Peter in Rwanda

I apologize in advance for the brevity and lack of editing on this post. I have a few minutes, but want to communicate my last weeks experience. We havent had electricity at our house in Bugesera for the last few weeks due to the rain that is constantly shorting the cables. We decided to hire a “local” electrician who proceeded to tell us that our house was wired wrong and that the negative was in the neutral and some other electrical talk. My question was why it had worked for all that time before, but he didnt seem to comprehend my english. He went ahead and re-wired everything only to blow out all our light bulbs and my computer just happened to be plugged in. How is that for faith. Once we got the power back up and running I realized that my computer wasnt working anymore…. Long story short we tested the charger and it seemed to be giving power (according to the electrician) so I knew that my motherboard was shot. Instantly I wanted to go home just thinking about the horrible unproductive last month I would have here without a computer on top of losing some really important data. However, after a morning at the computer shop with the help of Access Project we found it was only the charger and they repaired it for me… the best 25,000 RWF I ever spent….

P.s. This was titled Jumpsuit Electricians because I think anyone can put on a blue jumpsuit and become an electrician in a matter of minutes in this country..

Next Post: Aesthetics and the Poor… Does it Matter?

No that is not a Bob Dylan reference… I was walking home from the hospital the other day when we began to have a heavy downpour. Since Nyamata is one of the dryest parts of the country, I never expected to get caught in the rain for an extended period of time. As I realized that I was carrying my laptop and it wouldnt be a good idea to proceed, I ducked into the local high school where there was a small shelter for the security guard. Needless to say he was very suprised to see a foreigner standing under his shelter with him. His shelter is a small makeshift corrugated iron building where these guards sit all day and are paid a huge salary of $30 USD per month. Unfortunately, it was pretty hard to communicate, but the 30 or so minutes I spent there were another reminder of the dramatic poverty of this country.

On a brighter note… some of the local missionaries invited me and Eric, another Brandeis student in Rwanda, to come watch the SuperBowl. Unfortunately, the game started at 1:00 AM. By the time the game was finished it was 6 AM and I was completely exhausted. Also, due to the fact the game was being broadcast here we didnt get any commercials, but rather saw ads for the World Baseball Classic over and over and over and over…. It was a great game though, but the next day I was really shot.

Last week I decided that I wanted to go see the school where Jimmy, our former houseboy, goes to school. Jean-Marie, my roomate, and I went to the school to meet the administrator and see the school. We arrived to a very orderly well maintained school that has recently been ranked the best school in the country outside of Kigali schools. All of the instruction is now in English as the President recently made this a mandate due to their blatant hatred for the French. We met his teacher and took a few pictures, while thoroughly embarassing Jimmy.

I am up in the North of Rwanda this week doing an audit of health centers here. Eric and I are giong to Gisenyi this morning which is a border town of Goma, Congo. It is on Lake Kivu and is supposed to be one of the most scenic places in Rwanda. Sorry for such a random update, but I had internet for a half-hour and wanted to try it.