All Play and No Work

I’ve received some feedback from my faithful readers that it sounds like all Johannes and I do is go on fun weekend trips, stay in extravagant lodges, and chase exotic animals. While this is partially true, I swear to all of you that we are also working hard during the week to pay for our adventures. Therefore, this post is dedicated to describing what we’re doing for a living while in Rwanda. For those of you who think this sounds a bit boring, tune in again next week when we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled programming and monkey pics! ; )

Let’s start with Johannes, because of course, his job is the reason we are here in Rwanda! A coordination group exists for bilateral and multilateral donors who give direct budget support to the Rwandan government. The organizations take turns co-chairing the group (together with the government), and currently, for these six months, the World Bank is the co-chair. Thus, Johannes’ job at the moment revolves around leading this donor coordination group, including managing a large event with the Ministry of Finance a couple weeks ago. He is also currently evaluating the progress on the World Bank's country program in Rwanda and works with a couple of his colleagues on managing their projects. Let's just say he is pretty busy!

Johannes and Peace, one of his favorite Rwandan colleagues

For my part, I’ve been keeping busy with a few different consulting assignments. During my first two weeks in Rwanda, I wrote a mid-term review for a World Bank project – the Rural Sector Support Project (RSSP) – at the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI). The most shocking realization for me was that the government employees here work very long hours – often from 7 am ‘til 7 pm. As most of you know, I’m not a morning person, so arriving at 8:30 am was usually the best I could do! ; )  Often I had the opportunity to join the team for a carb-heavy lunch, and I really enjoyed seeing everyone joke around and laugh together. The research was also fascinating to me, and I learned a lot about rehabilitating marshlands for rice production and developing hillsides to increase crop production and prevent soil erosion.

Ginger outside of the RSSP office

Since then, I’ve been a fixture around the USAID-funded Rwanda Justice Strengthening Project (JSP), which is part of the MCC Threshold Program. The project is implemented by Chemonics– my former employer from 2004-2008. I’m enjoying doing project management work again and feel especially lucky to have landed with such a great team. I work most closely with Sam, our finance and accounting director, who has a great sense of humor and faithfully teaches me new words in Kinyarwanda. I’ve also had the opportunity to bond with the staff at regular group exercise activities, including aerobics classes and power walks through hilly Kigali.

Ginger and Sam in front of the JSP office

In addition, I’m contributing to some of Chemonics’ new business efforts within Rwanda by performing research, conducting meetings, and recruiting local staff. This work is top-secret, so you’ll have to ask me about it offline sometime! ; )  And finally, I’m doing some volunteer work with Nest, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that gives microloans to women artisan cooperatives and helps them identify markets for their handicrafts. Our local facilitator, Specioza, coordinates the artisans to make beautiful products – everything from jewelry to baskets – using traditional techniques and patterns.   

A Funny Thing Happened...

A week or so before I arrived in Kigali, Johannes was here by himself. One morning, a woman approached him outside our apartment building and asked if he needed a cook. He didn’t want to be rude, so he came up with what seemed like a legitimate excuse. “No, I’m sorry – my wife is coming next week, and she’ll take care of the kitchen.” Haha, yeah right! ; ) 

The slogan of the National Institute of Statistics: “If you don’t count, you don’t count!” Shout out to Prof. Zeevi at CBS! : )

One day while doing a short-term assignment at the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), I brought a box of chocolates to share with my colleagues after lunch. One of the women was very excited about the chocolate, and she started reciting a Rwandan proverb in Kinyarwanda. Her colleague politely translated for me: “When the rain falls, it falls again.” After pondering for a moment, I ventured, “Ah, so what she is trying to say is that I should bring chocolate again, right?” “YES!” they all exclaimed.

The price of a normal-sized box of Kellogg’s Mini Wheats at the nearby Nakumatt grocery store: $16!

So plastic bags are not allowed in Rwanda, which helps make this a very clean country. (Between you and me, I snuck a few in – my shoes were packed in them!) The grocery stores offer brown paper bags, for example, but sometimes you just need a plastic bag, right? Yet Rwanda takes this law so seriously that even plastic trash bags are outlawed. Yes, this means we throw our trash directly into the trash can – craziness, right? Luckily, our cleaning lady takes care of the mess that ensues.

One day at MINAGRI, we were approaching the deadline for my report, and I was getting frustrated about delays in obtaining the information I needed from my colleagues. In a moment of exasperation, I lamented to one colleague, “When you Rwandans say that something will be ready in 5 minutes, you actually mean one hour!” Without a moment’s hesitation, he responded with, “Yes, we’re sorry,” apologizing for all of his countrymen in one fell swoop.

The name of a restaurant near the Bourbon Coffee in MTN Centre that we haven’t yet been brave enough to try: Dolphin Seafood!

Johannes and I were shopping at Nakumatt, and we were contemplating purchasing a loaf of bread at the bakery counter. Johannes inquired, “What kind of bread is that?” pointing to a loaf on the shelf. The man working there pondered for a moment, and then responded, “It’s brown inside.” Hmmm, very helpful information! We bought the loaf of bread anyway, and it was pretty good! : )

The price of a box of Snickers ice cream bars at the nearby Nakumatt grocery store: $20!

