Ti Scattero's Blog

“Red Carpet to Hillywood:” Catchy and witty was this years slogan for the 5^th Annual Rwanda Film Festival, a fascinating week of local talent showcasing their work and great promise in the film industry. http://www.rwandafilmfestival.org/ It took place from June 18th-28th and I had the pleasure of attending the Opening Night at the Serena Hotel, where open bar, great company, the documentary: “War Child,” and meeting a big shot from the Tribeca Film Festival made my evening!

Tying the knot: Attending a Rwandan wedding ceremony was an all day affair. It began at the groom’s house, where his friends and family gathered to accompany him on his quest to ask for his future wife’s hand. Once at the bride’s house, each family sat (separated) across from the other and spokespeople (well-versed MCs) from each entourage debated over the terms of this “transaction.” At the first, the bride’s spokesperson teased the groom’s side by saying that the woman whom they came for is already taken, it was quite a theatrical feat; then the traditional gifts were exchanged. Dowry is the tradition whereby money and gifts are given by a brides family to her future in-laws. In Rwanda, however, it is customary for the groom to offer cattles to the bride’s family. Once the family accepts the gifts, the bride comes out, and everyone eats. Quick outfit change, from traditional Rwandan wear to suits and gowns. Next stop: the church. The ceremony takes place as in the many other parts of the world, with the peculiar intermission in which the bride and groom collect money from the people in attendance in a wooden box. After that, there was a very nice reception at a country club, thirty minutes away from Kigali, where there were more speeches, more food and cake! Then about 9pm we all headed to the groom’s house for the last ceremony. The bride’s parents drop off the daughter at her new family’s house, where she will officially begin her new life as a wife. Congratulations!

Great times at both of these events and more to come soon!

The theme of this week is: Language Barrier – when body language and trying really hard doesn’t cut it. At various point during this trip I have had various feelings about my lack of language skills applicable in this region. When I first arrived, I was over eager to take this opportunity to clean my French and walk out of this at least with a decent conversational level; and at the same time, learn some Kinyarwanda, I even made copies of the Peace Corp language manual!  Little did I know that Rwanda just recently and drastically went from being a francophone country to declaring English as its official language. You may wonder, why are you complaining? That benefits you, if the government wants people to speak English, then everyone will try to speak it to you so they can practice. It’s not so much that way, what I’ve come to realize is that Rwandans mix French, Kinyarwanda and English, speaking all and none at the same time.

The first week I felt very comfortable walking into this Kinya-Fren-glish environment, it would be a great learning opportunity and communication goes beyond literally speaking, there is body language, facial expressions, my ability to pick up languages easily and my enthusiasm to get my points across. All that, plus the great advantage that my co-worker speaks fluent Kirundi and French, so there would no problem, or as people here say: Nakibazo! I have this thing that I don’t feel uncomfortable in a situation where I may not speak the language, it’s not awkward, I am patient enough to sit through it, listen attentively, make eye contact, even nod (despite not knowing anything that is being said) and try to deduce the situation based on expressions, tone of voice, etc. I enjoy this kind of ethnographic experiences – learning about culture through people – by listening to them and immersing in their world, which is largely defined by language. I once heard that the scope of our world vision is determined by the breadth of our vocabulary. Anyway, I did not mind sitting there, listening, smiling, and using the 10 words that I know, including the phrase that makes locals laugh the most when I say it: bohoro bohoro (little by little), as in “I’m learning poco a poco;” you see, it’s cute.

Beyond the first few days, though, I began feeling some frustration, what contribution could I really be making in these people’s lives if we can’t even communicate? Why would any volunteer come to an area thinking they would help and not preparing him/herself to speak the local language? What was I thinking? I even felt (warning: the following is a gross and un-pc generalization) like an American that travels abroad and refuses to learn the language and acts all self-righteous spreading their native tongue to all: “Excuse me, I don’t understand,” “I don’t speak it,” “Do you speak ENGLISH?” I even came to resent the way I spoke English, it sounded “American,” well, you’ve lived in the US for the past 6 years, how do you expect it to sound?

