Zanzibar!!...etc

Hello all!  I hope everyone's having a fun and relaxing spring break.  We are more than half way through our time here in Rwanda.  Here's what we've been up to in March so far...

The 6th graders from Kigali International School came up to stay one night for a field trip and a hike in the mountains near us.  Bethany and Merritt enjoyed the company of some kids closer to their age.  These students have families who live in Kigali because they are with foreign embassies, business or missions, so they were from everywhere....Holland, Madagascar, other parts of Africa and Europe.  They were like "city kids" coming to the country for a weekend, so they played games on our field and had an evening bonfire.

Below, Brian and Merritt have been working on their soccer skills and all the kids get plenty of exercise in daily soccer matches around here. James (below) and the other Rwandan students are great at "futbol" and the campus manager, Andy, played for the Ugandan national team....so they are getting some great instruction and competition!   

On March 9, we jumped on the bus of our favorite driver, Kanuma, and headed to Kigali for a few hours before going to the airport for a Zanzibar vacation.  I try to keep my camera ready, because you just never know what you might see going down the street in Kigali....this beats all I've see thus far....

We've all been looking forward to a real tex-mex lunch at Meze Fresh (a concept similar to Chipotle and owned by a young man from California). Full, happy campers as we head to the airport!

Finally on our way to Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Africa that's a part of Tanzania (which in Africa is pronounced Tan-zane-ee-uh).  There are dozens of languages spoken in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, but the most common is Swahili (as in "hakuna matata", from The Lion King).  This island was historically a major port for the Arab slave trade and also for growing and trading exotic spices.  It is now 97% Muslim, so it is an unusual place....part resort, part impoverished east Africa, part Arab/Muslim.

We stayed in a European style beach villa on the east coast that was built by a Belgian family.

The villa had a great staff that helped take care of us and fortunately we had a great chef!  I would have had a hard time preparing meals otherwise, since there's not a local "grocery store" and there's no such thing as prepared foods....no sliced bread or ready-made lunch meat, etc. We did have some great fresh-caught fish!

On the east coast of Zanzibar is the beautiful, warm waters of the Indian Ocean.  The tide here gets very low and very high on about a 6 hour cycle and a sandbar appears a hundred or so yards out.  All the little specs in the water in the lower picture are African Muslim women who wade out into the shallow water (in their full  Muslim attire) and spend several hours tending to kelp (seaweed) farms.  They have the kelp strung on a small line between two stakes (sticks) in about 8 rows.  When the kelp is ready. they drag in the kelp on the lines or pickup loose pieces in large bags, then it is hung out to dry.  If I understood correctly, the dried kelp is sold to industry....I was told that the ground kelp is used in making fine china in Asia??

Below is a picture at low tide of a traditional "Dhow" that is a wooden boat (most have a sail) used by local fisherman and has historically been used by Arab traders.

Lots of down time to relax, play in the pool and throw the football on the beach...

Headed out to snorkel on a nearby reef...

We celebrated Merritt's 11th and Palmer's 16th birthday while in Zanzibar.  The cake wasn't quite the same, but we were able to get ice cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup, which is a luxury we don't have in Rwanda.  The candles in the cake were actually more like "roman candles", so that was quite exciting!

On our last day we headed into historic Stone Town before going to the airport.  On the drive across the island you could see that much of the island is still very much like other poor rural areas of east Africa.

I knew it would be a hot day in Stone Town and I couldn't locate a single establishment for lunch that had air conditioning, but on TripAdvisor I read about a restaurant called "Tower Top" on the roof of one of  the nicer hotels in town that overlooked the city.  It was shady, breezy, served pizza and we were the only ones there....so it hit the spot!

Zanzibar is known for it's ornately carved wooden doors and we saw many examples...

In the pictures below you can see the narrow streets of Stone Town and the contrast here....some old, poor, dilapidated parts of this city and then a few nicer streets and resorts sprinkled here and there... In the very bottom picture you can see fancy yachts and little wooden dhows moored in the same harbor.

It was fun, but we were all glad to be heading back to the hills of Rwanda...

