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Published: July 29th 2009
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Hello from Day 3 in Kigali! All is well and I’m completely adjusted to the time zone. Things are starting to feel routine and I am enjoying it all!
I’ve been busy at work and have two productive meetings today. Tomorrow is a catch up and reflection day and then I’m touring the largest referral hospital in Kigali on Friday. Jessica and I met today and started mapping out next week. There is a lot to do and my list is growing, but it’s still reasonable to accomplish by 14 Aug 2009. I'm especially excited about the day I will tour a primary health care facility, a districy hospital, and a referral hospital - all three levels of the health care system here. Plus, they are all either on the way to or in Butare (now called Huye) so I will get to see that area. The massacres in a around Butare were some of the worst of the genocide with a death toll of 220,000.
Today after work, I walked to a “supermarket” which was no Wegmans or even HT. It was scary to realize how much prepared food I eat as it seemed like there was nothing
to buy. No Nutrigrain bars, no granola bars, no frozen dinners, and no Diet Coke. I bought water, yogurt, and biscuits (cookies to the folks in the US).
I went out for dinner tonight and ended up having beer and pizza again, same as last night! Pizza is very popular here. Last night’s was very good and tonight’s was OK. As I get more comfortable, I’ll venture further away. It’s winter here so dark by 6pm, although it certainly seems very safe here and there are street lights. All of the restaurants seem to be non-African ethnic: Indian, Chinese, middle eastern, Greel, and lots of pizza.
This Saturday one of the FHI drivers is going to take me around Kigali so I can visit the Genocide Memorial and one of the markets and a women’s co-op where they sell locally made handicrafts. Jessica wants to go out to dinner one of the nights which will be fun. Hopefully, we can eat some typical Rwandan food! I had some delicious makote (sort of like a plantain) and stewed cassava leaves and fried plantains at lunch my first day. Joyce: you would have been amazed to see the size of
FHI: Self-service Condoms
Condoms should be free and easily accessible to everyone, everywhere! the plate of fried plantains! It was Jamaica Jamaice x 100!
I’ve got three people looking for a gorilla permit, but it’s high season and you have to book months in advance. Unless I get really lucky and catch a cancellation, I'm out of luck. Instead, I'm looking to go to Akagera National Park next weekend. They have lots of wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, baboons, and many birds.
One cool thing today: After my meeting at the hospital, I walked back to the apartment and was waiting for my driver when I saw a huge stork in a tree. I then looked closer and saw it was standing on a nest. You could see some white blobs that were noving in the nest, but the branches masked them pretty well. They were noisy and sounded like seagulls.
Thanks to everyone for the emails! I will do my best to keep up and reply to all!
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