kuvoma amazi

To fetch water.

One of my favorite activities in my new life here at site. The closest water fetching site is about an hour round trip, down a steep hill into a valley and then back up, carrying a heavy jug of water. Mostly, fetching water is a job for the children, and every day hordes of them go running past my house with their varying sizes of plastic jugs and jerry cans, racing down the hill to where the water flows out of a big pipe. Some of the kids are tiny, probably only 5 or 6 years old, but old enough here to get the job done. So, my options for getting water are: 1) take the long route and actually go all the way to the "well" with my jerry can in hand and then lug it back up to my house, 2) pay one of the kids to fetch it for me, which is actually really cheap and I have had to do this on occasion, or 3) collect the rain water! Definitely my preference--let the rain and my tin roof do most of the work for me! I just have to shuttle buckets of water into the house and the empty ones back out again, get a little wet, and it gives me something to do when everything shuts down because of the rain. Not that there is much to shut down around here, there being only one small shop that is consistently open :-P Luckily, this isn't the dry season, so I have had plenty of water coming my way, but during the dry season I'll have to explore my other two options.

Other than collecting water, I spend my time planning lessons, occasionally teaching (haha, my full schedule doesn't start until next week), wandering around meeting people and botching, I mean practicing, my Kinyarwanda, cooking, washing things (dishes, clothes, the floors...), playing with the kids who swarm my house, and going for long walks or runs, also usually with the kids, who swarm me as soon as I leave my house :-p

This area is incredibly beautiful, and my house is about a km or so from the top of a hill that overlooks valleys, lakes, and one of Rwanda's national parks. Almost every day I walk or run out that way, climb up the rocks to the highest points, and sit with the kids, exchanging English and Kinyarwanda. Those are definitely some of the best times I've had in the past 3 weeks, as I try to settle in, get to know my community, work on my language, and adapt to my new home.

And all in all, things are going well. I'm getting to know some people in the community better, and my Kinyarwanda is (hopefully) improving bit by bit. My wanderings have resulted in shelling peas with old women, drinking near rancid milk and something called banana water (which I cannot adequately explain) eating roasted corn (which reminds me of summer cookouts), playing local games similar to mancala and tic tac toe, and lots of laughing over the lack of communication. Also, my neighbors on both sides have cows, and not only do I get to enjoy fresh milk almost every day, but I also get to fall asleep to the sounds of shuffling hooves and heavy breathing :-P

So, things are going :) My electricity is solar, and not wildly powerful, so that will be all for now. Let me know what's happening at home! Also, my address is now:

Julie Greene

Peace Corps Volunteer

BP 5657

Kigali, Rwanda

But this will change in another month or two, so stay tuned...And I added a wish list, so feel free to send anything my way :-P

Hope you are all well!