Happy Easter Amazing People Mar 30, 2013

Hello again everyone!

Thank you all, sincerely, so much. I am amazed and truly touched by your overwhelming response to my request for help. We have not only bought a water tank for these children, but thanks to your amazing generosity, we may even be providing a water tank, or some other major necessity for another school or orphanage! I've found it's better to buy them something tangible, something they can use for a long time into the future, rather than to give them money. It always seems to end up in the wrong persons pocket if I give cash, not helping the kids at all. Corruption is the name of the game here!

I must admit that I feel a little selfish receiving all the glory for your hard-earned money! I wish I could share with you the joy and the goosebumps I have experienced by the reactions here. Their gratitude and appreciation are so humbling and sentimental it is unbelievable. I will definitely send photos as the project progresses.

Because the world is so small, I spent the past week and a half visiting a friend from Alaska, who just happens to spend half of the year here, in Uganda. Rick spends half the year in Alaska and the other half in Fort Portal and is married to an incredible Ugandan woman, Priscilla. It was really nice to get on a crowded bus again and travel ten hours wondering if my legs and my feet were still down there in the darkness with the chickens under the seat and to see more new, beautiful scenery. We drove through The Queen Elizabeth National Park, I strained my eyes hoping to see elephants, but was only rewarded with a herd of African buffalo and a herd of Cob. The cob is a type of antelope, the male standing majestically next to the road with his two massive horns standing straight up on his head was a real reminder of where I am...in case the chaos, noise and colors of the world around me weren't enough of a reminder!

It was so good to visit with Rick and Priscilla and their incredibly friendly family. It was especially good to see a Muzungu's African home. Everything was neat, orderly and clean! They even had counter tops to work on in the kitchen. Ava is often shredding cabbage, or chopping onions on the floor! In addition to their cookhouse outback, where Mary, the maid, cooks over a fire they also had a kitchen in the house! When Priscilla wanted to make us dinner, she could continue to visit with us. Of course in the house they had a gas stove to cook on. The best part was the bathroom! Not only did they have a regular toilet, but the shower area was enclosed with a little lip built with bricks around the bathing area and even a shower curtain! The water stayed in that space instead of getting the entire bathroom floor and toilet wet! So simple, so sensible! I had a bucket of steamy hot water to bathe with every single night...pure delight. No burnt rice floating in...just clean, hot water! Mary, Priscilla and Valley laughed at Rick and I for needing hot water to bathe with, they "like" cold water! Of course the greatest pleasure was being able to talk as fast as I wanted and not having to repeat myself over and over and over again to be understood. Even better than that was having someone who is as against rats in the house as I am! I can get used to showering with geckos, I can even get used to finding jiggers embedded in my skin and needing to dig them out with a pin and a razor blade. But I cannot get used to living with RATS! A few nights before I left Kisoro I woke to the sound of a rat gnawing on my mattress. When I shone my flashlight on it, I heard it scamper off. The next morning I found one little rat turd on the bed right next to my pillow. Rick has a "no rat tolerance" in his home. In addition to their incredible hospitality and kindness...that I appreciated!! Thank You Rick and Priscilla...you are amazing.

So, here I am back in Kisoro. The heat of Fort Portal, which sits very near the equator is replaced with the cold, wet mountain air of Kisoro, which sits at 6,200 ft (1,890 meters) surrounded by volcanoes. The day before I left for Fort Portal I purchased the six bags of cement that is needed to build the platform that the water tank will sit on. I must admit, I didn't have very high expectations of any progress while I was gone. Much to my surprise and delight...I was wrong! They have completed the platform! We are on our way to providing water for the children of Amazing Grace!

It seems there are some questions and concerns about the water tank, how we will fill it, maintenance of the tank and life here in general. So here goes....

The water tank is a 10,000 liter enclosed tank that is designed to catch rain water. We shouldn't need to clean it or sanitize it. The gutters, which we are also providing, will run directly into the top of the tank. Other than the gutters coming into the top of the tank it is completely enclosed to keep debris out. The tank will have a tap at the bottom where they can fill their vessels. It rains almost every day so the water will be used and replenished regularly. June, July and August are the dry months and they will have to buy their water, like they do now, for those months from the city water line. The hope is that this tank will provide them with water for nine months out of the year for free. They do have to boil it before using it, but they also have to boil the water that comes out of the city line before using it. So the firewood expense for boiling the water will be the same as it is now.

A few other questions:

How big is Kisoro?  Where do you get this tank stuff from?  The estimated population is 12,900. So, it's not exactly a village, more like a small town. There are many shops here. There's even two shops that sell the water tanks, they may have to order and ship it from Kampala, which is about a ten hour drive. That cost is included in the price they quoted me. Which is 4 million Ugandan Shillings, or about $1500. U.S. dollars.

Where do I go for internet? There's about five different internet cafe's in town. I have tried them all and I've found the fastest one in town! I pay about $1./hour...I've been here for about three hours now...I think it's time to go!!

Is there electricity? Yes, Kisoro has electricity although it usually goes out when it rains, when the wind blows...etc.! I'd say about two or three nights a week the power goes out for some reason or another. Many of the small villages that I've visited do not have power. Sometimes they have a generator in a shop and you can take your phone there and pay them to charge it. It's a business, that's how they pay for their fuel for their generator. Other than phone charging, people don't really use electricity in those villages. Just like at home...EVERYONE has a cell phone, that is every adult!

