June 16

This week has been relatively uneventful, just continuing to make some slow progress every day with the work. Making more contacts and meeting more people, which is great, and meeting with old friends as well. I've now got just under 5 weeks left before heading back to Cape Town.

I forgot how important it is here to be introduced to people when possible, rather than to introduce yourself. In some of the meetings I'll be having in the next few weeks, I will have to be introduced by someone I know, and then the new person I've met can introduce me to someone else, and so on. I think a good amount of the 6 weeks will be spent on just moving down the line of connection. The good thing is I've already more than doubled my contacts and sources in the week since I've arrived.

There are two notable things that happened this week, both on the same day, coincidentally: I returned to Nyagatare for the first time in 4 years and I turned 30. Not particularly thrilled about the 30 thing, especially since I spent the day (mostly) alone, but I suppose 30 is not something to be excited about for anyone, really. I'll celebrate in Cape Town and back home, where I will guilt everyone into buying me drinks because I had to spend my 30th alone :)

Nyagatare has really changed, much more than I thought it would in 4 years. Thankfully it hasn't changed past recognition, but there is definitely a lot of new investments there. New roads, new sidewalks, lots of new buildings and businesses, many new guest houses, and a new market under construction. The old market consisted of several hobbled-together stalls around an empty central square where the traveling market would set up every Thursday. The new market has a series of nice open-air brick stalls with concrete floors, under large blue aluminum roofs, and the entire market is ringed by double-story buildings, which I assume will be businesses as well. Quite a nice improvement. I wonder how the market upgrade has impacted the market workers. I suppose I will find out.

The school has not changed, except most of the teachers I taught with are no longer there. And I imagine most of the students are different too. I ran into one of my old students in town - he had moved to another secondary school but happened to be in town for the day. I recognized his face immediately but couldn't remember his name, and as I talked to him I remembered that he had been one of my very quiet francophone students who seemed very shy, but now his English was perfect. He asked where I was teaching now and seemed surprised when I told him I wasn't teaching, that I was a student in South Africa. Hopefully I will see more students as I spend more time in Nyagatare.

This coming week I'll be in Kigali for a bit and then will relocate to Nyagatare for a few weeks, where I'll conduct interviews and get a feel for how the town has changed.