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