7/23/09
So it's been almost three weeks since I've been back in the United States and I still think about Africa every day. Whether it's the bunches of facebook pictures my fellow travelers are posting, my attempts at starting my scrapbook, my slow initiations at raising money/awareness for Mama Sarah, or conversations I have with friends about my incredible journey...Africa is not easily leaving my mind.
Although I am not going to lie and say I am not enjoying falling back into the routine of all the material comforts and luxuries of my life here in San Diego... I do want to use this journal to serve as a reminder of what I have learned from this trip, what I hope will stay with me forever. As the dust settles from the trip, I have had the opportunity to have many great conversations with many great people about my journey. Many of the conversations have detailed the amazing feats of nature we witnessed on our two safaris (and trust me I will never forget that either!), but the ones that seem to be sticking with me are those about the people I've met and the "type" of trip I went on. Something I have realized over the past three weeks is that NOT ONE person in my life this time around (as opposed to when I did a similar trip to Ecuador in 2007) said "You're PAYING to VOLUNTEER?"...and I have to say I am so thankful for this small token that further illustrates what amazing and wonderful people I surround myself with these days. I am truly blessed to have the support and love from each and every family and friend needed to undertake journeys like this one. I am so lucky to have brothers who have similar values to my own and who undertook this trip with infinitely open hearts and minds. I love that upon my return multiple people have told me they would like to take a similar trip in the future.
As far as the people I met and the culture I experienced, I have had some great instances of self-reflection as well as wonderful conversations focusing primarily on acceptance, spirituality, religion and love. I am blessed to have friends that can help me see different angles of situations: "maybe faith is faith, and maybe it's always good no matter how it begins". I am blessed to have friends that "just don't get it" either: "we never have to agree with spending the equivalent of food for a small country on something that is going to be put in the ground...no matter how famous the person was". I am blessed to have friends that stand up for the acceptance of all people: "ALL means you don't get to pick between race, religion or sexual orientation...it means ALL". I am blessed to have friends that ask tough questions and open my heart to multiple possibilities: "maybe we aren't supposed to know the WHY behind disparity, maybe we are just supposed to do our small part to change what we can of it".
Amani,
Valerie
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
A Fine Farewell
7/5/09
We officially left Africa yesterday evening :-( Right now we are on the flight back from Amsterdam to Newark…we are going on 24 hours of traveling with about 10 still left to go! I can’t believe the whole month is already over and all three of us agree that it went way to fast. The last couple days in Moshi were fun and sad at the same time….we were so sorry to say goodbye, but we were excited we all felt better to enjoy the end of the trip. Friday was our last day of placement and our school as well as Matt’s had some special events planned to surprise us. Matt’s school got him some Tanzanian fabric which they wrapped him in during a little goodbye ceremony with the teacher and all the kids. At our school they surprised us with cookies and juice (which by the way we weren’t supposed to drink since we didn’t know if it came from a jug or if it was just straight water with mix…but really how can you say no?)….so amid our eyes looking at each other saying, “well if we get an intestinal parasite we know how” we enjoyed our cookies and juice…and I am happy to report that all of us are feeling just fine. Then they surprised us even more with a small wood carving of an animal…Stephen got an elephant (which prompted me getting an awesome video of all the kids singing that crazy elefant elefant song) and I got antelope. The teacher I worked with also bought me a beautiful conga that says “Your pleasure if my pleasure” or something to that effect in Swahili. It was such a nice ceremony, all us girls got teary-eyed. Then they let us play all day and just enjoy the kids….we brought a fun art project so we helped them all make little shaker instruments out of toilet paper rolls we had been saving, beans, and markers…it went over so well except some of the older kids decided to take the beans out of theirs….thus destroying the instrument…luckily many of the kids guarded their instruments so tightly so they could take them home, to the point of making me hold them when they went to the bathroom and tucking them inside their shirts when playing duck, duck, goose :-) Then it was time to say goodbye….man I’m going to miss those kids! In addition to it being hard to say goodbye to the kids and teachers, it made me so sad to think we wouldn’t be back there working with Catherine and Lauren next week…I honestly have no idea how everything with the placement mess at the beginning worked out so perfectly to put us together! Just amazing luck I guess!
