Rwanda--an experience. *Chronicles of a West African in Kigali*: Visit of a lifetime

Before I actually start this entry I would like to thank the makers of smart phones and Google Maps because it has helped us find places in this city (round of applause for Google Maps)!!

Last week was indeed a long week! I don't even know where to start (but I guess I should start from somewhere).

We haven't conquered our morning tasks of trekking up our 2 hills to get to work--but at least we are getting our daily dosage of cardiac workouts. Although, I think whenever we stop midway and are out of breath and panting, passerby's probably wonder "What in the world is wrong with these two girls?".

But anyway, back to the long week issue.

A non-communicable diseases (NCDs) survey was carried out in the earlier part of this year. The data analysis was started the first week of our internship. Since most of the data analysis is important in the field of epidemiology, my supervisor asked me to join him in the data analysis process which is going on. It has been a pretty interesting experience so far to work in collaboration with Ministry of Health, CDC and RBC (Rwandan Biomedical Center). My week was spent with the different collaborators reading through tables of results and helping with the interpretations of the data. Hopefully when this report gets published, our names will be featured as contributors (wishful thinking maybe?).

The highlight of this internship by far was actually meeting the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon and the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim. They arrived in Kigali Thursday night and met with the head of agencies and Pres. Kagame. Since their time was limited, a staff general meeting was scheduled for 7am Friday morning (way too early--7am is when I start thinking of waking up lol). They both had interesting points to raise in terms of peace in the Great Lakes region, as well as the importance of collaborative work between all UN agencies and the World Bank. They both were actually funny individuals which made their talk even more interesting to listen to. They were both impressed by development efforts in Rwanda and commended the agencies on their hard work towards working as a one UN. Since they were enroute to Uganda, questions were limited and the meeting ended at 9am. Life bounced back to normal immediately after with myself and Carmen going back to our rendez-vous spot to work more on our NCDs survey. Many key players were present at this gathering, including the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes Region, Mary Robinson (former Irish President).

After work, we ventured into the centre ville (downtown) to window shop at the grocery shops (but we actually ended up buying some amazing pastries from Simba supermarket) as well as visiting Nakumatt (your one-stop grocery shop) and lastly, an African shop to purchase some Rwandese souvenirs. A much needed night of sleeping was far from the question. It was Ama's last night in Rwanda so we just stayed up chatting and goofing around.

Saturday, we could barely wake up. Well, turns out that we missed out on Umuganda--communal cleaning. Every last Saturday of the month, members of the community come out to clean their surroundings! How neat is that? So this is a custom that goes way back in the history/culture of Rwanda that has been preserved. If all other African countries could adopt this, it would be utterly amazing (I'll keep praying for that)!

The rest of the weekend was pretty much just spent relaxing with church service on Sunday as usual. I met more Ghanaians which made me pleasantly surprised.

Tomorrow will be the beginning of another looooonnnnggg week. I cannot believe the weekend is over already :(.

I wish you all a blessed and productive week! :)