Wednesday, July 18, 2012

July 16: Tour of Gashora

We were treated to a tour of Gashora today. Unlike previous years, the team was offered bike rides down to the village instead of riding the bikes themselves. We were spoiled. Apparently, we'll continue to be spoiled with bike taxis as we've arranged for it tomorrow morning too. I decided to walk down to the village with Lisa and Maria... Then I started to run the last part of the trek (not a good idea... You get really hot, really fast). It was great seeing the Covaga women whom I recognized and hug whole-heatedly. 
 
We visited the medical center, where we donated the medical supplies and a bunch of eye glasses. We also were lucky to have eye charts to judge the type and strength of lens needed. The medical center was well-organized, clean and was rather impressive. There were such cute kiddies hanging around too.
 
Afterwards, we went over to the primary school which was a walking-distance away. When we entered the court, children crowded us where we stood and we were soon ushered into the computer lab where we met with the teachers of the school as well as the principal. We discussed what they needed and they agreed to compile a list of what they felt would be helpful.
 
We headed for lunch then checked out their kitchen garden project which is aimed at having one kitchen garden for each family. This will keep Rwandans from being malnourished by providing families with protein-rich veggies. We will be helping to build kitchen gardens tomorrow, as well as a fence to protect them.
 
At the end of the day, we all came back and rested for a little while. Some of us went down to the water-front and went on a boat tour. I decided against this because I'd be eaten alive by mosquitoes... We've already discussed that.
 
So, here's my TTAA...
African Tea: although it's essentially hot milk and a tea bag, it is my favorite African hot drink! Yes, I may be mildly lactose-intolerant, but I absolutely love the sweetness of the tea combined with the hot milk.
Babies and their mothers: it's the cutest thing to see a tiny baby strapped snugly to their mother's back! One of the Covaga women had a 2 month old on her back. So incredibly cute. She swung the baby to the front to feed her, and when she was through, she handed me her baby! So, I had this baby forced upon me... I was sort of uncomfortable as I've never really been good with tiny babies... But the longer I held her, the more I enjoyed it. 
Bottled sodas: pretty self-explanatory... Nothing like a cold bottle of orange Fanta under the hot African sun... I don't know what it is about glass and soda... But it makes the soda so much more awesome.
 
Later!
M
 
Mali Foster
DWC Participants
Rwanda, July 2012
 

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