How do I bathe?  Ava, the hardworking maid that I live with heats water on the fire for me every day. I mix the hot water with some cold water in a basin and I take a bird bath! First I dunk my head in to wash my hair, then I splash water on the rest of me and work my way down as I scrub-a-dub-dub!

Is their toilet paper? Yes, there's toilet paper for sale in the shops. If you use a public restroom at a restaurant or at a bus stop there is never toilet paper provided, nor is their ever soap or a towel to wash and dry your hands. I always carry toilet paper with me in my backpack.

What are the toilets like? Well, some of the toilets are regular toilets like we have at home. Mostly though the toilets are a hole in the floor that you squat over and aim. Most people have an "outdoor" toilet. It's like an outhouse, but instead of a seat there is a hole in the floor that you hover over and aim. You can imagine some of those are pretty dirty and smelly, often the hole is missed and you have to be very careful where you step! When that's the case, I prefer to just pee outside, the problem is you never know where there might be a person...people come wandering out of the bushes all the time!

Am I eating enough? Yes! Absolutely! I never imagined I'd be eating so well while in Africa! For the most part people eat two times a day. It's a lot of work preparing a meal, making a fire and cooking over it is not a simple, or a quick task. There's no microwave to heat up leftovers and there's also no refrigerator to store leftovers in. People don't really buy snacks, cookies, or crackers. All the food they eat comes from the ground, which means it usually needs to be cleaned and cooked, so there isn't much snacking. When it's meal time you eat and you eat a lot! When I see peoples plates I often think of my brothers when we were kids. We'd be out making firewood all day, then we'd come in to eat and their plates would look like mountains, the food was piled so high. This is how the plates often look here. At home it was potatoes and gravy mountains. Here, it's rice and bean mountains, or posho and bean mountains. I remember wondering how they could possibly eat so much...I wonder the same thing here. "How can that tiny lady eat all that food?" She's been doing physical labor all day, digging in the fields, or hauling water, splitting firewood...that's how! I recently met a man who has twenty children...that's right TWENTY children! He has two wives and twenty children. When I asked him how he could possibly feed that many children, he said, "food is not the problem, food is free, we grow it all, the problem is school fees"! So...there you have it, that's how it's possible for African's to have so many children, food is free, it grows on trees! The problem is school fees! Another great thing about visiting Rick was that we had a variety of foods to eat. We had pasta, Ugandan-style pizza and soup! What a nice treat! Did I mention I enjoyed that visit immensely?!

Packages:
When I told the 7th grade girls that some friends from America wanted to send them packages, I asked them if their was anything they wanted, their requests were very simple. They wanted soap, jump ropes, pens and pads. I said, "how about some sweets?" They jumped up and down and squealed with delight at that idea! I am including the address of the school, feel free to send packages, however be warned, the packages my sister sent were over two hundred dollars for shipping! Granted I don't know if she sent bricks for the water tank platform or what but be warned...shipping is hefty! I figured soap would get pretty heavy to ship, so WE have bought two cases of soap for them. If you have little hotel bars of soap that you've been collecting and you're ready to retire your collection feel free to send them, otherwise I can buy soap here! I know there are already a few packages on their way here with balls, crayons, cards, pens, etc. They will be ecstatic to receive these packages and so will I! Any school supplies would be really useful, also clothes of any size will easily find a home here. Toys are not very practical, they'll be lost/broken in no time and there's so many kids...
Please keep in mind I will be here for about two more months, after that I will be at an Orphanage. There will also be a great need for your love, goodies and support there. If you'd like to wait until then, we can spread out our love and goodness to more children.

Amazing Grace Pre and Primary School
P.O. Box 290   Attn. Bonnie Bzdok
Kisoro, Uganda    AFRICA

If you have other questions, let me know and I will answer them as best I can!

Love, love and hugs to all!

Keep on living and Givin'

Bonnie

He is Risen, He is Risen! Enjoy the Celebration and enjoy the MEAT!!

p.s. have you hugged your hot water heater today?!

Water Tank Mar 14, 2013

Oh Friends, Friends, Friends,

What amazing and supportive people you all are. Your response to the last e.mail has overwhelmed and humbled me.
I am so incredibly fortunate to have each of you in my life.
I truly feel that it's because of the life and the upbringing that I've had that I am able to share, travel and love the way I do.
You know the old saying..."it takes a village to raise a child"? I see everyday here, how true this is. The village I have been surrounded by is a village of unconditional love, support and faith. Not everyone is so fortunate. So...what "I'm" doing here, is actually much deeper than that. It's what "we" are doing here.

After the responses that came in from the photos and the story about the water shortage I realized, I need to get these children a water tank. I thought long and hard about it and when I told Immaculate this she starting shouting and hugging me. She said, "we'll butcher a chicken and have the director over for dinner to tell him!" This was VERY big news. The next evening when I came home, the chicken was cooking and all three fires were burning with Ava and Immaculate bent over them, preparing the feast. The director and his wife were wondering what this "feast" was all about. At the end of the meal we said a prayer and I told them how much I appreciate their hospitality, how incredibly welcoming they have been and how nice it is to feel at home in this foreign land. Then I said that in appreciation I would like to buy them a water tank for the school. Alex, the director, said "you'd like to buy a what?!" I repeated, "a water tank". Both he and Herbert jumped out of their chairs and started shouting, praising  God and dancing like the rains had finally come after a drought. I guess, in a way, they had! I could not believe their excitement. It was really amazing. After hugs and high fives and bursting into song, they said another prayer. This time praying for my family, my friends and the health of each one of you! It was really unbelievable.