In hindsight, these feeling are all part of the process, it is understandable that I would feel this way, especially when in meetings, even those who speak English prefer expressing themselves in Kinyarwanda. There was one instance in which our meeting was entirely not in English and then the next morning the same person whom we met, Facebook chatted with me in perfect, clean and grammatically correct English. Today, I feel more like my usual spirited self and uphold my philosophy that in order to change things, one must “do SOMETHIN’ about it.” If I want to be able to communicate, then I must open that book and do some learning, practice, be proactive. It will always be funny to them, my pronunciation, my sentence structure, whatever the case may be, but at the end of the day, they will see recognize my efforts and more importantly we’ll be able to have a conversation. For those who thought I was sounding way too defeatist before, do know that of course I believe in the work I am doing here, I do believe there is value in me being here and that’s why I have chosen to pursue a career in public service. I only hope that my posts do not simply become an “ohh Cesar, how cool that you’re doing that;” but instead, spark some interest in YOU to at least read about the world, and in the best case scenario, motivate you to volunteer, learn a new language, travel and embrace a cause. Cheers!

“Umuzungu” in Kinyarwanda means white person, but I have also learned that it implies foreigner as well.

The walk from the center of town, up the hill to my house takes about 5 minutes and on the way, one would encounter multiple children playing, women carrying water and locals having conversations. I quickly learned during our walk up and down the hill that Americans attract crowds, the kids would gather around us and yell: “Good afternoon,” “How are you?” in clear English, but would also repeatedly say: “Umuzungu, umuzungu!” and ask for money – or better yet, my ultimate favorite: “give me MY money,” as though asking for it immediately gave them ownership over it. The first few days in town, my crew was made up of a girl with short blonde hair and beautiful light eyes (the volunteer that was about to return to the US) and my co-volunteer J.C. who is from the neighboring country of Burundi, speaks fluent Kirundi (also understood by Rwandans), and despite looking East African, people often took for an African-American. I figured that once the volunteer left Rwanda and J.C. and I were alone, we would not attract much attention when we walked around town. Not quite!

I’ve realized that I stand out quite a bit, a dark skinned Venezuelan is a strange specimen around here.  People stare at me, trying to figure out where I come from; “your features are quite different from the people here,” I was once told. But to make things easier, most people assume I’m American. Those whom I come in contact with more formally and introduce myself to, are surprised to know I am South American, some don’t know where Venezuela is located, let alone that there are black people there. The day that I arrived, we went to a local community meeting where we introduced our organization and the center we are building to local folks, we were greeted with a lively dance performance by the kids and an official welcome from the leader of the area, Mr.  Innocent. In his speech, he expressed how grateful he was that someone from so far away would travel to all the way to Rwanda and spend time with them. However, he was puzzled, according to my translator, he asked me “how come you’re dark skinned and from a Spanish-speaking country?” When I first took a shot at answering, I said: “I am fortunate to be here, black people from South America don’t generally have the opportunity to travel, I am grateful this trip is sponsored by my university, a testament to how education can open many doors, etc, etc.”

I felt uneasy about that answer (though it was completely true), because I knew I was missing an important point, the part that had educational value for this audience, in case it was not known or taught in schools. I took another stab at it: “back in the days of colonization, European powers – namely England, Spain, France and Portugal, exported African slaves to their newly discovered lands in North and South America, and the Caribbean, to work the land and exploit all the natural resources from these places and then sell them to other countries and bring back to their home countries as well. “ “Throughout the years, Africans assimilated to their new homes and began intermingling with locals and reproducing. In other words, I am an example of generations of Africans mixing with Native Americans, indigenous people, even Europeans, yielding: mestizos, zambos, etc (as I can recall from history class in elementary school). There are many people who look like me in Colombia, Brazil, Haiti, Cuba, Guyana, etc!”

