I am a refugee resettlement case worker at a local agency in Buffalo

June 20, 2019

Back in America and reflections

Well, it is Thursday and I have been back in Buffalo for several days now. I would have written a bit earlier but I came down with a stomach bug and finally I am beginning to feel like myself again. I know I was only there for two weeks, but I would like to go back again for longer , and would in a heartbeat (hint hint Professor Kahn). 

I have a journal written with observations, quotes, thoughts, and notes from these two weeks. The biggest realization for me was the amount of cultural difference there is- in the way of life, transportation, language, body language, actions, food, religion's role in life, and so forth. This summer I plan on using what I have learned about East African culture from the Great Lakes Africa region and implement this into creating a more culturally appropriate resettlement and easier integration experience, to lessen social and cultural isolation in our families.  Be prepared to hear about this in the future! 

Personally, I will be adding French into my courses at Buff State, after realizing how weak my language skill was, and now seeing the necessity of French for my future. 

This was a great experience, and one that I will be taking with me in my personal life and through my future career. Thank you all who have helped make this dream of going to Rwanda a reality, and I look forward to what the future holds for the teachers, family, and friends I have made there. 

June 15, 2019

Akagera

Another early morning! We left for Akagera, in the Eastern Province to go on a safari. Our driver was really awesome, and he let us play music on the way to the park. 
On the safari, we saw so many different wildlife. My favorite was the hippos. Least favorite? Easily the tsetse fly. Those bites HURT! We stopped for lunch (fruit and sandwiches) and a halfway point and then drove back. There are so many zebra there, and we saw an elephant in the water (I think it knew Molly was coming. Elephants are her favorite). 
The hotel was absolutely beautiful. The downside? Baboons. I am grateful my fear gave others so much laughter this week. I am fine never seeing these deadly creatures again in my life. 

Dinner was wonderful. Solange, our guide, taught me some more words to pepper into conversations, and then after dinner we set up a little dance floor and had some fun dancing to salsa and bachata for the night. 

I am going to miss this country, and it will be sad going back tomorrow. 

June 13, 2019

I woke up early and took some breakfast. We went to Kimironko for a final time in Kigali for the market there. I finished up some souvenir buying and saw some friends one more time (we walked around the stalls together since she had to buy groceries) before leaving. Lunch was at a place similar to a Moe's. I stayed back at the guest house after lunch and went to the church for a little while before we all sat together as a group and talked about the trip so far and reflected. Before dinner we stopped for a master class at a coffee cooperative for women. It was very interesting to see the complexity coffee has. When we returned after dinner, I met one more friend and we had a snack and soda before he left to go back home and I to bed.

June 12, 2019

Chimpanzees

We woke up in Cyangugu at 5am. Time to trek chimpanzees. I have a fear of monkeys so I was terrified. I was put in a trekking group with three other from our group (they had enough excitement for all of us), and we had a few people from Sweden and France. Our guide, Claude, was absolutely amazing. I stayed by his side and he held my hand for most of the trip because I was so scared. 

Chimpanzees are huge and scary looking. The mountain monkeys we also saw (much too close for my comfort) are smaller, but still look like they can eat you. I can live a satisfied life even if I never see a monkey again. 

After we trekked, we had breakfast, and my group (the first to leave and get back) walked down the road. We saw bricks being made, a group practicing traditional dance, and some cute little kids who were eating fruits. 

We departed for Huye once the whole group was together (more hills), and visited the Ethnographic Museum of Rwanda in Huye (Butare). It was very interesting to see the history of the people, and to read of and see pictures of the effects of colonization. 

We took a group photo and as we were walking back to the bus there appeared a whole group of.....MONKEYS. Thankfully my roommate Tierra (my personal hero) chased them away so I could run with her to the bus. 

We arrived very late into Kigali. My stomach wasn't feeling too good so I stayed back at St. Paul and didn't go to dinner. 

