Refugee Camp Visit

The Disease Prevention Control (DPC) unit of WHO works in collaboration with UNHCR and other UN agencies to address the refugee situation in Rwanda. A couple of weeks ago, I attended an emergency meeting with my DPC supervisor at the UNHCR office to discuss the budget for emergency funds that UN headquarters had agreed to provide to help the refugee situation in Rwanda. I had expressed interest in going to see at least one camp because I think I had to see the refugee situation to fully understand the magnitude of the problem.

We took a trip to Nkamira transit camp in the western province of Rwanda. The refugees in this camp are mainly from D.R Congo and have fled because of the unstable conditions mainly in the part of DRC closest to Rwanda. The camp is set up as a transit camp where initial waves of refugees are received and later on sent to the various established camps located around the country. However, Rwanda is a small country and the issue of land is a bit problematic so some of the refugees at this transit centre have been there longer than expected.

We entered the camp gates and immediately my heart sank just seeing all these innocent children who had been displaced with their families. We went into to see the resident physician to talk to him and learn about healthcare within the camp and the type of activities that other agencies conduct to keep the camp running.

There were bout 9000 refugees at this site with one resident physician and 5 trained nurses. They also had community health workers comprised of refugees who had been in nursing school or were midwives, etc who aided the nutritionist in distributing the food and followed up on those who were recovering from illness.

The agencies concerned each had activities planned. Save the Children was holding a meeting with some of the youth. The morning sessions for family planning and antenatal clinic, held by the nurses had already taken place. UNICEF also had activities but we were told more of the activities such as educational activities for the children took place at the established camps.

We decided to walk through the camp. The children were playing and going about their lives as normal. Some of the mothers were cooking and others were washing clothes. One young lady was kind enough to bring us into her tent to show us her living space, which wasn’t much.

I thought to myself, in a parallel world, I could have been the one in that situation. My emotions went from elation from seeing the President to just sorrow to witness first hand the effects of war on people, especially women and children.

The drive to Gisenyi (where we lodged) was a rather quiet one. I was angry and sad at the same time. Angry at the fact that in this day and age people still fight and the ones who suffer are the innocent. Sad because no one should live in such conditions—to be forced out of your birthplace to another in a bid to survive is inhumane.

Gisenyi borders DRC—the border is pretty much a fence. We were starring right into DRC and saw people going through border control to enter Rwanda.

Seeing the Lake Kivu made me smile (must be my love of water growing up by the coast). Carmen and I just took the time to absorb the scenery and the calmness of it all and reflect on the instability going on right across the fence.

We spent the night at Lake Kivu Serena Hotel. The view in the morning was breathtaking!! I took this time to reflect on how God has been good to us on this trip. Two months ago, if I didn’t envision that I would come to Rwanda to meet the U.N Sec. Gen, the World Bank President and the President of Rwanda! But this has indeed been a true blessing in disguise. This holistic experience will forever be remembered and cherished.

 On our way back to Kigali, we passed by the camp to see if we could catch any on going activity. A little party was taking place as the contract of Save the Children had ended. To bid goodbye, a celebration was organized. The children were getting ready to recite poems, sing and of course dance. Children always seem to bring out the best in every situation—in the midst of everything that they have been through; they were having a good time! That put a smile on my face J.

View of the camp

Food supplement for the children

Sunset over Lake Kivu; Congo in the background

L-R: Dr. Andre (head of WHO DPC), Carmen, myself, Peter (WHO driver)

Our view from our hotel balcony in the morning

Lake Kivu Serena Hotel 

                                      

Save the Children party

More of the hills close by the DRC border

Kwita Izina--Gorilla naming ceremony

Up until 2 weekends ago, I didn’t know that the gorilla naming ceremony was a big deal in Rwanda. Before I came to Rwanda, I was always on Google trying to find out what other tourists had done. Visiting the gorillas seemed to be one of the number one things so I told Carmen we were definitely going to see these mountain gorillas that are unique to this region. When we were told how much it cost to see the gorillas we crossed that from the checklist.

So when I heard how big of an event Kwita Izina was, I really wanted to go in hopes of catching a glimpse of the gorillas. We later learnt that the gorillas are not present at this event but we still decided it would be nice to partake in this tradition of naming newborn gorillas.

The itinerary said the program was to start at 8:30am so we left at 6:30am. No one warned us that it was going to be cold at the location. By the end of the day I could barely feel my toes.

The drive up to Musanze had the most beautiful scenery ever! Indeed this is the land of a thousand hills! Hills were just emerging all over the countryside and the little farms on the hills looked like beautiful patchwork. We could see the volcanoes behind the even location.

It was very a colourful lively ceremony with music performances by local stars and traditional dance performances by the National Ballet. In attendance were many dignitaries including the Prime Minister of Rwanda and the esteemed gorilla namers who came from all walks of life.

A reception followed the event and we were able to snag a couple of pictures with some of the celebrities that were present.

It was an amazing experience to be part of a tradition deeply embedded in the Rwandan culture. 

The gorillas that were named

Traditional dancing (Intore) by the National Ballet

Trying to capture the volcano

With Ramsey Noah (Nigerian actor)

Entrance to the event..trying to capture the volcano in the background

One of the namers

             

                                   

                                          Humans dressed in gorilla suits

With Isaiah Washington

Scenery from our drive

One Month Mark

I would like to start by apologizing for not having blogged in a while. Coupled with work and our internet airtime running out, our access to internet has been kind of limited. However, a lot has happened!

