Safe and Sound!

I'm home! We had a full car load to see us off. Back in the USA!

Marco Abel Gamba

Wedding invitation to follow.

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Dinner!

The plates were all pretty heavy and full. Everyone came back for seconds (and sometimes thirds).
 
Pineapple, Dal, Chipate, Beans, Kuku Pilau, Curried veggies and coconut bananas and vanilla pudding with cookies for desert!

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Kids at the party

On Friday night, we had 20 of our local friends over for a dinner party. We asked our cooking class teachers make Kuku Pilau (chicken with rice pilaf) and Helima, Nini and I helped with prepare the other dishes. It was a fun night and most people had thirds. We put on the iPod and danced after dinner.
 
Helima's kids are the two in the middle and the others are neighborhood kids. Note the eating with the hands.
 
Midway through the dinner we heard a knock at the gate and a young girl entered and asked for Mwalimu (teacher). I went out and talked to her and she claimed that she had heard that Nini and I were teaching English at the Chukwani Skuli. She was upset because she wanted to participate but her classes schedule wasn't flexible. Could we start classes at 6? Unfortunately, school rooms don't have electricity and we are only here for another week; we sent her off with a notebook and pen and Obama Boy told her about a program he is creating to teach motivated students English for free.

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Party Attire!

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Bizari!

This is my favorite dish that Helima makes, curry potatoes with carrots and onions. Nzuri sana!!

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Our Chukwani House

This is where we spend most of our time!

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Juma, Daudie and Helima

Our little house family that we feel blessed to see each day.
 
We sent Juma to get a malaria test this week, sure enough he had it. Luckily, totally treatable and feeling much better since he started his medicine. Juma is quiet, sweet and charming. Daudie is hsterical and laughs at almost everything we say. We had 20 of our local friends over for dinner tonight and both Daudie and Juma danced with us.
 

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Local Shopping

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Mwalimu at the Skuli

There is a local school for 7-20 year olds right next to our house and we've started teaching English to about 25 16-20 year olds a few times a week.
A few weeks ago, I stopped by to see if it was possible to come to school one day. Shortly thereafter, we met the English teacher who spoke no English. Next, I met the school supervisor and he brought me around the school to show me all of the classrooms. All of the younger children were following us around in their formal Muslim wear and it was apparent that Mzungus weren't frequent at this school. I felt like show and tell.
The next day, Nini and I showed up with no lesson plan and no expectation of what was to come. A half hour later, we found ourselves in our own classroom with two pieces of chalk and an eraser. Even the teachers had joined to learn. Apparently we were teaching English class. The children were all very shy and the girls hid behind their headdresses when we called on them. Nini and I bounced around the room and had the kids get up and play games and practice the little English they knew. Two hours later it was getting dark and we told them we had to go. The next day we showed up and 20 minutes later our first student arrived on a bike that was too big for her. 10 minutes later a young boy and then a teacher shortly thereafter. That day we had a lot of rain so many of the students couldn't make it to school but we still held class and the kids were very engaged. At the end of class we taught them row row row your boat.
 
These kids are full of energy and are great listeners but have varying levels of English. It's quite apparent that they want to learn English and many don't get the opportunity. English is a requirement for any good job on the island so we are happy to have another week to help get them motivated. We plan to bring notebooks on Monday so that they can take notes while we teach. Nini is inspired and is talking about taking part of her allowance to sponsor one of the kids in our class.  

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Mary Hair Dressing Salon

We live on a little bumpy dirt road in a small neighborhood near the airport called Chukwani. Our neighborhood consists of a local school, a few small shops and a hair dressing salon. Nini and I have been working towards at least one cultural event every day so yesterday I offered to get a hair trim.
 
We walked down the block to the 'Mary Hair Dressing Salon' which consists of a small stone building with two white curtains that are the entrance. Upon opening the curtains, we met who we assumed was Mary and a young girl who was getting extensions put in her hair. We asked how much for a haircut and they said 10,000 shillings which is about $8 so I said, that's "gali sana and a Mazungu (white person) price" so they quickly said OK, 1,000 shillings or .80 cents. We settled.
Nini and I waited 10 minutes and I soon found myself in the salon chair. I asked mary if I need a washing or if she was going to wet my hair and she exclaimed no. Next thing I knew, she pulled my hair back into a small pony tail and cut off about 3 inches. Nini and I giggled. She then proceeded to comb my hair with a comb that was about 12 inches long and my entire hair fit in one section. It looked almost fake. She then fluffed my hair with her hands and said basi, is that enough?
I'm pretty sure this may have been Mary's first experience with a white person's hair.
 
So, my .80 haircut took about 30 seconds and it looks and feels pretty good. I gave her a 100% tip.
 
PS: On their product shelf, they had many versions of Nice and Lovely, including the famous Avocado Oil.

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Sunday

After our gorilla track, we were lucky to find ourselves at The Serena in Kigali. We went to the third floor to discover our triple was more of a single. An hour later, we were still trying to sort out a solution and Nini and I started talking to the bell boy, Sunday, while waiting for a new room. We had just gone to the local craft market so were showing him a few of the baskets that we had purchased (above).
 
We were happy with our room in the end and extremely excited to go to the well equipped, beautiful gym. 
 
