I don’t know what the articles looks like, nor do I know what other photos will be used, all I can tell you is that it’s upcoming (which might mean December given the lead time on magazines, but it could be sooner) and it should include these five photos.

If you see it can you grab a copy for me, I’d appreciate it. I’m curious if the article’s any good and I’d love to see my pictures in print.

The suspicion is not unwarranted–as you often hear here, it’s not a question of IF you will be mugged or otherwise attacked, it is only a question of WHEN.
When, for Rich and I, was last night–we were fortunate that no one was hurt and nothing was taken. Rich was able to fight the guy off and chase him away, but what struck him the most was the anger in the boys eyes and his willingness to use violence–which caused Rich to question why that was the case.

Truthfully, I think Angela has managed to talk about lots of what I’ve been thinking about in the last 24 hours. I encourage you to read her post in it’s entirety. I have been thinking about more stuff, but much of it right now is unrefined and rather a blob of stuff that isn’t entirely coherent enough for a blog.

In all I have to say this is rather ironic. In during and after the moment of being assaulted with a deadly weapon, I was fine. As a man in a storm, I survived decently. The real shock didn’t set in until much later… realizing much later that we were ridiculously lucky to have a calm head, good reactions, decent preparations, and lady luck on our side and to stupidly paranoid and panicky later.

Needless to say my first impressions of things here in Cape Town aren’t all that great right now. I do hope they improve.

What is it to tell a story? We watch the stories movies portray as entertainment as most are meant to be enjoyed. Some stories are designed to transcend the entertainment value and provide what most would refer to as “A moral to the story.” A guiding thought, or point which might allow us to learn without direct experience. Fewer stories still are designed to evoke a feeling so strong as to transcend a lesson and provoke action.

These stories are most often the hardest to engage as they, like the beggar on the street or your boss at work, want something from you. Something that most are reluctant to give without coinciding self-interest. Perhaps it is not most, perhaps it is a small sub-culture within America of which I am a part.

For me, these latter stories are both the most favored by me, and the most avoided. Being slightly obsessive, I can be effected by stories that are designed to provoke a reaction followed by a reaction. As you may guess, beyond criticizing the technical and dramatic value of the story, I put myself in the shoes of the characters and try to sympathize or empathize with them. I humanize the characters.

Consider then that I am in Kigali. I have visited parts of the city where the Genocide took place. I have visited the memorials, I have talked with the people who have most directly been effected by the Genocide 15 years ago, I have visited the camps near Goma where people are even now still displaced because of these people were not captured, but driven into the Congo. And now, again, before I have left this place, I have watched “Hotel Rwanda” and it’s portryal of the saving actions of one hotel manager here in this city 15 years ago.

I know far more about the story then it lets on, as I have now a tourists view of the landscape which abutts Angela’s research into the effect of the “Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities” (HROC) program in Giesyni, less then 100 feet from the Goma, Congo border. I have overheard and discussed the Genocide, ethnicity, colonialism, and it’s historical implications. This after not having known more then the bare glimpses from international news and rudimentary and rather abstract discussions on the topic.

I see now a cycle of violence, corruption, greed of power, and enforced ignorance which underlines and redefines the evocation of “Hotel Rwanda.” At one point the Canadian/UN Colonel is quoted at saying, “We think your dirt” by which he means the International community thinks the Rwandan people are not worth saving. I is the cynical and bitter side of me who sees that this, to some degree is still true of several international situations of which Rwanda is one of. (Most notably the Palestinians in IDP camps, but there are also still simmering conflicts in Cyprus, the Koreas, and elsewhere.) I am angry at my leaders who hesitated and didn’t intervene in a modern day holocaust.

Having now lived in Washington, where I am now more familiar with international politics and how self-interest dominates international agendas, I too understand. I know that change is possible, the the blame lies not with the soldiers who were not allowed to protect themselves nor intervene in holocaust, but rather with people like myself and my leaders. I take to heart the memorials here that say “Genocide, Never again!” as what will stop this is the action of the single person with like minded single people driving towards humanizing each other. Providing social networks, economic security that encourages inter-dependence, improving human capacity to humanize each other so that never again will another arbitrary designation of an ethnicity be manipulated by external powers into destroying another arbitrary group.

It will take me building an internet cafe which will help teach people working skills, provide capacity for learning and teaching, employee another several people, and connect with other humans around the world. It will take Angela giving them context for their culture and it’s effects on how the live. It will take Andrew teaching people to write grants, sing in harmony, and cook in community. And it will take you talking to your friends and keeping an open mind, understanding your biases, and working to raise your children to acknowledge those biases. It will take all of us acting in our self-interest, a self-interest that acknowledges we are all really inter-dependent.