After that experience, I remembered that my grandmother from my mother’s side was a “native South-American,” with long straight black hair, light skinned gently kissed by the sun and very short in height. So, in essence, I am a mix, a Barack Obama of sorts, but in this context I had to oversimplify it: “Umuzungu mama  na Umwirabura data,” “White mom, black dad.” In reality, my background and my ethnic make up is much more complex and interesting. One of the things I hope to invest time and energy researching is precisely where in Africa my ancestors come from. It is one of those quests that might be incredibly difficult, unless I can get some funding from Oprah to get the type of DNA testing she did; but regardless, it will be an adventure that will allow me to discover the continent, explore patterns of migration and the various experiences of African Diaspora groups around the world.

It’s been a full week since my arrival in Rwanda, which means it’s time for me to take my malaria pill “Mefloquin” (known for its side effects: vivid dreams, often scary), but it also means that my first blog post is way over due. In my defense, this week has been extremely busy, the first 4 days consisted in a thorough orientation and the next few days were about starting to familiarize myself with the people involved with the project, as well as the new environment.

Allow me to recap, I am working for an organization called Miracle Corners of the World – MCW (www.miraclecorners.org), it is based in New York City and it sets up self-sustaining community centers in Africa, there are two in Tanzania, one in Sierra Leone and this is the first one in Rwanda. MCW’s model is unique because each program run in the center (Entrepreneurship, Performing Arts, English & Swahili, ICT) functions as its own business, so MCW only builds the building and gives basic materials, and the locals involved as teachers run the center. There is no salary, the teachers use the revenue that is generated from their class fees to pay the center’s utility bills and what is left is their income; the center gives the people involved an opportunity to design and implement their own program.

 Since I must cover the first 7 days of this adventure, I will briefly summarize my activities for the day and then choose my favorite part of the day and expand on it:

Sunday May 30^th: Arriving in Rwanda consisted in sitting many hours in airplanes, eating lots plane food, sleeping uncomfortably (though sleeping nevertheless) and various lengthy layovers (a 24 hour one in New York and a 7 hour one in Amsterdam). My itinerary was the following; Caracas-Atlanta-New York-Amsterdam-Nairobi-KIGALI!! At the Kigali airport I was greeted by Anna, the MCW volunteer who I am replacing, and J.C. another MCW volunteer, and my partner in crime. Driving into Kigali from the airport on a Sunday morning is quite peaceful, seeing the beautiful rolling hills for the first time was breathtaking and noticing Rwanda’s development did not take long. We arrived at Union Trade Center (UTC), a shopping mall with a 24-hour store called Nakumatt, which has anything from bread to flat-screen TVs, and many other important shops. We sat at Bourbon Café, a chic place where Kigali’s bourgeoisie comes to see and be seen. There we met the people that will be my family for the coming months: a former MCW volunteer that was involved in the beginning stages of the community center, a Peace Corp volunteer that lives in my same compound in the town of Nyamata, a Canadian journalist that runs an exchange program, her boyfriend who is a Rwandan photo-journalist, and a Swedish student that is doing research on the gacaca courts. After my third breakfast of the day – on my flight to Nairobi I had a croissant and yogurt, then on my flight to Kigali I had poached eggs with sausage – and at the café I had a tasty egg sandwich. [I don’t know how much detail people are supposed to include in their blogs].  After this rendezvous, which would be the first of many I would have during the week, we headed to Nyamata, a town roughly about 30-45 minutes from Kigali, depending on traffic. This ride was quite enjoyable as the scenery is incredible, the vegetation is lush, the air is not polluted and the paved road, an example of how far the country has come. I was told that this trip took more than two hours on a dirt road, a few years ago! Arriving in Nyamata was a pleasant surprise, our living conditions are great, we live in a compound of three small houses: one is where the owner lives with his wife and kids, the other is where the Peace Corp volunteer lives with a Columbia Med School volunteer working in Millennium Villages, and the last one is where JC and I would live for the next three months. [Please refer to pictures on my Facebook album: Pays des Mille Collines, to check out everything I’ve been describing, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2484491&id=838515&l=0ecc9f01da]. Here comes the highlight of my day: we went to Kayensi to meet Yvonne, the team leader of the performing arts program, she’s been running a dance, singing and drumming school out of her house for several years, and will be moving to our center to teach there as soon as construction is finished. She then invited us to a community meeting where parents would learn about her program and its importance to maintain traditional dances alive for generations to come. At this meeting we were seated in front of all parents, we introduced ourselves, spoke about the program, answered questions and were the guest of honor for a performance put on by the kids in the program. This performance was very moving, the kids truly enjoy dancing and learning about their culture, and are truly skilled and talented. JC and I were even invited to dance with them, and it was an incredible experience to be part of this cultural event. [JC took great footage of this event, I am hoping to post it soon once the internet cooperates.] To complete my “Welcome to Rwanda Day,” I was taken to a place called “Black & White” a restaurant by day and a bar by night, every Sunday night there is live music and many people from Kigali come all the way to Nyamata to party here. At B&W I had my first Rwandan beer: Mutsig and my first brochette (meat on a stick). WHAT A DAY!! I started feeling the jet-lag and we headed home so I could finally rest.

