Midway

Hello again.

I just returned from my mid-service conference coupled with an HIV conference compliments of PEPFAR. It was a great time to see old faces, catch up, vent, refocus, enjoy each other's company, and then brainstorm HIV prevention, gender based violence, and incoming generating projects. As you may have assumed, mid-service is meant to be a year into service (really a year from swear in - which for me was the beginning of May, but we're a little early). It's a celebration of sorts. We even started talking about the close of service conference. It's like when you're a freshman in high school and they start talking about graduation. The ever elusive light at the end of the tunnel.

As at any great conference, at least one good prank needs to be pulled. These aren't elaborate due to our lack of prep time and supplies available. Previous pranks have ranged from trying to tie someone into their room using bed sheets(unsuccessful) to piling outdoor furniture in a mountain so they couldn't enter their room (we helped them get in but enjoyed a good laugh first). Of course I have a co-conspirator role in some of these. But this conference we had mellowed out, so there was nothing elaborate or taking too much time away from hanging out, playing games. In an act of ultimate vengeance, a plank was played on Kelly, the ringleader of all things sneaky. Kelly had accidentally left her key unprotected during a game of Mafia. A fake phone called created an escape from the crowd and then her room was tp-ed. We all scampered over to hear her reaction at the end of the night. Like any great warrior in the art of pranking she was impressed and awed instead of mad. We also all decided that tp-ing things in Rwanda is waste of a precious resource and that she should try to roll it all back up for proper use. Only in Rwanda.

I have also just suffered through an incredibly harrowing bus ride. You see, the conference was being held out west, forcing the majority of us to ride through the forest to arrive. (The forest is Nyungwe Forest, beautiful and home to gorillas, baboons, etc.) The ride back was miserable. The motion sickness pills had no effect so use your imagination, times it by three and you'll come to the correct conclusion.

I am sitting here with Jessica (another volunteer), decompressing after a long week. In classic Rwandan style, we are distracted by the most disturbing animal noises. Ever since coming here it has been a battle to realize which sounds were made by small children and which were goats. This particular noise was more like a goat giving birth or a human in some serious distress. After allowing it to use up about 5 minutes of our attention, we went on with life.

I have come out of this conference with some semblance of rejuvenation. While its difficult to be in such a large group at times after being alone for so long and being required to sit and listen for so many hours in one day, I remembered once again how to be one of many and be a student.

I hope this feelings survives my reemergence in the village.