La vie dans Bukavu

It's getting close to a month now that I've been in Bukavu. Orientation is coming to an end and my french is slowly improving. I think I probably understand half of what people say to me at this point. I found out this week that I'll probably be working with a peace and reconciliation organization called PPR. They are an organization that works with various armed groups in the area. This means I'll probably be staying in Bukavu for the next six months or so. After that I may potentially move into a village, but I'm not sure. I'm happy to stay in Bukavu for now, because the weather is so good.

This is an article I read about PPR, when I originally became interested in the program:
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/02/374574242/when-a-rebel-is-homesick-he-might-be-willing-to-surrender




I'm endlessly amazed by what people carry on their heads. This guy probably had at least 10 live chickens in that bag. I'm not sure how he got them to stay in the bag. I'm also not sure how he keeps the bag on his head without his hands, but he makes it look effortless. It's common to see someway walking with an object of this size on this head. Five minutes after this, I saw another woman doing the same thing. I also saw a man with a full sized wooden coffin, and I've heard people move couches this
way.


This is my host dad at a wedding party. The groom had to give six cows for the dowry. My host mom said a cow costs around 600 dollars. I'm not sure whether he gave the money or the actual cows.

This is the family I've been staying with on the weekends. Their son David is normally away at school, but he returned for Easter vacation, which lasts two weeks.

On another note, the power went out for almost a full 24 hours yesterday, for no reason other than that it happens sometimes here. It was a hassle, but it made me glad to have grown up in America. The power usually goes out a couple times a week, but usually only for an hour. The water also works only about half the time. I get really excited when the water and electricity are both working. That means it's a good day.

This is the last week of orientation. Next Monday, half of my group will leave for Goma, which is 4 hours north of Bukavu by boat. I'll begin studying french with a new teacher next week, which will hopefully improve my grammar. I'm not sure exactly when I will begin working.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope everyone's doing well.

Republic Democratic du Congo

Hey folks,

Sorry it's been so long. I've been busy over the past few weeks settling into my strange new life. Today makes two weeks that I've been living in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Right now I'm living in a city called Bukavu, which is on the Eastern boarder of the country. My house is on the shore of Lake Kivu, which separates the Congo from Rwanda. The boarder that I crossed to enter the Congo is maybe a mile from my house. I've been living here with my fellow Seed members going through orientation and trying to learn french as fast as I can. Several of my team members don't speak fluent English, so most of our conversation is in French. This makes some things hard to understand, but in the long run it's probably good because it's forcing me to learn french quickly. 

It's hard to capture how stunningly beautiful the landscape is here, but I'll try to include some good photos as I find better lookouts. There are a lot of hills and the soil is very fertile, so there is lots of green everywhere. The temperature is consistently between 65 and 80 degrees, because of the altitude which is around 4000 feet. I think maybe the lake also affects the temperature. I was expecting it to be hotter, but on an average day I'm comfortable in pants and a t-shirt. It's really a very nice place to live.



This is a picture of lake Kivu from my backyard. My house is on a peninsula called Muhumba and you can see another peninsula across the lake. Behind that peninsula is Rwanda. This picture is nice, but fails to capture the size of the lake, which is really big.



This is a pretty typical Congolese meal. The meat is goat and that white stuff on the top left is called fufu. It's made of flour and water. It has the consistency of playdough and you use it to eat other foods with your hands. You grab a little ball and then use it to pick up other foods. Fries with mayo is also pretty standard. This is a practice the Congolese got from the Belgians. You can also mix the mayo with a hot pepper called pele pele.  




A picture from the road. Sort of the suburbs of Bukavu. 


It has been a good couple of weeks. Orientation so far has consisted of language lessons and lectures, as well as getting to know my fellow Seeder's. On the weekends, I've been staying with an eccentric older couple that lives next door. They are helping me to learn the language and culture a little better. Everything is slowly starting to feel a little more routine. All the details are still being worked out, so I don't know where I'll be or what I'll be doing in a month, but I'm sure it will be good.

So that's all for now. Things are going really well. I do miss home, but I'm really excited to spend the next two years here. I hope things are going well for everyone. Au revoir.