Our service to the people of Rwanda

One of the observations that I had shortly after arriving here is that Rwanda and her people have an evident need for the Baha’i Faith. 

Most people in the US and the EU know about the terrible days of 1994 when a million Rwandan people were killed in one hundred days.  These events were an example of inter-tribal warfare: the Hutu tribe, which was in the majority and which controlled the government, was encouraged through government run media to kill all members of the Tutsi tribe, which had been in power until they were deposed by the colonial government before Rwanda gained independence.  The current government has made unity of all Rwandans one of the central themes of the development of Rwanda.  As you may know, the unity and oneness of all of the people of the world is a central theme of the Baha’i Faith.   The name of this blog is from one of many verses that express this theme:

 “…Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust?  That no one should exalt himself over the other. …it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.”

Baha’is in Rwanda, and all over the world, are learning specific types of actions that manifest the signs of oneness.  These actions, also referred to as “paths of service”, and “the core activities,” are taught through a curriculum which has been created, tested, and eventually published by The Ruhi Institute in Columbia:  http://www.ruhi.org   The curriculum is taught through Study Circles, where a tutor, who has been trained to facilitate the study circles, leads other participants in the study of the books of the Ruhi Institute.  It is through study circles that people learn both the spiritual principles and the practical aspects of following the other paths of service.  A letter from the Universal House of Justice, the elected body that leads the Baha’is of the world, describes these activities succinctly:

“The activities that drive this process, and in which newly found friends are invited to engage—meetings that strengthen the devotional character of the community; classes that nurture the tender hearts and minds of children; groups that channel the surging energies of junior youth; circles of study, open to all, that enable people of varied backgrounds to advance on equal footing and explore the application of the teachings to their individual and collective lives—may well need to be maintained with assistance from outside the local population for a time.”

Anne and I came to Muhanga to offer our assistance in initiating and maintaining these activities here.  Since we don’t speak Kinyarwanda, and most people here are not fluent in English, we have had much help from members of other Baha’i communities in Rwanda.  (There are several large and growing Baha’i communities in different parts of the country.)  They come to tutor study circles, and accompany people as they take their first steps along the various paths of service.  So far, we have three children’s classes, four junior youth groups, and several study circles.  We still need to encourage the establishment of some regular devotional meetings! (That will have to be my next project.)

We are at a point now where we still need tutors to come from other parts of Rwanda to lead study circles in Kinyarwanda.  It is our goal to have several residents of  Muhanga trained as tutors before we go to the United States in July.  That will help the local Baha’i community to be self-sustaining.  God willing, we will return to Rwanda in August, but we can’t be certain of anything.

Hamlet in Huye!

On Thursday one of the HRH staff announced that on Saturday there would be a performance of Hamlet at the University of Rwanda, Huye campus.  As you may know, I love to act on stage, and not too many years ago I played a number of roles in a production of Hamlet at the Columbus Civic Theater.  (I played the ghost of Hamlet’s father, the Player King, the priest, and a courtier.)  So it should be no surprise that I was interested in going.  Then I saw WHO was producing the play:   http://globetoglobe.shakespearesglobe.com/ .  Anne and I were excited.  I sent a text to several, local friends who I thought might be interested as well, telling them that we planned to leave at 9:00 am.  The performance was scheduled to start at 14:00, but we wanted time to a) leave later than planned, b) eat lunch at a restaurant in Huye which might involve an hour and a half wait for food, c) extra time to possibly get lost while looking for the venue, d) the possible need to buy tickets in advance, possibly involving looking for a cash machine.

Patrick, the one friend who responded to my text, arrived at 10 minutes to 9:00.  We didn't actually leave until 10:15.  By then we had added Sarah to our group.  Sarah is the young lady (18 years old) who lives in our “garden house” with her mother, two younger brothers and their house-keeper/baby-sitter.  She had never seen a performance of Hamlet, or any play by Shakespeare, or any live theater whatsoever.  She had, however, read some of Shakespeare’s other plays, and was interested in seeing Hamlet performed.

Huye is a ninety minute drive from Muhanga.  Along the way, we passed the Ethnographic Museum of Rwanda, which had recently had its outer wall painted.  Each panel of the wall had a different design painted on it.  Anne decided that she would love to see similar designs painted on the inside walls of our home, so we had to have a picture of each panel.  I was driving, so I pulled off to the shoulder of the road and was instructed to drive forward about a car’s length, then stop in front of each of twenty-five or thirty panels while Anne took a picture with her phone, and Patrick took a photo with his.  Forward; stop; click, snap; “OK”. Forward; stop; click, snap, etc.

