This was a fun reflection activity I learned in college. To sum up our day/week, we’d give our rose (a highlight), bud (something we’re looking forward too), and a thorn (our low point). I figured this would be a concise and fun way to give updates about my experience in Rwanda.
Sunday, March 22, 2020
Rose: Because of the evacuation, most of PCVs in Africa are being consolidated in Ethiopia before flying out to Washington D.C., which means that ~3,000 of us are together. It’s been really exciting to meet other volunteers and exchanging our experiences.
Bud: Our first meal in America – Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich and a chocolate softee. Mmmmmm processed food.
Thorn: Being evacuated.
Sunday, March 15, 2020
Rose: A phone call with my dad.
Bud: In-Service Training.
Thorn: Oops. It looks like we won’t have In-Service Training this week due to COVID-19. The government has released a public notice discouraging public gatherings, looks like it’s being postponed.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
Rose: I went to my friend’s malaria campaign yesterday. We both live in the same district, which has one of the highest malaria rates in the country, so these educational events are important to support.
Bud: I’m really looking forward to In-Service Training next week. After three months of swearing in, we will all be back together again! As excited as I am to see my friends, I’m more excited to eat amazing food.
Thorn: I’ve been fighting a cold the last week.
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Rose: Seeing my mom and having her buy me good food!!
Bud: Continuing to share my life in Rwanda with her and leeching off her hotel’s hot showers.
Thorn: Saying good-bye to her in one week.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Rose: I took part in IRS! Check out my latest blog post to learn more about it! Plus I got more furniture!!
Bud: I got an email from our Training Manager in Peace Corps that the Ambassador is going to be in the Southern Region tomorrow evening. Me and few other volunteers were selected to have dinner with him!
Thorn: The weather has been irregular this week. There has been a formal weather warning from the government regarding high speed winds and lots of rain the in West, South, and East. I haven’t seen the sun since Sunday afternoon.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Rose: I celebrated my friend’s 25th birthday at her house! She’s only a 1.5 hr walk away and we celebrated by eating cheese (which is very rare here) and baked a cake (with a Peace Corps oven) which was so good!
Bud: Hopefully, a more productive week at the health center.
Thorn: An unproductive week at the health center. Some days are busier than others and I’m still trying to find my footing in my new workplace. On Monday, we saw 100+ mammas for the Fortified Blended Foods (FBF) program for thier kids – FBF is porridge (with all necessary nutrients and calories) supplemented by the government for low income families so they can feed thier kids who are under 2 years old for the First 1000 Days Program. However, I had very little work during the rest of the week.
Sunday, January 5, 2019
Rose: The highlight this past week has been celebrating the new year/decade with my friends in Huye! We went to bars and clubs and stayed out way past our bed time – at site we typically go to bed around 9p, but we stayed up so much later!
Bud: I’m turning 24 this Friday! Since my birthday is always during winter break, this will be my first one celebrating without my family.
Thorn: The plumbing was backed up (the pipes are old) and I had toilet water coming out of my shower drain. The entire situation was distusting, but it was one of my first “grown up” moments. I called the land lord and told him about the problem, then worked with plumbers for the next day to fix the problem. Reflecting on the situation, it’s quite empowering and might actually be my rose for the week.
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Rose: The highlight of my week was spending Christmas with my friends. Though it was my first Christmas away from family, I have a lot of rwander-ful friends who are going through the same thing and we took each others minds off being away from home/family. We made a lot of food, played White Elephant, and enjoyed our very hot and sunny Christmas together in the Southern Province.
Bud: Getting furniture and cooking all the food I got from the market!!
Thorn: My market is 3 miles away (roughly a one hour walk) and I got caught in the rain (it’s the heavy rainy season) and everything got wet.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Rose: Finding out that we can get one month of unlimited data for 6,000 RWF ($6) instead of 10,000 RWF ($10). It’s the small things in life.
Bud: Christmas with my friends in the region!
Thorn: I’m still trying to find my “groove” at the health center. Some days I feel like I’m dead weight and super unproductive because of the language barrier, while others seem to fly by.
Sunday, December 15, 2019
Rose: I’m an official Peace Corps Volunteer!
Bud: I start work tomorrow at the Health Center and that means that I’ll have something to keep my mind busy with.
Thorn: I’m alone at site and I’ve never felt more alone. They say that PST is the hardest part because it’s a grind, but I’m having a hard time adjusting to my new life here.
Monday, December 9, 2019
Rose: PST is officially over! I’ll miss the structure of a busy day and all of the friends I made here. We’re moving onto the next step of our PC life and to start what we came here to do.
Bud: I’m excited that we’re going to Kigali today! We’re moving to the city for the next two days where we’ll be swearing in as official Peace Corps Volunteers at the US Embassy.
