More than I ever knew...

Safari was the best. I recommend it to all. I will begin with some quotes that sum up the trip:

1. "The plane cannot land because there are Impalas on the runway" - Charles
2. "Mom. Wake Up. There is a hippo eating outside our tent." - me at 2 am in the Mara
3. "I give you ten cows and a hut to stay." -Wilson
4. "My rooster has asthma" - Sally
5. "I'm not in charge, here is my credit card." - MM
6. "You can tell this elephant is young by how well he has digested" -Charles (holding a handful of elephant poop).
7. "What do you mean there is a cheetah that LIKES to jump in the trucks?" - me, very alarmed

I saw so many animals, met such interesting people, ate amazing food, and cannot wait to go back.
Lions: saw 7, lovely animals but very scary when they are hungry. suprisingly lazy, just lay around and swat their tale all day long.
Giraffes: saw too many to count, one baby, many young giraffes. Maybe the most stunning animals of the trip. Saw both varieties: Reticulated and Masai. Very good at hiding for being more than 10 ft tall.
Zebras: saw so many, pretty peaceful animals. Very skitish. Much calmer when approached on horse back (did that in Lewa). Saw the classic zebra and Grevy's zebra.
Baboons: many troops in samburu! Hung out at the same place every day and did not look nearly as menacing as they were described. They did not take any of our food.
Wart Hog: Hilarious animals, very endearing, too bad they are really stupid looking. Run around with their tail straight up in the air. They are everywhere in MM.
Cheetahs: Saw 9: three sets of three brothers. watching them hunt is eerie, almost as eerie as watching them tear up and eat a Topi. So beautiful. Watched them for hours.
Topi: Look like they are wearing blue socks
Oryx: elegant looking mountain goats with longer horns.
Thomson's gazelle: Mini gazelle with inquisitive eyes and sophisticated markings
Leopards: saw 2, one in a tree asleep in an uncomfortable looking position, one injured on the ground surrounded by a herd of white minibuses. Scary looking animals, but very beautiful.
Birds: so many beautiful birds including eagles, cranes, starling, bustards, guinifowl, and my fave: the secretary bird. A pleasant surprise.

More stories to begin later! Pictures will go up soon.

HSIIA moments (Holy Shit I'm in Africa).

I really like it here, i actually kind of love it here. My life feels very removed from the US. I don't think of it much. I think of the people I miss, the people I love there. I'm learning more about the people I care about who continue to be on my mind. In some ways, i'm relieved to not have to think about issues that hurt or stress me at home. it is hard for problems to follow you 10,000 miles across the ocean.

Yesterday we took motorcycles through the city to Kisozi to the National Genocide Memorial musuem. It was hard to read and see footage of the atrocities. However, it is important to respect the hardships of the countries past in order to respectfully contribute to building a future for them. I am appreciative of every Rwandan who takes the time to speak with me about their experiences. I will never forget their faces as the relive their stories to me.

Debra was in town this weekend from Ngara, Tanzania. We were excited to see her and we lavished her arrival with extravagant meals and moto rides. We even made french crepes with bananas for breakfast yesterday.

In four days I will leave for Safari. I'm unsure if I've ever been so excited.

Before I depart, many things must get done. Monday is the first dry run of linkage analysis on samples. I also must write a proposal to the ethics committee of Rwanda for access to other blood samples on the premises that have restricted access. Tuesday I will learn a new lab technique: PBMC extraction (Peripheral blood mononuclear cell extraction) which is a part of ELISPOT immunological testing. Wednesday I will administer a training to several people. We will also observe Ajanta's birthday on Wednesday. I will pack up my trekking pack and leavev for safari on Thursday!

Hopefully the prop planes and the rhino's won't interrupt our plans. I'll share more stories when I return.

La guerre

Before coming to Rwanda, it was very important for all of us to learn about the genocide that happened in 1994. I read books and articles and wikipedia and I thought I knew. I was prepared to ask questions and be a sympathetic ear. I was ready, nothing could affect me, ten foot tall and bulletproof going to africa. Nothing could have prepared me.

The effects of the genocide are quiet, they flow silently below the surface with a strange look or veiled comments. Two tribes, one who on three different occasions overthrew the government and slaughtered millions of the other, attempt to peacefully coexist. At first I assumed that everyone who believed in slaughtering millions of Tutsi's must have been gone and everyone left has just banned together to rebuild. That is fairytale bullshit. In reality, Rwanda is held together by a very delicate balance. Many of the active Hutu genocide participants are under investigation for crimes they committed 13 years ago and cannot be vocal, but operate now as sleeper cells in the community surrounding the area that I live. Periodically, stock piles of guns and knives are found in school buildings and libraries. War crimes trial proceedings occur every weekend. And amidst the choas families attempt to rebuild.