Earlier this week Johannes and I went out to dinner with our friends Diego and Lewis. We each took turns ordering our drinks – a small beer for each of us. The waiter arrived shortly thereafter with TWO bottles for each of us. We were all quite puzzled until Lewis explained that, in the Burundian tradition, it is polite to bring two bottles when someone orders a small beer. In a sense, it’s like that old Lay’s potato chips commercial: “No one can eat [drink] just one!” The unfortunate aspect of their hospitality is that the second beer gets warm in the meantime, but oh well!

The Magic of Nyungwe Forest

Johannes and I had the most amazing weekend in Nyungwe National Park in southwestern Rwanda! We departed Kigali on Friday morning after depositing my first Rwandan paycheck and eating a delicious breakfast at Bourbon Coffee. After about two hours on the road, we stopped in Butare at the National Museum of Rwanda, which was really impressive. Everything is described in English, in addition to Kinyarwanda and French, so we learned all about population density, climate, traditional farming and hunting techniques, old-fashioned dwellings, jewelry, musical instruments, etc. Also in Butare, we stopped for delicious coffee ice cream at Inzozi Nziza (“sweet dreams”), an ice cream shop started by the women who own the Blue Marble ice cream shops in Brooklyn, NY. Inzozi Nziza is run by a women’s cooperative, and the members become shareholders and receive training in English, computing, and hospitality. To read more about this cool social enterprise, check out www.bluemarbledreams.org.

We all scream for ice cream!

The drive from Butare to Nyungwe National Park offers breath-taking views of rolling hills checked in red soil and bright green fields of banana trees, tea plants, and other crops. As one enters the park, the roads get worse but the views get even better. Johannes drove slowly, so we could spot blue monkeys (they’re not actually blue – that’s just their name!) and mountain monkeys (which have white beards) along the way. We also caught a glimpse of the marshy area where elephants use to roam freely. The Kamiranzovu trail (meaning “sinking elephants” because sometimes the animals would be swallowed alive in the swamps!) offers the most sightings of orchids (Nyungwe boasts 150+ different species of orchids alone!) and three-horned chameleons – we hope to try this trail on our next visit! 

Beautiful tea plantations with Nyungwe Forest in the background

A mountain monkey!

Eventually, we arrived at Nyungwe Forest Lodge – the five-star resort where we would spend the weekend. Johannes and I had planned this excursion to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of when we first got together, so we decided to splurge! And oh, was it worth it! : )  The lodge is situated on the western end of the national park amid rolling hills of tea plantations. We were greeted with passion fruit cocktails and escorted to our gorgeous room with a balcony that looked out onto the forest. Later in the weekend we would even see mountain monkeys swinging in the trees from our balcony!

Our room was one of four in this chalet looking onto the forest

Nyungwe is the largest mountainous rainforest in all of Africa covering more than 1,015 sq km, and there are so many different activities – everything from tracking chimpanzees to hiking to the source of the Nile – that it’s almost impossible to decide what to do. Saturday morning – after eating breakfast on the sunlit terrace at the lodge – we headed off on a 3.5 hour hike with our guide. The hike was wonderful and included spectacular views of massive mahogany trees and blue monkeys jumping from branch to branch, as well as a brief visit to the brand new canopy walk (which isn’t officially open yet) located 150 meters up in the air. I also learned a new word – “igishigishigi” – which means “fern” in Kinyarwanda and is so fun to say.

Johannes on the brand new canopy walk!

A view of the canopy from below - "like rivers in the sky," said our guide.

A blue monkey jumping from tree to tree

Back at the lodge, we enjoyed a three-course lunch, complete with a delicious salad that Johannes and I each inhaled, and then took a dip in the infinity pool which looked out onto the forest. We ended the evening with another three-course meal – the best I’ve had since arriving in Rwanda – including medium-rare filet mignon, red wine from South Africa, and malva pudding for dessert.

On Sunday, we headed out for another hike – this time on the Isumo (“waterfall”) trail. The hike originates in the middle of the Gisakura tea plantation and ends with spectacular views of a waterfall. Ultimately though, the highlight of the hike was actually when we were driving back and ran smack into a group of Ruwenzori colobus monkeys. Usually one has to get up very early and pay quite a bit of money to track them, but we were lucky enough to see them just like that. These black and white monkeys are habituated, so we were able to get really close and watch them play, wrestle, and even make monkey love.

Johannes and Ginger at the waterfall!

Gorgeous ferns everywhere!

Colobus monkeys up close and personal

It is difficult to describe how perfect the whole weekend was. Nyungwe is like no other place I’ve ever been, and well, the lodge was hands down the nicest place I’ve ever stayed, so it all added up to a fabulous excursion. Now Johannes and I are determined to work extra hard in Kigali and make it back for another visit before leaving Rwanda. Next time, in addition to the Kamiranzovu trail, we would like to go chimpanzee tracking – I just have to overcome my fear of setting out at 4:30 am!