June 11, 2019

Muhanga and the road

Tuesday morning we met Muhanga District's Director of Education, and also the mayor. The Director spoke with us of how schools work in Rwanda, the challenges they face, and how schools are assessed. It was really interesting to hear the 'behind the scenes' of these schools. He also showed us some empirical data on their performance results, showing that they are one of the top performing districts in the country. This is absolutely wild, and helped me to really get behind their competency based curriculum, and also the importance of story based learning!  After we all met, we went to a village and helped with a youth group, who was helping create bricks for (I think) a home. After, we observed the cow donation ceremony. It was really interesting to see- how integral a cow is to ease the burden of poverty for families. We all ate lunch with the mayor and then we left for Cyangugu. This 'Land of 1000 Hills' is no joke. We literally drove around, up, and over every hill. I felt so carsick. It was heaven when we finally reached the guest house. 

June 9, 2019

Today was Pentecost. Lucas and I went to the Catholic Church up the hill. Instantly we were welcomed in. Some of the kids came and were curious upon seeing us. There was one child in our bench who hugged my legs for part of the service and wouldn't let go. His chubby cheeks were so cute. We left after the greeting and before communion as we had to get back to the hotel and then depart for Urukundo.

The teachers came slowly in, as most also were coming from church. We began by watching the English teachers (Travis and my group) show examples of there lessons. The topic we picked was 'domestic animals.' It was interesting to watch the teachers act as students and to see the antics their kids get into in the class. We worked on three different ways to bring the topic of domestic animals into storytelling. Mary (a teacher) noted how we were able to bring not only more proficiency in English to the lesson, but use it also to show the importance of Rwandese culture.

For our final performance in front of all, we took our theme and created a farm scene with cows, cultivation, and farmers. We then asked like a lesson, what everyone saw, to use new vocab words and then we departed for the day.

Our teachers made for our room a mass whatsapp group so we can share our photos from that day and to keep in contact.

We went back to the hotel to freshen up, and then returned to Urukundo for dinner and devotion. For dinner I sat with some of the kids, and we joked around and watched Lucas with his magic tricks.

Devotion we read from Psalms and the children gave us carved doves to remember them.

I was exhausted after the day, and tomorrow we have to be at the bus by 645 to get to the school by 7.

Here's to hoping those birds are quiet so we can sleep.

June 10, 2019

School Visits

Today we woke up early and headed over to Urukundo. We were welcomed by the whole school with some songs they sing for visitors before we were placed into our classrooms for the morning. Travis and I sat in the class of a teacher we worked with. He did some games with numbers from 1-20, and then they reviewed a lesson on family members. Some students acted out an entire home scene, and the rest of the class had to describe what they saw. It was so much fun. 

After Urukundo, we went to Kabgayi to visit another school. I attended an English lesson on....domestic animals! I can safely say I am a professional now at the words of domestic animals in Kinyarwanda and English, haha! Then, we sat in on a science class and learned about soil and cultivation. In the science class, the children acted out the entire process, and it was so much fun to participate in! 

We stopped for lunch and then went to our final school. I wish I could say we remembered the school name, but the road on that mountain was rough, and I was more focused on not being carsick. However, Trevor and I were able to review two English lessons: on transportation and food. The lessons were so interactive and I was actually really excited to participate with the kids! 

Overall, my experience with this day was a positive one. It is very humbling to see such well behaved children eager to learn, and teachers doing all they can with little to no resources. These teachers are so creative, and you can see the love of their profession, and love for their students. I wish I could have stayed longer (hint hint, Professor Kahn) in the schools to observe more. 

That night was our last night at Mamas also. We put on the play of Goldilocks, with Travis playing the lead role. We finished some songs and then said goodnight to the kids and took a few pictures together. I miss my little man from there so much. 

June 8, 2019

Dogs barking woke me up. I slept quite well last night. While watching the news this morning, I would not help but notice the amount of public health tips that kept popping up. I wonder if they were put into Kinyarwanda would they have more reach? But nonetheless it is good to see while watching the news. 

The training today went so well. Travis and I were teamed up with the English teachers. It was exhausting, but we had such great connections and our sketch we created was so much fun. I am excited to work with them tomorrow and have them teach us a lesson as they would children. I cannot wait to see what we will learn! We all share lunch together and it was great to connect with the teachers and the children that joined us. 

