On chronic care clinic…
Went to chronic care clinic at Rukira with Ally and Meera and spent the day taking lots of pictures (mostly for kids). Click on the image for more…
Anokwa.com » Archive for November, 2007
On a poop too far…
Walking around Rwinkwavu, you get to see plenty of poop. Cow and goat poop are the most common but on a good day, you might glimpse some bird poop. Only on a good day though.
A few nights ago, Ally and I were walking home when we walked into the smell of human poop. Spend enough time around latrines and toilets with no running water, and you get to figuring it out all the many smells human poop can take on. This was definitely poop of the human variety.
It was unmistakable, but it wasn’t that big of deal. It was a few feet from the path and there was plenty of brush. We shrugged it off. After all, everybody poops.
Well tonight, our serial pooper went a poop too far. Our pooper crossed a line that no reasonable human being should cross. Our pooper pooped a perfect poop on the path.
There was no sign of struggle. I could understand if there was struggle. After all, we’ve all fought diarrhea and lost, but there was no battle of wills here. The pooper had plenty of time to decide. The pooper chose to poop and chose where to poop.
I can imagine how it all went down in the nutter‘s head.
Where should I poop? Should I poop in the latrines? No. That would be convenient.
Should I poop in the bushes? No. That’s exactly what they are expecting.
I know. I will poop on the path. Right where Yaw walks, that’s where I shall poop.
Fortunately, Meera spotted the poop for quite a distance and we were able to avoid it. In my time here, I’ve seen some crazy things in my life, but this one…well, it’s some shit, ain’t it?
On gorilla tracking…
Of the 700 mountain gorillas still alive, Rwanda is home to 250 of them. Visits to these gorillas generates over $800k USD of revenue each month for Rwanda. Non-residents pay $500, residents pay $250 and although pricey, you simply cannot visit Rwanda and not track the gorillas. The experience of seeing these animals in the wild is worth every dollar.
Henry, Ally, Meera, Benson and I drove up to Ruhengeri to try our luck at gorilla tracking. Once we got to Ruhengeri, we stashed our gear in the guest house and drove up to Lake Kivu.
Kivu is one of three lakes in Africa which holds large amounts of pressurized gas. An eruption of this gas could release massive amounts of carbon dioxide and kill the tens of thousands of people who live the area. This potential disaster is of little significance to the residents of this region who are concerned about the more immediate threat of war in Goma, the city on the other side of the lake.
Goma is home to many of the Hutu refugees (and perpetrators) who fled Rwanda after the RPF came to power. The surge of refugees after the genocide sparked the First and Second Congo Wars and as recently as September, there have been outbreaks of fighting between the rebels, the militias and the Congolese army. Goma is a place with a disturbing past and unfortunately, its present is also terrifying. Sitting by the shores of Kivu, it is hard not to overlook the obvious — war is literally a stone’s throw away.
Driving from Kivu back to Ruhengeri, we managed to catch the warm red steam rising out of Nyiragongo, the Congo’s famous active volcano. In 2002, Nyiragongo erupted and destroyed half of Goma, and in 2005, volcanic activity threatened the city again. Despite this, you can still hike the volcano, peer into the heart of the earth and spend your nights falling asleep to the murmurs of the lava below. We vowed to hike Nyirangongo on our next trip to Ruhengeri and headed back to the guest house for a short night of sleep.
Gorilla tracking generally starts at 7am, but because we wanted to see the largest and most remote group, we decided to get there at early and guarantee our spot. Those who make the difficult trek to find the “Susa” group are rewarded with a family of 37 gorillas which include a set of twins, a few teenagers and a couple of large males.
We got up at 5am and headed to the base of the mountain for our orientation with the guide. According to the reports from guides already with Susa group, the gorillas were a few hours away and moving, so we got in the car and drove to the trail. At the trail head, we were greeted by the Rwandan soldiers, our security through the forest. When I asked why they were heavily armed, they said they had to defend us against cape buffalo. Not poachers or rebels, but cape buffalo. Right.
The first part of the hike was a short half-hour walk through the flat countryside to the boundaries of the park. Crossing the border into the park, the terrain changed immediately from potato farms to dense bamboo forest (like something out of House of Flying Daggers). There was no trail, but with the help of a machete, we began our slow trek — bushwhacking, ducking, twisting and marching up towards the gorillas.
