actually let's just leave the music making to the experts.. . and i mean that ;)
Okay my last few days.. world wind for sure...
let me explain...
i got to that party on friday night.. irony amounting..
saturday i go to dinner at the US vp ambassador's house for dinner.. gold rimmed plates, fancy furniture, projector for movie screen, hmm with alcohol imported from the us.. still though i drank coke-cola...and umm.. whatelse.. oh yeah. the house big enough to put all the pygmies in.
did you know that if you are not the VP or higher in the US embassy then all your furniture has to be the same, all your plates, all your items in your house etc. also once you are at the US embassy level, you are not allowed to do "dangerous stuff" like take public transportation.. ie the bus, or take motos. (the woman was shocked that we took a moto to the house.. she was like people die on those things.. if she only knew what i did in "safe" suvs.. she would know why i think motos are safer.. shoot someone else is driving;) ).. okay well anyway.. that was a trip and a half being there..Karl and i were twins.. we have matching PSA African shirts, we both had one nice pants, black shoes, and black socks.. but Karl is a bigger dork then i am, as he has the socks on that has each individual toe distinguished out.. i think they look creepy and in a loving way.. tease him for it.. they will forever now remind me of him.. well it does matter your socks.. cause as soon as you walk in anywhere even the US embassy person;s house, you take off your shoes.. and revile your socks. okay.. well so we eat, we talk.. and Karl presents a little power point that i helped him with. we leave.
sunday funday... in the village of Bwiza. I love those people.. well on the agenda.. community meeting. Claude has been working with the village for years now. Karl helps him plan the agenda and Claude then leads the meeting. The discussion included updates on the manure/seeds/fertilizer distribution (for the terrace project).. hmm .. man i know it was just yesterday but i forgot now all the items.. i must ask Karl.. anyway.. what i remember.. Claude told his personal story of being a Rwandan, living through the war, and how he met with Karl and how he got involved with the village. They never knew his story before.. they thought he might not have been Rwandan. That was cool to see how they connected with him on a deeper level.
Also Claude brought up the notion of a micro-finance loan, and to see if they would be interested in applying for a small loan as one of our projects. They responded with a large YES..and so the plan.. work with one group first. Give $100 US dollars to a group of 3 women. All the women can submit proposals to the village counsel for review. The counsel will review the applications, and pick one team initially. We have criteria for the loan such as, at least one of the three women have to read and write, at least one has to have experience with money, they must all agree on the same plan for the money, they must have a weekly meeting, must agree to pay back the loan at a weekly rate, must have a weekly progress report to the counsel and to HDI (Claude or Olivia), Then.. if they meet our guidlines, and the counsel approves their proposal then they will be given the money. This will also help them to establish them as a COOPERATIVE, which in Rwanda will be beneficial on many levels. But the microfinance project itself will have many benefits, such as accounting, management, selling, marketing, customer service, value of work, team building, breaking cultural barriers, building self-esteem, fighting discrimination, increasing economic viability, generating capital. etc.. We do have a risk here, and that is that the money will be "lost" ie.. "stolen"..well it's a small amount, so it is worth the risk. One of the projects might be selling tomatoes in the market.. and if that happens, you can see how the pygmies will have to interact with the general public.. which can have rippling positive effects :) i am excited to hear what all the proposals will be. and if we get only one team applying, or many.
So after Claude finished his agenda, a really neat thing happened.. the head woman came up and spoke and Claude translated... she went through all the things that PSA/HDI has done for the village, and she gave a big thank you. (okay for those that want to know.. a quick list, shoes, clothes, roofs, medical insurance, vitamins, deworming, securing food supply, cows, goats, rabbits, guinea pigs, education sponsorships, hmm.. capacity building, leadership training, shoot.. okay well that is enough for here)..
so then after she talked, one of the male leaders gets up and starts talking.. guess what about.. EQUALITY.. and how men and women are now equal. He said before women would stay at home while the men would do all the work, now the women help out with getting work, helping the family, and now they both contribute to the household, to the village.. and now they have partners. WOMEN AND MEN ARE EQUAL!
what happens after that.. well the pygmies are known for one thing.. SINGING..