Once training was completed, we went and had a tour of the Urukundo grounds and then dinner with the children and staff. Govith, one of the farmers, taught me how to open passion fruit with my hands and gave me a lesson on farm animal names. It was such a delight to sit with him. 

Devotion had some new songs- I will have to record them to bring back. It is just so pure and wholesome. 

And now we are at the hotel to blog and wind down before tomorrow. Some of us are meeting to go to church at 7am so I need to be up for that.

June 7, 2019

This morning I woke up at the hotel in Muhanga to the loud screaming squack of what felt like a human being attacked until I realized it was the birds. At 5 am. On the balcony. Screaming into the room. So, I cleaned up up my part of the room, shooed them away and sat on the balcony for a while, then walked for a bit outside.

Our trip today was to a Mudugudu (comparable to a block club) on the outskirts of the city. There is a cooperative in the city of Muhanga called Azizi Life, and through them you experience the traditional village living and culture for a day from these various Mudugudus. When our bus pulled up, the women were immediately smiling and began to sing and dance to welcome us before they showed us their daily tasks.

We cut sweet potato, boiled water, shelled beans, cut dodo leaves to boil. When this was done, we grabbed two 5 litre plastic bottles and walked for about 20 minutes to the well. Along the grassy path were cattle and goats and a rooster. At the water spiget, which let out to a river, there were many children collecting for their families. Often a child's first chores in the home is to collect water and cut grass to feed the animals. I am just amazed at how young these children are and how it is safe enough for them to walk alone to this place. This pushed my mind to reflect how different our cultures on micro mezzo and macro levels truly are.

When we got back, it was time to help cultivate the land and cut grass. We only did a half an hour of work ( about 1/8 of the field....it is also a small field) before the women decided it was time to cut grass. I used the sickle a bit, bust wasn't very good. Fellow AFPer Janae was really getting into it and was just chopping away. The women LOVED watching her go. We formed rings from banana leaves to put on our heads to help us carry the grass back to feed a family's livestock. Spoiler alert: I pet a cow. It was the woman's dowry price from when she got married. They knew I was married amd asked if my husband paid a dowry for me. I told them that we just bought my gold band, walked and got married quick and he went back to work. She was amused bt this and gave me a hug and a big thumbs up.

We ate when we got back, and after eating the lunch we assisted in preparing, we went outside to make bracelets and balls from banana fibers.

There was this 2 year old there, Divine. She was absolutely adorable and so open and welcoming. It was sweet to watch her begin to assist in all of the household tasks at such a young age, and to observe her beginning to learn the banana fiber weaving. I held her for some of the time. She would hold my St Ann pendant I wear and go 'Yezu!' Before kissing it and then me on the cheek. Quite possibly the most endearing piece of the day.

Before we left we danced and sang some more, and it was a little sad for us to leave them.

These are steadfast and strong women, and this morning trip gave me much more of a cultural understanding that I hope to bring back in my work, and has taught me a lot about daily rural life in this country. I am very grateful to have gone today.

This evening we went to the Urukundo Foundation to meet 'Mama' as she is called, and have dinner with some students who live there and the staff. I sat with Govith, a farmer at the Foundation, and we shared a bit about planting. Eric, foundation secretary, was next to me and helped to interpret for Govith and chatted. We connected over our religious background and talked about our college studies and future career goals. Unfortunately he is in school in Kigali this weekend but will be back on Monday.

After dinner was devotional, and it was sweet to see the children learning the same songs I did growing up. Also from going to some Kinyarwanda speaking churches in Buffalo, I could even sing along to some of their songs (shoutout to Rwagasore!).

After songs, we did some team exercises with the kids, and performed a skit of the Three Little Pigs. The children danced for us and we all joined in towards the end. We prayed and then returned to the hotel.

Rwanda has begun to implememt fostering instead of orphanages, so I am looking forward to see how this has affected Urukundo and the country as a whole, and how this is able to fit in with their cultural norms and values. Luckily we have several days here to get a grasp on this new system.