We do have a gym membership on Zanzibar at one of the local hotels but only one machine (a jerky treadmill) turns on. Jumping jacks aren't highly recommended as the ceiling fans aren't far away and most likely would chop off your fingers or forehead. Although pretty minimal and basic, it's right on the beach and we've all come to love the release of going each day. Sometimes we bring our swiming suits, but the tides are so unpredictable that you can sometimes walk for miles to the water and sometimes float from the patio.

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Our Porters....

 

Sabyinyo Female...not so into Mr. Silverback

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Mr. Massive Silverback

We woke up to hot chocolate and coffee at the base of an inactive volcano in our cozy little cabin at the Sabyinyo. We weren't too concerned that it was raining so hard that we could barely hear one another talk. We grabbed a quick breakfast and slid our way over the slippery cobblestones to our car.
 
We met the rangers and other gorilla hikers at the park entrance. From there, we met Patience and Ludu who would be leading our adventure to meet the Sabyinyo family. They showed us a photo of the family members and gave us an overview on actions needed should the male silverback decided he wasn't too happy with one of us. He also casually mentioned that this silverback was over 600 pounds and the largest one in all of Rwanda. NBD. Size wise, gorillas are 3 times that of a human.
 
We hired 6 porters for $10 each, not because our packs were 3 lbs each but because they all stood at the entrance to our hike looking like their day was going to be much happier if we hired them. We were later told that most porters were once poachers and were now trained to help with restoration and longevity of the mountain gorillas. After 15 minutes, we found ourselves walking through small communities filled with kids running around in muddy torn clothing. Houses were mainly made of clay and it was apparent that most were living entirely off of the land.
 
It was muddy and when I say muddy I mean muddy. The rain was coming down hard and luckily we all were well equipped with our gear. About 40 minutes into our hike, Patience asked the porters to stay with our bags as we were about 5 minutes away. Knowing Africa time, we kept walking and were chatting when we all suddenly came to a halt. Straight ahead, I'm talking less than 5 feet, there was a massive black wet furry gorilla who was looking straight at me. I didn't even have to ask, this was THE silverback of the group. Patience made a low growl to let them know we were there and they didn't reply. We were told this was a good sign. They had told us we would be 3 car lengths away and I was counting less than a large bumper.
 
My eyes felt like they were bulging out of my head and I couldn't even grab my camera I was so stunned. Was he going to take off his gorilla suit soon? Why was he staring at me? Would he want to persuade me to stay and be one of his harem? I don't know how this was possible, but the rain started to pour down even more and Mr. Silverback closed his eyes because apparently 6 American females were quite uneventful and boring. Two minutes later, he turned his massive body so that we could only see his broad silverback. Four other gorillas were with him, a baby and a few females but he was by far the most entertaining. At one point, he growled out a 'wanna mate' to one of the she gorillas and she replied, 'no way' or maybe 'I'm too tired.' This is what our guide told us. Right before we left, Mr. Silverback hopped up on his hind legs and lept 10 feet to be closer to the rest of his family. He was so quick and MASSIVE.
 
It was a very quick but amazing and memorable hour.

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Hutsu vs. Tutsi

Habyarimana was the Rwandan Hutsu president who was in office in April, 1994. When his plane was shot down, (still unconfirmed who's to blame but most claim it was Tustsi rebels) a 100 day mass genocide took over the country. Years of segregation between the lower class Hutsu and upper class Tutsi caused tension and eventually led to one of the worst mass massacres in recent history. Hutsus killed around 1 million Tutsis in the matter of 100 days, many times children, neighbors, friends and often times their own family members (those who married Tutsis). Over 15% of the Tutsi population was irradicated which would be the equivalent of all of the black people that we have in the US.
 
The genocide museum walks you through the build up of tension between the groups and holds relics of the victims including clothes, bones and individual pictures. It also holds over 258,000 people in a mass grave. The torch outside the museum (above) burns every year, starting April 7, for the 100 days of genocide and is a memory and tribute to those killed and to their families.
 
Most people from Rwanda confirm that they either have a victim or perpetrator in their family. Despite their devastating history of genocide and segregation, the city of Kigali thrives and the current government is all about the people and the economy is thriving. Luckily, social classes no longer distinguish the people of Rwanda.

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Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge

This is the lodge where we stayed to track the Sabyinyo gorilla family.

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Kigali, Rwanda

Before heading North for the weekend, we spent a few hours in the city of Kigali and were all quite surprised (actually shocked) by its beauty and apparent booming economy. The city of Kigali, the famous host of Hotel Rwanda, is clean, green, radiant and one of the nicest cities in Africa I have visited. The city spans over gorgeous rolling green hills filled with modern well sized houses and tall buildings . Of course, slums still exist but for the most part the city is well kept and quite impressive. The locals claim that Kigali has changed drastically because of the strong supportive government, which recently implemented a community service day once a month to clean up the city and unite the community.
 
Rwanda's turbulent history was displayed at the Genocide Museum, which was absolutely heartbreaking but amazing.
 

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The Rainy Season

The waters of Zanzibar are filled with a variety of boats, including the amazingly huge dhows and the small island hoppers. This is a photo taken from a gorgeous lunch spot, Archipelago, which serves the most delicious coconut bread.
 
Dad, I took this photo for you!

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