Last Wednesday was our one month mark in Rwanda!! Time flies really quickly, especially now that we are beginning to feel more at home.

It has been all work over here with some exciting weekend adventures. We celebrated World Environment day in Rwanda June 5th. The One UN family here got together a challenge dubbed, "Greening the Blue". This was a competition between all UN agencies to determine which agency was the greenest. We had to participate in community clean-up exercises around our office compounds and submit photos of us working as evidence. Our Greening the Blue challenge culminated in a panel discussion last Thursday, June 6th. The theme for the panel discussion was "Think. Eat. Save", with UNDP putting together a documentary about food wastage in Rwanda, the problem of stunted growth (because of poor nutritional choices), as well as the issue of food security. It was a very insightful discussion with our agency heads, representatives from the Rwandan government and the head chef of the hotel our celebration took place at.

Following our panel discussion, we had cocktails, a live band and even a song performance by the Greening the Blue team (they didn't sound too terrible). WHO placed 10th in the challenge (we celebrated with pride---at least we weren't in the last position)! Overall it was a fun celebration and it was nice to see colleagues partying and having a good time.

We finally met some young people from the other UN agencies!! They invited us to come out Friday night to experience Kigali night life. Friday night started out with a concert by Gaël Faye and his band "Milk, Coffee and Sugar". I must say I was wowed by his music and the other performers. The concert begun by spoken word performances--though it was in French, it was still deep! Faye, a Franco-Rwandese living in Paris now sang about his life in Bujumbura, the effects of genocide, his desire to return to his mother's land (Rwanda), the self-identity struggles of growing up in Paris post-genocide, among many other conscious matters. I was awed by his performance, though I was sometimes lost because he was spitting out his French at a rate that I couldn't understand. My favorite song out of his performance was "Pili Pili sur un croissant au Beurre." In this song he refers to his mother as "Pili Pili" (hot pepper, a delicacy in Rwanda) and his dad as the "Croissant au Beurre". It was a deep love tale about his Rwandese mother trying to escape the war of Rwanda and his French dad trying to escape the routine tiresome life of France to live in Africa. Their lives intertwined in Bujumbura, Burundi (where Faye grew up). They eventually left for Paris but his dad always had a desire to move back whilst his mother never wanted to return. As a child, he was caught up in this realm of uncertainty of not knowing whether to accept his new life in Paris and never look back or to embrace his heritage and return to Rwanda.

The concert was followed by a trip to a local bar/restaurant, Rosty's. It seemed like half of Kigali city was there toasting to the end of a fruitful or maybe unfruitful week of handwork! It was interesting to hear the dj switch between hip hop songs, azonto music, reggae and then traditional Rwandan music. It was such a sight to watch how everyone was intensely dancing to the traditional calming music of Rwanda in a bar!! The night ended with meeting up more friends at another hangout spot, Papyrus (a restaurant with a nightclub in the basement). Most of the people who had been at the concert earlier on came to finish partying here and we got to meet more young people with several organizations. It was just refreshing to socialize and meet all these people.

Saturday night, we endeavored on a nyamachoma (grilled goat meat) hunt. We decided to pass by KGL, a fast food joint we had visited a couple of weeks ago. After sitting there for an hour, the waitress told us they needed another hour to finish the food. Clearly, "Fast" needs to be taken out of the name of this restaurant. Not knowing where else to go, except our usual lunch place, we walked about 15minutes to the main road to take the local bus in the direction of our restaurant and got a burger to eat (soo American of us)!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have met a lot of young people within the UN who are effecting change within the organization and the community at large. My desire to work within the UN has reached an ultimate high. I had been pondering over what I could do  with the skills I am learning from this internship to make an impact in my country and the African continent at large. I was chatting with a friend yesterday about my experiences here, my project with WHO and the need of revival in the African continent. In the middle of the conversation he asked "My question to you personally is how are you going to play a role in this revival? What is going to be your stamp on life?" I normally don't have such deep conversations with him--it's always laughter and jokes. But this time around he got me thinking. At the end of the day, we acquire degrees behind our names and boast of our intelligence and what organizations and institutions we are affiliated with. But what will we be remembered by? If the future generation were to look back in time, what would be Efua's mark on this planet earth and in the continent of Africa? My dream has always been to be a doctor and save people's lives. My desire now goes beyond providing remedies for ailments. My desire is: to be the change that Africa needs; to be a leader; to help change the stagnant mindset of my people; to be the best that I can be and to help other Africans realize that they have been called to excellence so mediocrity, corruption and the excuse "This Is Africa" will be a thing of the past.

Africa is the Future. World Health is my Stamp. What is your stamp in life?

Greening the Blue meeting

Hotel Lemigo (venue for Greening the Blue meeting)

Greening the Blue cocktail

UN karaoke 

Traditional dancing at Rosty's

Milk, Sugar & Coffee concert

Gaël Faye and his band

Auditorium after the concert

Picture taken somewhere in the neighborhood

Touching tribute to Rwanda by Gaël Faye :)---for your listening pleasure