite interesting, all these little steps and procedures, the right temperature here, the right texture there.

quality check, apparently you notice the difference not only in color but also by the different sound a spoon makes when hitting the rim. Hmm, somehow that didnt sound convincing...







An unforgettable and my favourite memory of that weekend however, was jogging along the lake and over the hills with my boss. I need to add that Andreas is known for jogging during lunchbreak, no matter what. I myself have never been much of a jogger anyway and somehow the geographical conditions of Rwanda did not make it any more attractive to me. But here I was with my pride and I volontered to go with him for once from the hotel to the Congolese border and back, easy, flat, piece of cake. But alas, change of plan. We were going to eat at a restaurant about 7km away and Andreas had the brilliant plan to simply run there instead. Sure, why not, too late to duck out. And so we started. All was fine before the first hill, actually up until the middle of the first hill. You know how roads wind along lakes and then vanishe a little inland all the way up the hills and down again...And of course it was really hot and the cheering from the Rwandans along the road wasn't entirely carrying us either. Some women with their babies strapped around their bodies and with baskets on their heads run along for a while - no kidding. I wanted to tell them save your energy unless you are also having a big ice cold coke waiting for you on the other side. I started to breath heavily and just when I wondered if I would survive this hill I was saved and we walked the rest of the hill. Down and up again it went until we had a little sprint at the end, passing the Bralirwa brewery towards the restaurant. My body ached for several days after that, but at least I had my coke.

Im Büro

Hier mal wieder ein Eintrag fuer die etwas interessierteren, etwas aus meinem Alltag, sozusagen. Ein grosser Teil meines Alltags dazu, denn wie so viele andere auch verbringe ich natuerlich viel zu viel Zeit im Buero.

Zum Glueck tue ich das mit netten Kolleginnen und Kollegen, wobei...Kolleginnen ist schon richtig, denn so viele maennliche Mitarbeiter findet man nicht im Gesundheitsprogramm der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in Ruanda (siehe uebrigens auch auf unserer website). Den einzigen ausser meinem Chef (und natuerlich den Fahrern) haben wir hier gerade verabschiedet.



Und da laesst sich die GTZ auch nicht lumpen, ein paar Samosa, Softdrinks oder Bier (letzteres erst nach Dienstschluss, versteht sich) oder zumindest ein Kuchen duerfen es schon sein. Fuer die aufmerksamen GTZ Mitarbeiter: das Logo natuerlich im Firmenrot.





So sieht es von aussen aus. Ich persoenlich habe das Vergnuegen dieses Anblicks oefter. Denn wenn ich mit dem Roller und meiner klaeglichen Hupe morgens den Berg runtergesaust komme, springt leider kein Waechter sofort auf und oeffnet das Tor. Dazu braucht es schon einen ordentlichen Allradantrieb. Aber, um ehrlich zu sein, es wird besser. Inzwischen haben sich die Leute an die komische Weisse gewoehnt und manchmal, ja manchmal sieht mich ein aufmerksamer Waechter schon von weitem und ich rausche die steile Rampe - ohne anschieben! - hinauf.


Seit neuestem brauchen wir uns auch nicht mehr um die laestigen Baeume und Hecken auf unserem Gelaende scheren, die uns nur Dreck und kaputte Mauern bereiten. Endlich freie Sicht auf die Stadt vom Parkplatz aus! Den Waechtern und Chauffeuren scheint es zu gefallen. Einer machte heut sogar noch den letzten aufmuepfigen Wurzeln den Garaus, da die Autos da immer so rueberhubbeln mussten. Wie unpraktisch!




Aber wann sind die Avocados endlich reif??

quoi de neuf...

...in Kigali? After months of construction finally, the very first Rwandan Coffee Shop opened.



view from the terrace








It looks very much like any other regular Star Bucks, although it lacks that touch of tranquility. Not only is it situated in a big shopping mall that could compete with any mall in Nairobi or Johannesburg but there must be at least a waiter for each table and they are all trying to be busy. After work it is a meeting place for the young and beautiful of Kigali, to see and to be seen. However, it is still exciting and the coffee is good, made in Rwanda, of course!







also on the menu: breezy fruit blur or fruity berry breeze or something like that





Another thing that was much talked about and finally happened was Badminton. I had brought 4 bats from Germany and we set off to Lake Muhazi for a sunday picknick once more to give it a go.

much to everyones excitement and pleasure whether they were playing like Ulrich and me....











...or just watching, like Joy and Liz.

Oh Tannenbaum

Christmas again and finally I have got to know the meaning of x-mas (thanks Dennis, how many of your new elitist friends actually knew it?).
While everyone else has left town already I am still holding out and try to actually work. At least the weather is creating a bit of an "end-of-the-year" mood, its grey, rainy and cool.

could you try to ignore my underwear sticking out and marvel at the falling rose leaves instead, please...





