MUSANZE
I remember waking up to the sudden halt of the car transporting us to Musanze. The driver had being going faster than the acceptable speed limit. The policemen were making road stops of drivers that were breaking the law. It feels like a dream now I said to myself. But only that this dream felt more real. We got to musanze at approximately 12:15pm. This time, I loved the house we were going to call home for the next 5 weeks. It was grand, beautiful and well kept.  During the evening we were invited to dinner with out BMET at a restaurant close our house. He introduced us to the head of hygiene at the hospital and a BMET that worked at a town (Gisenyi) an hour away from musanze. We completed the formalities of introduction and set out to order the usual Rwandan goat brochette and fries. Luckily we had a half-day off from work due to a staff meeting that would last longer that expected.
 
MONDAY
Due to a breach in communication we didn’t end up working today. We used the time to explore the town and get movies. Musanze is the second largest city in Rwanda but somehow it takes only 30mins to walk from my house to the city center. All of the city center can be covered in about an hour.  So, I didn’t necessarily find it to be my taste.  Although small, it garners the most amount of tourist in Rwanda because of the gorillas and volcanoes.
 
TUESDAY-FRIDAY
We set off to work everyday having a variety of equipment to fix. We were successful for the most part due to the lack of complex fixes to be done. I was pleasantly surprised and excited that we had to train a doctor on the use of an EKG from the 70’s.  Apart from the successes we had, Anne and I suffered from a certain type of homesickness that I can maybe associate with Nostalgia.  We craved the familiarity of a known place and friends. Thankfully the weekend approached as quickly as the week ended. We were going to be reunited with our friends again.
 
WEEKEND
We travelled to the famous city of Gisenyi to see the beautiful lake Kivu. It was Rwanda’s independence day so we decided to spend the rest of the day by the lake. Gisenyi is quite different from the rest of Rwanda. The city wore a flat terrain and it wasn’t as organized and clean. We associated the lack of Rwandan influence to nearness of the city to the Congo border. At least so the locals explained to me 

​

This week was a drag and also fun. It was all about goodbyes and well wishes. Tuesday was the last day of my French course, so we got invited for dinner and drinks with our French professor. We spoke French for the most part through the dinner. He talked a lot about the history of Rwanda and Africa as a whole.  I was particular surprised at the lack of corruption in Rwanda. From our conversations, I came to the understanding that the people of Rwanda upheld an impeccable sense of integrity.
 It was comforting to be in an African country that is still growing but moving in a positive direction compared to other African countries.
I believe this is partly because of the effects of the genocide on the country and it’s people as a whole. It was sad and brutal but it brought a whole new system of peaceful living.
We had open mic night at the schools’ canteen. We got to see the hidden talents of my fellow students. A lovely local played the guitar for us and welcomed us to Rwanda. Although we have been there for 4 weeks now.  
At this point, I am familiar with all the districts in Kigali, the best restaurants, awesome coffee shops and too much medical device information than my head can take.  We had our last hospital visit as a group on Friday and thank fully fixed an x-ray probe but wasn’t able to get the autoclave working. The biggest issue in Africa with the repair of medical devices is the lack of spare parts for the donated components.  But I’m constantly appreciative of all the learning taking place.
The weekend went by really fast. We went dancing as a group and saw some local band called URBAN BOYS. Danced all night and got ready for our trip on Sunday. Sunday was a gloom and sad day for all the participants because of the move to our respective districts. 

MY THOUGHTS SO FAR?

I love Rwanda. it is a clean city with very friendly individuals. 
she feels really safe. The food is similar across the nation, so a bit bland. 
she has a fairly good mix of african food and western food. 
The main source of income for the country is tourism and tea 
she definitely has more than a thousand hills. 

