Grenades, Guesthouses, and Internet

Well… Today am absolutely terrified! About 10 days ago there was a grenade attack at one of the taxi/bus stations about 5 miles from our house. One person was killed and eight people were hospitalized. Today – I have to go to one of these bus stations – the exact places we were told by the embassy to avoid. But I have no choice KHI will only pay for a bus - day taxi cost way too much money. so... I am going on a bus for 3 ½ hour trip into the countryside because I have to teach exercise physiology to the first year physiotherapy students at KHI’s extension campus. It’s interesting, but all the freshman, or first-year students, have to take all their courses at an extension campus before they can matriculate to the main campus in Kigali… So, I will be there this week, come home for the two-week genocide memorial and commemoration, and then return to the extension campus for the last week in April.

Apparently it is very common for the weeks preceding the annual genocide commemoration and mourning for there to be grenade attacks in very public and high traffic areas. Well, there are no more public and no more high-traffic areas around here than the bus stations. Mind you these buses are not greyhounds and my living accommodations - when at the extension campus - will be no hotel. The buses here are more like 1960-70’s Volkswagen vans built for eight people, which they cram 15 into… I’m not looking forward to it. I do have a small glimmer of hope that my particular bus I will be a little larger. So wish me luck!

Another thing of interest is that when I am there I will be staying in a guesthouse. The guest houses here are nothing at all like hotels! They do have hotels, which our like our hotels… But guest houses are not. Guest houses are more like the summer camp bunk houses you experienced as a junior high student. There’s a cot in the middle of the room, you bring your own sheets and pillows and if they do provide them – you still want to bring your own because they are dirty. I understand that if you’re lucky there’s a folding chair in your room so you can sit on something other than the bed. It will be nothing more than a place to sleep and put your head at night! On the other hand, the location of this campus is very near Lake Kivu, which is one of the most beautiful lakes and all of Africa. So I am looking forward to the beautiful scenery around campus.

As I understand it by day I will be teaching exercise physiology… [sidebar: which to me is an upper-level course, to freshman who will be getting all of the content in an accelerated, high-intensity dose, without the advantage of technological classroom aids. Yep lecture! 80 contact hours of lecture over what amounts to a 10 day period with only one– comprehensive – exam at the very end of those 10 days to assess them. To me – who doesn’t even know anything about pedagogy – that’s crazy! But I’ve come to find out that a lot of things that happen here in Rwanda are crazy! End sidebar] And by night hoping I have a clean place to sleep under a mosquito net :-) did I mention that I love Africa and I’m having a great time – because I truly am in spite of how much it sounds like I’m complaining!

Okay, back to what sounds like complaining – but really isn’t :-)

I’m told that while I’m on campus itself – at this remote site – I will have Internet, but not when I’m at the guesthouse. Internet remains to be the most frustrating and infuriating thing about life and Rwanda… You don’t get it every day, and when you do get it you have no idea how slow it’s going to be. Mind you it’s never fast, but some days it is slower than others. On the bright side – if the speed of the Internet is really the only thing I have to complain about – other than trying to avoid grenade explosions – I guess I’m doing pretty well. Especially since next week begins the genocide commemoration. The genocide commemoration is a two-week long grieving process that the country goes through. It is very much a “sackcloth and ashes” type of two weeks. In fact they are not even allowed to play music, hold public gatherings, parties, or basically smile and laugh at all. In fact, it is strongly encourage that all muzungus (i.e., white people) leave the country during those two weeks.

So… When I return from the Kibuye campus – that is exactly what we are going to do – leave the country! On Saturday we are headed towards Uganda to what we are told is the very beautiful and picturesque Queen Elizabeth national Park, which will require a 10 and a half hour drive, in a Jeep, and on very much less than pristine roads. Once there however, we will be taking another Safari into the savanna as well as a river safari to see African crocodiles, hippos, birds, etc. We are all pretty excited about it. The bad news is we can’t afford to stay in a hotel – because hiring the Jeep is costing me $850 plus purchasing Ugandan visas and the price of the Safari itself adds up pretty quick – so we will be staying in a Ugandan guesthouse. Ugandan guesthouses as I am told are an entire level lower type of a guesthouse compared to what you would experience here in Rwanda. So we are looking forward to being able to describe to you all the experiences of Uganda. When we return from Uganda were jumping on an airplane and taking a few days in South Africa, Capetown to be exact. In Capetown we are staying in an “American” style hotel! Yippee! We are looking forward to that. Also scheduled for this trip Nathan and I have booked a shark diving expedition. Yes – we are getting into the Indian Ocean – in cages of course – with great white sharks! We are both extremely nervous and extremely excited. I don’t know if I have any right to complain about the grenade attacks and feeling a sense of danger when I am willfully and voluntarily getting into the ocean with great white sharks… Anyway, I will be out of touch for a while since all the traveling will limit my access to Internet. But when we come back online in May I’m sure we’ll have tons and tons of great experiences and adventures to share with you. In the meantime wish me luck and say a prayer for me I am actually pretty nervous about going on this bus and staying at the bus station, but I know that all will be okay. See you soon- Heading for the bus station in two hours!

