Skyler's Travels

Finally uploaded almost all of them. I still have some to add to the Gitarama album, but here they all are.

• Kampala
  
• Museums & Memorials
  
• Project Tours
  
• Gitarama
  

Lately I've felt sort of boring since nothing much has happened to write about. Well, that all changed last night. We all finish eating dinner last night around 8:30 and decide that it's time to watch Arrested Development for a little bit before bed. This is usually what we end up doing after dinner. Well, I walk down the hall to my room to put on some warmer pants and grab a pillow when I hear JP's phone ring. Usually he's a pretty cheery guy, but something sounded different. Then I hear him say "Lamanzani and Cilliac?" Not good. The two of them used to be street boys together here in Gitarama and Cilliac had just got back to the home after being in town for the day to see his mom. I went back in the dining room to see what was going on and JP looked like a ghost. After he got off the phone he told us apparently Cillianc, Lamanzani, Ernest & Brazie (two boys from the home & two boys from the village) had run away and no one knew where they were. Everyone got up and went to grab flashlights and coats while JP called us a driver. About 10 minutes later a driver shows up and we take off down the dirt road in front of our house to try to find the boys. Cilliac doesn't have the best relationship with his mom, so we were pretty sure he hadn't come back to town to see her. The only logical explanation was that he missed his street boy friends and wanted to come back to be with them. We get to the end of our street and get ready to turn onto the main road when all of a sudden we see Cilliac and one of his old street boy friends, Hasani, walking down the road towards our house. We pulled over as quickly as possible and everyone jumped out of the car. Teresa was pretty upset at this point and starts yelling at them. Cilliac's a pretty tough kid usually and he looked like he was about to wet himself. We put them both in the car and moved on to try to find the other 3 boys. We get about 2-3 blocks down the road when lo and behold they're all walking down the side of the road together. Again, we pull over, everyone hops out, Teresa starts yelling... again, the boys looked terrified! Ernest, one of the smallest of the bunch, was so scared he tried to run. Teresa was motionless and just stood there yelling and was like "Skyler, get him!" So I start running after him and the poor kid was so scared he sort of ran in a circle, went left, went right, hopped down a wall, spun around again, went left, went right and I just came up behind him and grabbed him by the arm and started walking him back up the hill. I have never seen someone look so terrified as that poor kid did. He just kind of stared up at me like I was the angel of death or something. We threw them all in the car and started making our way to Biyamana to take them all back home. On the way there JP kept asking what the heck they were doing and why they'd run away. No one would really say much and Cilliac just kept lying about everything. We finally got back to the village about 10 minutes later and there were about 15-20 from the area all waiting for us. All of us got out of the car and everyone kind of stood in a circle with the boys in the middle asking them again, what they were doing and why they ran. Poor Ernest, first thing his dad does when he sees him get out of the car is walk over to a tree and grab a stick! JP told him to hold off on his beating and he just stood next to me with his stick listening to the boys tell their stories. Apparently Cilliac, upset at seeing his friends again and missing them, conned the other three boys into going back to Gitarama with him to be street boys. He basically told them all the street boys would take care of them and they'd make a lot of money together, have all the food they wanted, and no one to tell them what to do! The rest reluctantly agreed and walked about 4 miles from Biyamana to Gitarama in the dark. Once they got to town, Cilliac took them to the street boys and while they were ok with Cillac coming back, they didn't appreciate him bringing the other three boys. So, they pulled out a knife and told them all they were going to beat them. I guess they all got away and decided this wasn't the best idea and started walking back to Biyamana. Cilliac was fine, so he decided to stay and was walking his friend, Hasani, down the street to our house to have some food. I'm not sure if he thought we'd just feed them and not think anything of him not being home in Biyamana or what. The whole plan was pretty hairbrained, but I guess that's what happens when you're a kid. As everyone was answering questions and telling what happend, I looked over at Ernest and noticed a wet spot on his pants that had run all the way down his leg to his foot. His legs were pretty dirty, so it was quiet obvious what'd happend when I noticed the perfectly clean line running from his pants to his foot. I'm almost positive he must have wet himself when I chased after him, grabbed him by the arm and told him I was going to beat him... haha. Apparently this was the first time he'd ever been out of Biyamana and I'd venture to say, he won't be leaving anytime soon. All in all, it ended up a pretty humorous night. I'm so glad nothing happened to them and we were able to get them all home relatively quickly and in good shape. So, that was my adventure last night... haha.