Friday night most people in the house had left for weekend trips so the nine of us that were around decided to get a hotel in town for the night so we didn’t have to worry about the 11pm curfew….it was a fun last night in Tanzania which included the bartender playing “Born in the U.S.A.” for us when it turned midnight of the 4th of July :-) Saturday, we succeeded in spending every last cent of our tsh on souvenirs and gifts…I even ran out at the end when I was buying some earrings so I traded my watch for two sets of earrings haha! I know, I know but I was going to leave it in Tanzania anyway so I figured it was a good deal :-)
Overall, the trip was a perfect balance of giving back to our “brothers and sisters” that weren’t born with the same blessings as the three of us while at the same time having a blast with amazing new friends that I hope will stay a part of our lives in the future! We can’t thank our parents enough for giving us the opportunity to go on this amazing adventure of a lifetime and providing the chance to learn just how well the three of us really do get along :-) This is definitely a month none of us will ever forget!
Amani,
Valerie
We officially left Africa yesterday evening :-( Right now we are on the flight back from Amsterdam to Newark…we are going on 24 hours of traveling with about 10 still left to go! I can’t believe the whole month is already over and all three of us agree that it went way to fast. The last couple days in Moshi were fun and sad at the same time….we were so sorry to say goodbye, but we were excited we all felt better to enjoy the end of the trip. Friday was our last day of placement and our school as well as Matt’s had some special events planned to surprise us. Matt’s school got him some Tanzanian fabric which they wrapped him in during a little goodbye ceremony with the teacher and all the kids. At our school they surprised us with cookies and juice (which by the way we weren’t supposed to drink since we didn’t know if it came from a jug or if it was just straight water with mix…but really how can you say no?)….so amid our eyes looking at each other saying, “well if we get an intestinal parasite we know how” we enjoyed our cookies and juice…and I am happy to report that all of us are feeling just fine. Then they surprised us even more with a small wood carving of an animal…Stephen got an elephant (which prompted me getting an awesome video of all the kids singing that crazy elefant elefant song) and I got antelope. The teacher I worked with also bought me a beautiful conga that says “Your pleasure if my pleasure” or something to that effect in Swahili. It was such a nice ceremony, all us girls got teary-eyed. Then they let us play all day and just enjoy the kids….we brought a fun art project so we helped them all make little shaker instruments out of toilet paper rolls we had been saving, beans, and markers…it went over so well except some of the older kids decided to take the beans out of theirs….thus destroying the instrument…luckily many of the kids guarded their instruments so tightly so they could take them home, to the point of making me hold them when they went to the bathroom and tucking them inside their shirts when playing duck, duck, goose :-) Then it was time to say goodbye….man I’m going to miss those kids! In addition to it being hard to say goodbye to the kids and teachers, it made me so sad to think we wouldn’t be back there working with Catherine and Lauren next week…I honestly have no idea how everything with the placement mess at the beginning worked out so perfectly to put us together! Just amazing luck I guess!
Friday night most people in the house had left for weekend trips so the nine of us that were around decided to get a hotel in town for the night so we didn’t have to worry about the 11pm curfew….it was a fun last night in Tanzania which included the bartender playing “Born in the U.S.A.” for us when it turned midnight of the 4th of July :-) Saturday, we succeeded in spending every last cent of our tsh on souvenirs and gifts…I even ran out at the end when I was buying some earrings so I traded my watch for two sets of earrings haha! I know, I know but I was going to leave it in Tanzania anyway so I figured it was a good deal :-)
Overall, the trip was a perfect balance of giving back to our “brothers and sisters” that weren’t born with the same blessings as the three of us while at the same time having a blast with amazing new friends that I hope will stay a part of our lives in the future! We can’t thank our parents enough for giving us the opportunity to go on this amazing adventure of a lifetime and providing the chance to learn just how well the three of us really do get along :-) This is definitely a month none of us will ever forget!
Amani,
Valerie
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Smiles
7/2/09
Smiles are the best gift in the entire world. Seriously, smiles are universal no matter what language you speak…whether it’s the smile of a child when you make a funny face, the smile of the older person when you provide them with their only meal of the day, or a smile through tears as you say goodbye to a new friend. Today, I was lucky enough to experience each one of those smiles.
