Amahoro (Peace) Island

This past weekend I travelled to Amahoro (Peace) Island, just off the shores of Kibuye in Rwanda. It was our friend Justine's last weekend in Rwanda, so we wanted to spend it in style. Justine heard about Amahoro from her homestay family, so we agreed to check it out!

Kibuye is a 2 hour drive from Gitarama using the bus. Joyce and I caught the early bus (as in 7am early) on Saturday to Kibuye because of Umuganda (the whole country, including business/transport, stops between 8:00-11:00am to clean). We arrived in Kibuye by 9am and walked around trying to find the way to the "beach" and "people". Turns out there's actually no real beach in Kibuye, and the life of the town is not very lively, so we hopped on a boat and headed straight to the island.

Some pictures of Kibuye & Amahoro below (more can be found here): 

Lake Kivu - Kibuye, Rwanda

On the boat to Amahoro

Amahoro Island

Path Linking the 2 parts of Amahoro Island

Our Tents on Amahoro Island

Once on the island we ordered brochette and lounged around chatting with these very nice Chinese friends we met and a mixture of other muzungus from different countries. Joyce and I also played some beach volleyball with a girl from Poland and a Rwandan guy. I sadly injured my thumb at the end (just a bruise though, nothing serious) - goes to show how sportive I am! *blushes* lol!

EVIDENCE: Bruised Thumb #sadstory

We were finally joined by the rest of our friends (6 to be exact) later that evening. When they arrived we listed to their adventures in Gisenyi earlier that day and then set up our tents and were off to sleep!

The following day we woke up to gorgeous weather and the island monkey in our the tree behind our tent - definitely a treat to wake up to! We had met the island dog (Bobbie), cows and bird (crested crane), the day before, but had yet to spot the monkey. He was super cute and we had the pleasure of having him hang around us for most of the remainder of the day.

Bobbie

Cows (mean/scary cows, to be exact)

Monkey :-)

Crested Crane

We spent our day swimming in Lake Kivu and enjoying the sun. Around mid afternoon our group split up; with Justine, Joyce and I heading to see the Bats on Napolean's Hat (Island), and the others heading back to Kigali. Below is a very short video of the bats on Napolean's Island :-)

Hangin' Out in Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

See Ya!! :-)

View photos from the weekend here.

Weekend in Gisenyi

This past weekend, Joyce, Justine and I headed off to the town of Gisenyi for a little weekend getaway. Gisenyi is gorgeously situated on the great Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes, which lies on the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It's the perfect place for a nice beach getaway - exactly what we were looking for!

Gitarama (home) to Gisenyi (red star)

We were a bit hesitant at visiting Gisenyi when we first arrived in Rwanda, given its proximity to the DRC border and all the talk in the news about the instability at the Rwanda-DRC border; HOWEVER, there was a "big" party going on there last weekend called "Earthdance Kigali" - so we thought it would be a good reason to check it out regardless of the warning lol! Glad we did too because the border was nothing to be scared about - probably one of the quietest borders I've ever seen. We walked to the border our first night in Gisenyi with a couple of our Rwandan friends - didn't get to cross it though, since the visa fee is CAD $120 - not worth it for just a couple of hours lol.

Here's a pic of the border sign, just to prove I'm actually not lying =P haha

Congo-Rwanda Border

So anyways! This Earthdance Kigali party was being held on the beach at the Lake Kivu Serena Hotel both Friday and Saturday Night. DJ's from Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya comprised the DJ line-up for both days. The set up was really nice and the music and sound system were really amazing, but sadly not too many people showed. Friday night was legit just mzungu's, and not many of us lol... So we (Justine, Joyce and I) headed to a local bar with our Rwandan friends Monik and Didier and one of the guys from the hotel staff that we had made friends with at dinner. He brought us first to this one club that was small, but very packed. We stayed there for a bit, and then headed to a bigger club in town which also had a good crowd. Was definitely a fun night of dancing!

Saturday we spent the entire morning at the Serena Hotel pool, and the entire afternoon (and part of the evening - until about 6pm or so) on the hotel beach. Definitely an amazing day! Met some cool people too (both local and mzungu - oh! and Alvin who's from Uganda, lol!). Justine and I ventured over to the "public" side of the beach, as most "adventurous" mzungu's do lmao! I say this only because, obviously its normal to go to the public side of the beach when you're visiting a country in order to hang out with locals and get a taste of the culture.... Was definitely an adventure though, to say the least lol! The beach was mostly guys (younger boys) from the Congo - we didn't last long there, maybe 5 mins and then we headed back to the Serena beach and our lovely Rwandan and Ugandan friends lol! Good adventure, but we preferred the Rwanda side better lol.