yup a huge sing fest occures.. it is beautiful.. amazing.. awe.. inspiring..
they sing.. and dance.. and i even get a video of it.. and watched it agian today and loved it.. well they sang multiple songs..and for one of them.. Karl grabs me and says "honey.. dance.. just follow my lead",.. and so i did.. i went out with him in the circle and danced.. and this woman joined us.. and danced with us.. and it was beautiful moment. I. loved. every. minute. of. it. i have never felt so connected. with everything.
beautiful.
so today.. if you are good at something.. embrace it.
i am good at systems.. i get this from my father.. whom in my world, created systems thinking... i have never known anyone who thinks in this way for so long.. and engraved in my dna is thinking in such system ways..
so all good projects, all good processes.. needs a flow.. needs documentation, needs systems on how to be effecient. i love it.. i see it clearly.. i love talking to people.. figuring out the system, figuring out all the current steps, figuring out how people flow from ideas, to implementations.. to getting finances..to doing.. i love it all. so today.. and started basically since i got here. i gathered info.. worked with Oliva and Claude over the weekend individually gathering info,..working with Karl, working with Louise (the accountant)..Karl working with Aflodis.. and now.... a path forward with everyone on board.. we created a map.. a map with the only destination that leads to reduced perinatal, infant, child and maternal morbidity (illness) and mortality. Reducing it.. so the pygmies can survive. :) now my job in the next few days.. make the documents pretty.. make an actual filing system, etc. i love craziness.. and putting it together in a flow. i love too the process of doing it.. of getting the info out of people... it is like they are at first entertaining you .. then a little annoyed.. a little tired..they let out the frustrations with the process.. and then once you start laying down the foundation .. the road started getting smooth.. people start jumping in with great suggestions.. improving and evolving the system at alarming rates.. i truly love operations. it is innate in me. so i hung out in the office all day.. and will be in the office for most of this week. ensuring the system is operational on paper and in practice. i will head out to bwiza tomorrow morning-ish.. and that might be my last visit with the pygmies.. i am a bit sad. i leave rwanda at 3am on friday morning.. so i only have three days left.. omg.. freaky.. i could stay here for so much longer.. okay before i get sad about leaving.. and by the way.. after here i go to tanzania.. but that is another post.. anyway.. so after i left the office.. claude took me to his friends place.. The ONLY (or the only at this quality) record studio.. and guess what.. who was there.. but the number one artist of Rwanda.. this guy named Martin. whom is a fantastic soul.. i had no idea who he was i just thought he was some dude.. so anyway.. we are there listening to music.. claude and i want to ask the studio guy if we can record the pygmies there, if so how much per song, how many people can we get in the studio, how long would it take, etc etc.. so before we could ask all those questions.. we got to listen to them make music..make a song.. that was really fun because i actually loved the song.. who knows what it was about.. but it had to be about love of some sort.. all songs are really..aren't they?! anyway.. so there was abreak.. and claude left for a sec and so did the studio guy.. so i start talking to martin.. and his friend jonathan.. i show them the video of bwiza.. to say hey in my way.. thanks for letting me hear you sing.. and so then i start showing them the pictures of bwiza.. and i tell them why i am here in rwanda and then tell them about why we are here in the studio..claude then comes in and his laptop is open so he starts showing them the pictures from the north village.. and Martin's heart starts breaking.. i tell him of our work.. what we are trying to do.. how we need funds etc..we finally ask the studio guy the info..each song is $100 us...to record a cd is aobut $800 for 8 songs.. i asked him if he woudl give a donation.. he said he needs to think about it.. and then he said only 6 of the 20 people could come to the studio.. we also have another option of getting a donor to get recording info up to the village.. but it might not be high quality as a studio.. but we got options.. anyway.. we thank them for their time, and for the gift of music.. . martin wanted to get my number.. but i told him i was leaving soon.. so i got martin's facebook info instead..
i walked out of there.. and was walking back.. towards home.. claude looked at me and said " you look completely at peace" i told him "yes.. music does that to me"
:)
love you much!
Lizzie
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Opening Thursday, December 2nd, 5-7 p.m.