Tomorrow we begin teacher training all day. Can't wait!

June 6, 2019

This morning we checked out of St Paul and drove to visit the Nyamata Memorial. The ride was about an hour from the city center, and as we drove farther and farther away, the more the transition from city to rural life. From the van, we could see people working in the fields by their homes - men hacking at the weeds with machetes and women picking corn, babies strapped to their backs.

One interesting observation was seemingly affluent homes and destinations (specifically a water park) and right next to it were dilapidated homes with children running around. It was a bit jarring to see the normalcy in this stark contrast. It would be interesting to stop and talk to them and gain new perspective if I am to come back in the future.

We reached the memorial and stepped out of the bus. The grounds were just as they were in 1994. Our guide had us all wait at the original gates leading into the church building. There was a large hole, where the perpetrators forced their way inside of the church. The ceiling and walls still had bullet holes and scrapes. In some places there were still stains from the hand grenades used. The clothing was piled all along the benches and in bags along the walls. The altar held shoes, pipes, and bracelets of the victims, along with spears, machetes, clubs, and sharp objects that were used. The air felt heavy. In the basement created after the genocide, they had on display skulls of victims, to remind those who come of how lives were lost brutally. Our guide in this part spoke of the sexual violence suffered by many women during this time. We went to the mass graves after and I could not bring myself to go down. Instead I reflected in the garden and the newly built church for a while after.

I spoke with our guide, asking how day by day he can be so unwavering and professional. His response: "I feel it is a duty to tell our history. It is difficult. But I pray all the time to God because he will protect me and the visitors."

Then began our trip to Muhanga. Several hours of winding up and down hills through the countryside.

The view from the room is beautiful, and I am excited for the next few days here.

June 6, 2019

Last night I finished washing some clothes for the week ahead. Luckily it isn't raining so they should dry rather quickly.

Breakfast had this eggplant/tomato looking fruit. I texted it to a friend in Buffalo as I was hesitant as to what it was. His response: "it is a tamarillo. It is good for your blood. Don't be picky, eat it" so I did and it had this tangy bitter taste that was surprisingly pleasant.

In the morning we went to the Les Enfants de Dieu transitional housing to work with the children. It was located in more of what felt a rural area of Kigali. The boys immediately ran up and grabbed our hands, and we all went into their main hall to sit and be paired into groups for storytelling games. It was so wonderful to see these boys in action and really watch them expressing themselves in such a positive way. I was paired with Monique, and when we got to a game where we turned our bodies into machines, the boys were creating moving bicycles, donkeys, horses, and from one group a barber shop! It was interesting to see the items chosen and in such frequency, as it sheds light as to their lives prior to the transitional housing.

After the exercises were over, the director Charles took us for a tour across the grounds. I took special interest in hearing how they utilize empowerment with the children, and how much they use positive reinforcement to normalize activities we take for granted such as brushing our teeth, reading, and waking up at night to use the bathroom.

In our group was the psychologist (Louise) for the agency, and it was so great to begin a connection with her, as they utilize trauma informed interventions in all of their work. We exchanged cards and Whatsapp numbers to keep in contact and share information.

We departed and went to a place called MindLeaps, and showed the students who were waiting for lunch an exercise (we made an ice cream machine that was filled with children's smiles and laughter). They then asked us some questions and showed off some dance moves before their lunch was ready and we departed.

Lunch was at the very upscale Hôtel des Mille Collines, better known by us Americans as "Hotel Rwanda." It was surreal for me to watch children and adults play in the pool, and the air of normalcy. In the lot there is a plaque and flame in remembrance of the genocide, and the role the hotel played.

At last we had an afternoon of 'down time.' I called up a friend's family member and she came over with her friend and also her two sons. When I met her all I could do was cry at first because I just couldn't believe it. We spent quite a while hugging before going to a cafe to sit and have some pop. I updated her on her family and showed her a present I got for her mom.

These children are spitting images of their relatives in the states and I did not want to let them go. They were so sweet and calm. At around 530 they left, as their home takes a while by bus and the kids had school in the morning. Hopefully soon she will be in the US! (Fingers crossed!) 