Here are some pics from the beach and pool... :)

Lake Kivu Serena Pool

Justine & I in the Poool :)

Lake Kivu Serena Hotel Beach & View of Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

Sunset at Lake Kivu

So if that wasn't exciting enough for you, then I should also tell you that the Lake Kivu Serena Hotel is a 4-start hotel [yes, we splurged - just a liiittle ;) ] - meaning that we also enjoyed a weekend of luxury with amazing food and HOT WATER SHOWERS [with pressure! added bonus]! lol! Oh the things in life that make us so happy... But yes, the hotel is absolutely gorgeous; the food is amazing; and the staff is very very friendly and kind. Great place! I had 5 showers over the span of 2.5 days - yep, that's right! It was that exciting lol. Here's a pic of our room at the Serena:

Isn't our little Gorilla & her baby keychain just the icing on the cake? loved it! lol!

I surprisingly didn't take any food pictures this weekend, I think I was just way too excited to eat all the amazing food that I forgot to take pics of it lol! I'll describe it for you though, cause it's worth it lol! So breakfast was included with our room, which usually isn't super exciting in North American cause it usually just means a dinky complimentary breakfast that consists of cereal, muffins/toast, boiled eggs (or scrambled - usually cold - if your "lucky") and some yogourt or something lame like that.... but no. Rwandan's and Serena Hotels don't mess around with food here - this breakfast was impeccable! A full, all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet was what was included - tables and tables of anything you could think of - all the pastries known to man, cheese, meat slices, tons of fruit, rice, beans, chicken wings (?? random, but awesome nonetheless lol!), porridge, a million different juices, yogourt, and a pancake/crepe/omelette making station with chef on-hand to make them fresh for you - amazing! We were lucky to have two mornings at the Serena because that breakfast was to die for lol. 

For dinner the first night I had beef brochette, which was yeummy - but the second night was a million times more exciting - MONGOLIAN BUFFET. Awee yeeeeehhh. Soooo good!! Again, all-you-can-eat buffet with everything from appetizers, main course, to dessert. We start off with French Onion Soup (always a fav), then went to the main course which was Mongolian stir fry - you pick your ingredients and the chef's fry it up for you in front of your eyes. I had beef strips, bacon (YEUM!), onions, green peppers, garlic, mushrooms, something else, and soya sauce in mine lol. And then added some rice to the plate and some other main course goodies - SOOO GOOD. The bacon honestly probably was the best part of the meal cause the taste of bacon took over the rest of the stir fry and I was ridiculously happy about that since I miss bacon soooo much lol! Then for dessert I had creme brulée and passion fruit with an African Tea - perfecto! :-)

After dinner Saturday night we went back to our room to get ready for the night. Saturday night was supposed to be the big night for the Earthdance party and people had been arriving at the Serena all day, so we were pretty excited. Sadly I guess people got discouraged cause no one stayed at the party long enough to give it a chance to populate - they all just went to a local club instead - but that's besides the point cause we didn't even really care lol. But yes, so we got ready and then Joyce, Justine and I started playing drinking games (mainly "never have I ever" and "Kings") with our famous "White Mischief" vodka that Justine had purchased in Kigali before we left lol! (name is soo perfect for the occasion haha). See pic below for White Mischief lol!

We were joined shortly after by Alvin and Patrick (2 guys we hung out with at the beach during the day) who so innocently agreed to partake in our ridiculous drinking game fiasco (they had noo idea what they were getting themselves into, especially Patrick lol!). It was good times for sure.

Since the party was a bit of a flop we just spent the rest of the night having some drinks by the beach and pool and hangin' out - it was a nice, relaxing night.