Monday June 1^st: Day one of Orientation – Our day started at a café in Nyamata run by a woman named Josiane, she serves Chai tea, samosas and naan bread called ‘chipati’  for breakfast. I took my first bus into Kigali, these buses are small, generally cramped and even chickens are allowed on board. Once in the city, I got a sim card for my phone (I brought the cell phone I used freshman year in Florence, and the past two summers in Prague) and my new number is +250788931025 [CALL ME!!]. We then headed to Blues Café (a place we would visit frequently) and had a buffet for lunch, a very common way of dining in Rwanda. At 2pm we had a meeting with the Deputy Director General from the National Land Centre, this gentleman was one of the architect for the MCW Center and a dear friend of the organization since the program started in the country. This meeting was my favorite part of the day,  I realized that I will have access to many important contacts with whom MCW has been able to network and will be able to gain a lot of exposure to the type of work I see myself doing in the future. For example, at this meeting this gentleman mentioned that his office: the National Land Centre, was working on a project to track all of the genocide memorial sites in the country and I was able to contribute that at an event in NYC I learned about the work of a Harvard professor that has documented 120 memorial sites in Rwanda and that they should collaborate. Indeed, this is what I think is one of my strengths: connecting the pieces. I have noticed that there is such a disconnect and miscommunication between organizations on the ground; there are many organizations working on similar projects but they refuse to partner. In such a small country as Rwanda, there should be more partnerships and collaborations between these organizations, I wonder if I could do this in the future.  After the meeting we walked around the city and took pictures, JC has taught me various tricks to take amazing shots with my new camera. We returned to Blues café in the afternoon to meet with the Consultants of the program, a group of young folks that help out in various capacities: translation, supervising some of the programs, etc. I enjoyed learning about them and helping them prepare for their upcoming interviews at the US Embassy, where they’ll obtain their visas to go to New York for the MCW Youth Leadership Retreat. Then we headed back to Nyamata to learn more about the nature of our work.