Two hours later, the terrain changed from dense bamboo to slippery brush. Instead of the solid ground we had walked on before, we were walking on a spongy mix of dead brown trees covered with lush green vines and bushes. We began to see crushed foliage, a sign that we were close to Susa. Our excitement was soon tempered by the harsh realities of the evil plant known as the stinging nettle.
We generally avoided the nettles, but the rain had made everything extremely slippery, so there was a lot of falling. Once you started to fall, your instinct was to grab onto some plant which, if you were me, would likely be a stinging nettle. You see how this could induce much pain and thus much swearing from yours truly…
After thirty more minutes of stinging nettles, we ran into the set of guides who had been with Susa all morning. Our time to meet the gorillas had finally arrived. We left our bags and walked a few meters to the group.
It’s hard to describe just how amazing these creatures are, and so I will let the pictures in the gallery do the talking. The gorillas were strangely human in some ways and clearly not in some others. They had stunning and expressive eyes, sorrowful when sitting idly, focused when eating, and bright with joy when playing.
We saw one of the males risk his life to mate with one of the females while the silverback was not looking. We saw teenagers climbing bamboo shoots to get at the sweetest leaves. We saw one of the toddlers pounding his chest in mockery of the adults. We saw all this with the gorillas close enough to touch.
Our hour with the gorillas went by quickly, and as if they knew we had to leave, Susa group disappeared quickly into the forest. It was a moving experience.
On genocide…
Genocide can only be described as the evolution of misunderstanding to murder. It is not unique to the country whose people I’ve come to love and whose name is now synonymous with the word. Rather, it seems a constant across space and time — our darkest common ground.
We have become too familiar with the images. Gas chambers scratched with desperate fingernails. Parishioners slaughtered in a church under the watchful eye of their pastor. An armless orphan’s lonely cry. We solemnly shake our heads, sad at the loss of life, but never sad enough to stop the next slaughter.
The Genocide Memorial is Rwanda’s attempt at forever ending genocide. The memorial tells the story of how the genocide began, how it proceeded and how it finally ended. There is detailed information about the impact of the colonialism, the role radio propaganda played, the inaction of the international community, the stories of survival and finally glimpses into the court system that is slowly bringing reconciliation. The memorial also tells the story of other genocides and argues that it is only through education that the lives of future victims can be spared. It is a thoroughly moving and educational experience.
There are no pictures allowed inside, but outside, nestled between the beautiful gardens of the memorial are mass graves containing the 14,000 sons and daughters of Rwanda. The graves, which are still being filled with bodies, are a stark reminder of the evil that men do.
Let us never forget.
On monkeys in mountains…
Ally, Meera, Henry, Katie and I skipped work for a few days, piled into the Isuzu and sang our way through the southeastern Rwanda to Nyungwe National Forest. Nothing like a road trip to take your mind of the high stress life we live out here.
Driving into the forest is a breathtaking experience. You start high up in the mountains and slowly wind your way into a valley. Jutting out of both sides of the road are sharp shards of rock dotted with all forms of plant life. Drive slowly enough and you can spot the many varieties of primates and birds the forest holds. The stark contrast between the blue mountains, the white lake and the green tea which grows just outside the forest burns the most astonishing image in your mind. We stayed in a little guest house and after being warmed by a few glasses of wine and a healthy fire, we feel asleep to the sounds of monkeys scampering on our roof.
The next morning, we drove back through the forest, stopping occasionally to take some photos. It was one of these photo stops when we ran into the heavily armed Rwandan army. Although most of them were friendly, but the commander did take the time out of his busy schedule to yell at us and threaten our arrest for taking pictures of mountains. Good times.
We spent the rest of the morning hiking through the forest for an exorbitant $50/person. Now I don’t mind paying extra to support African tourism, but the hike we took featured trees and a small waterfall — no monkeys, no birds. Also, our guide, who was gasping like a pack-a-day smoker was definitely making up facts about the plants we saw.
Guide: This one is good for stopping excessive bleeding or diarrhea.
Yaw: Looks a lot like the one we just saw for killing worms.
Guide: Yeah, it’s kind of similar.
Yaw: Right. Similar.
Anyway, check out the gallery for a few pictures of the forest and a stealth shot of the Rwandan army.
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