For three hundred and fifty students to eat, bathe, and do their washing, we decided on the 10,000 liter tank, which costs about $1500. U.S. dollars. Then there are the gutters, the brackets, the clamps, the outlet, the pipes, the corners and the connectors. 10,000 liters of water is very heavy, so of course it has to sit on a cement platform. I'm hoping it won't be much over $2,000. U.S. dollars. When I planned for this trip I figured on donating about $100./week to the schools/orphanages that hosted me. This means two things. I will be staying in Kisoro for at least 20 weeks!! And the second thing it means is that your help would be GREATLY appreciated...by many! Many of you have asked how you can help, so if you can donate any amount it will improve many children's lives. If you cannot donate, no worries at all. Your continued love and support is all I ask!

As you can imagine, it's not easy asking for money, but I truly feel this is a good cause and you know EXACTLY where each penny of your donation is being spent.
You can send donations to my mother, she will deposit it into my account and I can withdraw it from an ATM machine here! 

Bzdok's
9161 Great River Rd
Little Falls MN 56345  USA

Now that I've realized I'll be staying here for some time we have also sent some pen pal letters to two different classes in the U.S. The students here were SO excited to write to their new friends. They insisted I go to the office and get the thirty-or-so colored pencils and crayons that the school owns so they could decorate and "shade" (color) their letters. Many students told them about what they grow in their gardens and asked if they also had gorillas in their country! It will be such an eye-opening and learning experience on both sides. I look forward to the questions from the kids at home, like what is "posho", what is G-nut sauce and why do you live at your school? I also imagine they will be surprised to hear that these kids like "helping their mother with domestic work"!  More than one student signed off with, "I hope you get to eat meat for Easter". Of course, meat is very expensive and many of these kids don't ever get meat. Easter and Christmas are the two times each year that they look forward to and hope to have meat at their table.

I hope you are well and happy...
Thank you to all of those that have already donated, your generosity is both humbling and incredibly appreciated.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers most especially!
I truly hope you get to eat meat for Easter and that you feel like you are one of the luckiest people in the world for it!

Love Love, Love, Bonnie

Lessons from Kisoro Mar 8, 2013

Hello again!

A few short tales from Uganda for you!

The Ball:
The first day I visited "Amazing Grace" the teachers rang the bell and everyone came to the courtyard to "assemble". They sang me a song, then I sang them a song. They sang me another song and I asked if I could sing them one more. They shouted, at the top of their lungs, "yes madame!". First I sang them "head and shoulders, knees and toes..." then I sang them the "hokey pokey". They thought that was hilarious, especially when the crazy mzungu was "shaking it all about". I was invited to come back and start my volunteer work the next day. Chantel, the head teacher, who is just eighteen years old, told me I should bring a gift for the children, "they need a soccer ball". So, I go to the shop that afternoon and I pay $24. for a soccer ball. The next day they assemble again for me to present it to them. I tell them I brought them a present and if they promise to be good students, try their hardest and listen to their teacher they can have the gift. Three-hundred and fifty little faces nod up and down in anticipation, they want this ball so bad, they can taste it. I can see some of them whispering, "it's a ball!". The ball is under a cloth that I'm holding in my arms. As you can imagine it's difficult to hide the shape of a ball, but I tried! I take it out from under the cloth and they go crazy, you'd have thought I'd given them the goose that lays golden eggs! They nearly stampeded each other in their excitement. I happily toss it to one of the bigger students and a teacher instantly grabs it, he's just as excited as the children are.

No Water:
Everyday at 10 a.m. the kids get a cup of steamy, hot porridge. It is their breakfast. A few days ago, no porridge was served. When I inquired why there was no porridge, I was told there was a problem with the water... no porridge today. The next day the same thing. When I asked how they were cooking lunch the teachers pointed as the assistant cook peddled off on his bicycle with about six jerri-cans tied to the back end of it. He rode to a house on the other side of town that had water. Can you imagine the weight of that bicycle on the way back? Lunch is very predictable. It is always rice and beans. Once in a while there is "posho" the corn mash, also on occasion there are "irish potatoes" in addition to the rice. When I'm lucky there are ladies outside the gate selling avocados to zest up the meal. t's the same thing everyday, but it fills and nourishes me! The menu at home for dinner with the family is a little less predictable though it is still a limited menu. Rice, beans, potatoes, posho, matoke (like a plantain, it looks like a banana but is more like a potato), avocados, onions, a few carrots and my favorite..."g-nut sauce". G-nut simply stands for "ground nuts", it's similar to a Thai peanut sauce and is delicious atop any starch they serve! The next day when it rained, they had every pot and pan they had under the eaves of the school to catch the rain pouring off the roof. This was their cooking water. They need a tank and rain gutters desperately.

