decadents - it was a party

thrown in the beverly hills of rwanda....by a drag queen from the UK that has lived in Rwanda for a few years. I guess this party is the party of the year for everyone. Armed guards as security. Catered food, Kegs in the garden, Wine inside. DJ's and dancing. and you look around and the crowd is so worldly mixed.
I only had one drink.. i thought tonight might be one of those nights you need your senses about you.
I danced some, but really just was so interested in talking to people. People worked all over the place, for fancy agencies, some for the government, some for the UN, shoot.. the NGO's were representing. I even met a guy who was an architect for some country, here to make sure that the buildings are earth quake proof and up to standards. I guess there is a problem with people building buildings (or there was a problem in the past) where they had no experience and would make something and then the building wasn't safe, cause they didn't build to code. i also met a guy who builds schools, and i asked him about maintenance. he said that maintenance of buildings is hard. it is an issue. they have to come back after they finish it, like every couple of months to check on it. but they get a local to be in charge but sometimes the funds run out, etc.
I talked to this one guy, he asked what I am doing here, and I tell him about PSA, etc. His response is: "oh great i have always wanted to see the twa.. please take me. i can even put my beer can on their head." the pygmies get discriminated a lot. Some people expect them to be like 3 feet tall, unintelligent, and inhuman. i experienced a few comments like this at the party. one group though of UNICEF people were totally interested in PSA/HDI's work. really excited that people were working with them. They see how they have been so marginalized. The UNICEF group was working with gender based violence. Violence to women is an issue here. It was really good to hear about their work. It was actually really fun to hear about all the people's work. It was a party like i have never been to before... over the top for sure.. craziness.. ..humanitarians.

i left the party at like 3am..with my buddy cedy.. he got stopped at the gate..and searched. i did not. he told me after we left that the owner of the house thought his cell phone might have been stolen, so rwandans were being searched.

I parted from Cedy.. headed on a moto... in the black of the night.. back through kigali.. back to my bed. I just love motorcycle rides.. soo much. it was only about 2 dollar ride .. but i gave the driver 4 dollars as a big thank you for taking care of me (ie not crashing or running out of gas) and getting me home safely.

the party was just so ironic.. on so many levels.. to be a true humanitarian doesn't mean to work for some fancy place.. or do some fancy thing. it really does mean how you treat people everyday. always. whomever you come across. period. I really do enjoy my family and friends in Seattle a lot. i think they treat people pretty darn good.

Love you,
Lizzie