Not much else has gone on lately. I'm still playing soccer and have started getting up at 6:30 every morning to go to the early practices. It's not the easiest getting up so early, but I've enjoyed it a lot. It's much cooler in the mornings, there are less people, and the guys who come are usually a bit more dedicated and friendlier than the afternoon crowd. It's kind of funny because although there are less people out, we seem to attract a good group of about 30-40 people who stop by for a few minutes each morning on their way to wherever it is they're going to watch us play. It seems like most of them are there just to watch the mzungu attempt to play football.. haha. My friend, Baptiste, told me today that I'm the first white person to ever play soccer here. That was a bit surprising, but kind of neat. So, I guess it makes sense why people tend to crowd around sometimes when we play.Today was probably one of my best practices yet and I had a great game. Our team ended up winning and I even scored my first goal! I also got a little beat up a few times: once by the goalie when I went in for a shot. I went to shoot and he threw his leg out and underneath me sending me skidding across the dirt and banging up my shin and knee pretty bad. I had blood running all down my leg and it was quite a scene. All the guys were already not quite sure how to take me when I had to take off my shirt and they saw my tattoo. They all started calling me dangerous and I think the blood was a nice addition to that... haha. Anyway, the second time was closer to the end of the game when I got a nice long pass. I went to head it to my teammate and the guy defending me I think went for a bicycle kick and either punched or kicked me in the side of the head. Somehow that wasn't a penalty? Oh well. After having such a great game and scoring my first goal, I could care less. I just wish I could get my legs into better shape. My cardio has gotten pretty damn good and I'm almost never out of breath anymore... my legs just start to turn to jello and I have a hard time towards the end being able to continue running so much. Hopefully in time that'll get better.

So, this week has flown by pretty fast and been rather enjoyable. Tomorrow we go to the airport to pick up two more members of the church team I'm currently staying with. Then I leave to head out to Kenya the following Saturday. One more week here and then I'll be starting my overland. I'm pretty excited/anxious about it, so it'll be nice to finally get on my way.

I've been meaning to write an entry about the state of Rwanda as a country and have been a little aprehensive about doing it. While I was trying to decide if it was a good idea or not, I found a recent article from the LA Times which sums up almost everything I was thinking about posting myself. It actually says it better anyway, so if you get a chance, give it a read.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-kinzer22-2008jun22,0,6375424.story

As for me, not much has been going on lately. School is over and about 15 of the boys from the home went to visit their families for the rest of July. Apparently 3 of the 4 weeks in July are a holiday for all the school kids here. So, not much to do for me. Mostly I've been focusing on preparing myself for my overland, getting things in order, etc. I've also been spending some time at the internet reloading my iPod with music. I've been able to get about a CD or two a day, which is nice. Feels good to have some of my music back. Anyway, hope all is well back home. Love you all.

The 4th of July at the American Embassy was quite an experience. The 4th is also a holiday in Rwanda; Liberation Day. Liberation Day is the day when the RPF liberated Rwanda and ended the Genocide. Because of the Holiday, Valerie and Teresa (two of the girls working at the boy’s home) decided to take all the boys to a soccer game in Kigali and for ice cream. I joined them on the bus ride there and had some ice cream with them at Bourbon Coffee in the mall. It was a much funnier experience than you’d imagine. First off, Bourbon Coffee is a little... snobbish sometimes, and every time I’ve ever been, it’s full of either: A) white people or B) rich Kigali Rwandans. So imagine how they reacted when about 30 people (mostly young boys) walked in at once... it was pretty hilarious. They didn’t really know what to do with us, so they put everyone outside and sort of stood around looking confused. Someone finally ordered all the ice cream and started passing it around. For many of the boys, this was the first time they’d ever been out of town, on a bus, and funniest of all... had ice cream! They didn’t really seem to know what to do with it and as I watched a couple take their first bite, they didn’t seem too happy with it. Apparently they all thought it was way too cold... haha. So, after ice cream, everyone got back on the bus and I waited around until it was time to catch a motorcycle to the embassy.