Dinner was at a restaurant called 'Zen' and then we returned to the hotel. Tomorrow we pack up everything and depart first for Nyamata to visit a church memorial of the genocide, and then on to Muhanga to finish out the week.

June 5, 2019

This morning I woke up to a man singing hymns and rain absolutely pouring down. I went and grabbed a cup of coffee and met another friend before eating breakfast to drop off some gifts from her family in Buffalo. She was all dressed up for Eid today (national holiday here!), and I wish I got a picture of her outfit- it was a stunning mauve colour. After chatting for a bit she left to begin celebrations in her neighbourhood and I went back to breakfast.


\nWe did storytelling practice all morning. This was the first time we all were together as an in-person group participating in these activities. We began with our warm-up games and then went right into building our stories, taking snippets of our emotions from the day before at the Kigali Genocide Memorial and inserting them into the sketches as appropriate. Even though it was a bit exhausting, it helped to build our bonding as a group.

Lunch was at a very nice buffet. I have become a large fan of fish soup in these two days.

After lunch we stopped by the Kimironko Market. I bought some kitenga, traditional cloth, for myself and some community members and bracelets for friends. Honestly everything was so cheap I didn't mind not haggling as much as I could have. For example: each piece of kitenga (4yd) I bought was only $10 and was hand dyed and from the DRC. If I were to buy this in Buffalo it could be easily $50-$75. So, I will be taking full advantage of this price difference.

The market was absolutely huge, with piles of fruit and salted fishes everywhere. It was extremely crowded and noisy but full of life and colour. I liked speaking with the shopkeepers and we will go back to finalize the rest of gifts for friends and family in Buffalo as now we have had our 'trial run.'

This video will not be shown on my page, but I have a feeling AFP will be sharing this. We learned a traditional dance with drum in the afternoon. This was even more exhausting than the sketch creations. I never knew how much bodywork and effort goes into (not even) 2 minutes of dancing. Christian, the dance leader, had us hold our arms up resembling cow horns and would constantly have to fix us. It was so much fun and everyone spent the dance laughing along. After we attempted, the drummer and Christian swapped places. The way they both moved in these dances were absolutely mesmerizing.

We stopped by the hotel afterwards to drop off our new goods and had dinner at a restaurant called 'The Hut.' Upon suggestions from a close friend, I ordered the goat brochette and it did not disappoint.

At dinner, Monique (fellow AFPer) and I had some very intriguing conversation with our tour guide, Françoise. We discussed everything from schooling in Rwanda v the US, to the emergence of Kiswahili in the country, and also an in depth conversation on mental health (they have a 4 week internship in June every year to study and work in this field. Open for US applicants...)

Tomorrow we begin in sharing our storytelling games. In the morning we will be in a transitional housing center for boys. These are children who were from the street and are now in school/transitioning to life in foster homes. I am so excited.

June 4, 2019

I woke up this morning to the sounds of birds chirping amd light filling the room. After getting ready, Travis and myself took a walk outside. It was quite a sight to see so many people walking around, cleaning up, and so bustling...all before 7am! It was quite funny to see all the stares, though not at me. Travis' dreadlocks were quite the focal point for many around.

Before I began breakfast, I was finally able to meet in person the son of one of my friends. I had some small gifts for him, so he stopped by quickly. It was so great to meet him after months of only whatsapp communication!

At breakfast new friends were made! There was a group from Sud-Kivu in DRC that were attending a 4 day tournament for sport here in Kigali. We sat and ate together, using a mix of swahili/french/english. This was there last day before departing so unfortunately it was a hello/goodbye breakfast.

Our morning program consisted of a tour of the Nyamirambo Women's Center and part of the Nyamirambo neighbourhood. There was so much information given by our wonderful tour guide and it was interesting to hear the history of the neighborhood and its own subculture within the city. We saw how bunga was made and the time and effort that goes into crushing the cassava leaves for dinner. The neighbourhood people were extremely friendly and creating connections with some made me feel the smallness of our world. After Whatsapping some friends from home, it turns out they are from this area!

