First Week at Site Pt I

My first week at site was both good and bad.  When I was dropped off, I was immediately filled with a feeling of emptiness, but I did my best to forget that I was all alone in Rwanda and began to organize and unpack some of my things almost as soon as the Peace Corps truck pulled away.  In  this short week (and some change) I have had some ups and downs, but I can say that it has ended on a good note (Thank God!)  I survived my first week in Rwanda alone and it feels sooo good!!  Here are the highlights of each day (split into three posts):

Friday

My counterpart (the person I will be working closely with at the health center) asked me--no, told me--that I would be leading a training on malaria today...on my VERY FIRST DAY!  I don't know where he might have gotten the idea that I was anywhere near fluent enough in the language to lead a training, but I quickly nipped that in the bud.  I told him that I was not able to do that yet as it was my first day and I needed to practice more language before I go talking to a room full of people.  He proceeded to say, "Why do you have fear?  You can do it."  I said, "I can help, but I cannot lead the workshop by myself.  My language is not good enough yet."  We agreed that I would 'help,' but once we got started, he ended up leaving me in the room alone to, yes, lead the workshop.  He just walked right on out!  I was a little bit irritated at the moment, but once it was over, I was proud of myself.  I guess I could do it...I just needed a little push!   

Once the work day ended I went back to my house, and again, I began to feel lonely.  My best friend must have had an inkling that something was wrong with me because no sooner than the loneliness became too much, my phone rang.  I answered the phone and from the other end came the sweet sound of my mommy's voice!  She always did have an impeccable mother's instinct...and it's still in tact...even all the way from America! I love you mom!

Saturday

Today I went shopping for some more things that I needed for my house.  Me and Isaiah, the guy who my supervisor assigned to help me get everything together, traveled 30 minutes to the market town to get a bucket, an umukoropesho (a squeegie used as a mop), some food so that I wouldn't starve throughout the week, and a mat so that I would have something to eat on at home (a lot of people in Rwanda eat their food on mats on the floor).  I was able to find most of the things I needed and once I was finished shopping, me and Isaiah went to the taxi stop so that we could get a ride back to our village.  We must have chosen a bad day to want to shop for big items because the only taxis available were motos and seeing how I had so much stuff, a moto was completely out of the question...or so I thought.  After waiting about 30 minutes for a car, Isaiah grew restless and said, "I think we will take a moto."  I just looked at him with a are-you-crazy face...I have a mop, a huge mat, a bucket, and a box of food and you really just suggested that we take a moto THIRTY MINUTES back to our village?? Apparently this look I gave him didn't get my point across because before I knew it, we were each on the back of a moto...me holding the mop at my side (just barely off the ground) and my driver holding my bucket (yes, and driving at the same time); and Isaiah was on his moto with my mat and the box of food strapped to the tiny space behind him.  And then we took off down the road for our 30 minute ride.  On the way back, my driver decided to

take a shortcut and when Isaiah turned around (I'm assuming) and no longer saw me traveling behind him, he called my phone and asked me to give it to the driver (the same driver who was driving the moto and HOLDING MY BUCKET!  Not knowing if the driver was taking a shortcut or attempting to abduct me, I obliged and gave him the phone.  After sharing a few words with Isaiah, the driver pressed the end button on my phone and instead of giving it back to me, he proceeded to toy with it and push buttons on it while he was STILL DRIVING!  I was in unbelief at this point...this guy is trying to kill me!  This was all I could think to myself!  And just as I went to reach for my phone so that he could get back to the task at hand (DRIVING!), he slid his finger over the camera button and proceeded to say, "Your phone, it has a camera!" and then he took not one, but THREE pictures of the road in front of us.  At this point all I could do was laugh.  I thought to myself, this really isn't happening right now.  The guy eventually (when he was ready) gave me my phone back and a short while later, pulled up in front of my house.  Whew! Thank God we made it!

Sunday

I woke up bright and early today to go to church; after such a lonely first few days at site, I couldn't think of a better way to spend my Sunday.  I met Isaiah at the health center so that I wouldn't have to go alone and then we walked about 10 minutes up the road to the protestant church that a few of the nurses I work with go to.  When we got there, we were ushered to two seats in the back of the church (it was a full house) and I proceeded to take everything in and enjoy the service...when suddenly a few people in the congregation stood up and Isaiah whispered in my ear, "Stand up, you will introduce yourself."  I don't know how I forgot about this part of the service, but I do believe that at that instant, I had my very first panic attack.  My heart started beating a million times a minute and I'm sure if it were possible, my face would have been bloodshot red!  After being put on the spot all weekend long, church was supposed to be more of a relaxing time for me.  Well, certainly not today!  My lungs closed up once it was finally my turn to speak into the mic and I somehow (I'm not sure how) choked out a few sentences in Kinyarwanda stating my name, where I am from, and that I would be working at the village health center for the next two years.  Once I finished speaking, the congregation applauded and shouted a couple halelujah-amen's for the 'muzungu' who could speak Kinyarwanda so well.  They certainly caught me off guard with having to introduce myself and I guess I caught them off guard with my semi-decent language skills.

Love and Peace Corps,

Dametreea