I'm in Rwanda!

Except for the fact it took over 24 hours to get here... SO much easier getting into Africa than London! :)

First off, the reason I am in Rwanda is to intern for a non-profit called ZOE Ministry.

My friend from Duke, Maddie Pongor and I are going to three cities, Kigali, Gitarama, and Butare, in Rwanda where ZOE Ministry has been active since 2004.  ZOE assists youth in Rwanda as they work to rebuild their lives and develop independence after loosing their parents in the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, AIDS, or abandonment.  Some of their parents were murdered while others died later as a result of events that took place in 1994, such as the spread of HIV/AIDS through rape.  A million people were killed in this country, which is about the size of Connecticut, so it really impacted every aspect of life in Rwanda.  ZOE is trying to empower orphans so that they can live on their own.  Their project was envisioned and made possible by the executive director of ZOE Ministry, Reverent Greg Jenks, and an incredible Rwandan woman named Epiphanie, with whom we will be working closely.  ZOE teaches orphans essential life skills such as cooking, maintaining good hygiene, sexual education, and methods of obtaining a salary.  Their methodology is entitled "Giving Hope" and is explained in fuller detail on ZOE's website:  www.zoeministry.org.  When the programs began in 2007, hundreds of orphans filled out a survey about their lifestyle, family life, and financial situation at that time.  Now, ZOE wants to find out how much of an impact their program has had on the orphans' lives.  Maddie and I are going to research ZOE's activities by way of surveys, interviews, observations, and interaction.  We are staying for about 6 weeks in Rwanda and will arrive home on August 3rd, my birthday!  Hopefully, by that time, we expect to have enough date to write a thorough report.  ZOE will use this report as a self-evaluation as a way to let potential donors understand their program so hopefully ZOE can expand its program and continue to touch the lives of many more communities in Rwanda.

Sorry if that was a bit heavy... Here is what I have done thus far!  I first took a flight to Washington, DC (about 1.5 hours) then a flight to Brussels, Belgium (about 8 hours), and then I met Maddie in Brussels (she was already in Europe) and together we took a flight to Kigali, Rwanda (8 hours).  When we got there it was about 7pm Rwandan time and 1pm Charlotte time.  We were supposed to stay in Hotel Rwanda, but plans changed, and we decided to go right to Gitarama (we are planning to go back to the hotel soon though).  Since the seasons are different here, it gets dark around 6pm... Although it was supposed to only be a 1 hour car ride, half-way there, our car started making cracking noises, and we swerved off the road... Hmm, great.  I had been traveling for over 24 hours, and to say I was exhausted doesn't even begin to describe it.  As the two men who do not speak English, tried to fix the car, we talked to Epiphanie.  The major road in Rwanda has only 2 lanes, and is surrounded by what Americans would call-jungle.  there are barely any lights (actually there are none, except for a tiny keychain flashlight Madds had... good job Maddie!); therefore, we were sitting in a jeep, on the side of the road, in pitch black-we had been in the country for no longer than an hour.  Well someone was supposed to pick us up in no less than 30min, but after an hour and a half, miraculously, the men had fixed the car, and we made it home safely.  Not going to lie, I was holding Maddie's hand the entire time.

We got to the guest-house which is simple and beautiful.  We are supposed to sleep in mosquito nets, but the ones here are not so great so we basically have a tent we sleep in over our bed.  We sleep in sleeping bags-We feel pretty cool doing it :)  So far we have eaten rice, beans, bananas, and potatoes for dinner last night and lunch and dinner tonight... I think we are going to go through my massive stash of Power Bars, Goldfish, and Sour Patch Kids PRETTY FAST... Oh well.  We are trying our best to remember to take our Malaria pills and vitamins (no worries, mom), wear shoes at all times, keep our mosquito tent zipped, and most importantly, drink only bottled water-including to brush our teeth.  So far Maddie already forgot and used the sink water.  Oops!  After emptying her bag, a nailpolish fell out and some-how spilled all over the floor and the wall-we tried cleaning with nail polish remover, but it ate up the wall and floor... Obviously we've already made a mess... so typical.

A really generous American lady (who has great-grand children) moved here 2 years ago to start a house for children.  She runs the guest-house where we are staying.  The children that live with her (about 15 girls and 15 boys) were orphans, but she adopted ALL OF THEM!  She told us after visiting Rwanda, she could not leave, and felt it was God's will for her to make Gitarama her home.  Understandably, the children just adore her, and we are honored to get to stay with her ENORMOUS family.  

Okay that was long... I promise I will do better to keep them short.  Miss everyone.  We have a good amount of down time in the evenings so keep me updated on everything at home and elsewhere.  I would love to hear from everyone!

Love,

Jessica

PS.  Maddie doesn't eat meat... SO when they offer us something that niether of us want to try I HAVE TO EAT IT... ugh.  WELL at least she ate the mayonnaise with fries that they were SO excited to give us (supposedly as Americans we are supposed to love that).  BUT she doesn't eat candy so I get my 2 pound bag of sour patch kids all to myself and of course all the LOCAL chicken, cow, fish I could ever hope for.

PSS the French took Maddie's $100 water purifier light-savor looking thingy... NOW we only have 6 hour water tablets, but hey, if I was here alone... I would have no back-ups.  My mom and I were not too enthusiastic about buying cool water gadgets, we were more into exploring the REI store, and getting North Face stuff... And (if you know me, you would agree) my FAVORITE part of preparation, was buying children's gifts... I have so so much stuff to hand out, I can't wait!