Upon returning to Musanze, we had guests staying on campus from Kigali for a couple of days.  We were so glad to make friends with Bonita and Eric (last names are too complicated for me here!), along with their four daughters.  Eric is a Rwandan who grew up in Burundi and Bonita grew up in Uganda.  They met in Kigali after the war and stayed there.  Eric works for Purpose Driven Ministries (Rick Warren) in Rwanda.  He's an incredible and humble man who is doing great work with churches and families in this country.

Bethany had some fun girl time with the four daughters (here they are watching the movie, Soul Surfer, on the computer) and the littlest one (age 4) was so entertaining and she grew attached to Merritt and kept him busy!

Goodbye for now from our crazy crew!  

The Latest....

So, the latest from Rwanda...

Here's a demonstration of how to eat the stalk of maize (corn) in this child's right hand.  After the corn is harvested, whack down the stalk by whatever means you have, then peel off the outer covering with your teeth.  Then just take a big bite off, chew it up to get all the juice and sugar out, spit out the mouthful of fiber left in your mouth, then repeat.  I've tried it and it's fairly good!  I'm not so great at peeling it yet and the spitting out the wad left in your mouth isn't especially lady like, but it's a great and readily available food source up in our area...a favorite snack of all ages!

Above child also has a stalk in her left hand, which is a grain called sorghum.  The kids also sometimes eat the berries right off the stalk.  It's one of the two harvest times in our area, so everyone has been busy cutting down the stalks by hand with machetes.  Next the stalks are threshed, i.e. beaten with sticks (see below) to separate the red berries from the stalk.  

I was able to go see this process at the home of one of the gardeners who works at the campus where we live.  He and much of his family and extended family have a farm not far from us.  Below you can see the sorghum berries laying out to dry in the sun, as well as maize that is harvested similarly.

Finally, the sorghum is sifted by tossing it up in these shallow baskets so that the chaff will blow away and the  berries are then bagged to be transported to the market.  Transportation will most likely be on the back of a bicycle or smaller bags are carried on their heads...generally women and children, but occasionally men will carry things like timber on their heads as well.

The gardener, Gaston, was very happy to show us his farm and introduce us to his family.  All the kids came to see and say hello.  His wife also prepared fresh maize that she had roasted for us on the fire...very delicious!  Gaston introduced Merritt to his family as his "teacher", since Merritt sometimes helps the staff with their English lesson at lunch time! 

Gaston with Bethany in front of a maize or sorghum field that has been harvested and the beautiful Virunga mountains behind them...home to the mountain gorillas.

Very common for girls to babysit younger family members while their mothers are working in the fields or at home. 

Back on campus, Protais has just finished a batch of fresh bread.  Around here almost everything is made from scratch.  Very few prepared or "packaged" foods are available, so he stays busy all day preparing three meals a day from the raw ingredients.

After a week of dry weather, the temperatures at mid day are warming up.  With a little creativity, Merritt and Bethany are able to design what is probably the first ever Rwandan "slip n slide". 

Less than a week ago, Chad and Courtney Bannick returned to Musanze after six months in the states (Pheonix, AZ) to have their first baby, Olive.  She is precious and we all love having a baby on campus...we are doing our best to spoil her!  (By the way, we like her parents an awful lot too!)

Last week, another family trip back to Lake Burera.  Gary and the boys were camping out under the full moon on Tom Allen's property, while Bethany and I stayed at the fancy Virunga Lodge nearby.  A beautiful night and spectacular views!

The room that Bethany and I stayed in had this fabulous vies of the lake and a perfect view of Tom's property below us.

Best seats in the house for a performance of local music and dancing.  Mt. Murabura  in the background....5th highest peak in Africa.

Ntore dancers....the traditional dancing has been preserved from the time of the tribal kings in Rwanda before they were colonized by Europeans.

Rwandan guitar and song...very beautiful.

Majestic sunset over the Virunga mountains.  After dinner, the guys put on their headlamps and walked down the narrow path to the village below and Toms property.  

We had an incredible full moon rise over the lake in the evening and the usual spectacular sunrise!

The boys didn't complain, but they didn't get much sleep on their campout.  Meanwhile, Bethany and I were all toasty and warm in our beds under mosquito nets at the lodge.  Enjoying some hot chocolate in bed before heading back to reality!  A fun night with my girl!!

Goodbye for now...a busy week ahead, so maybe we'll have another post soon!  Lots more to tell later!