Stephen, Lauren, Ann and I went back to Mama Sarah’s today for the last time before our family has to leave. Stephen and I were able to some of Matt, Stephen and my clothes along with some shoes and the sheets we brought for the safari. I have known this entire time that Mama Sarah is an angel to these group members, but today more than ever before I saw exactly how much she really puts them before herself. We were going on two home visits today so we brought food for the group member at each house….we also had a chance to meet the only orphan in the group who is infected by HIV (luckily the hospitals here are equipped with medicine so when a woman with HIV gives birth they can prevent the spread to the child, so only 1 of the 20 orphans is infected). His caretaker was gone to the forest for work so from the impression we gathered he was just kind of fending for himself so Mama Sarah asked if we could get some food for him as well, which of course we were happy to do. So by this point we have bought food for three members as well as some oranges for the “healthier” members attending the group. Mama Sarah went along with us on all the errands without complaint….we then asked her how she was feeling and she said, “Fine but kind of dizzy”. I asked if she was dizzy from taking the medicine without food and as she looked down at her feet she admitted, “yes, we don’t have any food right now”. What!?! How many of us could say that we ever in our lives have fed people not of relation to us when we ourselves were going hungry…none of us….and I am pretty sure none of us ever will. We were so thankful we thought to ask so we could make sure she and her family had food also. At the end of the visit I took pictures with the members so when I get back you all can see their faces. Also, I may enlist my mom (don’t worry mom if you aren’t feeling up to it this week) to help us start a webpage for Mama Sarah’s group. I will have a copy of their mission statement and what they hope to do to self-sustain themselves (i.e. get on their feet and stop relying on others for outside money) as well as the group members and their overall goals. So needless to say, telling Mama Sarah goodbye today was so hard and I will never ever forget the four visits I have had to this amazing group.
Amani,
Valerie
Smiles are the best gift in the entire world. Seriously, smiles are universal no matter what language you speak…whether it’s the smile of a child when you make a funny face, the smile of the older person when you provide them with their only meal of the day, or a smile through tears as you say goodbye to a new friend. Today, I was lucky enough to experience each one of those smiles.
Stephen, Lauren, Ann and I went back to Mama Sarah’s today for the last time before our family has to leave. Stephen and I were able to some of Matt, Stephen and my clothes along with some shoes and the sheets we brought for the safari. I have known this entire time that Mama Sarah is an angel to these group members, but today more than ever before I saw exactly how much she really puts them before herself. We were going on two home visits today so we brought food for the group member at each house….we also had a chance to meet the only orphan in the group who is infected by HIV (luckily the hospitals here are equipped with medicine so when a woman with HIV gives birth they can prevent the spread to the child, so only 1 of the 20 orphans is infected). His caretaker was gone to the forest for work so from the impression we gathered he was just kind of fending for himself so Mama Sarah asked if we could get some food for him as well, which of course we were happy to do. So by this point we have bought food for three members as well as some oranges for the “healthier” members attending the group. Mama Sarah went along with us on all the errands without complaint….we then asked her how she was feeling and she said, “Fine but kind of dizzy”. I asked if she was dizzy from taking the medicine without food and as she looked down at her feet she admitted, “yes, we don’t have any food right now”. What!?! How many of us could say that we ever in our lives have fed people not of relation to us when we ourselves were going hungry…none of us….and I am pretty sure none of us ever will. We were so thankful we thought to ask so we could make sure she and her family had food also. At the end of the visit I took pictures with the members so when I get back you all can see their faces. Also, I may enlist my mom (don’t worry mom if you aren’t feeling up to it this week) to help us start a webpage for Mama Sarah’s group. I will have a copy of their mission statement and what they hope to do to self-sustain themselves (i.e. get on their feet and stop relying on others for outside money) as well as the group members and their overall goals. So needless to say, telling Mama Sarah goodbye today was so hard and I will never ever forget the four visits I have had to this amazing group.
Amani,
Valerie
DA
7/2/09
The kids at my placement are freaking adorable! I am really going to miss them when I leave. Yesterday, they were so great when I got to placement after being absent Tuesday because they all ran up to me and were all fighting over holding my hand so I ended up in with like three kids on each arm. I have some really great videos of the kids from the last two days (yes we can use our cameras now because the mean man is totally sucking up to us so we don’t tell CCS he made me cry)…but anyways...I can’t wait to share the videos when I get home! Wednesday this week, we spent the afternoon in town eating at the Coffee Shop (Tuna for the first time…woohoo), shopping (a second woohoo), and hanging out on the rooftop restaurant that overlooks the city.
