This week we saw the completion of the first real knitted goods, prepared for cooperative elections, made new friends, and felt the impending nostalgia of being halfway done…
On Monday we had a training in Cyaruzinge, during which we brought along an Italian public health worker named Sergio. Sergio is a delightful guy who appears content to hop in on day-to-day HDI happenings, as they may be potential partners for his associated NGO in Sweden. He felt keen to explore Cyaruzinge: one fond memory of this day involved seeing Sergio shuffle around a corner into the training space, shortly followed by approximately thirty schoolchildren echoing the now-normal “Umuzooooooongoooo!” Looking startled, he cried (with an Italian lilt), “I should not have left.”
It was a frustrating day in the field for Hannah and Connor, but the women made a good amount of progress on their knitting skills, which is holistically rewarding.
In our training notes we have written, “Angelique [one of the Cyaruzinge women] wore vegetables in her hair today as curlers. That was cool.”
We later debriefed training, transcribed notes, added new information to our cooperative structure document, and worked on a Nourish blog.
Later on in the day we got our expat fix at SoleLuna trivia night, then we discovered a Rwandan supermarket called Simba (I know what you’re thinking and, yes, like Simba from the Lion King. Though technically Simba is the Swahili word for Lion. Everything is coming together.).
On Tuesday we figured we might as well get some sweet visas so that we can stay in the super cool country of Rwanda, so we headed to the immigration office to get a “Special Pass for Special People” (that’s a Ronah quote) with Kagaba (the Executive Director of HDI). There, we learned that a Special Pass allows us to stay in the country for three months and that we need various paper work, including a CV, passport photos, a bank invoice, and a letter of invitation from Kagaba. Let it be known that the information online regarding this process was substantially different from what we learned at the office.
We spent the rest of the day running around the town of Kigali with growling bellies trying to get all of those things; we were surprisingly successful! We later met up with two UNC students, Muad and Saskia, who are also working in Kigali at the Ministry of Health which, believe it or not, is right next to HDI. Muad is an undergrad senior, and Saskia is a Masters student in the Gillings School of Public Health. They are both helping to document the progress the ministry has made on e-Health, a health information technology. Pretty cool.
A little later, we headed to an authentic Rwandan restaurant/bar called Stone House where we celebrated our houseboy Theó’s birthday. Christian, the boy who comes over for dinner about twice a week, came with us too and had a good time getting hyper from Fantas and chasing cats. Rachel had an omelet with french fries in it (whaaaaaaaat). As the check came, Olivier, one of Julie’s friends who is Rwandese but went to school in Florida, figured out that the waiter had overcharged us in almost every way possible. Olivier proceeded to argue with the waiter in Kinyarwanda for a decent bill and later told us that waiters in Rwanda frequently rip people off. Theó was thankful for his birthday dinner, even when we later pressured him into eating way too much chocolate cake.
On Wednesday, we got to the office bright and early, printed our CVs, and departed for the immigration office with our bff Ronah around ten. We went home for lunch and then trained in the community for a couple hours in the afternoon. Rachel and Sarah continued to develop ribbing skills and moving women over to DPNs. On the business side, Hannah and Connor talked with Adelfin and Claudine about how they wanted to structure the upcoming elections. They also received a fat stack of cooperative structure documents—entirely written in Kinyarwanda of course—to translate and base trainings upon. After the field, we spent some time at Bourbon, the Rwandan equivalent of Starbucks that has pretty decent wifi for the price of a cup of coffee or tea. We then went home where we hung out with Julie, Olivier, and Erigs, the Rastafarian rapper we mentioned in our Mt. Kigali post.
On Thursday, our go-go-go life caught up to us. After waking up in the wee hours of the morning the last few days, we gave ourselves the morning off to sleep and showed up to work well-rested at 10… 10:30… 11am.
Ronah gave us a project to complete: the COPHAD monthly report. The power was out at the office so we relocated to the Umuzungu heaven of ABC Bagel, also known as J. Lynn’s. Their everything bagel with fresh veggies is to die for, as is their chocolate chunk bagel with cream cheese. It was a most comfortable environment for an afternoon of productivity.
Our co-worker Claude had invited us to his sister-in-law’s wedding, so as the workday came to a close and we finished the report, we headed with Claude to the Kimironko market to rent some appropriate wedding clothes.
We arrived and he informed us we had to make a quick detour. Without explaining where we were going, he led us around a couple twists and turns and dropped us off at his sister-in-law’s signing ceremony.