Sunday we checked out of the Serena and headed off to the taxi park to catch our bus back home. Oh, I completely failed to mention our bus ride TO Gisenyi, ha! Well we decided it would be totally convenient to just grab one of the buses from Muhanga (district that we live in) that goes "directly" to Gisenyi, instead of taking a bus to Kigali and then one from there to Gisenyi (which is what most people do - but we didn't understand why... now we do). So anyways, this bus ended up being one of the regular buses that picks up and drops ppl off everywhere and anywhere along the route... it also happened to be one of those buses that cram a million in at once, along with live chickens among other random things lol. Definitely not a fun way to travel. Three people were puking out the windows the entire drive (which took something like 5hrs, when it's really meant to take 3.5 or something), we were crammed in the back seat all tightly together with chickens pecking at our feet (a man put his live chickens in the trunk under our seat lol) - and then every time we stopped and they opened the trunk, my bag would fall out, which wouldn't have really been a big deal - except for that one of our bottles of White Mischief was in my bag - so it became a sketchy situation real quickly lol! But anyways, we made it. It was funny to look back on after we arrived, but definitely assured us that we would be taking the "via Kigali" route on the way back to travel in a normal bus lol.

We met Alvin at the taxi park and he took the bus back to Kigali with us, which was fun. This bus was waaaaay more enjoyable - very spacious, no squishing 7 people into a seat intended for 4 lol. No puking people, no chickens pecking at your feet.. no stopping every 5 seconds, and my bag was safe up front in the baggage area behind the drive - happy mzungu's! :-) lol! Very nice way to come home from a lovely weekend in Gisenyi.

Kigali is this weekend - we're looking forward to that as well =D

Second Weekend in Rwanda: Muzungu Brunch

For our second weekend in Rwanda we decided to take it easy and stay at home in Gitarama. Friday night we met two lovely ladies - Tricia who is from the UK, and Judy who is from Ireland. The previous interns were very close to Tricia and Judy when they were here, so one of them (Lisa) introduced us to them via e-mail so that we could grown our muzungu family here in Gitarama. We met Tricia and Judy for dinner friday evening at Splendid Hotel (the place we stayed our first night in Gitarama). On our way to dinner we also ran into another new Muzungu, a man by the name of Marcus/Markus who is originally from the UK, but lives in Ireland now. Anyways, so Markus joined us for dinner as well :-D

Saturday Tricia had organized a brunch at the African Hills Restaurant for all of the muzungus - everyone was welcome! There was about 11 of us or so in total, plus Monique who is Rwandan lol! Our friend Justine (from the US) is living with Monique, who is the sister of Providence (a lady we work with at UGAMA). That might be a confusing explanation, but essentially we met Justine through our co-worker Providence who is hosting Justine while she is in Rwanda. ;-)

Anyways! We had a really lovely muzungu dinner at African Hills restaurant here in Gitarama. The brunch layout consisted of fresh fruit, crepes, croissants, chocolate filled pastries [yeum!!], omelettes,  juice and your choice of specialty coffees or teas (african tea, cappuccino, americano, regular, etcc) - Amazing! (see pics below)

After the brunch, Joyce and I headed off to the market with Justine, Monique and two of the other ladies, Hetty and Margo. After the market we said goodbye to Hetty and Margo as they went back home, and we dropped Monique off at the hair salon for her appointment. Joyce, Justine and I headed back to Azizi to hang out for the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday we spent the first part of our day doing some laundry and I spent the afternoon sitting on the porch writing in my blog. At night we met up with Justine and went to dinner with these three young Germans that Justine had met near where she is working. We just ate at a local restaurant in Gitarama, then headed home.

Our second weekend in Rwanda flew by in what felt like a matter of seconds, but it was nice to have found a good muzungu community in Gitarama as well! Definitely an enjoyable weekend :-)

Muzungu Brunch

"The Spread"

Cappuccino :-)

Breakfast pt.1 (obv had another plate + fruit lol!)

First Weekend in Rwanda: Kigali

Our first weekend in Rwanda we decided to head to Kigali to meet a new found friend, Miss Lydia! lol! We met Lydia through Facebook before arriving in Rwanda, and she was a massive help to us when we were preparing for life in Rwanda. (Thank you again Lydia!) So when we arrived in Rwanda I sent Lydia a text with my new number and she suggested we come down to Kigali for the weekend to finally meet her and so that she could introduce us to her awesome friends - we obviously took her up on that offer right away lol!

Gitarama (home) to Kigali (star)

Our weekend in Kigali was very fun and luxurious (a lot of time spent at the Serena Hotel [amazing] and nice restaurants, etc) - and expensive lol! But we really had a good time and it was the perfect way to spend our first weekend in Rwanda. Lydia and her friends were very accommodating and took us into their group right away, which is always great! The weekend was filled with nights out and lots of really yeummy food - very western for the most part, but the one Rwandan meal that we did have (beef brochettes @ Papa New Guinness restaurant) was the most amazing yet! (Great choice Guillaume)

Below are some pics from the weekend :-)

First Night in Kigali:

Group Shot @ Papa New Guinness Restaurant

Beef Brochette @ Papa New Guinness *DROOL*

Group Shot @ the Club

Add caption

 Day 2:

Chillen @ the Kigali Serena Hotel :-)

Pool at the Kigali Serena Hotel - Amazing!