Ava:
Ava is the housekeeper/cook/maid/nanny of the house. She is eighteen years old and is a wonderful cook. I've had all the above dishes in restaurants and none compare to what she can do with the same basic ingredients. She wakes at 6 a.m. to build the fire which she cooks on. The "kitchen" is a tin shack behind the house, she has three "burners" each with a seperate fire burning under it. The inside walls and ceiling of the "kitchen" are black with soot and smoke from the fire. I imagine Ava's lungs look the same. When I ask Immaculate about it, she says "yes, I would like to get a gas stove someday so Ava doesn't have to work in this." Immaculate also works in the kitchen helping Ava each night when she gets home from work. All day long Ava splits the wood, tends the goats, cooks the meals, watches the baby, does the laundry and the dishes...all by hand, of course. Even the dishes are done outside, while bending over a massive tub, then left to dry on an outdoor table. She sweeps and scrubs the floor each morning, she thrashes the beans, she tirelessly works like a horse, when she finally sits to enjoy her dinner around 10 p.m. she is asked to get up and answer the door when someone knocks, or to get a serving spoon, whatever it is that we need, Ava does it. As I was helping her in the kitchen the other night, I asked her how much she gets paid per month. She answered 40,000 Ugandan Shillings. The equivelant of $16. U.S. Dollars per month. Of course, she gets room and board, which I'm sure is a great perk. I also imagine this house to be a bit "upper-class" and her salary is probably better than many in the same position. She is grateful for the job and works while happily singing all day long.

The Burial:
While the Reverend was rushing off to a "burial" the other day I asked him I could join him. He said "yes, but you will be the only mzungu there, so there will be many eyes on your nose!" I'm used to that! The Reverend, Immaculate and I climbed up a steep hill to where the woman lived. When we finally arrived panting and sweating about thirty minutes later, the courtyard of her home was packed with people. There were women and children covering the ground, there were men and elders on benches and chairs in every square inch of the small yard. Some were dressed in their finest, while the next was dressed in a dirty t-shirt and a big, floppy hat directly from the field. They carried her small, wooden coffin to a table just in front of me as they stumbled and climbed over all the people. The prayers and songs lasted for about thirty minutes, I didn't understand any of it but it was a simple and beautiful farewell, even the chickens came out to say farewell to her. They meandered around the crowd and climbed over peoples legs. Finally, they again carried the coffin to the backyard where they had already dug the hole. There, beneath the three small banana trees in her own backyard is where she will rest. I can only hope for such a simple and meaningful place to be laid to rest.

English:
I'm quite used to repeating myself, speaking slowly and I even find myself saying things like: "boosh" ..."bush"! or "booooks" they just don't understand me if I say "books". Conversations often go something like this:
As Innocent, the houseboy was laying out a big, blue tarp in the yard the other day I tried to ask him what he was doing...
me: "what are you doing?"
"yes".
me: slowly..."what are you doing?"
"preparing".
me: slowly..."preparing for what?"
"yes".
me: slowly..."what are you preparing for?"
"yes".
me: slooowly..."you are preparing to do what"?
"preparing to thrash beans".
me: "oh, I see" as I learn to watch and learn rather than to ask questions!

Love,
Bonnie

Photos attached:
#1  3rd grade classroom
#2 Singing with the kids
#3 lunch time...Rice and Beans!
#4 Boys playing in the mud!
#5 Did I mention Ava also takes care of the chickens?!

Back in Uganda Feb. 25, 2013

Hello Friends!

Well, I made it safely back to Uganda. Just cross an imaginary line and they are driving on the "wrong" side of the road again! In Rwanda they drive on the right, it's easy to cross the road when you know which direction to look for traffic! Crossing the boarder also means they speak a different language, they use Ugandan schillings, instead of Rwandan Francs, the organized chaos of Rwanda is left behind and the mass chaos of Uganda has returned! It's good to be back, although I can appreciate the "organized chaos" that Rwanda has become after the genocide by all the International aid organizations that flooded in, it just didn't feel like Africa.

I am in Kisoro, a small town just a few miles from the boarder. I stopped hoping to work at the Refugee camp for the Congolese that are fleeing the Congo right now, but they told me I had to get permission from the High Commision in Kampala. It was amazing to stand there at the gate, something you see on the news but don't really grasp how these people are living until you're there and see the thousands of people milling about. They have no jobs, no homes, just a tent in the middle of an open field, with the sun beating down on them. I left there thinking, again, how incredibly lucky I am to be born in a secure and stable country.

I am now working at a school called "Amazing Grace". It's an elementary (they call it  primary) school with about 350 students. There are about 150 of those students who are "boarders". The boarders are either orphans or just come from a poor family who can't afford to feed and educate them. At the back of the school there are dormitories where the boarders sleep. It is basic, bunks that stack three-high with a small trunk on each bed where the child that sleeps there keeps his or her few possessions. These kids are very eager to learn and when I walk in the dirt floored, little classroom they all stand up and say "You are welcome madam". When I say "good morning!", they respond with "good morning madam!". I tell them to sit. I ask how they are and in unison I hear "We are fine madam, how are you madam?". They do a lot of learning by call and response, or repeating what the teacher says. It goes something like this, I write the word on the blackboard: C A T; I say, "the word is cat, can you spell it?" Thirty to fourty voices shout out "I can spell the word cat, it is C, A, T. The word is cat." "Very good!" I say. They have a hard time understanding my accent, but we are working on that! The building itself is a simple structure, the roof is tin and the walls are rough-cut boards, some of them half-walls, some of the building has cement walls. When I walk around the classrooms I often trip on tree stumps or uneven ground. Having a mzungu among them is very much a novelty, we are now in the second week and it hasn't worn off yet. Today the 6th grade class started teaching me their local language. Let's just say I have some room to improve! The teachers are not afraid to slap a child across the back of the head or whack them on the back for misbehaving. They also carry a stick or branch to keep them in line. At first this horrified me, however I've come to see there are so many kids and you really do have to keep them in line somehow. The other thing that horrifies me is when the teachers tell them, "you are bad, I will beat you." It's just so different from the way things are done in my world! Right or wrong, who am I to say?? Although they know the teacher is standing there with a stick, still they run up and test there luck...kids will be kids. One day we were sitting in the staff lounge and a teacher came in with his arm around a boy who was sobbing. The boy was chest-heaving-sobbing, when I asked what was wrong the teacher told me, "I gave him some slaps because his mother is complaining he isn't doing his studies." The interesting part was that now the teacher sat next to him with his arm around him, helping him to calm down and to do his homework. I did not ask how many "slaps" he gave him. I have started giving hugs when I see the little ones and now they run up to me with there arms up, they like to be picked up off the ground. It's a good workout for me too! Even some of the older ones have come to me with open arms. Today I taught them "hang-man". The last phrase before they left for lunch was "You are so smart"! They thought it was so funny.

