R&R

This Saturday, a friend and I took a day of R&R at the Hotel Serena in Kigali. Even though we were only a few blocks from my house, it felt like we were a world away on vacation. We began the day with the hotel’s breakfast buffet, which was exactly what I’d been missing – crepes, eggs, sausage, fresh bread, tomatoes, bacon, potatoes, fruit, real juice, coffee. It was perfect, especially sitting on the porch overlooking the garden and the pool. After breakfast, we moved down to a couple lounge chairs by the pool. The next few hours were spent laying in the sun, drinking Fanta and watching the past two weeks' episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (it only takes a couple days to download an episode on iTunes!). Eventually we decided to go for a swim, which was nice, even if the paint from the bottom of the pool did dye our feet bright blue. The best part of the day, though, was probably the shower I took after swimming. I’m sure it probably sounds strange to be so excited over a shower, but if you’d been using the shower at my house for the past six weeks, you’d be thrilled to have both hot water and water pressure too. After a late lunch and some more lounging by the pool (and maybe another shower, if I dare admit it), we went to Bourbon Café, a new, very-western coffee shop, complete with comfortable couches and wireless internet. Not a bad vacation considering I never left town!

To an English friend in Africa

I may not be English, but an English friend who works with me here in Kigali forwarded this to me, and I thought I would share it:

Be grateful for freedom
To see other dreams.
Bless your loneliness as much as you drank
Of your former companionships.
All that you are experiencing now
Will become moods of future joys
So bless it all.
Do not think your ways superior
To another's
Do not venture to judge
But see things with fresh and open eyes
Do not condemn
But praise what you can
And when you can't be silent.

Time is now a gift for you
A gift of freedom
To think and remember and understand
The ever perplexing past
And to re-create yourself anew
In order to transform time.

Live while you are alive.
Learn the ways of silence and wisdom
Learn to act, learn a new speech
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit
Learn to free yourself from all things that have moulded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road.

Remember that all things which happen
To you are raw materials
Endlessly fertile

Endlessly yielding of thoughts that could change
Your life and go on doing for ever.

Never forget to pray and be thankful
For all the things good or bad on the rich road;
For everything is changeable
So long as you live while you are alive.

Fear not, but be full of light and love;
Fear not but be alert and receptive;
Fear not but act decisively when you should;
Fear not, but know when to stop;
Fear not for you are loved by me;
Fear not, for death is not the real terror,
But life - magically - is.

Be joyful in your silence
Be strong in your patience
Do not try to wrestle with the universe
But be sometimes like water or air
Sometimes like fire

Live slowly, think slowly, for time is a mystery.
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being,
Self-generating and strong and gentle -
Your own hero and star.

Love demands the best in us
To always and in time overcome the worst
And lowest in our souls.
Love the world wisely.

It is love alone that is the greatest weapon
And the deepest and hardest secret.

So fear not, my friend.
The darkness is gentler than you think.
Be grateful for the manifold
Dreams of creation
And the many ways of unnumbered peoples.

Be grateful for life as you live it.
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you on the unfolding road.

(Ben Okri, March 1991)

World clock

A professor from Emory recently sent an email with a link to a website that I saw a long time ago but had forgotten about. It's called the World Clock and counts disease incidence, population factors and other statistics. I thought some of ya'll might find it interesting: http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf.

Billboards

In the time that I’ve spent driving in Kigali and around Rwanda, there are a couple things that have truly surprised me. One of the most amazing is that the vast majority of billboards are devoted to HIV/AIDS. I’m yet to figure out what exactly they say, but throughout the country, billboards are covered with red ribbons and mention of ‘SIDA’.

Trusses and siding

Perhaps it means I’ve spent too much time around construction in the U.S., but I feel the need to take pictures of construction sites here in Rwanda. The most recent one I’ve seen was in a village near Nyungwe Forest this weekend. I have to admit, I was impressed by the truss system and the siding on this building.