Lebanese for dinner! 

Kigali version of a Shawarma plate - it was goood =D

Some Ottawa/Rwanda (new) Friends - Obv. friends with my Ottawa Friends, LOVED it <3 (Michael & Allan)

Day 3:

Spaghetti for Lunch :-)

The Workplace: UGAMA/CSC

Just a quick little post to show you where I work and the lovely people I work with! So in Gitarama, Joyce and I are working with a local Rwandan cooperative called UGAMA/CSC ("UGAMA" for short). UGAMA is about the same age as me (lol!) - and was established back in 1988. UGAMA now has over 2,000 member cooperatives through which they mainly provide consulting and training services. Click here to visit their website :-)

My internship position at UGAMA is to act as the Micro Enterprise Development Officer. The exact work I will be doing during my internship is not set in stone yet; but from what I have gathered so far, it seems as though most of our work will revolve around the new project that is being launched between CCA and UGAMA. This project is based on a 3-year pilot project that was carried out previously between CCA and UGAMA that aimed at addressing Food Security through increasing the production and sustainability of 4 of UGAMA's member cooperatives. The pilot project ended up being quite successful, hence the birth of the larger 5-year project that is set to launch next month (October - hopefully). The title of this new project is the "Rwanda: Co-operative Agricultural Growth" or RCAG project -  a 5 year project that will work with 15 of UGAMA's cooperative members (the 4 coops from the pilot project, plus an additional 11 new coops). An explanation of the new project is found below (pasted directly from the CIDA website):

Canadian Co-operative Association

Country: Rwanda

The Rwanda: Co-operative Agricultural Growth project aims to increase food security among vulnerable rural populations in seven districts of Rwanda (Nyanza, Gisagara, Nyamagabe, Ruhango, Muhanga, Kamonyi and Bugesera) and will directly benefit more than 22,000 households and indirectly benefit 132,000 individuals. Building on the success of a three-year pilot project that engaged Rwandan agricultural co-operatives, this project will improve the agricultural production, productivity and marketing capacity of 15 co-operatives and their members. This will be achieved by supporting small-scale rural farmers, organized in co-operatives to improve the quality and quantity of the food they produce, increase their household incomes, and enhance their households' and communities' resilience. (Up to $3,403,000 over 5 years)

Source: http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-cida/ACDI-CIDA.nsf/eng/NAT-1222104721-LJ6  

Joyce and I have spent the past couple of weeks reading about UGAMA and the RCAG project, learning about the objectives and approaches of each. We're hoping to get out to visit the 15 different cooperatives starting next week, which should be really neat and allow us to become familiar with the cooperatives we will be working with through the RCAG project on a more personal level. We're really excited to get out there and start working.

We have also been introduced to the two CCA staff members who will be representing the CCA side of the project: Brian (based in Ottawa) and Fresnel, who will be joining us at UGAMA in Rwanda next month (October), and will be based in Gitarama for 1 year.

While we look forward to meeting the CCA staff shortly, ther's no denying that the UGAMA staff is absolutely great and have been very good to us so far. We feel very welcomed here at UGAMA, and the cooperative really works together as part of a family. We eat lunch together everyday, which I find very enjoyable (even though they mostly speak in Kinyarwanda so we don't understand some of the convo's - but we still have hilarious conversations!).

As I mentioned in my first post, Emmanuel is our supervisor (aka "boss man") at UGAMA, and he has been really kind to us since we've arrived. I'm not going to go into much more detail about work right now since I'm not that "educated" on the project yet, but I thought I would give a mini-intro to UGAMA, the project, and the staff we will be working with during our stay in Rwanda just so that my  friends and family have an idea of what I'm doing, where I'm working, and who I'm working with!

Here are some pics of UGAMA and this wonderful team! :-)

 L to R: UGAMA Main Entrance; Me@desk; Tea Time; Joyce@Desk

Main UGAMA Building

Little Trees @ UGAMA

Emmanuel & I

    

L to R: Espérance & I; Espérance & Pélagie; Védaste at Lunch time

                       

                 Sample of our daily lunch @ UGAMA :-)                                          My Fav. Tree @ UGAMA (lol!)