We are telling the story of the human condition.

While in Goma, we also visited one of the six official (and one unofficial) Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. It was a breeze through, and I felt a little sick in the heart whizzing through and seeing such a camp without spending real time or bringing real help. I’ve never seen an IDP camp. This was angering, heartbreaking, and strangely beautiful. They’ve been there in camps for several years, so children are growing up in these camps knowing a makeshift orange tarpaulin covered frame as school. “Bars” or rather places to get beer are denoted by piles of rocks propping a stick with a plastic bag as a flag. Food is in short supply right now so for part of the month, when the allotment of flour runs low, kids know that they don’t get lunch, and they stare enviously at people who do eat lunch or become hoarders of what bread they can get there hands on.

It got so bad that some time ago people from several camps “revolted” and move to a place closer to the road, where they rebuilt an unofficial camp. They moved to get better visibility, as they felt neglected. It’s become controversial as administrators aren’t willing to sanction the camp as some people might game the system. So they have to trek to the other camps to get their allotments. All in all it hasn’t worked out so well for them, but it’s indicative of the complex nature that the situation is.

Or rather that it seems, as although the political realities are complex with overtones of the continuing conflict and distinct corruption issues, the human reality is simple. These are ignored people. They matter little to the world and therefore get little help. But little still means thousands of UN, NGO, and international expats are on the ground and trying to help and are indeed helping, but still people in bad conditions and living in tarpaline covered huts with little way out.

The social structure has broken somewhat too. These people lived in villages previously, and conflicts once dealt with by the community and it’s tribal leaders, have degenerated into heated feuds. This is compounded by the corrupt nature of the police who are exacerbating the problem. As was described to me, an argument between children can escalate to adults, where it becomes a feud. Applying to the low or underpaid police for help, a $5 dollar fee is required from both parties, after which no investigation is done and the $5 dollars is pocketed. So the large fee just adds another target for the bickering and improves nothing. It’s worth noting the feed is hard to come by and precious; a dollar will buy you a kilo of potatoes and beans for a family meal.

There are several people doing something about this, the local quaker community has emplace–similar to Burundi, Rwanda, and other Great Lakes Region countries–several programs. Healing and Reconciling Our Communities (HROC), Alternatives to Violences Program (AVP), and Mediation, all of which are helping to empower the locals through the workshops and services they provide. This petty dispute which started small can end small and it’s this which is a part of the goal to reintroduced fabric of the community that was lost in the chaos and intermingling of villages. The quakers aren’t the only locals and expats trying to help, but they are the ones I visited and can report on.

The research that Angela spent the last three months on indicated that HROC was effective in helping rebuild the trust and sense of community lost during trauma inflicted through the conflict, the displacement, and return. I found it interesting that a large portion of the funding for these quaker initiatives in Goma are funded by the Norwegian government via Norwegian Quaker NGOs. It’s still there during this financial crisis, which is encouraging, but funding is still tough. Giving to aglionline.org would certainly help.

Tomorrow is part 4 of 4, or maybe 5 depending on if I can finish the last piece. It’s a digression from the stream that has preceded it, but it follows the theme that I’ve been faced with here in Rwanda.

Yesterday, Thursday May 21st, we spent a day in Goma, DRC, which is literally a few hundred meters away from where I sit as I write this. Interestingly that arbitrary line drawn years ago is now a physical demarcation in both stability and economics. As some of you may remember Goma is still in a state of simmering conflict. More specifically its the areas outside of Goma a few kilometers into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in North and South Kivu. This conflict, which was exported to the DRC from Rwanda after the genocide, causes continued instability which is apparent in most walks of life within Goma. Security is the biggest point of differentiation, as although crime exists in Rwanda, there is a general feeling of safety that is enforced by the police state atmosphere. Angela and I crossed into Rwanda at the “Grande” (Trucks and Foreigners) Goma-Geniysi border yesterday around 6pm and it was pouring rain so we ducked into have a tea an wait it out. By the time the rain stopped and we started home it was dark. Although I was a bit worried we’d get lost, based on all reports a Muzungu like me would have little trouble with people on the way home, nor would anyone for that matter. (A Muzungu or Umuzungu as it’s more commonly spelled, is a descriptive term of any non-commoner. Generally children chant it at foreigners, but it can also mean upperclass people.)