We had no idea what a signing ceremony was, but it was immediately evident that we were a little out of place…even beyond the obvious differences that make us stand out everywhere in Rwanda. While those around us were dressed to the nines in suits and formal dresses, we ruefully glanced down at our t-shirts and tennis shoes and felt our backpacks grow a little heavier on our shoulders. Said clothes felt even shabbier as we were seated, mid-way through the ceremony, at the front of the room. Connor found himself, no joke, less than three feet away from the bride and facing the rest of the people gathered there to celebrate.
As soon as we sat down, Claude, who brought us, peaced out (#whereisclaude). He didn’t show back up until the ceremony was already over. So there we were, about as subtle as, well, Americans at a Rwandan wedding, with no clue what was going on.
So what is a signing ceremony? Well, turns out it’s where the bride and groom decide which college they will attend to play basketball. They have a big press conference and their parents wear shirts with their faces printed on them. If they suck they probably go to Duke, but otherwise they choose Carolina. Everyone goes home happy.
Errr…at least that’s what we thought a signing ceremony was. Turns out it’s a ritual where the bride and groom sign their formal/legal marriage contract. They sign the forms and then there is a small celebratory meal with close friends, family, and the occasional [un]invited Umuzungu. They hired someone to film it and some members of the family gave speeches. One speech was at least fifty percent about welcoming us Umuzungus to the ceremony and telling us how welcome we were to be there. Both touching and more than a little uncomfortable.
The atmosphere bellied the formality of the occasion, and as the couple sat regally at the front, the TVs in the restaurant were blasting DJ Snake and Lil Jon singing “TURN DOWN FOR WHAT??(!!)” as women danced provocatively on screen.
We were fed a nice meal, the bride and groom came over and introduced themselves to us, and the event was over.
Right on cue, Claude showed back up. This is an astoundingly regular occurrence. We went and rented wedding clothes: the girls paid about 6000 Rwf ($8.70 USD) for traditional Rwandan clothes, while Connor paid 10000 ($14.50) to rent a suit. Strangely, or perhaps subconsciously, the girls chose respective outfits in red, white, and blue. ‘Merica.
On Friday we had a productive training. One of our superstar knitters, Tuyishimere, finished an awesome blue and white hat! Everyone present was cheering her on, and there are some pretty quality photos of her giggling as she models the hat (see below). YAY. On the business side, Connor and Hannah talked to Providence, who asked them if they could provide a training to the cooperative, educating them about what exactly a cooperative is; this seemed a bit odd. We’ve been coming into a greater realization that communication within the cooperative is subpar at best. Many of the women do not understand their own rules and regulations.
In talking with Providence and consulting with the cooperative members at large, we were able to decide on a date for the upcoming election, as well as a preliminary time to speak with the cooperative about what a cooperative is and how they can best (?) make decisions about who they elect.
We returned to the HDI office for Fanta Friday, which is essentially office bonding time organized by Kaleigh. Kaleigh’s activity was to tape a piece of paper to our backs, and everyone was to write nice, anonymous comments. The variety of comments was, well, hilarious (especially because of language barriers). Pictures should be below.
After Fanta Friday, Hannah and Sarah went for an hour-long run, at one point joined by a man in a button down shirt, and happily showered for the first time in a while (due to water shortages, we’re not that gross). They then had a Korean food feast, the spicy parts of which they brought back for Rachel and Connor who had a significantly less ambitious afternoon/evening full of sleep. We went to sleep early, heeding warnings about the lengthy Rwandan wedding that we were to attend the next morning. More to come on that!
Trainings
In the past week have seen a transition in the pace and style of knitting trainings. Now that more women are moving from knitting flat swatches of yarn to creating hats on double pointed knitting needles, progress is more noticeable, which can be both good and bad. This is great in the sense that it allows us to see how the women are progressing and where they are in need of assistance.
The completion of the first hat was a big milestone for the project, not necessarily because it was sellable (there’s still work to be done) but because it is a concrete reminder of what the women can accomplish and how the work they’re putting in three days a week can pay off.
Now we are transitioning into more of an advising role, allowing us to sit with the women more and allow them to take on roles in helping each other master the skills. This also gives us hope for project sustainability, as the transference of skills can pass along the chain of women.
What is more, this week we had the chance to sit down with Claude and speak more with Adelfin and Claudine about the nature of transition between the old cooperative leadership structure and the new one. They are planning to have elections a week from this upcoming Monday, during which they will elect seven leadership positions. The nature of these positions is detailed in a packet of information they gave to us from one of their Kigali City Council trainings, which we are currently trying to translate from Kinyarwanda. We don’t want to relay any conflicting information, so it will certainly be a challenge to communicate the nuances of what it means to “be a cooperative,” to stress the values of collective ownership and introduce the concepts of dividing labor in such a way as to allow the women time to decide who they want to elect.
We’ll keep you updated as to how this curriculum/communication process goes. Be on the lookout for a post about our weekend spent at a Rwandan wedding!