Wednesday, December 17, 2008
K.I.C.K. Ball
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The DRC and Rose Kabuye
Let me see if I can sum them up as I've learned about them.
When I arrived here in September, Eastern DRC was safe. In fact the day I arrived, 2 of my housemates were actually spending the weekend in Goma. You could travel across the border, climb an active Volcano and see the mountain Gorillas for half the price as Rwanda. It sounded like a pretty cool trip so I figured I'd do it while I was here.
However, recently Eastern DRC has broken down.
During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the Hutu majority killed approximately 750,000 minority Tutsi's. As the Tutsi-led RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) charged down from Uganda towards Kigali to take the capital and end the genocide, millions of Hutus fled to Eastern DRC. Some fled because they were in fact Interahamwe, the genocidaires. Others fled because they were afraid they'd be mistaken for Interahamwe. Even some Tutsi's fled to DRC trying to get away from the advancing (fleeing) Hutus.
So the RPF takes Kigali. This was by no means the end of the genocide. One of the first things the RPF did when it got to Kigali was to attack and smash the turquoise zone, the area protected by the French army which was feeding and protecting genocidaires. The fundamental mistake the French commited during the genocide was to mistake this conflict as a 'war,' as opposed to what it really was, a planned murder of an entire ethnic people. Plus, the French backed the Interahamwe, aka the bad guys.
In the 14 years since the genocide, every single nation, including the United Nations has apologized for their role - or lack of a role - in the genocide. The only nation to never apologize is France. And France was probably the worst contributor, supplying the Interahamwe with weapons to "exterminate the cockroaches." France is stubbornly sticking to their colonial guns.
In 2006 a court in France issued an indictment for Rose Kabuye, a former member of the RPF (the army that took Kigali), former mayor of Kigali and current close advisor to the president. She was indicted along with 8 other Rwandans by the French court who said that she was part of the group that shot down the former president in 1994 which sparked the genocide. Its currently a mystery as to how that plane went down over Kigali, but the French courts have decided that the RPF was responsible.
As soon as this news came out, Rwanda said "thats it." They kicked out the French ambassador and relations have been cold at best since. The French were indeed bold considering their role in the genocide to then begin to make judgements about the current Rwandan government. So a few weeks ago Ms. Kabuye was arrested in Germany under EU law and extradited to France on Wednesday. Rwandans are NOT happy. In fact, the whole country shut down on Wednesday. My office closed and I was actually advised to stay home and indoors as the entire country was demonstrating against the French government and what they called "political manipulation of international justice by certain Western countries." I even got a text message from the local phone company with instructions for the protest. The whole country is not happy with this.
To be honest, I see their point. I'd be pretty pissed at the French too. First they back the genocidaires, then they try to impose their own ignorant system of justice on a government that is actually working here. Enough is enough. These imperial ties must end.
So, back to the DRC. Back to 1994. We essentially now have the same mess over there which caused the genocide. Huge groups of Interahamwe and huge groups of Tutsis. Remember that 1994 was not the first time Tutsi's had to flee from rampant murder. So millions of Tutsis were already living in Eastern DRC when the Rwandan Hutus and Tutsis poured across the border. Plus, colonial country lines were never drawn with tribal groups in mind anyway. Often when the British, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese drew lines in Africa, they drew them right through the middle of tribal heartlands, essentially splitting a tribe in half on arbitray colonial lines. So what does the UN do? Well the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) sets up camps and feeds and houses everyone. Good guys and bad guys. These camps eventually become 'bases' for the Interahamwe who begin making cross-border raids into Rwanda, killing Tutsis and trying to continue the genocide. This goes on for years. And it continues in Eastern DRC today.
Flash forward to today. General Laurent Nkunda is the 'rebel,' 'guerilla' commander in Eastern DRC who is apparently causing all the mess there. He's a Tutsi who is sick of the Interahamwe Hutus continuing to murder his people. So, he's fighting back now. So he says. But we also hear reports of some bad stuff his army may or may not be doing.
So who knows whats really going on?