Warning gross content ahead: Another necessary mention in this blog before I leave is just how much we all now know about each other’s bodily functions. Not exaggerating, I think we talk about diarrhea or vomiting every single day. It’s a common topic of conversation at like every cab ride and every meal. So for example, we now all use Catherine’s term DA, which stands for Diarrhea Attack, all the time….one of us has spent an entire hour with diarrhea on the hole toilet at the crater, one of us tried to hold a DA for 2 hours at placement before finally turning pale and sweaty and giving in to the scary, nasty toilets, and one of us diarrhea’d a little in his/her (nameless) pants…seriously just a little.
Amani,
Valerie
p.s. I’ve never really had a roommate in my whole life…so what I’ve learned from this trip is that I have a low tolerance for them…yay for sharing a condo with only Matt when we get back!! :-)
The kids at my placement are freaking adorable! I am really going to miss them when I leave. Yesterday, they were so great when I got to placement after being absent Tuesday because they all ran up to me and were all fighting over holding my hand so I ended up in with like three kids on each arm. I have some really great videos of the kids from the last two days (yes we can use our cameras now because the mean man is totally sucking up to us so we don’t tell CCS he made me cry)…but anyways...I can’t wait to share the videos when I get home! Wednesday this week, we spent the afternoon in town eating at the Coffee Shop (Tuna for the first time…woohoo), shopping (a second woohoo), and hanging out on the rooftop restaurant that overlooks the city.
Warning gross content ahead: Another necessary mention in this blog before I leave is just how much we all now know about each other’s bodily functions. Not exaggerating, I think we talk about diarrhea or vomiting every single day. It’s a common topic of conversation at like every cab ride and every meal. So for example, we now all use Catherine’s term DA, which stands for Diarrhea Attack, all the time….one of us has spent an entire hour with diarrhea on the hole toilet at the crater, one of us tried to hold a DA for 2 hours at placement before finally turning pale and sweaty and giving in to the scary, nasty toilets, and one of us diarrhea’d a little in his/her (nameless) pants…seriously just a little.
Amani,
Valerie
p.s. I’ve never really had a roommate in my whole life…so what I’ve learned from this trip is that I have a low tolerance for them…yay for sharing a condo with only Matt when we get back!! :-)
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Pole!
6/30/09
Boo for being sick in Tanzania! Sorry I haven’t updated recently, but I got sick yesterday and stayed home from my placement today…just a head cold/fever but it still makes me so mad to be sick...don't worry mom both Matt and I are feeling better...no Malaria. Anyways, other than that, the last few days have been good. Saturday night a few of us went out to a mzungu bar called the Watering Hole and had a blast! The bartender is from Germany (Bonnie I totally couldn’t remember the name of the city Ruven is from!) and when we first got there we were the only ones in the bar so he let us play Michael Jackson music (since we were there for the “tribute” they’d had the night before, although we did partake the black/white shot-taking in his memory). Catherine and Lauren and I even got up on the bar since there was no one else there haha :-)
Then Sunday, about 7 of us went on a coffee hike at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We hiked for about 5 hours total and then we got to take part in the making of the regional coffee and try it….it was soooo good, even Matt and Stephen liked it! We also hiked to a giant waterfall. We didn’t get to try the banana beer famous to the region because we ran out of time…which was fine except the reason we ran out of time was because we had to keep waiting for the group from the other CCS house that came too. We learned that we are definitely the athletic house (I forget if I wrote in the first safari journal that a third house was there and it was full of weird hippies who said they weren’t “messing with nature” aka they were DRINKING the water and NOT taking their malaria pills….no wonder they spent the whole weekend in the bathroom). Needless to say, with each other house we meet we grow more and more grateful that we are all here!
Monday, I woke up feeling kid of yucky and spent most of my placement sneezing, but I was still able to help out the classroom. I felt a little better around lunch so I decided to keep my appointment to go back to Mama Sarah’s. Lauren, Catherine and I went to her place and took one of the members to get a haircut….after that we drove into town so we could by some medicine for her group that they’d been out of since last week. That took quite a bit of time so that ended our visit (which was good because I didn’t want to do home visits to sick people if I had a cold myself.