But to show you that we are not left completely without light and warmth in the dark heart of Africa I have a small collection of Kigalis "best of" X-mas decoration for you.

I will go to Butare in the south of Rwanda where I am invited to the family of my colleague Evangéline. Apparantly though, Christmas is not the same big family affair as in Europe, here New Year is much bigger. And thank God they are not much into presents either. Still have to find a decent present for Evas mother, la chef de famille.

here is Eva (left) with one of our cleaners, Marthe, at our office christmas party








Butare is a former capital of Rwanda and used to be the intellectual stronghold with Rwandas National University.It still kind of is but more and more people and schools move to Kigali. But they do have the National Museum which I am hoping to see as well, finally. And then I was planning on heading further South to Bujumbura, capital of Burundi. Its only another 3 hours drive from Butare and supposed to be quite nice and totally different from Kigali.

So let me wish you all Bonne Fête, Meilleurs Voeux, Joyeux Noël or as they say here
Noheri Iyziza N'umwaka mushya Muhire!!

finally first pictures

so that's 'chez anja'...


















...andrea and liz...



















...and chez cordula...
a fabulous girls crew in the Kiyovu
quarter of Kigali
























and after seeing the dining and sitting
room - check out the fire place on
the left, perfect for cosy African nights -












plus the kitchen, I think by now
you are all ready to buy
the place, no?
- Schoener Wohnen in Ruanda ;)

first impressions

I have actually promised some more pictures but I have yet to master modern data transfer.
So I will just begin with an update on my first two weeks in Rwanda.
I have arrived well after a lovely weekend spent with Nick in London and what seemed like an endless journey since I couldn't sleep on the plane... sparing you the details of unnerving Heathrow airport procedures.
I was picked up in Kigali and brought straight to my current domicil which is part of a GTZ compound and hence full of GTZ colleagues including my boss. Its difficult to express my first expressions of this country, or Kigali more like, as it was a strange mixture of the unknown and familiarity. And Iam still yet to suffer something like a real culture shock and I am not quite sure why that is. It could be due to the fact that I live in a really nice house, lovely garden on the slope of one of the numerous hills here ( could well be 1000 as the land's nickname goes) with good connection to the outer world by internet and our skilled housemaid. What else could you wish for? Well...maybe a means of transport. This is still a bit of a problem as walking is a real pain in the neck for me, it's constant up and down, and we are talking real hills, like the ones in Brighton but everywhere!! The local solution are moto-taxis, just reintroduced by the council with better security rules - if that's what you call a crappy helmet for the passenger. I have - not yet quite successfully - overcome my personal trauma concerning motos and use them at least to get to work and back since its only a few minutes drive. But I do have to say that Iam not quite trusting them entirely and hence sit on it a bit tense. For the future I will have to consider bying either a moto - if I decide to trust myself more than the taxi men - or a car, we shall see.
Workwise its been quite hectic on the one hand as we had a big 2 weeks consultancy mission to evaluate the results and processes of our Health Programme. On the other hand for me it was mainly following people around, listening and asking questions. I went on 2 trips to Ruhengeri in the North ( where the vulcanos and Gorillas are) and Butare in the south of the country in the course of which I witnessed some vaginal fistula surgery (the doctors among you, like my boss, would have loved it, I almost fainted), visited several other hospital and health centre facilities as well as district governments. Once my travel sickness pills kicked in I also enjoyed the fantastic views over the hills which are at present not as lush and green as normal as we are at the end of the dry season but when you are used to the Savanna landscape of Burkina Faso its still quite beautiful.
As for the Rwandans its really hard to say, I have heard a lot about them before and I don't want to mix hearsay with my still limited experiences. Its all very different from West Africa thats for sure. On a superficial level they are nice and open and I have encountered some real strong and self-confident characters. My colleagues are nice and my first attempts of speaking kinyarwanda were highly appreciated and giggled upon. But then again, I don't dare to ask Evangéline, the girl I share the office with, where she got that nasty scar across her cheek from. It may well me something else but Genocide is still quite present, at least for me as a stranger. First time I walked into the famous Hotel Mille Collines I tried to translate the pictures of the movie (Hotel Ruanda) and all I read into this present, when Iam out on the streets I imagine them full with blood and dead bodies and when I see the people walking along I ask myself are these the same who murdered their family and neighbours? Returning from our first trip we passed a big village assembly that turned out to be a Gacaca, the traditional courts. So in a way its all very real but for an outsider like me still unfathomable.
This weekend will hopefully be a first real break from constant input and absorption allowing for some reflection. Tonight Iam going out with some friends of Nicky, who I studied with at Sussex, and who has set up a NGO here in Kigali that runs a Youth Centre. Its good by the way to have some friends outside the GTZ world!
So for now its Muramuke to you all and have a good weekend!