Day 1

Greetings from Kigali!

After an intense trip filled with severe boredom and roughly 20 episodes of the Big Bang Theory, I have finally arrived in Rwanda!! A WE-ACTx driver named Marcel picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at the house with little direction. It was pretty unsettling to walk into an empty house, but about 10 minutes later three girls walked in- my housemates. Two of them intern with WE-ACTx while the third interns with a different organization. The house is set up so that people come and go when they have internships. Since we pick the duration of our trips, there are many different people in and out.

Fun fact: we live down the street from the President of Rwanda. I saw him being driven into his house today, and there were a lot of guards with enormous guns, so it’s a pretty safe neighborhood. Unfortunately, I cannot post any pictures because it is illegal to take pictures of military personnel here.

We have a housekeeper named Serafen (most likely spelled incorrectly) who is an amazing cook. She kindly showed me and another intern around the city today. After exploring on foot, we took a bus and ended up at a popular restaurant for foreigners called Papyrus. Serafen didn’t join us, so we had to take a taxi back home by ourselves. After this semi-traumatizing experience, we learned that knowing basic Kinyarwanda (their local language) is very necessary. Thankfully, we have a survival book, and Serafen is teaching us important words.

Below are a few pictures of the house.

I begin my internship on Monday and couldn’t be more excited. I toured the clinic today and met the nurses and doctors I’ll be shadowing. I also received a warm welcome from the patients in the waiting room after my supervisor, Chantal, introduced me.

Updates to follow as I settle in.

-E