Here’s another example, yesterday I heard a story about three muzungu at the beach in Genisyi where one left his passport and cellphone under a stack of clothes inches away from another muzungu while they swam. Several minutes later, after some background action that the muguzunu’s were unaware of, several locals say they’ve caught a thief and ask the Muzungu who swam where his cellphone went. Find it missing, they say someone’s returning it shortly along with the thief. Cellphone returned the muzungu’s go on about the beach business in a more aware state, but the young thief was given vigilante justice; i.e. beaten and and thrown into the water with his clothes. The thief then threated the locals claiming to be part of the militia and saying he’d return later. Not taking kindly to this, the locals broke a branch and “taught him a lesson.”

It’s heresay, that I heard directly from a witness, but which even if slightly exaggerated is indicative of the ethos that the people have about crime. Police are sometimes involved, but in Rwanda you take your chances if you disrupt civil society and you might pay with your life.

The DRC such an ethos seems to be lacking. Having only visited for a day, I can’t say that it seemed dramatically different then Genisyi in terms of crime or alike as I have insufficient data. I can say the police/officials near the border are different. Unpaid and apparently corrupt on the DRC side and polite on the Rwandan. I wonder if here in the Goma/Genisyi area, given the regularity (daily) crossing of DRC/Rwandan the ethos of stability might be leaking in, but I don’t know enough.

It’s a case that I look forward to returning too and investigating further. Perhaps eventually I’ll be able to report more.

As of today May 27th, I’ll have spent around 20 days in Burundi and Rwanda with a stop in the DRC. Considering I don’t have a job, little that I’m obligated to do directly, how inexpensive it is to stay in the area (even if Rwanda is more expensive then Burundi, and Goma more expensive still, they are all dramatically cheaper then living in the states or in Cape Town), and the fact that I’ve already flown over here, I’m rather disappointed in having to leave so early. Thankfully I’ll only be in Cape Town, which should allow me to return to the African Great Lakes region soon. What follows is a breif summary of some of the things I’ve done.

While in Burundi, I spend a majority of my time in Bujambura which was not intentional, as I would have love to go upcountry, but timing of my stay and Andrew’s/HROC Burundi schedule didn’t permit it. This isn’t to say I wasn’t busy. Much of the Bujambura visit was spent enjoying my time with my brother. We cooked like mad fiends. Ugalki, Squash curry, a oven’less cake/brownie, eggplant stirfry, and more. Angela also came down from Rwanda and spent time with us before heading back to Gisenyi, which gave us more of an excuse to go out to eat. Angela has been home for most of that time eating home cooked Rwandan meals, so she craved a bit of excitement. We went out for Chinese, Indian, and on a thursday night, we had Pizza which was really good but also came with a side of Hippo viewing.

In between all of this Andrew was getting work done, he had a USAID grant to get done and Angela had a report to work on, so we also spent some time trying to relax from the stress of work stress. Perhaps it was more of an excuse, but we ended up going to the beach several times and playing volleyball with some other expats (there are many), as well as working on our tan, and playing around with timelapses (which should be uploaded as time permits).

I also was trying to get some work done, but it was mainly focused on updating and working with computers around. As you may know I spent some time working with the AFSC computers, which had me thinking about trying to get a job doing similar such things. I also wanted to get lots of pictures and video for future work with AGLI, HROC, AVP, FWA, and others. You’ve likely already seen the video I made for FWA, which was shot one day, and created then next so it’s a little rough. I hope it’s a useful fundrasing and awareness tool.

As you might guess, there will be a bit of a flood of pictures after I get settled. That’s all for now, my post tomorrow is mostly focused on Goma.

I’m enjoying the beautiful mountain air and beautiful volcanos that surround us. Angela and I are staying with Pastor Augusten who is the pastor of the Quaker church here in Gisenyi. Several children, decent house, very nice and again good food. Rice, beans, and cooked bannanas never tasted so good.

Apparently beyond the taste and beauty, Rwanda is embroiled in a minor journalistic war. Human Rights Watch and the Rwandan Government are going at each other in accusations and counter-accusations. I’m still trying to put Rwanda in context so I can’t give you much ground info on this, but it’s an interesting backdrop to the traveling I’m doing.

I’ll post pictures when I can and hope you all enjoyed the video.

I leave for Rwanda tomorrow and will be doing a long bus ride from Bujambura to Gisenyi which should take most of the day. I have more pictures up on flickr and a few other videos on youtube that didn’t work out so well. (We saw hippos while eating pizza, and I got video, but the audio’s all screw up). More when time permits, I’ve had a fascinating and busy two weeks in Burundi. (And needless to say I can’t believe it’s only been that long.) I’ll be back, as this wasn’t nearly long enough. More then once the thought of just ditching all my other plans and just staying here ran through my head.