I have enjoyed teaching the older classes. The 5th-7th grades are better listeners and understand me a little better. I am afraid to be left alone in the 1st and 2nd grade classrooms, we spend the first half of the class trying to get everyones notebooks out and their pencil sharpened. The second half of class is spent with hands raised asking various questions, "teacher, please may I go for a short call?" This is a visit to the toilet. Or another problem is, "teacher I don't have a pencil."  I have a whole new respect for teachers, while one first grader is finishing the exercise, the next is still writing his or her name!

I am living with an amazing family, the priest(Herbert) of the Anglican church and his wife(Immaculate) and eight-month-old baby(Jael). They are really wonderful and are so good to me. I spent Saturday with Immaculate and Jael in a small village, we drove a winding, bumpy road that made the road to the gorillas look like a paved highway! I was told it was 50 km (loosely 30 miles), it took over two hours to get there! Immaculate was teaching a class when we got there so I was the nanny for the day. I sat in the front seat holding the sleeping baby. Of course, there's no car seats or seatbelts so I was embracing this child so tight I was afraid she would suffocate, but she dozed in my arms the entire way, despite the jolting and bouncing. Our driver, Ezra, called out "welcome aboard the jumping hourse", as we set off.

Another incredible day filled with more stunning scenery of hills, mountains, lakes, extremely strong women and children carrying stacks of 10-15 bricks on their heads and happy people waving at me. I just keep being amazed. I asked how these people get to Kisoro and Ezra answered, "they walk"... of course they do!

So much to learn, everyday it's something new!

All my love,
Bonnie

Rwanda Genocide Feb. 16 2013

Genocide is usually the act of a government and its collaborators to destroy a part of the population under its control.
   Genocide is never spontaneous. It is an intentional act of multiple murders, aimed at destroying the presence of the victim group.

"if you must remember, remember this...
The nazis did not kill six million jews...
nor the Intrehamwe kill a million Tutsis,
they killed one and then another, then another...
Genocide is not a single act of murder, it is millions of acts of murder."
                                                                                                                    Stephen D. Smith

This beautiful country I've been raving about, full of agriculture, rolling hills and so many incredibly friendly and helpful people has lived in peace amongst themselves for centuries. Rwanda did not choose to be Colonized. The Germans came, and then the Belgians. The segregation and fighting came with them. The Belgians actually created the different classes of Rwandans beginning with this simple guideline: If you had more than ten head of cattle, you were a Tutsi, which accounted for about 15% of the population. If you had less than ten head of cattle, you were a Hutu, whom which accounted for about 84% of the population. The remaining 1% were Twa, the origianl inhabitants of Rwanda. Along with this general rule they also attached distinctive physical features with each group, such as the size of the nose and the shape of the face. One guide we had at the Kings Palace told us how ridiculous this was by explaining you could also change classes from Tutsi to Hutu, depending on your job, or how many head of cattle you acquired. Completely bizarre. In 1932 The Belgians introduced identity cards, which legally stated which ethnic class you belonged to. Over 700,000 Tutsis were exiled from Rwanda from 1959-1973 as a result of ethnic cleansing encouraged by the Belgian Colonists. Massacres of Tutsis were carried out in Oct. 1990, Jan. 1991, Feb. 1991, March 1992, August 1992, Jan. 1993, March 1993 and February of 1994. Despite knowing about these atrocities the French Government  continued support of the President Habyrimana and his regime.  Habyrimana created what was known as the "Interhamwe" a flamboyant and dangerous Hutu youth militia that gained enormous popularity. Advocating Hutu power and Hutuness at the expense of Tutsi lives. By 1990 the genocidal ideology of Hutu power had been perfected with propaganda, the most important tool to persuade and compel the majority of the population as to why they should see their neighbors, even their own families as enemies and distrust them. They mostly used "hate radio" to promote the ideas of Hutu power. The media, once again, a ever-powerful source to brainwash the masses while the masses themselves are often not even aware they are being brainwashed. Hint Hint: don't believe everything you hear on the t.v. or your news station. turn off your t.v. you ARE being brainwashed!!

