Preparing to leave Rwanda
1. For the fifty days that I've been in Rwanda there is one person with whom I have spent all but three days: Pablo Jerah the Extraordinary. I know that the withdrawal symptoms I will experience upon leaving him will be severe.
2. Our "family" dinners at the house, prepared with finesse by Matilde.
3. Boubie, the house dog's gimpy greeting.
4. Ever since I first arrived in Kigali I have been waking at an unprecedented hour of 5 AM nearly every day. I can't see this trend lasting when I return to New York and I will miss this heightened level of productivity...not to mention those lovely sunrises.
5. The wind on my face and in my hair during my moto rides around Kigali and those delicious gulps of diesel exhaust.
6. My bizarre taste for wildly over-produced music.
7. Phone calls by cell phone are so prohibitively expensive that the only way to avoid bankruptcy and remain in contact with friends is to text message. I will miss the long-winded text messages clogging my in box -- and the preference for the "written" language versus the phone call.
8. Frites, Mayonnaise & Brochettes
9. Three-kiss hellos
10. When it comes to cooking at our house, there are no measuring utensils and it's typical to be missing at least three ingredients because 1. our pantry supply closet isn't stocked; 2. there very well may have been baking powder at the German grocery store, but since I couldn't properly translate the words on the packaging from German to English, it does not exist. 3. the ingredient simply has not been imported to Rwanda. I actually enjoy this cooking puzzle and will miss my improvisational cooking.
11. The utter beauty you're bound to encounter whenever you open your eyes on any drive anywhere in the country.
12. The eagerness by Rwandans to get my phone number and email address makes me feel wildly popular in a way I rarely experience in the U.S. And the frequent marriage proposals are a huge ego boost. For anyone who is curious about my worth I was told that I could probably get about 15 modern cows in a marriage deal!
13. I will not list all the people I will miss.

Posted by Amy at 09:34 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

While I waited for my cameraman to finish up the shooting he was doing in a rural home outside of Nyamata, I was serenaded by these children with a song they had learned in church.

A lovely Valentine's Day treat even though I was apart from my Valentine.

Posted by Amy at 07:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We arrived in Butare (Rwanda's college town) after a stunning drive through tea farms and the Nyungwe Forest in southwest Rwanda. It was so wonderful to pass through this beautiful mountain forest during daylight hours. There were more potholes than pavement, but I'm continually astounded by the consistently breathtaking effect the Rwanda countryside has on me. The highlight of the drive was seeing all the little golden monkeys clinging to the mossy cliffs. I'm not sure why they're called golden monkeys since they're black and white.

We'll be in Butare for the next few days, filming at the Journalism School and the University Radio Station. We'll return to Kigali by mid-week. By then I'm sure we'll welcome our in-house high-speed internet with open arms.

Posted by Amy at 05:55 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As the markets head south -- I prepare to do the same. Tonight I will begin my 48 hour journey from New York to Kigali, Rwanda via Belgium.

Everyone tells me that Kigali has been developing dramatically since I was last there in 2004 and I'm getting excited to see all the changes firsthand. A friend on the ground said there's a new mall in downtown Kigali, complete with a Starbuck's-esq Rwandan fairtrade coffee shop: Bourbon Coffee. Ben Affleck was recently spotted there sipping coffee. Facebook and blogging are becoming favorite pastimes of students who have access to the internet and there are a lot of exciting new developments at the journalism school in Butare where I will be doing the bulk of my documentary shooting.

Posted by Amy at 05:45 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)