Sunday, April 23, 2006

Time to go...

Come awake, come alive
Common sense we survive
Then hey, hey, down the road we go
You might learn something
You never know
But anyway you’ve got to go.

--Paul Simon, “Look At That”


It’s almost time to go, but not without saying thanks…



…to Dr. Ann Kao for this wonderful photo of the ARC Rwanda team taken after a celebratory lunch at the Car Wash Restaurant in Kigali.

… to Barry Wheeler, ARC Rwanda Country Director, for his patience, kindness, mentoring and friendship.

…to the Camp Managers who received me so graciously in their homes and supported our work in their camps.

…to Christine Tchenah for taking time away from her business, home and family to teach invaluable new skills to our refugee clients.

…to the IGP Coordinators—Anitha, Louise and Theophile—for their hard work and dedication to improving the most vulnerable of lives.

…to the rest of ARC Rwanda staff for all that they do every day to make our work here possible.

…to my family and friends for encouraging me to be here.

…and to everyone who has contributed to this work with their thoughts, prayers, time and money. You truly are making a difference.

Friday, April 21, 2006

Looking Smart.


When our new groups at Kiziba Camp arrived at the office this week to receive their first grants, I noticed that many of them were exceptionally well dressed.

This could be surprising, since the clients for our Income Generation Program are among the poorest and most vulnerable of the camp population.

But Anitha explained to me that in Congolese culture it is very important to “look smart” for an occasion such as this, to show as well as to command respect. It is so important in fact that one might borrow or even rent suitable clothing.

Although these refugees came to the office to collect money, I think you will agree that the looks on their faces as they were leaving were priceless.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Good Company.


My son Steven arrived in Rwanda last Thursday for a ten-day visit, and as you can imagine this has lifted my spirits tremendously.

We spent the Genocide Memorial Weekend visiting sites in Kigali and elsewhere so that he could get a feel for the country and what has happened to its people.

Today we will head to the field. Two days in Nyabiheke Camp followed by two days in Gihembe, and back to Kigali on Friday.

These will also be my final visits to these camps for this trip, just a quick check in to know that things are running smoothly with our little program and to give Steven a look at all of the work that we have been doing.

I’m leaving the laptop behind on this field trip, so will be in touch when we return to Kigali. See you soon.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Why Are These Women Laughing?




At the end of today’s marketing workshop for the groups involved in making these colorful bags out of nylon thread, I asked the women whether some of them would be willing to participate in a role playing exercise to practice their selling skills.

Someone had told me that in this culture this technique would not work.

As you can see, they were wrong.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

The Cruelest Month.



It is April.

This is Rwanda.

T.S. Eliot wrote “The Wasteland” in 1922.

How could he have known?

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain…

“What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust…

“Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock…

“Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you?
What is that sound high in the air
Murmur of maternal lamentation
Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth
Ringed by the flat horizon only
What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal

“In this decayed hole among the mountains
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel
There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home.
It has no windows, and the door swings,
Dry bones can harm no one.
Only a cock stood on the rooftree
Co co rico co co rico
In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust
Bringing rain…”