By noon we arrived at Huye, where our first destination was a Chinese restaurant whose praises Anne had heard from several people.  We stopped to ask directions, and arrived within a few minutes.  The owners, who are, in fact, Chinese, were nearly the only people in the restaurant (lunch time in Rwanda seems to start closer to 13:00 than noon, and this was Saturday, when many people are at weddings most of the day.)  Anne chatted them up using the smattering of Chinese that she had learned while living in Hong Kong some decades ago, and they were delighted, as was Anne.  Anne ordered for all four of us, and the food began arriving with surprising quickness!  (Although I did have time to walk across the street to Bank of Kigali, whose ATM yielded up a stack of bills.)   In proper Chinese style, they brought out one dish at a time.  All of us took some from each dish as it arrived, and ate it over rice, Anne and I with chopsticks, our two Rwandan companions with forks.  By the third dish, though, Sarah started using chop sticks too, and seemed to master them well!  The food was delicious: well worth the 27,000 RWF (including tip, about $39) I paid.   Also, there were lots of leftovers, which were put into foil take-out containers with paper lids.  As we still had plenty of time, we drove down the road to Inzozi Nziza (“Sweet Dream”), the excellent ice cream shop in Huye.  Their soft-serve machine was down.  The ice cream they served us from their freezer had a lot of tiny ice crystals in it, but the flavor was fine, and the price was reasonable. 

While at the ice-cream shop, we found a very nice flyer for Hamlet which named the hall where it was to be performed.  We also met a student of the university, who pointed us in the right direction.   I located the hall on Google Maps on my phone, and we headed out.  While Google Maps had located the hall, it seemed not to be quite sure where our car was.  We went past the entrance, then turned around at a petrol station, took the wrong fork in the road, asked directions a few times, and finally stumbled upon a parking lot behind the theater where we found a nice shady spot. 

We had arrived at 13:15 and were among the first people in.  Tickets were actually FREE!  In fact, they didn't bother at all with tickets, and we just walked in and chose our seats.  The show began late because of problems with electricity.  A few scenes in, the power went out again, and they paused the play.  Then, they decided that the power was not likely to come back reliably, so they had the audience wait in their seats while the minimal stage, props, instruments, and costumes were carried outside by the cast and crew.  Twenty minutes later, the play began from where they had left off, but with the audience sitting on stairs and terraces and railings outside, and the performers on the area in front of the building’s entrance. 

Surprisingly, the acoustics were actually better outside than they had been inside!  The performance was top-notch, so, even though I had to hold a parasol for the four of us while sitting on concrete steps, we were quite absorbed in the play.  The set was composed of a back-drop from which the costumes and instruments were suspended, a “down stage” curtain which was strung on a line between two poles, two wooden planks, and about ten metal trunks, some of which were square, some twice as long as wide.  These were moved about and rearranged by cast members between scenes, while other cast members played and sang music.  The transitions were quick and delightful. 

The play ended at 17:00, and we had to hurry to the car.  Wendy, a colleague of Anne’s who lives in Kigali, joined us for the ride home.  They sun set as Anne drove, and it was getting quite dark as we entered Muhanga.  We arrived safely home, where we heated and ate left-over Chinese food, then went off to bed.  As there were no more buses to Kigali, Wendy stayed the night in one of our extra bedrooms.  Altogether, it was a wonderful day.

Don't take the bus on the first day of school!

Last Monday was the first day of school for both primary (P1 through P6) and secondary (S1 through S6) schools in Rwanda.  (Rwanda doesn't experience the same seasons as the U.S.)  Most of the secondary students attend boarding schools, so they filled the buses all weekend and Monday.  Young people were carrying or waiting with everything from backpacks to metal footlockers to rolled and tied foam mattresses.  They were carrying them on foot, hanging on to them while riding motorcycle taxis, or sitting with them waiting for the bus.

Speaking of buses, I chose that same Monday to ride the bus into Kigali.  I was all out of Sumatriptan, that magic medicine that makes my migraines go away.  Somehow I started out later than I had planned.  I arrived at the Volcano Express office just before noon.  The noon bus was just leaving, and tickets for the 12:15 bus were already sold out, so I had to wait for the 12:30 bus.  That was OK, since I needed to get some lunch, and there is a little “Alimentation” right next to the bus office.  I got two samosas and a big cup of tea for 700 RWF (about 1 USD).  I finished the samosas and half the tea in time to get a good seat on that 12:30 bus.