Lunch was absolutely delicious- a homecooked meal. There was dodo leaves, cassava, potatoes, cabbage, and beans. It is safe to say I was comfortably full after that meal.

We left Nyamirambo (I honestly could have stayed there for the next two weeks) and embarked to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. In one word: heavy. Working with refugees and repeatedly hearing traumatic events I have learned my triggers and know what I am capable of handling at a given time. With that being said, there is still a lot to process and a lot of notes written down to review. It felt quite personal to me so for now I don't feel I should write more on this.

However in the museum I met some people in fancy suits. They are actually all elected mayors from towns in Kenya amd were at the memorial to learn about the genocide and see the rehabilitation over ethnic tensions, as they stated this is something they are currently seeing though of course on not such a grand scale. We chatted a while about shared social issues before they departed.

In the memorial there is a whole room devoted to 'psychological counseling.' I walled in out of curiosity- it was a refreshing shock to see a mental health portion of the memorial. The volunteer and I chatted as best we could and exchanged cards. The interventions used are tailored to the experience of the memorial visitors, and that they are currently receiving more Rwandese coming to this office after walking through the exhibits. I am amazed at the acceptance of an office such as this, as from experience there has rarely been a time that mental health assistance was ever accepted by clients of mine. I look forward to learning more from them.

A note to my interpreters in Buffalo that are reading this: I have now experienced traffic here and there is no way to negatively compare my driving to this. Clearly my skills for cars are better suited to this country, haha!

May 14, 2019

Finally, after 24 hours of travelling we have arrived! If I had to describe this in one word, it would be 'long.' I met some interesting seatmates on the plane and am so grateful to have been next to them for such delightful conversation.

We rode from the airport to the guest house via bus, and all on the street there were people walking, waving, and enjoying themselves. The bus wound up and down the hills for quite a bit until we finally got to the hotel. I didn't take any pictures yet- too busy grabbing in the scenery.

Our room is a bit snug, but overall clean and neat. From our windows we can hear a wedding being held in the chapel. Those walking around are singing along to the hymns.

The weather is cool, and since I showered I have been sitting in a gazebo on the grounds, taking in the fresh air. Everyone is so friendly, and I am living for this language mix of Kiswahili, French, and Kinyarwanda when talking to people.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow holds!

May 5, 2019

There was a Kwibuka observance several weeks ago at Buffalo State. There are events that take place worldwide to remember the genocide and it is often a very solemn event. These Kwibukas take place during the 100 days in which the genocide occurred. This ceremony was very somber, but at the same time full of hope and togetherness. 

I wasn't expecting to see many people from the community to come, but to my surprise there were some of my current and former clients there, along with community leaders from various groups from all over Africa. The ceremony and reception after was a time for all of us to reflect and join together, and it was so wonderful to see everyone chatting and discussing, and remembering what brings us together. 

The guest speaker, Ms. Chantal Mudahogora, shared her story of survival and strength. I spoke with her afterwards about her research and work in mental health in East African communities, and she is absolutely inspiring. 

May 2, 2019

We are now less than a month away from travelling to Rwanda. It still feels far away, and I don't think it will 'hit' me until I get on the plane. However, with that being said I do feel a little nervous, but that excited nervous feeling- like as a kid waiting in bed for Christmas to come. 

A lot of the families I work with either have family still in Rwanda or are from Rwanda themselves, and every time we meet, about half of our time together is spent on stories about their home, where I should go in the city, their family members who are still there, and- my favorite part- the food I need to eat. 

Most people I have spoken to say to not have any expectations, but I do have one: to connect with people and form relationships. I don't think it will be hard, considering how welcoming of a culture we are travelling to. I am also grateful for connections made with fellow students during our prep time. Without AFP, I most likely would have never met anyone on campus from different majors- let alone formed strong bonds with them. 
Our meetings leading up to Rwanda are dwindling down. The games and exercises we have been practicing for the teacher training I have been practicing with the English classes and job club at my work. I am surprised at how much these activities help to open people up, and how much more expression I have seen come from them. 

Packing? I haven't started yet. I think the week of is when I will begin to pack.