My Weekend Trip to London and Summer in New York

Sorry for the delay.  Here is the story.  I flew to London and waited in lines at customs.  When the customs lady asked what we were doing in London, Patrick answered "interning and traveling."  WRONG ANSWER.  The lady proceeded to ask us a million questions about where we went to school, where we were planning on staying in London, etc.  Ignorant me thought she was just interested and was being nice.  She passed us little slips of paper saying we were currently detained and told us to sit on a bench (still inside customs).  We laughed, and I made friends with a man sitting next to me that just got back from Iraq, but didn't have a passport. 30 minutes later, 2 custom guards had us follow they with our 6+ bags (we were supposed to live in an apartment for 6 weeks-lots of stuff).  They took out every single thing in our bags and wrote it down.  I was still in a great mood and was laughing about how annoying it was to be held up for an hour.  I remained positive until they took us up an elevator into a secure area with major locks on all the doors.  Then a really nice guy with an extremely strong accent fingerprinted us and took mug shots.   I recalled the time I lost my passport in Croatia, the day I was supposed to leave for the US (I also got a mug shot on that trip).  The guy was so nice and gave me a copy of my mug shot for a souvenir (little did I know it would be my only souvenir from London).  I then decided that the accumulated 2 hours of being stuck doing all these weird things were worth the mug shot, and I told myself "we will definitely be getting out of here once they make sure our biometrics matches the system and our passports are legit."  A stern lady walked us through a few hallways, I assumed to get our bags and get out of there... nope, we were escorted to the "detainment room" (aka. airport prison).  We were patted down, searched, and everything except the clothes on us were taken.  As we walked through the door, it locked behind us.

Patrick fell asleep on the disgusting couches.  I started crying.  A lady tried to strike up a conversation with me... She was in the cell because she carried 2 identification cards with her and she brought knives on the plane. [Kes and Abs..."Duh you can't bring knives on a plane"]  We were in the room for over 6 hours.  Finally two custom people came to speak with us.  They told us as of Sept.  a new rule has been created that states interns whether paid or not need VISAs.  They were going to deport us back to the US either late late that night or early the next morning.  We were told we just stay in the cell with the fluorescent lights and other prisoners until that flight.  That was NOT ok with me... I started calmly arguing.  When they made it apparent that there was no way we could stay in the country and that we were definitely getting deported, I tried a new argument.  I told them that because it was Saturday, and the British embassy in NY didn't open until Monday , there was no way we could get our VISAs until then.  Because we had 5 weeks of bags and belongings and an apartment already paid for in the heart of London, it would make the most sense for us to stay the weekend in London, drop off our bags in our apartment, and fly out on Sunday night.  Surprisingly, they said they would "think about it, and that there was a 24 hour visitor exception that would work on our request."  2 LONG HOURS LATER they called us out of our cell, and said they were being exceptionally nice and letting us into the country JUST for the weekend... Really thank you so much for your kindness, customs... I hope you sense my sarcasm. So my thought was that if we got into London and out of the ridiculous airport prison that we could find a way to stay.  We could stay in London until we got working VISAs OR worst-case scenario if we could not stay in London, we could take a train to Paris and have fun there until it all got resolved... Well I was feeling quite brilliant.  Just as we were about to be let out of the detainment center, the customs lady took our passports so my plan didn't quite work that well...

We had a great weekend in London.  It was beautiful weather (80 degrees ish).  We went on a bus tour and out to a very nice dinner.  We showed up on Sunday and took a flight back to the great USA. I then stayed in Summit, NJ with the Rutters (Patrick's family).  We waited for our VISAs for a week, and then I flew home and spent a week in Charlotte, When I flew back to Summit, we started working at ICAP in the city.  We found out our request for VISAs were denied because of being arrested in London and for various other ridiculous reasons that still do not make sense!  [Supposedly lots of students are being denied VISAs into London this summer... even Martha Stewart got turned down!]

I worked in NY.  Although I wish I had been in London, NY is a great alternative.  There was nothing I could possibly do about the situation, so I tried my best not to be disappointed and forget the negatives.  I would like to think i'm accumulating good karma.  What can you do?  Nothing... so I just spent cash at Nike Town and visted Duke friends that I would have otherwise not seen until August (woo Tri-Delta).  On the weekends we went to the Rutter's house on the shore of Avalon, which is just lovely!  Patrick lifeguars on the beach, so I layed out and put in lots of miles running barefoot on the beach.  We kayaked, went out with Patrick's lifeguard friends, and ate almost every meal at WAWA (best place ever).


I flew back to Charlotte on June 20th just in time for the Toby Keith concert!  It gave me a few days before I left for Rwanda.  SURPRISINGLY, I didn't run into any custom problems getting into DC then Brussels then Africa... Thanks London, "America's Greatest Ally."

I will be in Rwanda from June 26th to August 3rd.  August 3rd is my birthday, and I will hopefully get in at 7pm and drive straight to the Taylor Swift and Rascal Flats concert. I have learned an incredible amount about traveling, the rights of the government and therefore the lack of my rights, and of course ICAP and the trade market. My internship at ICAP was an extremely valuable experience.  Although there was a few trips to get coffees, I learned all about voice and electronic brokering.  I was even allowed to make a real trade!  It was fun getting to spend part of the summer with Patrick.  My mom came to NY to take Mariel, my 10 year old sister, to the American Girl Doll Store, and my dad traveled to the city for work purposes another week; therefore, I got to see them both!  The Rutters were immensely hospitable... Their houses were beautiful, and I am so lucky for their kindness.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smooth in Rwanda.  Please keep me in your prayers while I am in Africa.  I am sure the difficulties and challenges will be much greater than our minor London passport problem.