Tuesday June 2^nd: Day two of Orientation – Early meeting with the adviser for the Entrepreneurship program who works for the Private Sector Federation. Following that, we met with the District Representative for Youth and Sports, just to introduce ourselves and become familiar with our contacts in government. We couldn’t skip breakfast at Josiane’s before heading to Kigali. Once in the city, we took care of getting signature rights in the organization’s account at the bank, then went to Rwandatel to fix JC’s computer, which is a Mac and was unable to connect to the modem. How come I did not know portable mdems existed?? These are revolutionary devices with which you can connect to the internet even in the most remote areas, they are amazing, technology astounds me.   Have I mention the fastest, most convenient and most common mode of transportation in Rwanda? Moto-Taxis! We pretty much take motos everywhere, the prices are negotiable, although they are pretty honest (unless you are an obvious MUZUNGU –  Kinyarwanda for foreigner), in which case they’ll overcharge you.  So, we took a moto to the airport to pick up Nate, another MCW volunteer that came to see the way we develop the center here, then heads to Tanzania to gain wisdom there as well, and finally to Zambia where he will start a brand new community center from scratch. GOOD LUCK NATE! We brought him to Nyamata and initiated him on our buffet diet. After lunch was an important meeting with all the team leaders, the men and women that will be running their programs at the center after construction is finished. We had heard all bout their programs, as well as their stories, but finally putting a face to a name made it a reality. These are the people who we will be working with, these are the entrepreneurs that will lead our center. We were able to interact with them, hear updates on their programs and see their faces light up as they talked about them! After the meeting we had quite an intense session learning and actually doing budgets, learning how to track our expenses, and filling out forms. There is a reason why I don’t like numbers, but it is also quite an exercise to do this work before taking Financial Management of Public Service organizations next semester. It had been yet another busy day, so, we went for a Mutzig (beer) at a bar called Gacaca (yes, the same name as the grassroots courts were citizens themselves try genocidaires for their crimes – we will get into an indepth conversation about this topic soon enough). Good night!

Wednesday June 3^rd: We woke up around 6:30am to go on a hike around the hills of Nyamata, seeing the sunrise from above was beautiful and during the walk we discovered many great spots to read, relax and take photographs. The hills were quite steep and I got inspired to get in shape, with all the walking and hiking we do here, why would anyone pay for a gym subscription? After hiking and a much needed shower, you guessed it: we had breakfast at Josiane’s, here we met a volunteer from Canada that is working on the first public library of Nyamata. We went into Kigali again, and met with the adviser for the Counseling program and learned more about that program, which would be a free service offered at the center for all the people living with trauma and not receiving any psychiatric support. After another buffet at Blues, we took some time to walk around Kigali in search of a café with wireless internet where we could finally take some time and write our families, and connect with the world. We reached Torero, a trendy café that is supposed to be quite popular during the evenings, but did not have internet. We stayed for beers nevertheless and reminiscing on New York City ensued. We decided to spend the night in Kigali for the farewell celebrations of the volunteer JC and I would be replacing, who was our amazing orientation leader and who brought us up to speed on the work she had been doing for the past 5 months. It took us quite a bit to find the hostel where we would stay, which was actually a convent. After checking  in and dropping off our bags, we took motos to Nyamirambo, an area we hadn’t explored in Kigali, it reminds me of Alphabet City in NYC, the streets were vibrant, many music shops, clothing stores, many people on the streets, even late in the evening. We met the “family” we met on Sunday, at a bar named Stella where we also had dinner and then headed to a club called KBC for a fun night Rwanda style.

 Thursday June 4^th:  We woke up at St. Paul’s convent guest house and as we prepared to leave, had a friendly encounter with a guy who calls himself “GOD,” he was holding a roll of paper towel, and later took ours, was shirtless and warned us against eating the forbidden fruit, it was a bizarre exchange. We had breakfast at a café called Simba (right next to a supermarket with the same name), which had a great wireless connection, comfy chairs and great omelets, what else can one ask for? We said goodbye to our gracious host, whose time in Rwanda has ended, and stayed at this place the entire afternoon, working on one document that summarized all we had learned about the center, the programs, the organization, as well as developing a game plan for the next months and a list of priorities to get done in the short term. We took a bus home and decided to hit the bed early (something we hadn’t done before).

