better pictures than I take

People have been demanding better pictures since we got this site up. Thus far I've avoided it since uploading pictures is a nightmare at our connection speed...

But we're in luck! Mom posted pictures from her trip here.

(And now I will brace myself for the snide emails about how our life here is all about elephants and monkeys and resorts!)

chicken

Speaking of rationing, Rwanda's out of chicken. You can't buy chicken anywhere in Kigali and haven't been able to for several weeks.

Except for one Chinese restaurant. Which kinda makes you wonder...

rationing

We're low on petrol in Rwanda.

Last time the country ran low it ran out. When the gas arrived again, there were lines at the pump two blocks long.

This time, we discovered the deficiency because we tried to pay cash for gas at the pump. You need a "bom" they told us. What's a "bom?"

Turns out you have to go somewhere across town to buy a ticket, which you can then turn in for gas. Of course. Hopefully the bom's aren't expensive since we're already paying $5/gallon to keep our Suzuki on the road.

And we're on empty until I have the time to figure all this out!

P.E.A.C.E.

Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback megachurch, has been here in Rwanda this week. His foundation has a new NGO to do development work through the local church. They call it the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.

Haven't quite figured out what they're doing, but we think their hearts are in the right place and we're sure praying for their success. They're going to connect hundreds of muzungu small groups with churches all over Rwanda. (The 3 big hotels in Kigali are extremely excited about the P.E.A.C.E. plan and all recently raised their rates 30%.)

If nothing else, they're getting really good press. Our church, a key site on the American Evangelical Development Tour Circuit, was swarmed by cameramen from the FOX News troop they brought to Kigali. If you see us on TV you can take another vote on the q-tip/porcupine debate. And we promise not to tell anyone you've been watching FOX News.

people read this blog

I set up a tool last week to count hits on this site. This took a little courage because I figured there was a pretty good chance that no one was reading... which would imply that my life was not interesting enough to read about, which would imply that I am a big loser.

Turns out, there are a whole bunch of you. The tool also guesses what country you're in -- looks like Asia, Europe, Africa, and the America's are represented. Cool, eh? We'll keep writing!

And thanks to those of you that have left comments! You can also write us at [corrieanddaniel]@[gmail.com] (remove the brackets -- don't want any bots picking up the address to spam us).

in defense of the NGO

I'm an arrogant business person. So before I came to Rwanda I was sure that people at non-profits were a bunch of bozos. I figured hey, they don't ever get fired (because everybody's trying so hard to be nice) and donors don't have any clue what they're doing (so why work?). And jeeze, what have they really done with all that development money?

But turns out they're mostly not bozos. They're hard-working, underpaid people that tend to be pretty darn good at what they do. Surprise.

No, the folks you have to worry about are the ones that have been working for the big donors for 20 years (in development speak, big donors are "multilaterals.") Often they used to be young, hip NGO people. Then they got a job at the World Bank that pays three times as much so they could stop working and start attending conferences.

The trouble with NGOs trying to solve the world's problems is not the people. It's that the problems are big and the budgets are small. And then the budgets get spliced into tiny little grants by donors (to hedge their risk of funding someone stupid and looking bad).

So you end up with a budget of $200,000 (a nice-sized grant) and a goal of eradicating poverty in a country with zero infrastructure. This year. Go.

I think I'd struggle, too.

escudo

I figured when we came over here that we'd just, you know, go ahead and pick up a cheap car. No problem.

Turns out you don't want a car, you want something that can handle dirt roads (because most of them are). But gas costs a buck a liter so you don't want a big SUV. And hell, it doesn't matter anyway, because you can't afford anything (a new RAV4 costs >$40,000).

So, after two and a half months of taxis, we finally found our fabulous 1992 Suzuki Escudo. At $6,500 it was the best deal in Rwanda -- all our friends are jealous.

Sure, the steering wheel's on the wrong side, the turn-indicator doesn't stop itself, and the windshield's cracked. But the huge V6 engine spanks our boss' RAV4. (Yes, "spanking a RAV4" may be a pretty pathetic benchmark but it's the one we use).

So someday maybe we'll find a vendor who can sell us a gas cap. But such luxuries are for the rich. In the mean time, it's sure been great to have a car. I was getting darned tired of trying to direct taxicab drivers who spoke neither French nor English!

hair gel

I've discovered that conditioner, if applied after a shower, can be used as a substitute for hair gel. Good thing, since you can't buy hair gel in Rwanda.

So I'm looking a bit less fuzzy and a bit more punk these days.

On the flip side, I've dropped to 140 pounds. Which unfortunately serves to enhance the q-tip look.

oh and

CHAI's been in the news today for the new pricing deals.

And Rwanda had a cholera outbreak (don't worry about us, it's not airborne...).

And the pastor of my old church in Los Altos is quoted in a Rwandan paper today. In an article about pottery. I'm sure he has no idea that he's getting famous in Rwanda.

new this week

Corrie read that last post and made the point that some might think his name is pronounced "anus" rather than "uh-knees," as, in fact, it is. Good point, Corrie.

And that monkey that jumped into our car bit a friend's mom shortly after we left the park. Her fault, though -- she swung at it when it tried to jump in her car.

And I got pulled over by a cop for making an illegal left turn. The weird thing was, it actually was an illegal left turn, not a ploy for cash (I went back and checked). What a contrast to the Congo, eh?

And I'm getting better at French. Not much better, but better.

And we took a tennis lesson. I'm better at tennis than French (not saying much).

And we're hiring! Know any really really smart Rwandan analysts?

And we have friends. People made Mexican food for us TWICE this week. With tortillas. Wow.

my ATM has a first name

it's A-n-i-s.

Actually, there are no ATMs in Rwanda. None that work, anyway.

The way you get cash is you write a paper check (remember those? we used to use them before electronic bill-paying) to a guy named Anis, who has a hardware store downtown. In the back of his hardware store he has a huge safe of cash.

This seems normal to me now. Getting ushered into the back room of a shop to get handed stacks of bills from a huge safe. And the largest bill in Rwanda is worth less than $10, so it does tend to be stacks of cash.

Oh, and credit cards don't work either, so remember to buy your plane ticket out before you get here. Or I'll have to introduce you to Anis.

La bohème

Incidentally, TB, once thought effectively eradicated, has again become an epidemic because it's easy to spread TB among HIV positive populations. And you can get TB if someone coughs on you. Food for thought for those that think the AIDS epidemic doesn't affect us all.

Will we see a movie version of La bohème next?

rent

I know I'm a little out of date here, but I just saw that the musical Rent has been made into a movie. (You people who live in fancy-pants countries with movie theaters may even have seen it.)

So Rent the Movie is based on a 1996 musical about people dying of AIDS in New York. Which, in turn, is based on a nineteenth century opera about people dying of TB in Paris.

And they're all historical tales. People don't die of TB in Paris anymore and they don't die of AIDS in New York. Isn't that amazing? Rent was out of date before they even got it to the big screen.

Of course, we still have a huge problem in poor countries, but it's a solvable one. Drugs are cheap and donors have stepped up. Rwanda's getting people treated and saving thousands of lives.

Now if Rwanda only had a cinema to show these movies...