When I was saying my goodbyes in Rwanda in July of last year, I never thought I would be back here just 10 months later. Having the opportunity to come back and reconnect with people while doing my summer practicum research has been so wonderful.
I am here until August and am working at Projet San Francisco (PSF) (a clinic of the Emory Rwanda Zambia HIV Research Group) on a Bill and Melinda Gates Grand Challenges Exploration Grant that my faculty advisor received. This project is focused on the supply and demand of postpartum family planning methods, specifically long-acting reversible contraception. I'm working alongside an MPH student from U Michigan whose focus is on assessing the financial aspect of the project. Between her awesome french and my somewhat decent kinyarwanda we are able to get around and communicate with non-english speakers in various situations we've been in together both work and non-work related, so I say we make a great team!
I was able to visit my Peace Corps site last week which was bittersweet to say the least. Yes I did shed a tear or more as I arrived at the health center. Despite being 'complimented' by everyone I saw that I was 'so big now!!!' (Yes the post Peace Corps 10-12 pounds came really fast and has not left quite as quickly) the reunions were wonderful. It was great seeing my former counterparts, co-workers, and the volunteer who came after me. I was also able to meet with the titulare despite her crazy busy schedule (I happened to show up during a Ministry of Health & USAID visit). She was very interested in the research I'm working on this summer, proposed some additional research topics I should explore in the future (effect of circumcision on sexual behavior of teenagers sounds interesting right?!) and even asked for my final thesis. I told her I'd follow up with her in approximately a year about that. I was proud to see that Prepex (the non-surgical circumcision method) was finally being implemented at the health center, since my titulare and I had been bothering (read: highly requesting for) the nurses at the health center to receive the training for the past year before I left! PSF is also starting to implement Prepex so it's pretty cool seeing how widespread it's becoming in Rwanda as an alternative to surgical circumcision. Okay, enough about circumcision...
I stayed with my friend Diane and her husband during my two days there, at their home with this wonderful view. Diane is one of a handful of people in Rwanda I talked to weekly if not almost everyday so it was great seeing her again and spending time with her and her family. Another highlight of the past few weeks was getting to reunite with former GLOW and BE camp students. I was able to meet some of the students who're still in school, and also meet former students who now graduated and are living in Kigali. It was wonderful seeing that they're all doing well and are so grown up now (I forget that they're only 3-4 years younger than me)!! I've found myself in a situation where I'm somewhat of a mentor to them which I feel like I am living a lie considering I'm still trying to figure out my own life plan and career, but it's great to be able to help them in any way I can and also learn and receive help from them as well. For example, the number of times they've helped me out with translating via text is very high.
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| Views |
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| Diane and her son, Trystan |
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| Goudoula, Damour, Patrick |
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| Annet, Dorcas, Olivier |
Two weeks ago I took a day trip to Rwamagana to visit my host family during training. It was great seeing my host grandma, mom, brothers, and one of my sisters, although my other siblings were away at school or live in other parts of Rwanda. They cooked chips beans and veggies, and offered me beer (which I noticed was only a thing when I visited and not when I lived there lol). They told me that a new group of volunteers is arriving soon (sometime next week) and she's looking forward to having yet another female volunteer stay with them because 'males are not clean and drink too much.' LOL.
Aside from work and trips, a huge part of my time here has revolved around food. It's nice having a lot more options for fruits and veggies with a huge market just a 20 minute walk away, and supermarkets in the area as well. Meat is also way more accessible than it was in the village, so I don't have to be a site vegetarian anymore! My roommate and I have decided that we are going to eat our way through Kigali (we've also decided we're getting at least 10k steps in everyday and yes both these goals are possible and working well...) aka try as many different restaurants as possible without breaking the bank. Although I'd been to quite a few before this trip (yes I was one of those PCVs that splurged when I came into town and then had no money at the end of the month) I have been surprised at how many new ones there are. The Hut is definitely my favorite so far... that passion fruit mojito though.Also Delizia for gelato..I may or may not have been there 3 times already.
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| Passion Fruit Mojito and an appetizer on the house! |
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| Fellow Emory Rollins students and I at Delizia Gelato. Pretty impressed that I actually didn't get gelato this time despite being very tempted to... |
Here is an exclusive photo of me enjoying the Gorillas since the price went up to $1500 and I really regret not going to see them last year.
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| Volcanoes National Park or RDB office? |
I could ramble on and on about my summer so far, but I'll leave the rest for another time.
Until next time,
Vanessa
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