Last night, 10 of us sat around the dinner table with our director, Dr. Susan Allen who shared her experience of having two sons and living in Kigali throughout the beginning of the genocide. Having half of her staff murdered, by the other half of her staff, who still work at the project. Killing not because they were killers but because they themselves would be killed if they did not participate. I had not thought much about the genocide since arriving, assuming it was like politics or religion, impolite to bring up. However, it is simply too painful for many to speak of. Rwandese people divide their life into avant la guerre and apres la guerre which means before the war and after the war. Dr. Allen pointed out several members of our project staff who lost most of their immediate family. Tutsi women beyond childbearing age were left alive, and all of their children and family killed so that they could suffer more and carry the message of terror. I did not know that the house I stay in now has had people die in every room, bodies burried in the yard, and down the street, and all around me. In the room that I sleep, there were bullets and mortar shells and blood and death.

One thing is for sure, each and every rwandan man woman and child who gets up and goes to work today is a miracle for their persistance to live their own life, their choice to return and rebuild. And when you mean them, if you didn't know better, you would dismiss the moment of pause where you sense fallout or misery, as nothing. Its also terror. Its also the assumption that killing and war will inevitably return to their country, many of them lay in bed at night and wait, jumping at every noise, looking over their shoulder, ear to the ground, just waiting.

This is definitely Africa

Well, hard to believe its thursday already. I must review the week. After 4 other interns arrived in the past week, our project is now at maximum capacity. I have now been here over 3 weeks and people ask me where to get things and to run errands for the project. Imagine that. Most of the staff is out of town in Mombasa this week and will return tomorrow with the big boss, Susan Allen. Luckily I have nothing but great progress to report. My projects and training materials are moving along nicely. The only hold up now is waiting for the immunology folk to vacate my prep room so that I may perform all duties with proper technique.

On a more interesting front, I leave for safari two weeks from today and I don't know if I can stand the excitement. While I'm gone, my comrades will venture into DRC to Goma to see the ACTIVE volcanoes. Lava could never move slow enough for me to peer into an active volcano, so i'm okay with missing that trip. We are also planning an adventure up to Kampala, Uganda for some Nile white water rafting and a bunjee jump over the falls. Its going to be amazing. Africa really is an adventure.

Unfortunately, our house is not suffering from some technical difficulties, we mostly have no hot water, sometimes have electricity in the kitchen, now do not have any propane for our stove, and definitely don't have enough room to dry our clothes outside (so everything i own including my person smells faintly of mold or algae). We are hopeful that this is a temporary problem as I do not want to adjust to smelling of mildew and then not be able to tell when i stink or switch to a raw food diet eating in the dark. But, this is Africa right? Got to go with what works!

$0.40 Motorcycle Rides

After our crazy weekend of travel last weekend, I was ecstatic to just chill out around the house this weekend. Last weekend we ventured to Butare, home of the National Museum of Rwanda and the national genocide memorial at Marambi. We travelled by minibus which is exciting and sort of stressful at the same time. Imagine our elation when Enrique's "Hero", Destiny's Child, and Aerosmith played throughout the ride. We were the rowdy Americans singing along as the silent stoic Rwandan's stared. They were completely annoyed but you know what, TIA right! The motto for the summer has now become Africa: Whatever Works. We were exhausted this week and after the stomach illness, it seemed best to take it easy. Friday night we walked to Republika for a dinner out and to say goodbye to Noel and Thomas. Yesterday we made ice cream at a friends house and cooked a feast for our 3 newest interns: Brandon, Erica, and Melissa. Roasted potatoes, fish curry, and tumeric potatoes - its a rough life right? There is quite a crew of us and we are all combining our culinary talents.

Apparently, on of the most Africa things to do is to take a motto. So, I took a motto to the grocery yesterday for 200 RWfr which is about 40 cents. What a steal. The head of our project from emory arrives on friday, Dr. Allen, and we are anxious to share our progress with her.

I had a break through in my project this week which I will attempt to explain in non-technical jargon. I'm here to set up a molecular technique (PCR) which requires expensive machinery and very fragile ingredients ie enzymes that MUST be kept cold and DNA that must be handled very carefully for preservation. When I arrived I was told that several reagents weren't working and the head of the lab had been unable to successfully get any product from these reactions. In a last ditch effort, I ran one more PCR on Thursday and tested it for product on Friday. And.... I got some! this is such a boost of confidence for my skills over here. Its one thing to perform a procedure in the safety of an emory lab with experts all around me, but doing it alone in an african lab where I'm a stranger is a whole other story. So, YEAH!