Friday June 5^th: Now on our own, we had a series of duties to begin assuming responsibility over and so we started the day with a 7:30 meeting with the Entrepreneurship supervisor, following that a meeting with the person in charge of Land for the District and then headed to Kigali (it is worth noting that in future weeks we would not be making the commute to the capital as often as we’ve had this week). We scored a meeting with an important microfinance organization called Duterimberi, so we came in to learn about the way they do business and how to potentially partner with them. This was an amazing meeting because we met the head of the branch that deals with loans and the head of the branch that trains entrepreneurs, it was quite informative and there is a lot of room for future collaboration. Having completed three productive meetings, we deserved lunch, we went back to Simba and I had a hamburger (not typically Rwandan, but now that I’m used to my braces, I enjoyed eating it). We were told that there would be a memorial service in the town of Ntarama, so after stopping by the MCW’s facilities for a quick tour, we headed there only to realize that it was the following day. Thankfully we met a young man that works for the Nelson Mandela Technical School, which trains secondary school students in construction and electrical engineering, who spoke to us about solar panels that will be beneficial for our center, as we are not connected to the grid, and the possibility to tour their facilities and learn more about their sponsoring organization: Green Helmet, based in Germany. A busy day calls for a drink at Gacaca, here we met the manager and learned about the many places he’s lived in including 8 years in Canada.

Saturday June 6^th and Sunday June 7, 2009: Believe it or not, we had some work on both days! On Saturday we met with the gentleman from the National Land Centre (whom we met Monday) and the head of construction for our center to get on the same page. Thankfully we were able to have lunch and a relaxing afternoon at the house of JC’s friend, a gentleman that works with his father, and who is Rwanda for his upcoming wedding, an event to which we were cordially invited and soon to be written about in this blog. That evening we attended a memorial service commemorating the families that were completely wiped out, leaving no survivor to mourn them. This service was quite an intense experience, one which I am still processing and decline to comment at the moment. On Sunday we were finally allowed to sleep late (many of you may know how much I appreciate sleeping!!), but then had a meeting with the Canadian gentlemen, who we reached out to in order to identify a Literacy teacher. He then took us to the Nyamata Memorial and this was, again, an experience which has left an impression on me and which I am not quite ready to put into words.

This concludes the official summary of my week, I realized that it is quite lengthy to read and it can become quite repetitive if I were to do this every week; so, as my workload becomes manageable and I have more time to think about the various issues that come up in living and working in this country: affronting the implications of my identity in this context, the role I play in this society, amongst other things, I hope to write articles that address these issues, as opposed to just giving you all a laundry list of my activities. Deal?

Would anyone want to translate this to Spanish for me? [There will be compensation]

Welcome to my brand new blog!

It was a gift from my cousin Juan Carlos, who after reading a Facebook note I posted entitled: “Ti scatteró una foto,” decided to create and design this space for me to write about my experiences in the Land of the Thousand Hills. This is the first time I chronicle my experiences online, but I feel compelled to share this journey with you all.  I hope to share some of my reflections and ideas, my interests and passions, and showcase my photography; all of it while making it a portal for interactive dialogue and discussion. Hope you enjoy reading it. Below you will find my contact information, feel free to call/write/send packages, all of it is welcomed!

Bienvenidos a mi nuevo blog! Fue un regalo de mi primo Juan Carlos, quien al leer una nota que publiqué en Facebook llamada “Ti scatteró una foto,” decidió crearme y diseñarme este espacio para que yo escriba sobre mis experiencias en la Tierra de las mil colinas. Esta es la primera vez que relato mis experiencias por internet, pero me siento en la obligación de compartir este viaje con ustedes. Espero compartir mis reflexiones e ideas, mis intereses y mis pasiones, y exponer mi fotografía; al igual que hacer de este blog in portal de dialogo donde podamos discutir y aprender  juntos. Espero que disfruten leyéndolo. Abajo encontrarán mi información, me pueden llamar, escribir, enviar paquetes, todo es bienvenido!

Cell phone: +250788931025

Address:

Miracle Corners of the World

PO BOX 4148

Kigali, Rwanda