April 1994~

Just two months before I graduated from High School, Rwanda, a country the size of Maryland, or the size of Haiti was at Civil War. The rest of the world had chosen to ignore the warning signs of the Tutsi Genocide and intense waves of persecution from 1990. While I was attending prom, signing up to join the Army, attending parties on the week-ends and living a care-free existence, the Rwandans were turning against one another. There was a cease fire negotiation between Habyarimina and the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) in July of 1992. They signed the "Arusha Peace Accords". Rwanda was to have a transitional govenment leading to a Democratically elected government. French troops were to leave, and make way for UNAMIR (United Nations), RPF and The Rwandan Army were intended to integrate, demobilize and disarm. However, Habyarimana and his allies did not want the Arusha accords to work. The transitional governement was not established. Habyarimnina and his extremist allies saw it as a surrender of the RPF. Meanwhile, the Habyarmina regime entered the largest ever Rwandan arms deal with a French company for $12 million dollars with a loan guaranteed by the French Government. France secretly helped arm and train government forces in Rwanda.

More than one million lives were taken. In just three months. The Presidents plane was shot down and within hours roadblocks were set up, house to house searches were in place. The Tutsis were being hunted, like animals. Tutsis were humiliated, beaten, mutilated, murdered, raped and dumped by the roadside. Clubs, machetes, guns and any blunt tool they could find to inflict as much pain as possible on their victims. They turned neighbors on neighbors, friends on friends, even families on families. Tutsis fled to churches and schools to congregate and hope for safetly in numbers. 100,000 people were brutally murdered inside the walls of the Nyamat church, where women were being raped and killed. 2,000 congregants took shelter at Nyange church, where Father Seromba gave the order to bulldoze the church. He murdered his own congregation in his own church, in return for his own life. Death was not the only outcome. Tens of thousands of people had been tortured, mutilated and raped. Tens of thousands more suffered machete cuts, bullet wounds, infections and starvation. There was lawlessness, looting and chaos. The infrastructure had been destroyed, the ability to govern dismantled. Homes had been demolished, belongings stolen. There were over 300,000 orphans and over 85,000 children who were now the heads of their household with younger siblings and/or relatives to care for. There were thousands of widows. Many had been the victims of rape and sexual abuse or had seen their own children murdered. The streets were littered with corpses. Dogs were eating the rotting corpses of their owners. The country smelled of the stench of death. Regugee camps in neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and The Congo held over two million people. An estimated two-thirds of the population of Rwanda was displaced.

Where does a nation go from here?
How does he even begin to pick himself and recover?
Unfortunately, this is not the first genocide to take place in the world. Over one millions were killed in Armania from 1915-1918. Namibia from 1904-1905, where the Germans felt "the easiest fix was total inialation of the Herero people". Of course, the Holocaust of WWII, where six million humans were slaughtered in six years. Then there's Cambodia from 1975-1979 where two million were killed and The Balkans 200,000 dead. And the list goes on...currently, TODAY there are people fearing genocide.

Genocide is likely to occur again.
Learning about it is the first step to understanding it.
Understanding it is imperative to respond to it.
Responding to it is essential to save lives,
Otherwise "Never again" will remain
"again and again...!"

Despite all this, all the horror these people have seen. Today you find a nation of hills, mountains, forest and lakes, laughing children, markets of busy people, drummers, dancers, artists and craftsmen. Eight million people in 10,169 sq. miles/26,338 sq. kilometers.
8 million people living peacefully and happily. We have visited most corners of this small country. We visited three of the four boarders. In the West we visited the boarder to The Democratic republic of Congo, where we just looked across to war-torn Congo. Watching the people walk back and forth to work or home, imagining the unrest and fear that those people are living in. Beautiful Lake Kivu, in the west where we swam with locals, visited the natural hot springs where the locals bathe. Some of the pools were so hot, they actually cooked food in them. Only one shallow pool was actually cool enough for us to sit in and splash warm water on ourselves. We were quite a spectacle in our bikinis, while the local women wear their clothes or a sarong wrapped around them. The men bathe in their underpants. Everyone is friendly and curious. They ask us questions in their local dialect along with broken English, us answering in simple English and hand signals. We are professionals again at miming and charades, just like we were in China! Carly has, of course, befriended every man, woman and child in the country and we leave the hots springs with a trail of friends behind us. When we visited the Rwandan/Tanzanian boarder in the SE corner of the country we saw the beautiful falls of the Akigira river. Neither the height or the width are overly impressive, but the volume of water that rages over these falls is very impressive! Of course we stand, staring at the falls remembering and envisioning the bodies that tumbled over the falls, 1-2 per minute during those terrible months in 1994. That evening we walk through the little village at that boarder town and, again, befriend every child in the village. We take photos of them and they squeal with delight when they see their own face on the digital camera screen. Even some of the women come up to us asking for their photo to be taken, they laugh and slap their friends arm when they see their face. On our way out of the village, about thirty adults are gathered around, there's music blaring and it seems like a party. Some of the women are waving to us and yelling "hello mzungu" so we walk up the little hill to say "hello". We stand there, staring at them, they staring at us. "How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you." is out of the way. "What is your name?" is out of the way, it seems that those are the basic English phrases that EVERYONE learns. When you walk down the street, they'll often say it in one continuous phrase..."Hello, I'm fine. What is your name?" Soon the women are gathering coins from each other, they want to buy us a drink! Unfortunately, it's getting dark and we have to get going. There's one little girl, about three years old, in a torn, old nightgown, she has the most beautiful eyes and she's very shy. She takes my hand as we walk, her hand is cold and dirty, I can barely stand to leave her there as we walk away.

I am beginning to see just how difficult saying good-bye is going to be.