When I finally pulled up out front of the embassy, I couldn’t really believe it. For some reason I’d expected this tiny little compound with just an American Flag... FAR FROM IT. This building is HUGE. On my way in, I ran into a family and had a pretty good talk with them. It was nice getting to talk to some people who could relate to some of the things I’d gone through here. It seems like food is a pretty common topic with other Americans... haha. We stood around and talked a bit until they finally let everyone in. I couldn’t believe how many people there were. It started out with about 50 and at its height, about 200! On the way in, I paid my 4000 FRW admission and made a beeline for the beer cart. I promptly grabbed myself an Amstel and started walking around. I ended up talking to two girls sitting by the beer cart who were pretty nice. One was a diplomat’s daughter and the other was a friend visiting from Uganda. I ended up meeting the whole family of this diplomat and they were all pretty nice. It was really bizarre how there was this entire family living in Rwanda. It seemed like most of the kids’ time was occupied by hanging out with the Marines and drinking... I was amazed at how little most of them had experienced of REAL Rwanda outside of seeing people outside their window or going to a club to drink. They were nice people though, and I had a good time talking with them and playing volleyball and whatnot. While I was waiting in line for food, I met a guy from Texas (I think?) who happened to be a cyclist. We got to talking and he began telling me about a trip he took bicycling through D.R. Congo from Kinshasa across the country! I couldn’t believe it. Everything I’d read talks about how insanely dangerous DRC is and this guy biked across the damn thing. He said the hardest part was crossing rivers (which there were a lot of) and he had to spend a lot of time camping on tiny islands in the middle of rivers. He said it was surprisingly safe where he’d been and people had been really polite and kind. At one point he left a pocket knife somewhere and the people who found it sent a boy on a truck 6 hours to him to give it back! Crazy. So, I spent most of the day playing volleyball which was fun. The party at the Embassy ended around 3, so the Marines invited everyone over to their compound which was attached to the Embassy to continue the party. Couldn’t believeeeee how nice their house is. They’ve got a huge TV, an XBOX 360, PS3, Satellite TV, full bar, their own swimming pool, and all kinds of stuff. Didn’t even look like Rwanda. Around 5, the party ended and walked back to the mall with an intern from USAID to wait for my ride home. Had a really good talk about Rwanda and our experiences here. Even though it was a LONG walk, it was nice. I miss being able to talk to people who understand me. That, along with the food (which was amazing: potato salad, egg salad, sautéed vegetables, fresh passion fruit salad, more veggies, cookies, brownies!) was probably the best part about the day. It’s funny how much just being able to walk on grass and hear classic rock made my day. I didn’t even feel like I was in Africa for those few hours. As much as I love it here, that was really nice... especially on the 4th when I really wished I could’ve been with Allie, friends, and family. Hope you all had as good a 4th as I did and know how much I’m missing you. Happy 4th of July!

Haven't updated in awhile, but things mellowed out since the last post. I don't really know what the deal was with everyone fighting like they were. Eventually it all blew over though, and everyone became pretty close. Which ended up being pretty hard for me because Sunday everyone left to go home. It's crazy how used to the craziness of living with 12 or so people had become. Once everyone left, it was insanely quiet and soooo depressing. Sunday was insanely hard, and even though I've kept up with just about every EuroCup game this year, I missed the flipping final! I was in such a weird mood, I just came home, ate dinner, and went to bed... kind of bummed about that. Oh well, life goes on.

Monday was better, although still a bit hard. There wasn't any school because the students had exams, so I just hungout at the boy's home. After, I went to the internet cafe for a bit and met up with my friend, Jean-Baptiste. We both went to soccer a bit later, and I had a fairly decent game. Scored a penalty kick! First one ever! I'm amazed at how much better I'm getting in such a short amount of time. I'm definitely not awesome, or would I even say I'm good, but I'm getting there I guess. Really loving it. I've also started trying to learn Swahili, which has been fun. It seems like it'll be pretty easy to pick up, it's just a lot of memorization.

Today has been even better, and I'm slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things and learning to occupy my time on my own. Being alone isn't so bad, it's just hard as hell to get used to. It's funny how much I look forward to little thing throughout the week. Friday, the 4th of July, the American Embassy is having a party for all the Americans in Rwanda. I'm pretty excited about that and am MOST DEFINITELY going. They're going to have potato salad, cole-slaw, beans, hotdogs, hamburgers.. you can BET I'm going. Oh yeah, and the Marines have a beer cart! YES! Feels like home already.. haha. I'm hoping I can maybe meet up with Dan and Sen. Nelson after for dinner or something, so we'll see how that turns out. Then Sunday is my friend Ward's expat dinner. All the mzungus (white people) in the are get together and have a dinner at a local restaurant and hangout for a bit.. have some beers, etc.

The dry season has started and weather has been pretty warm everyday. I've enjoyed it a lot because it's warm, but not too hot. It's funny how sluggish everyone else is though. You can see people moving slower, resting more, hiding in the shade.. it's kind of humorous to me at times.

Overall, this trip has been really great. I've had a lot of hard times that have stretched me as a person, but I've learned from each one. While this month is going to be kind of hard to get through, I know I can do it. I'm insanely excited about my overland though, and can't wait to get going with that. 25 more days!