A Remote Field Visit in Rwanda en Famille

Oren climbing trees with some kids in Kigali while waiting for us to finish some business with partners.



Another weekend that has only been partially restful.  This is the fourth one in a row where we have been traveling.  (Actually last weekend was our team retreat, but it was still a lot of work.)  We are hoping that the next three weeks will be easier as far as being in town and having some regular rhythms again.  This will be greatly aided by Oren's return to school after a week of travel to Nigeria followed by 2 weeks of spring break for him.  I hope he remembers something of his French after missing so much. 

This past week was spent in Rwanda beginning on Wednesday.  Actually we drove up on Wednesday with 3 passengers in tow besides our family. They were Ruth and Krystan as well as Jodi.  They stayed in Bujumbura for a day past the retreat to get a ride up with us.  We took Jodi about half way, to Ngozi, where she met one of the priests who drove her back to Burasira.  (I was glad to be spared that last hour on a really dreadful road going to Burasira.)  We continued north and got to Kigali that afternoon where we did some shopping, banking, and ate dinner before dropping off R and K and going to the Africa New Life Guesthouse.  

Thursday we ran around and did a few errands, tried to connect with some partners, and spent some more time with Ruth and Krystan.  It was not a very productive day especially since everywhere we went we were not able to find anywhere with a working internet connection.  So we were not able to catch up on email.

Having a productive day was not too big of a concern though, because we knew that the 2 days following were going to include an extensive field visit to several sites run by a partner called CAPR.  

For the field visit we traveled to an area of western Rwanda in a district called Kibuye.  Kibuye is also the name of a town on Lake Kivu that is supposed to be a tourist attraction in Rwanda.  It has nice lodging facilities along the lake with a view of mountains, including the volcano up the lake near Goma, DRC.  Although we are often reticent to do field visits as a family, we thought we could combine this visit with a little rest and relaxation in Kibuye along the Lake.  (We were also happy to hear that there was a good road all the way to the town.)

Friday morning, though, before heading to Kibuye, we did visit one project in Kigali.  It was way off the beaten path in a very poor section of the Asian quarter (next to a brothel) where they had established a self-help group and youth peace club.  Here we saw a group of women who worked together on income generation projects, particularly weaving intricate baskets which Rwanda is known for.  What was remarkable about this group was that it was not only inter-ethnic, but inter-faith as it included Muslims as well as Christians. This is rare because Rwanda's Muslim population is extremely small (about 1%).  But there is mutual suspicion in the quartier where they live so this group helps to develop some relationships between people of different faiths.  It was interesting to see the work they were doing together and to talk to them about challenges they faced.  It was exciting to hear the women talk about how this group was helping them make enough money to send their children to school and buy them books.  (Their biggest challenge is finding a market for the things they make.)  Rebecca and I bought some of their wares which are among the finest baskets we have seen so far.  (see photo-these are bowl shaped but hard to tell from the photo).  

We set out on our way around noon on Friday.  We brought along two of our partners, Eugene and Eustache, who were going to take us to the sites to meet some of the members of their organization as well as see some income-generation projects.

We were particularly interested in the activities of CAPR for two reasons. The first is because they have been able to organize what I would describe as self-help peace and reconciliation groups throughout the whole country, but particularly in extremely remote areas of Rwanda where no other NGOs are working.  (They made the observation to us that even though Rwanda is virtually overrun with foreign aid, almost all donors work in Kigali or other big cities that are easily accessible by vehicle.  No one works in the remote areas where much of the population lives.)

The other reason we were interested in what they were doing is because they are the only group we support (and know of) that actually has a system of 'membership'.  That is, participants in the group pay monthly dues. This money suppors most of the activities they do.  Much of what they do is lend it out to members for small income generating projects, but they have also been in the process of using the money to buy every member family a cow.  At this point they have bought 22 with their own money.  

This is really quite exciting to us because it seems to me more and more that the foreign aid/charity model of providing help does little more than create dependency and an expectation that 'white people's money' is the answer to all problems.  We are hoping to see to what extent some of our other partners might try to implement this type of 'self-help' model.

We talked about all of this on our way down the road to Kibuye.  We were about an hour and a half down the road when Eustache suddenly said, "turn right here."  I looked around, surprised we were leaving the main road but could only see a foot path that I would describe as no wider than the Appalachian trail going off toward the mountains.

I was surprised we were going off the road here and had he not assured me that this was the way I would never have thought of driving a car there.  He told us this was a 'short cut' to Kibuye.  We progressed very slowly up into the mountains along this narrow road, sometimes very close to the edge of the cliffs.  After about 2 hours of this treacherous driving we arrived at the top of a high hill where there was a small community.  This was the site of our first visit.  We got out of the car and were immediately surrounded by many many people and children shouting 'mzungu'.  This is not something I often hear in Rwanda, but out here in this area, I am guessing that the sight of a mzungu is extremely rare.  

We were led to a small home where we crammed ourselves in with about 30 people and listened to some reports and testimonies of the group.  It was pretty hard to keep Oren and David still, and they did create quite a scene as they squirmed around.  They were the only children in the room.

We then took a tour around the area and saw some of the cows that had been bought with CAPR group money.  It was interesting to see, mainly because of how remote it this place was.

Like most field visits this was more about the spectacle of us being there than us seeing the life of the community and the projects.  It is just not possible for a family of white people to arrive into a place and not completely disrupt the normal activities of the entire community.  Oren was particularly entertaining as he found many little hills to jump off of, and mud to play in at the bottom.

From this place we proceeded down the mountain (it was getting dark) and went to a place to stay the night (arranged by Eustache).  It was a small Pentecostal church with 2 guest rooms.  Rebecca and I had to smile as we realized our expectations of spending the night in a touristy guest house were not going to materialize.  (The district of Kibuye is much larger than the town of Kibuye.)  In fact, this was going to be a real village live-in.  The room was modest but did have 2 small single beds.  There was no bathroom or water, but there was an outdoor latrine.  

We were invited to the house of the local pastor who was very gracious.  Oren and David played with the kids there who took them to a back room behind the house where they had about 2 dozen guinea pigs on the floor.  The kids were very happy to play with them.  I asked the pastor why they had them and he said that they raised them and ate them.  

We had a delicious guinea pig-free dinner that night.  (We had beef instead).  Rwandese food is quite good because the staples are rice, beans and french fries.

We slept well enough and the next morning I did a second field visit while the family stayed at the church.  We looked over some of their accounting, to understand how they took in contributions and gave out small loans, as well then had a lunch together with everyone there before leaving around 10:30 am.

We dropped Eugene and Eustache off on the way back toward Kigali where they caught a bus and our family headed south for Burundi.  We drove without incident back to Bujumbura and got home about 5 pm on Saturday evening. 

It was tiring but not bad. In fact, it was good to have our expectations deflated as far as the visit and our plan to see some of the touristy beauty of the country.  It was better, I think, to have a chance to see reality--the parts of the country that do not benefit from tourism or even from development efforts that so often fail to reach the most marginalized.  I think that is one of the things I respect about MCC.  We do work with local partners to try to find people and places that are often passed over by larger aid and relief efforts.  

I am also amazed at how good our kids are becoming at going on long drives and being polite while they are often the central spectacle in the places we go.  I am hoping that this might help them develop patience and a confidence with going into new places and meeting new people.