MUSANZE will give me a different perspective of rwanda

 

This has been an awesome week. I have finally traveled to all the districts in Kigali. In search of a safe haven or more like a coffee shop.  The week went by really fast. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. I refused to embark on any travels this weekend for fear that my body wouldn’t be able to take the hit.  So I stayed in town, doing what a foodie does best. EAT EAT and EAT.
I found a restaurant at a hotel in the Kamera district. I had traditional Rwandese meal of cooked bananas, rice, chicken, chips (fries) and beans. The service was great and the meal was even better.  After my meal, I went dancing with my local friend. 
Next week will be my final week in Kigali before I move to Musanze. I am really excited for the move and anxious at the same time. Musanze is located at the northern province of Rwanda. It is famously known for its gorillas, volcano and caves. I will be working at the biggest hospital that is being converted into the national district hospital of Rwanda. 

So far, my EWH family has been amazing. My host family has been more than superb. I am already getting the chills of a sad departure.
POURQUOI?
I can’t believe in such a short time we became friends and in that space we will be separated. I am constantly grateful to God for how this trip is going. 

Oh man!! The second week has come and gone. It has been so much fun getting to know Kigali
MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY
On Monday we had our usual schedule of classes and labs.
 Tuesday was rather different in the evening. I made friends with some of the locals and I decided to hangout with them.  They took me out to a local bar where we had drinks and brochette.  Brochette is a famous roasted meat(goat, fish, beef) skewer treat in Rwanda  I really wish I had a picture, but I usually just rush into my food before I remember I have to take a photo.
 I happened to have a talk with one of the locals in our group called Daniel.
Daniel told me he studied fine arts but he was now into photography.  His main area of focus is on Rwanda in the 20th century up till present day. In his own words, He felt that Africa as a whole is always represented in pictures as a continent of suffering and impoverished people.  He says that his photography focuses on the growth and strength of the nation. He strongly believed that archives should be kept for future generations to fall back on.  I was moved by this conversation partly because he saw a bright future for his country and the effort he put towards achieving this dream was impressive. Apparently, he hired cameras and travelled for hours to different parts of the country to capture this amazing side of Africa that he loves.  The night ended with lighter conversations and a tonne of laughs. I was pleased 
Wednesday: It was poker night with the locals from the college we live at. We meet some professors that taught civil engineering and we talked about the values of teaching and how it has improved their lives. We exchange some lingua in French, Kinyarwanda and English.  They were pleased to teach us a song that went like this
                     Bienvenue Bienvenue au leur payee
THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY
As usual, this was the start of the weekend for us. We ended the day by having some ice cream. I called it a night early enough tho, because I felt a bit weird. By weird I mean tired and 
Friday was a really good day. Like my roommate Maddy says, it was Great!!
We visited the hospital this week. First, we got introduced to the technicians and the director of the hospital. After that, we were divided into three groups to troubleshoot and fix some broken equipment. I was in a group that had to fix operating room lights that weren’t working.  The control board of operating room lights was broken in that capacitors and some resistors we burned out.  To fix the problem, we had to find the service manual and specification sheets from the manufacturer. Because of the limited time at the hospital, we didn’t have the chance to complete the task. We were for sure introduced to the troubleshooting process of medical devices in the developing world.

Saturday, we took a day trip to Nyungwe rain forest.  It was a 10-hour bus ride to and fro from the capital. During the trip we made a pit stop at some canteen where I finally had the best brochette ever.  It tasted so good that I bought three skewers.
Getting to the rain forest, we went on a hike down the hill to the canopy walk site. A Vancouver Canadian company built the canopy for tourist purposes in Rwanda. GO CANADA!!!!
  During the hike down, we crossed over some red ants.  Now red ants have the worst sting ever. How do I know??? Well, I was the only one in the group that managed to carry one in my socks. I obviously didn’t know this until I got to the middle of the canopy, when I felt a painful sensation. I squealed.  I will have more pictures to better yet explain what happened on saturday. 

SUNDAY
I found an awesome coffee shop in the kimihurura district called shokola. This had to be the best find of the week because my insides could finally settle into a peaceful oblivion.  I started this blog post at the coffee shop but never finished it.  We went to tiani’s and papyrus where we got coffee and Italian food.  I would highly recommend this district for anyone who loves food and coffee like me.