One thing you can learn is that the UN doesn't necessarily know what its doing. They certainly didn't know what they were doing in 1994 or since. Plus with the ridiculous amount of mineral wealth in Eastern DRC, trust me, plenty of people are getting rich from this continued conflict. The truth is the situation is complicated. I am hesitant to believe anyone who has 'the answer,' to this problem. But then again, does anyone really care? Its Central Africa after all...
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Kigali Genocide Memorial
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Obama Wins!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Champions
On October 21, I boarded a flight which would start the journey which would carry me all the way back to Philadelphia to watch the Phillies in the World Series. The entire trip would involve 4 flights, 4 countries, 8,500 miles and 35 hours. I landed in Philadelphia at 6:15, Mom picked me up, I showered and went straight to Murphy's in time for an 8:30 start. In between the lack of sleep and the pressure of the situation, I was pretty jacked up.
Game 3 we all decided to go back to Murphy's since they won when we were there last time. I even made sure I wore the same outfit. The Phillies won a thriller on a Carlos Ruiz 63 foot hit with the bases loaded in the 9th.
The Game got under way and one of the weirdest things in baseball happened. The rain got so bad in the 6th inning, they had to pause the game. This barely ever happens in the regular season, and has never happened in the World Series. I was ridiculously soaked from sitting out in the rain when they paused the game after the top of the 6th. Plus I had been wearing my flip flops (can't change the outfit now). Everyone left the stadium in a weird sense of shock, not really understanding what happened.
2 days later, the Parade. Something that was spoken about in Philadelphia like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The topic comes up every year, but nobody actually believes in it. We all met up at about 9 AM and drove down to the Art Museum. Once again, we broke out the beers and were drinking on the street. There may have been some trouble during the celebration and the parade, but I didn't see any of it. Everyone I saw was in a totally jubilant and celebratory mood.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Focal Farmer Elections
I told the kid on the right that the Braves had a crappy year and the Phillies dominated them, but he didn't seem interested.
The word Mzungu is used today to label people like me, foreigners, white people. The word originates from a Swahili verb which translates to "to travel back and forth." When missionaries first came to Africa, they would go out to rural places, set up missions, stay for a few years, then leave - only to be replaced by more white people. Africans began to call these people "Mzungu," (plural Wazungu).
The word is very widely used in East Africa today. It gets frustrating sometimes when people call you by your skin color, but you have to understand where they're coming from. In societies as homogeneous (at least in color) as they are here, a person of lighter skin color is truly an anomaly. Coming from American society - where we're supposed to be so PC about everything, its easy to think that these words are offensive, but Africans really don't mean offense using the word. Its all about intent, I think.
Driving out to Kibungo, we came to a fork in the road. One way said, "Tanzania," the other, "Uganda." We took a right and headed South to Tanzania.Kibungo is actually not a tiny town. There's only on road, but its probably 3-4 miles long. Once again, like all roads in Rwanda, its sealed with no potholes at all. We stayed in a tiny hotel and ate nothing but bananas for the whole week. Banana stew for breakfast, raw bananas for lunch, and fried bananas and meat for dinner. Actually pretty good, although I was definitely ready for a change when I got back to Kigali. They use bananas so much out there, I actually saw a car towing another car using a banana tree instead of rope. Some of the kids in the tiny villages even said, "The mzungu is white like a banana!"
The point of the trip East was to elect focal farmers. Myself and 2 T-S business advisers visited all the groups within 2 cooperatives, explaining to them the focal farmer concept. We needed a leader from each group with a good farm. Once a month, we will conduct trainings on these farms in order to disseminate agronomic education to small scale farmers. We drove around all week meeting with groups and electing these farmers. It was a bit tiring and frustrating because I don't speak Kinyrwanda, but I think it was beneficial for me to see.
One of the small villages near Kibungo
Friday, October 3, 2008
Phillies!
Adam and I patiently waiting for Dave to arrive at Taco's (No they don't serve tacos. Just a clever nickname I guess)
Bowling at Village Market - Dave, Adam, Me, Barclay
(notice my Phillies and Flyers gear. Superfan.)