Hard work week ahead. I'll keep you all posted. By the way, I think we are training for a half marathon of sorts while i'm here. Should be interesting.

Bought a Giraffe from a Pygmy

yes yes, you read it right, i bought a giraffe from a patois pygmy on saturday his name is Gilbert. He's pretty awesome. Despite his stature, He keeps me company. He's small and ceramic and sits on my night stand but he's a great listener. This was the highlight of saturday.

This week has had a slow start. Lakshmy has been sick with some sort of dysenteric infection which i've gotten a touch of. We've been taking it easy and have postponed our trip to lake kivu off for a few weekends. I think this weekend we will just hand around the city.

I did get a new roomate, her name is Kate and she just graduated from Johns Hopkins. She's lived in africa before but is still getting adjusted to how things go here. She's going to be my new running buddy. We went for a jog last night.

The birthday festivities were fun on Monday. Went to Ice and Spice for dinner and had an Indian feast with April, Clement, Taylor, Ty, Kate, Ajanta, and Lakshmy. I was stuffed.

Its been raining a lot as the rainy season draws to a close and I will be ecstatic when the mid day sun returns. My plane ticket for my safari arrived today and I'm very excited, so is mom. We leave three weeks from tomorrow and I am counting the days to seeing a zebra in the wild, and a cheetah, and an elephant, and about a million other things. Its been great to hear from the states so much. At least once a day I have a moment where I think "what am I doing here?" and the emails and phone calls from the states are the only things that keep me sane. Love to you all.

Mazungu

so here is how my days go, i wake up at 730 because my load but totally nice and geeky roomie, Taylor, is making coffee with our ghetto rigged coffee maker. i get up about 30 minutes later, get dressed and go into the kitchen where there is either water on the floor, ants in the sink, or some stranger outside my window doing laundry. no naked time in this house! the coffee is like gasoline here, just how you like it, and so i drink some with whole milk and real sugar and immediately have to poop. i'm just finishing rotations so i go to one of the 5 buildings here and shadow someone who generally smells like africa and speaks only french and kenyarwanda. i've been speaking a lot of french. we stop at 1030 for tea time, about 1/5 black tea and 4/5 unpasteurized cow's milk. literally, if you listen closely, its still mooing. oh, and about a pound of sugar. its so rich, i have to water it down half and half and its still what i would imagine breast feeding to be like. but its custom here so you shut up and do it. they start at 8 here but i usually roll in closer to nine. the sleep here is better than i have had in a long time. windows open on a little foam cot but its peaceful and uncorrupted. the thing happened where with all of the people i interact with all day, my problems are insignificant. its kind of like meetings but much more rich and cultural. (no i'm getting choked up thinking about how i miss home). the super fun part about being in africa is that you don't have to care about what you look like. i wear the same clothes 4 days in a row, don't wear make up, pile my hair on top of my head, and nobody cares. anyways, i was at first eat the prepared lunch which is 500 rwandan francs (a little less than 1 dollar). lunch is a mountain of red beans, rice, plantains, potatoes, etc. not a fresh veggie in sight. that lasted about two days where i would eat and then go take a 4 hr nap right after. so now we cook. we= me and lakshmy (pronounced lack-shmeee) who is indian but she's from portland. the lab facilities are awesome and the only problem i've encountered with my project so far is that some of the ingredients did not arrive in Rwanda refrigerated so some of my enzymes and primers died. the afternoons of work are slower because most of the patients are seen by 130 and the testing and couseling ends by 2. so its a lot of internet and computer work. all of the local staff stop at 3 because they have english lesson every day. thats when we usually go watch an episode of SVU on DVD or take a nap. then we walk down into the local houses (basically they are slums like you see in the movies) and we buy veggies to make dinner. we have tomatoes, avacados, potoatoes, little green eggplants, onions, and kasava root. no lettuce, no brocoli, no squash, no zuchini. Lakshmy and another intern, Ajunta, have made some amazing curries. we make eggs a lot (the only safe form of protein that we can get our hands on). Just learned how to make french crepes from beata. It gets dark promptly at 6 and we make dinner for about seven. Frequently we all eat together. Then later we watch a DVD or walk over to the club Republika or the American Club (we are going tonight). Rwandans don't really go out after dark so most people we run into out to dinner or at a bar are Expats or business men coming through. The president, Paul Kagame was around the corner from our house the other night. Its was pretty exciting. He is very loved and respected in the community. I am learning a lot of Kenyarwanda from the nurses, lab techs, and little 5 yr old children who chase us everywhere. They call us Mazungu which means wanderer. I don't think i wander but thats just what they call foreigners. The only thing these kids know how to say in english is 'hello' and 'give me your money'. Besides that, they are perfectly nice and get a big smile on their face when we say hello back.