Today, I stayed home from placement and slept from early last night until noon today, waking up on a off since my nose was so stuffed. I feel a lot better now but nowhere near perfect. This afternoon we went to Amani Orphanage (Mom that’s the home for the Street Children group) and the boys and about 4 other volunteers played soccer with the kids. Another four of us watched and chatted with the kids. Our team did pretty well at first but definitely lost in the second half (keep in mind they were playing kids who were like 9-10). They have a really nice facility there and the boys are planning on going back at least one more afternoon this week…I want to also but they are going Thursday for sure and I am already committed to going to Mama Sarah’s which I also want to do….too much to do and too little days left :-( I still can’t believe we leave Saturday! Ok I think that’s caught up on everything….crossing my fingers that I’m all better tomorrow!
Amani,
Valerie
Boo for being sick in Tanzania! Sorry I haven’t updated recently, but I got sick yesterday and stayed home from my placement today…just a head cold/fever but it still makes me so mad to be sick...don't worry mom both Matt and I are feeling better...no Malaria. Anyways, other than that, the last few days have been good. Saturday night a few of us went out to a mzungu bar called the Watering Hole and had a blast! The bartender is from Germany (Bonnie I totally couldn’t remember the name of the city Ruven is from!) and when we first got there we were the only ones in the bar so he let us play Michael Jackson music (since we were there for the “tribute” they’d had the night before, although we did partake the black/white shot-taking in his memory). Catherine and Lauren and I even got up on the bar since there was no one else there haha :-)
Then Sunday, about 7 of us went on a coffee hike at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We hiked for about 5 hours total and then we got to take part in the making of the regional coffee and try it….it was soooo good, even Matt and Stephen liked it! We also hiked to a giant waterfall. We didn’t get to try the banana beer famous to the region because we ran out of time…which was fine except the reason we ran out of time was because we had to keep waiting for the group from the other CCS house that came too. We learned that we are definitely the athletic house (I forget if I wrote in the first safari journal that a third house was there and it was full of weird hippies who said they weren’t “messing with nature” aka they were DRINKING the water and NOT taking their malaria pills….no wonder they spent the whole weekend in the bathroom). Needless to say, with each other house we meet we grow more and more grateful that we are all here!
Monday, I woke up feeling kid of yucky and spent most of my placement sneezing, but I was still able to help out the classroom. I felt a little better around lunch so I decided to keep my appointment to go back to Mama Sarah’s. Lauren, Catherine and I went to her place and took one of the members to get a haircut….after that we drove into town so we could by some medicine for her group that they’d been out of since last week. That took quite a bit of time so that ended our visit (which was good because I didn’t want to do home visits to sick people if I had a cold myself.
Today, I stayed home from placement and slept from early last night until noon today, waking up on a off since my nose was so stuffed. I feel a lot better now but nowhere near perfect. This afternoon we went to Amani Orphanage (Mom that’s the home for the Street Children group) and the boys and about 4 other volunteers played soccer with the kids. Another four of us watched and chatted with the kids. Our team did pretty well at first but definitely lost in the second half (keep in mind they were playing kids who were like 9-10). They have a really nice facility there and the boys are planning on going back at least one more afternoon this week…I want to also but they are going Thursday for sure and I am already committed to going to Mama Sarah’s which I also want to do….too much to do and too little days left :-( I still can’t believe we leave Saturday! Ok I think that’s caught up on everything….crossing my fingers that I’m all better tomorrow!
Amani,
Valerie
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Heartstrings
I hope you are all as moved by this blog as I was by the events I am about to write about. I had the chance to go back to Mama Sara's yesterday with more plans to go back next week. We went on more home visits to bring food and company to the group member suffering from HIV. The woman we had seen Tuesday that we went back to see yesterday looked like a different person..she looked so much stronger I hardly
even recognized her. She told Mama Sara that the reason she looked better was because of the food we brought Tuesday...the food that cost us each about $1.50! She had had to take her medicine (provided by the group when funds are sufficient) with no food prior to that because she has no money and it was making her terribly sick. These people are living in conditions we would never put our pets in and
solely relying on Mama Sara's help (who has HIV herself). Despite how emotional the two visits have been, it's an incredible experience to see first hand what you can do to help people in such a short time.