So that brings me to the title of this blog post. The Phillies are tearing it up right now. They streaked their way into the playoffs and have beaten Milwaukee in the first 2 games of a best of five series. Last night they beat arguably the best pitcher in baseball on a Shane Victorino grand slam and solid pitching by Brett Myers.
It is heart wrenching to be over here during this. I love what I'm doing, I just can't believe that they actually have a chance and I'm going to miss it.
1. The last time the Phillies won the World Series, I was 1.
2. They went to the World Series and lost in 1993.
3. Its been over 100 seasons since any Philadelphia sports team has won their championship.
4. I'm a season ticket holder and have already given up my playoff tickets to friends.
5. The beginning of this year (February) I sent out a manifesto entitled, "Why the Phillies will win the World Series in 2008." Turns out it was quite insightful. If only I could put that knowledge to practical use.
6. I am a ridiculous die hard Phillies fan.
7. I haven't been able to sleep well the last 2 nights, knowing that they were playing.
This all may sound insane, but thats what its like to be a Philadelphia fan. You get absolutely wrapped up in the passion and hope of the city. All fears and hopes can lie on one series, one game, one pitch.
For these reasons, I've decided my best course of action is to fly home for the World Series. When the Phillies smash the foolish Dodgers in the National League Championship, I'm on a plane.
Yes, the ticket is expensive. Yes, this might not be the most financially responsible purchase ever. But, this is a once in a lifetime type thing. I have traveled all over in my life. Each trip always costs money. But, I'll remember those trips for the rest of my life, not the mere money it cost.
Work will be cool with it. I am only a volunteer. I'm sure they'll be able to tell how inportant this is to me based on my willingness to pay for the plane ticket. Plus, if theres a problem, I'll just tell them to add 2 weeks onto the end of my contract.
I may be stupid, or insane, but the answer is clear to me. Let's go PHILLIES!!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Working in Kigali
Going to Nairobi on Friday to visit friends. 5 AM flight, 3 AM check in. 1 hour flight.
I'll name you if you survive this
Year 2 we introduce the agronomy program (what I do). The agronomy program shows the farmers - ok, now your profits have increased because you used a wet mill. Now, let us show you how you can increase your profits yet again by learning proper farming techniques - pest management, mulching, cover crops, pruning, rejuvenation, etc. Its pretty much free education which I think is certainly sustainable. Plus, they own the wet mill and thus own the project, so we can eventually take a step back and let them take over.
Farmers are paid twice by the cooperative. The first time - when they harvest their coffee and bring it to the wet mill, the coop pays them by the kilo for the cherry. The second time - at the end of the season, after the coop has found a buyer (Starbucks, Peet's, Bourbon (Rwanda), etc.) they then share the additional profits with the coop members based on their contribution to the overall harvest.
I heard this story at our Monday morning meeting. A coop in the East near Lake Kivu killed its expected profits (already much higher than pre-wet mill) this year by more than 50%. Awesome. So a large group of people in the coop decided to buy health insurance. This is the first time I've actually ever heard of rural farmers in East Africa buying health insurance. So, a few weeks later, the daughter of one of the members gets sick with Malaria and has to go to the hospital. It turns out she would have died without getting treatment, and wouldn't have received treatment without health insurance.
So, there you go. Working on increasing coffee profits, sometimes you forget how you really are affecting the country and people. The organization is having a positive impact and I'm glad to be a part of something like this.
So here's the twist - the girl who went to the hospital - her name roughly translated to English is, "I'll name you if you survive this." Apparently its a name Mother's give to children born during a rough delivery/pregnancy. The girl is 14 years old. She was born in April, 1994.
In April of 1994, the government of Rwanda called on everyone in the Hutu majority to kill everyone in the Tutsi minority. Over the next three months 800,000 Tutsis were murdered. This girl and her mother somehow survived the genocide and are now successfully and profitably running a small scale coffee plantation in Eastern Rwanda.