Dispatch from Middle Earth

Today marks three years of marriage for Campbell and me. Remarkably, our anniversary has sparked a huge celebration across the country! The entire country has declared a holiday, and people everywhere have taken to the streets to observe our special day with singing, chanting, and whistles! It’s quite an honor really.

Okay, so they are actually out protesting the ongoing controversy surrounding the arrest of Rose Kabuye. All the businesses are closed, and thousands of people are marching through the streets across the city. The U.S. Embassy has advised that we generally keep a low profile, but everything is very orderly and peaceful. (Don’t worry, Mom…there’s no danger). The emotions around this case are deep-seated. These protests have provided an interesting window into the deep, strong feelings that persist from the genocide, lurking beneath the surface.

The whole Rose incident actually deserves a more thorough post (as does the story of my participation in the protests, which is really very funny). I’m sorry that our computer problems have prevented me from sharing more information, but the following article captures many of the key details and why it matters:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kinzer14-2008nov14,0,2297389.story

Campbell shared a bit about our trip up to the Northern Province of Rwanda. Musanze may well be the most beautiful place I’ve ever been (click on the pictures for more amazing views). We spent the afternoon at the Virunga lodge, a super high-end retreat ($1,000/night!) that is perched on top of a mountain. One side of the mountain looks down onto a huge crystal lake, while the other side faces a series of volcanic mountains. It is truly spectacular. We hiked for a few hours (I kept waiting to find Frodo, Gandalf, and co. coming around the bend) before enjoying dinner in this magical spot.The drive up to Virunga took us through several rural villages where we encountered waves of children that would run after our car, laughing and calling out, “Muzungu, muzungu!” I don’t think this will ever get old; just thinking about it makes me smile!

Faces

I have to apologize for the lack of postings these days.  Our brand new computer (two weeks old!) has completely crashed so we're fairly limited in good internet access without a laptop to haul to one of the hotels around here.

  
Dan and I've just returned from a fun weekend in Musanze with a group from the US.  They're fantastic people! While in Musanze, we had the chance to visit the new Kids Across Africa (Kanukuk folks) camp site...We drove there in two cars over bumpy roads and weren't at the site for more than three minutes when children from every hill came running as fast as they could down to see the crazy Americans.  

Dan is spending his days working with Francis Gatare and Joe Ritchie at the Rwanda Development Board.  He's meeting with potential investors in Rwanda, writing press releases, giving his two cents where appropriate, and generally helping where he can.  The work is hard, fun, frustrating, gratifying, and tiresome.  All in all, though, he's able to help the people of this country in a strategic way and for that, he's grateful.

My job at the bank has been put on hold for a little while until the new CEO gets here in February.  This has been somewhat disappointing but... Francis Gatare articulated to me that the biggest hospital in the country, King Faisal Hospital, needs a serious communications plan. They need help communicating to the world what they're capable of and generally communicating to each other within the walls of the hospital.  I've agreed with the humbling notion that I'm not an expert in hospital administration.  I am thrilled, though, for the opportunity to help the healthcare in the country in some small way.

Now for the title of this entry.  We've come to form sweet friendships with some good friends here in Kigali.  

Chantal helps at the house--she cooks, cleans, but mostly answers my ridiculous questions about everything Rwandan.  She's become a close friend.  She's my age, had four children but now has three, and I love her.

Samuel is our trusted taxi driver.  He has one daughter (who's nine--she's studying computers and is SMART!). Samuel also answers all of Dan's and my questions about everything Rwandan and transports us places until we get a car.  

Tom Allen is our den dad.  He tells us answers to questions we didn't even know we had.  He's the one in an earlier entry that I talk about--that big-time LA attorney who quit his life in Hermosa Beach to move to Rwanda.  

Enoch.  I haven't even met Enoch yet, but he's Chantal's little boy.  He hadn't ever killed a chicken before (and hadn't eaten chicken in 3 years) until this photo was taken a few weeks ago. We sent our camera home with Chantal to capture the momentous occasion.

Domasin is the gardener/guard/everything else guy.  He knows everything.  Last week when Dan ran out of the house to protest Rose Kabuye's arrest in Germany (this is definitely another whole entry) Domasin knew where Dan was, what was happening, and who everyone was protesting against.  Domasin and Chantal were also the ones who saw Dan's face on TV that night and told us about it the next day.  One more thing about Domasin--he hates the chickens in the yard. He's tied a cord around one of their feet so he can catch them easily when they're digging up something (like our newly-planted herbs).  We see Domasin running across the yard chasing the chickens at least 4 times a day. 

I think that's all for now.  There are so many more faces to post... We'll be doing that in the next few days so friends can see the dynamic folks we're here with.

Murabeho,
Campbell