We visited two memorial sites yesterday, churches where 5,000 and 10,000 people were slaughtered. The churches are still filled with their clothes and even their bones remain. Caskets filled with human bones, stacks and stacks of human skulls remain with cracks and holes in them from the brutal strikes  in the head. Reminders of the tragedy. One guide yesterday told us he was hiding in the forest when the Interhamwe came and killed his entire family, including the thousands in the church. When we asked if he has forgiven these men who are still, today his neighbors, he replied, "I forgive, but I do not forget...we are strong. how else can we be?"
 
Today I'll be visiting the Uganda/Rwanda boarder again. This time I'll be alone as I walk across the boarder into Uganda. Carly flies back to Australia today. So the good-byes continue. Another incredible experience with my dear friend Carly comes to an end. Thank you Carly, you are an inspiration, your attitude is contagious and you are a blessing to all those around you! truly.

Another chapter begins.

Time is a beautiful thing. So is the human, strong and adaptable, like the chameleon.

Sending love and peace to every being, everywhere,
Bonnie

Gorilaaaaas!!! Feb. 12 2013

Hello everyone!

Carly and I have been having an amazing time exploring Rwanda. You could say we started  our journey here with a bang. We were squished in a taxi on our way to the uganda/rwanda boarder. the taxi was 4-door toyota corolla, which comfortably seats 5 people. on this particular day we had 8 people crammed in, four across the back and four in the front. The driver was actually sharing his seat, half-sitting on someones lap while driving with his head out the window!  We were cruising along the windy, mountainous road when suddenly five young boys dash out into the road, I don't know if they were chasing something that was thrown at them from above or if something fell from the cliff above, but suddenly our car is veering into the other lane trying to avoid the boys. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic and four of the boys got out of the way to safety. The fifth boy was not quite as lucky, the car hit him and his body sprawled across the hood, he immediately rolled to the side of the car, where I feared he would be run over. The car stopped and the boy, thankfully scrambled to his feet and ran off into the bushes. The driver was very angry and I'm sure he would have beaten the boy if he had not run off, surely the boys knew this as well because they all scattered immediately. Thank god the boy was alright and this experience only makes Carly and I clutch each other even tighter on these long journeys through the countryside.

The morning of the gorilla trek began at 4:30 a.m. Unbeknownst to us, there was a one hour time change when we entered Rwanda, so we woke an hour too early...luckily it was not an hour too late! We met our driver and headed to Kinigi where we picked up our permit and met some great new friends who trekked with us for the day. Our guide, Louise (Lois), explained that it would be a 45minute drive to where we'd start the trek. It wasn't very far but the road was a land mine of potholes and boulders. Ahhhh, this explains the necessity to hire a 4-wheel drive. I would never have imagined this was actually a road used for vehicles to drive on. We park and begin walking through the little village and through fields of potatoes and insecticide, plastic bags hang on sticks to scare away the birds..." Ahhhh, scarecrows!"  We walk for about fifteen minutes then we reach a stone wall. Louise explains that this is where we'll be joined by 3 armed guards to protect us from the wild buffalo. She also explains that we are entering the forest, talk in hushed voices and do not touch the nettles, as she points to a plant with spikes on the stem...they BURN!  I can tell you there is no way to not touch the nettles as we scramble, slip and slide through the dense jungle up the steep path. The downpour we heard on our tin roof last night has made it incredibly slippery.  I can tell you this is the first time I've ever hiked with armed guards, which surprise me every time I turn and see their big rifle slung across their chest. I can also tell you that nettles do BURN! After about an hour of hiking Louise explains that the trackers haven't yet located the gorilla family that we've come to see. When we got our permits that morning we were also assigned to a gorilla family, one of about ten families in the Rwandan side of The Volcanoes National park. In addition to our 3 armed guards and our 2 guides there are two "trackers" who spend most of the day with this family. This way they know where the family has spent the night and they know exactly where to begin looking for them in the morning. Finally the trackers contact Louise on her radio, they found them, we just need to go back down the trail about 50 yards and cross a steep gulley. No problem, we slip, trip and slide our way down and across it. By this time our bums are mud-slicked and burning of nettle kisses! Finally they tell us to drop our backpacks, "the gorillas are here". We slowly and quietly follow the guide and trackers, suddenly the bushes are moving but before I see anything I hear deep grunting sounds. Soon I realise it's the tracker, he's signalling to the gorillas we are no threat, just hear to visit! There he is, the  huge silverback gorilla sits alone munching on branches. He  uses his hands, sliding one hand up the stem to swiftly remove the leaves and stuff the fistful into his mouth. He doesn't even notice us. We watch him until he strolls off, stoping to pose for us as he looks out over the forest. We continue tripping over jungle vines, our guides and trackers making their way with ease and grabbing our hands to help us along the way. Soon we are face to face with the huge brown eyes of a young gorilla. He's laying on his back, his arm draped across his forehead, looking straight at us. He is so beautiful. His hands look just like mine. His feet look just like my dads!! He scratches his belly and let's out a big yawn, his teeth are white with black ends. His nose is flat and wide, his eyes are penetrating. There's a momma grooming her baby, the baby stretched across her belly. They are just hanging out, doing what gorillas do! We are only able to spend one hour with them so we won't cause them too much stress. We watch a young one hang from a tree branch, we laugh as the branch cracks and breaks from his weight. At one point a mother with a 12 week old baby begins walking down the path away from us and walks right in front of Carly, I can see the excitement and fear in Carly's face as the mother pauses directly in front of Carly to wait for her baby to catch up. Just an arms-length away from Carly who is gripping the guides hand so tightly she's lost all blood flow! It's the most amazing thing, they are such peaceful, calm and non-confrontational creatures. The hour passes much too quickly, I have ALMOST forgotten about my burning legs, arms and hands. Next time i'll bring gloves! We hike down, well most of us do...others fall/slide down...gracefully of course! What a day! 