Thorn: Saying good-bye to my host family. My host dad was telling me that if I have any problems I should call his family before my American family. I’ll miss them so much!!
Sunday, Novemeber 24, 2019
Rose: The highlight of my week is quite simple. A lot of my fellow volunteers have been the victims of bad food and diarrhea or the complete opposite, constipation for dayyyssss. The rose of my week (and my entire time here) has been very normal (and solid) bowel movements.
Fun fact about Peace Corps: talking about poop is very normal.
Bud: Lots to look forward to this week!! Tomorrow we’re going to an the agricultural center just outside of Kigali to learn about Rwandan agriculture so we can properly garden at our sites. AND we’re celebrating Thanksgiving this Saturday with all the volunteers by having a massive potluck. It’s quite an orchestration – we have people of baking duty, cooking duty, prep teams, clean up teams, and the (best one) turkey team. I’ll be on the turkey team!!
Here’s why I’m so excited – we kill the turkeys, defeather, gut, prep, and cook them in a pit oven overnight. I have never killed an animal and then eaten it. Since I eat meat regularly in the States, I think it’s important that I go through this process. In fact, I think most people should.
Thorn: Language is a drag.
Friday, November 15, 2019
Rose: I got my first care package and I couldn’t be happier! My parents sent some crunchy snacks and a bottle of my favorite shampoo. It’s the most unexpected things I miss from home.
Bud: Looking forward to picking up a dress from the umudozi (tailor) next week! Here, we can buy beautiful fabric and being it to them to make anything in anyway – just show them a picture and they can make it!
Thorn: I washed my jeans and because laundry machines don’t exist here, a few of knuckles were rubbed raw from it.
Friday, November 8, 2019
Rose: I have had a lot of highlights these past couple of weeks. We had a fun Halloween party and a costume contest! It was so great seeing how people dressed up with a limited wardrobe.
Bud: We’re going to Kigali tomorrow to see the Genocide Memorial. We had a very dense discussion about the events that let up to it and the aftermath, led by one of the staff who survived it. It’s not talked about but she was very open, vulnerable, and real about her experience before, during, and after the genocide that took everyone in her family.
Thorn: I’m absolutely past the honeymoon phase.
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Rose: I met a volunteer who’s in the Education cohort (ED 10) and our sites are only a 30 minute walk away! I was really nervous about being far away from everyone in my cohort (Health 11), but she’s so close!!
Bud: Everone is visiting their sites this week from 10.19-10.25. We’re all super excited to see where we’ll be for the next two years and to get a break from PST.
Thorn: I’ve been unintentionally carbo loading. The diet here is a lot of (fried) carbs. There’s a lot of rice, potato sambusas, amandazi (a hunk of fried dough), chapati (it’s like naan or pita bread).
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Rose: I had a hot bucket bath today! We don’t have hot running water, so I typically take cold ones. I don’t want to ask my host family to heat water for me since they’d have to use our charcoal or gas stove. Both of which take a lot of time and literal energy. But today we used the charcoal stove to make dinner and we used the remaining embers to heat water.
Bud: I’m really looking forward to tomorrow, Sunday! It’s our only day off during the week. We have training five days a week and language lessons six times per week. Sundays are our free days and tomorrow the other volunteers and I are going to do a data swap – share movies, e-books, and music from our hard drives.
Thorn: I’ve eaten almost all of the candy I brought for Halloween…
Update: I finished all the candy I brought the next day.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Rose: I love the food – it’s a lot of potatoes, rice, green bananas, veggies, fruit, and organic stuff. Everything is either boiled or cooked until soft.
Bud: My host mom is teaching me how to cook using everything in the market.
Thorn: I really, really miss crunchy foods…
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Rose: We met Judy Olson, the Peace Corps Director, and Peter Vrooman, the US Ambassador of Rwanda (!!!)
Bud: We learn our project sites (where we’ll be for 2 years) this Tuesday
Thorn: Waking up almost everyday at 5:30 am
Monday, September 23, 2019
Rose: I used a latrine for the first time in 5+ years.
Bud: I have lots of time to get better at using it.
Thorn: It’s a good thing I was wearing waterproof shoes.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Rose: We landed safely in Kigali and everybody’s luggage arrived and I lucked out with the aisle seat.
Bud: Kinyarwanda language lessons are fun, but challenging.
Thorn: My sleep schedule is wonky from all the traveling (DC to Ethiopia was 13 hrs, 3 hour layover in Ethiopia, and Ethiopia to Rwanda was 3 hrs. Since waking Monday morning at 4a until now, Wednesday at 9p in Kigali (which is 3p in DC) I think I managed roughly 5 hrs of sleep.
Rwandering around with Joanna 