As I was riding and just drifting off to sleep, Anne called, reminding me to bring her cash, because she hadn't gotten any before she left on Sunday for her conference.  Oops!  I had forgotten about that part of my errand and left the extra cash at home, but I could give her most the cash in my wallet and get more from an ATM on my way to the one pharmacy in the country where I know I can get Sumatriptan. Before I got to the main bus station in Kigali, I managed to figure out what part of town Anne’s conference was in.  This was my first time going from the Express bus to a local bus without a Rwandan friend leading me.  Fortunately, each bus has a person that collects passengers, and one of these told me that her bus was going to Nyanza.  I got on the bus, which was filling very slowly.  I have been on buses here that will not go until every seat is filled, so I was delighted when we pulled out with passengers in barely a third of the seats!  Of course, at each stop, we paused while the “collector” announced various destinations to everyone outside in hopes that they might board and pay the 200 RWF (30 cents) fare.  As we reached a point a couple of kilometers from my destination, the bus made a U-turn before stopping.  This was obviously the end of the line, and the collector said I must get off here, and that catch a bus “over there” to get the rest of the way.  I got a moto-taxi instead (400 RWF).  As usual, I prayed for most of the ride. Arriving safely at my destination, I called Anne, and followed the signs to the conference registration desk.  After some discussion, we determined that I did not have enough cash to satisfy Anne’s needs.  But look! Here is our car which I can drive to an ATM for cash!  Fortified through the ATM with 200,000 RWF, I returned and gave Anne 150,000.

By this time, I knew I was behind schedule. I skipped the bus and flagged down another moto-taxi to take me to the pharmacy downtown.  We settled before the ride on 800 RWF, but then he didn't seem to know any of the locations I named except for the Kigali City Tower (the tallest, shiniest building in the country.)  After we reached that landmark, I gestured him along to a point close to KeyPharma, adding three more blocks to our 8 kilometer trip.  He wanted 1000 when I got off, but I convinced him to settle for the 800 we had agreed upon at the start.

KeyPharma has about 6 cash registers arranged along a counter that runs along both sides and the back of the customer area.  At each register there were people holding prescriptions to be filled, waiting for their meds to be brought from stock, or paying for their meds.  Choose a register, get in line, and hope it doesn't take too long.  (“Darn!  If I had gotten in that other line I would be done by now!”  “What’s with this person cutting in front of me?!”)  When my turn came, I said “I need Sumatriptan.”  “Where is your prescription?” the pharmacist asked.  “I don’t have it.”  “Why not?”  “Because it’s in America!”  She laughed, thank God, and went to get my pills.  I paid 26,460 RWF (26,460 / 690 = $38.35) for twelve pills, 50 mg each (half the dose I get in the US, but sometimes it’s enough).  That is actually less than I would pay in the U.S. for the same generic brand.

Another moto-taxi, and more prayers, got me to the Baha’i Center in the Nyamirambo neighborhood at 15:20, just twenty minutes later than I had intended!  My books were waiting for me as was the dear secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly.  We talked then prayed together.  She even suggested that I catch a ride with her to her home, where Anne would be staying the night.  Alas, I had invited guests for supper in Muhanga at 18:30, so I shouldered my pack, now heavy with books, and caught another moto-taxi (800 RWF) to the bus station at Nyamirambo.

As Monday was the first day of school, the bus office was mobbed.  I arrived around 16:00, but, though a bus leaves every fifteen minutes, the earliest I could get was 17:15.  Still, I bought the ticket (for 850 RWF, a 50 franc discount!), and set out to wait.  I went to board at 17:00, figuring I would get a decent seat.  But no!  The buses were running early!  My bus had only two seats left and I had to take a fold-down, aisle seat that just happened to have a metal box under it and be right behind the door! (I thanked God that they only sell as many tickets for a bus as there are seats!)  After boarding, I remembered: “There’s no way I can host a dinner at 18:30, I may not even be home by then.”  I called Lisa, the only guest whose number I had, and asked her to inform the others that the dinner was canceled. 

The bus let people off at various villages on the way.  For each stop, I had to stand up holding my backpack, fold my seat up, and actually step off of the bus to allow passengers off and new passengers on to take the vacant seats.  Then I got back on, folded my seat down, sat down with my pack on my lap, and shut the door as the bus accelerated.  I followed this procedure about six times before we reached my stop, which was a short walk from home with a heavy pack full of books. 

Home again, but without my wife, and no guests to talk and laugh with.  I ate some leftovers, then stayed up until midnight browsing Facebook.  It’s a good thing I had Sumatriptan!