I cannot describe the beauty of this country, the lush green forests and fields is beyond description. It is really a tropical paradise with trees of every type from pines and furs to palms and leaves all growing on steep slopes with waterfalls and rivers surprising and delighting around every turn. If you have ever thought about coming to Africa...now is the time! The life is simple, there are smiling guardian angles everywhere and the only thing they have to do today is help out a mzungu!

We are now in Kigali, where we'll visit some of the many genocide museums. The next e-mail will not be so happy but full of horrific truths about the past and the powerful people that have, once again, overcome the wrath of the white man.

Rwanda, land of a thousand hills and ten thousand smiles!

All my love, 

Bonnie

Hello from Uganda! Feb. 2, 2013

24 jan. 2013

Hello friends!

Wanted to let you all know I arrived safely in Uganda! I am now in the little town of Jinja, on the banks of the Nile, this is where the Nile begins its long journey north. I see a monkey's tail hanging out of the tree & I hear geckos clicking their little tongues as I write this!

Why Did I choose Uganda you ask?
Well, 7 years ago when Graciela and I were touring east Africa with Carly as our guide, our trip ended in Tanzania. The next place the group was going was Uganda. I remember Carly saying, "if you think the people of Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania are friendly...you should see how kind and happy they are in Uganda!" This has stuck with me ever since, so it was the natural place to go when I was ready to do my volunteer work in Africa. She was absolutely right. As we walk through the villages or drive through the countryside the kids race to the road, they stand there barefoot and shouting, "hello mzungu, how are you?" Or shouting and singing things I can't understand! The one thing I always understand is "mzungu" which means "white person".

This place is full of incredibly friendly, helpful and happy faces. When I arrived at the airport on Tuesday, a local woman, Remmie, picked me up! she was working in Alaska last year and met my friend Bianca, who told her about me coming to her homeland. Remmie insisted on making the drive to the airport, picking me up and having me stay with her. I stayed with her and her sister, for two nights. They fed me, drove me around, made sure I was all set, then saw me off at the bus station when I left to come and meet Carly. What a relief to have a smiling face there to pick me up after a 30 hour trip! I was very lucky on both of the 8 hour flights I had three seats to myself! I was actually able to lay down and sleep rather well!

Remmie-What a welcome to Uganda, "the pearl of Africa", you have given me!

2 Feb. 2013

I travelled to Jinja to meet Carly in a matatu, which is basically a mini-van that serves as a shared taxi. You only leave the matatu station when the van is full. So, I sat in the sweltering heat for about 25minutes, then made the four hour drive to Jinja. The drive was supposed to be a 50minute drive...with all the stops, letting people off and picking up more, and police inspections, it took about four times as long. The police stops are to ensure we aren't overloaded. Never mind the fact that it states clearly on the side of the door "14 passenger limit" and there are over 20 humans crammed into the van, they send us on our way!

Thanks to Carly's connections we rafted the beautiful Nile, it was spectacular! She has done it heaps of times and insisted I jump into the last rapid and swim it. Let me just say, she is crazy and knows not what dangers she gets us into! Nevertheless...it was awesome! Don't worry...the crocodiles are vegetarians!

We've spent the past ten day traversing Uganda, seeing some of the most breathtaking sights that Uganda has to offer. Sipi falls is a tiny village town in the mountains surrounded by waterfalls and farms and fields. We hiked through paths and through fields and swam in cold mountain water. We ate local food and shook as many hands as we were offered. "Hello mzungu, I am fine!" So many friendly faces, so eager to greet us and just say hello. Some accommodation has been pretty rustic, but mosquito nets are always provided, which is what allows me to sleep knowing the lizards, iguanas, spiders and slimy snails are not getting through my net. Impossible!

3 hour bus rides turn into 9 hour bus rides and we happily buy peanuts, bananas, bread buns or water through the bus window when we stop at various towns to add or subtract from our load, we bounce along the muddy rooted roads. Often they are not paved and the downpour of rain washes away the edges of the road.

We left lake Bunyonyi today, a gorgeous lake full of little islands and locals in canoes made from tree trunks and surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. The crops are planted on the sloping hills, how the seeds don't wash away is a mystery to me. Carly's main mission in uganda is greet and photograph every single baby and child in the country, she has been very successful! While we greet and photograph, we chat and laugh. We have met many orphanage directors, it turns out the biggest problem with me finding an orphanage to work in will be choosing which one.

We crossed the border into Rwanda today, another beautiful country with a horrifying history that is both intriguing and incredibly sad. Two weeks exploring Rwanda, then Carly flies home and I will venture back up into uganda on my own. I will miss her terribly. Tomorrow we trek the gorillas. The worlds largest primate, which Diane fossi gave her life to protect. We trek through the jungle until we find them, then spend an hour or so with them. A gorilla has 98 percent the Same DNA as a human. Tomorrow I am going to visit my ancient ancestors...and yours too!

I will give my love to all!

Bonnie