Also, I found out from talking with Mama Sara that the amount of money it would take for them to put a deposit down on a place of their own is only about 5,000 in US dollars. Two of the volunteers who left two weeks ago we able to help her set up a bank account that we can have access to from the United States. So i am planning on collecting my own money up and if anyone else would like to donate to help raise some money for this woman who is doing amazing things for a lot of people when she hardly has anything herself. I think it's powerful also to see first hand where your money is going and we went to Mama's Sara's own home to see where she stored the medicine, etc. She lives in a small cement place with her children. Please let me know if you'd like to contribute and I'll have all the info when I get back. I am looking forward to updating you all on my visits to the group next week. I know Monday we are taking one of the members to get his haircut :-)
Amani,
Valerie
even recognized her. She told Mama Sara that the reason she looked better was because of the food we brought Tuesday...the food that cost us each about $1.50! She had had to take her medicine (provided by the group when funds are sufficient) with no food prior to that because she has no money and it was making her terribly sick. These people are living in conditions we would never put our pets in and
solely relying on Mama Sara's help (who has HIV herself). Despite how emotional the two visits have been, it's an incredible experience to see first hand what you can do to help people in such a short time.
Also, I found out from talking with Mama Sara that the amount of money it would take for them to put a deposit down on a place of their own is only about 5,000 in US dollars. Two of the volunteers who left two weeks ago we able to help her set up a bank account that we can have access to from the United States. So i am planning on collecting my own money up and if anyone else would like to donate to help raise some money for this woman who is doing amazing things for a lot of people when she hardly has anything herself. I think it's powerful also to see first hand where your money is going and we went to Mama's Sara's own home to see where she stored the medicine, etc. She lives in a small cement place with her children. Please let me know if you'd like to contribute and I'll have all the info when I get back. I am looking forward to updating you all on my visits to the group next week. I know Monday we are taking one of the members to get his haircut :-)
Amani,
Valerie
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Watching History
6/25/09
Yesterday afternoon (Wed), we went to the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) to see where the hearings for those accused of taking part in the mass genocide of over 800,000 people in 100 days that occurred in Rwanda in the early 1990’s. Once again on this trip we were very lucky because…we saw a trial! Not only did we see A trial, but we saw the closing arguments of the prosecution of the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Army, Augustin Ndindilyimana. I definitely need to google him for more information when I get home but from what the closing arguments were saying, it sounds like he was one of the most powerful people in Rwanda during the genocide. This was a joint trial for 4 people but we think it was only talking about him on these specific closing arguments and he was the only one present as far as we know (although they mentioned the others names). The other being tried in this same case are Battalion Commander, F-X Nzuwonemeye, I Sagahutu, and Chief of Staff of FAR, Augustin Bizimungu. So if another wants to google and e-mail with info on them…feel free…Mom :-).
We sat in a side room off the courtroom that ran the length of the courtroom with a window so we could see everyone in court. We had headphones to listen and one of the stations translated to English if the person wasn’t speaking in English. Most of the talking was done in English and in French. I think Stephen may have been a little bit bored but Matt and I were completely enthralled and sad we couldn’t stay the whole day and listen to some of the defense too. We had to watch a boring video after, but the short time spent watching history be made in that courtroom was completely worth it. Ok off to placement.
Amani,
Valerie
Yesterday afternoon (Wed), we went to the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) to see where the hearings for those accused of taking part in the mass genocide of over 800,000 people in 100 days that occurred in Rwanda in the early 1990’s. Once again on this trip we were very lucky because…we saw a trial! Not only did we see A trial, but we saw the closing arguments of the prosecution of the Chief of Staff of the Rwandan Army, Augustin Ndindilyimana. I definitely need to google him for more information when I get home but from what the closing arguments were saying, it sounds like he was one of the most powerful people in Rwanda during the genocide. This was a joint trial for 4 people but we think it was only talking about him on these specific closing arguments and he was the only one present as far as we know (although they mentioned the others names). The other being tried in this same case are Battalion Commander, F-X Nzuwonemeye, I Sagahutu, and Chief of Staff of FAR, Augustin Bizimungu. So if another wants to google and e-mail with info on them…feel free…Mom :-).
We sat in a side room off the courtroom that ran the length of the courtroom with a window so we could see everyone in court. We had headphones to listen and one of the stations translated to English if the person wasn’t speaking in English. Most of the talking was done in English and in French. I think Stephen may have been a little bit bored but Matt and I were completely enthralled and sad we couldn’t stay the whole day and listen to some of the defense too. We had to watch a boring video after, but the short time spent watching history be made in that courtroom was completely worth it. Ok off to placement.
Amani,
Valerie
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