Here are few pics for your amusement...

Dont know how he is going to carry those jugs back once they are all full of water, but I guess thats a problem for a later time. 

Not sure what to say here... biggest load I've ever seen on someones head... actually, I wonder if with the circumfrence of Brian Campbell's head this is what he feels like all the time...

I am giving a keynote lecture to Airtel Executives at the countries annual meeting. Airtel is the 3rd largest telecommunications company in the world. They are in 20 countries and the largest in India...

Amazing...

 

Gorilla Trekking 2013 Rwanda


Holy cow... Gorilla trekking is absolutely awesome!!!!!!!!!!  I cant even begin to put in words how special it was! here are pics of the experience. Extremely hard trek, but well worth it!



 


Entering the bamboo forest... beware of the gorillas.




We were able to get really close to the gorillas





Yep, we went in there - Volcano jungle in search of Gorillas... and boy did we find them!




Check out the alpha-male silver back just to the side of us....




Here he is a little closer...



On Lake Kivu with Grandma after an EXTREMELY hard day of trekking UP, UP, UP, the volcano...  Mom and the boys trekked golden monkeys. Mom said it was the hardest thing she has ever done.

WOW... the scenery was truly awesome!





Heading into the mountain jungle... what an experience it was!

Cute!

Alpha male silver back...

National Rwandan Olympic and Sport Committee

Well... we got started late, but it was still a great time.  I presented, at the invitation of the president of the Medical Commission, at the the National Olympic and Sport Committee of Rwanda.  There about 30 medical doctors, nurses, and physcial therapists present... here are some pictures!

Expounding on the joys of being an Athletic Trainer to doctors, nurses, and PT's...

Here is me, presenting Dr. Charles Nkurunziza (Medcial Doctor) for the Rwandan national volleyball team, himself a former member of the national team, with an Athletic Training textbook after my lecture!

I am presenting Capt. J. Damascene Gasherebuka (Presdient of the Rwandan Medical Commission) with a BGSU t-shirt in honor of Athletic Training Month.

here is me just looking sexy!



In action... actually, killing time until everybody from the commission arrives.



Philosophy of Education and Other Random Things

Hello friends, it’s been a few days since I’ve blogged but that does not mean we haven’t been busy or doing exciting things. Today is Friday, March 15 and I just finished an 80 hour module with the level 4 (seniors) physiotherapy students on health service management. That’s right – 80 hours in 10 days! I can honestly tell you that teaching here in Rwanda is a grueling event. An event that should be considered an endurance Olympic sport! In fact, that schedule is the main reason why haven’t been able to blog…, or check emails, or go the bathroom, or eat lunch… But it’s all good… Next week I have no modules to teach! Party time for me!



Me and the Physio-seniors after our last module!

 I can honestly say I had a wonderful time with the seniors! I even think it made a few friends! In fact, there’s one or two of them who I would love to see come to the states to get their graduate degrees… But, none of them thinks they are capable. That is unfortunate because they are capable and Rwanda would benefit from what they could learn at BGSU! For the most part they were all very engaged and thoughtful learners and they put forth a very good effort to understand and ask questions about the content. I also refreshed and revived several of my dormant lecturing skills – it’s amazing how much of our training as educators in America revolves around integrating technology into the classroom and other “cutting edge” pedagogical methods. The skill it takes to educate someone face-to-face through storytelling and Socratic method is a lost art! Getting back to basics with a blackboard and a podium as your only technology requires you to engage the students in a different way. Perhaps all the technology we have available to us in American universities has made many faculty members lazy. The students here don’t even have textbooks to use – assigning them reading is very difficult. Hmmm? Anyway… Like most students they also tried to get away with as much as they could – and most of their questions were based on some version of, “Will this be on the test?” But that I can handle!

The most difficult thing to deal with – again, was the logistics and distractions. For example, last week during my lectures power went out three times. Just imagine lecturing and in mid-sentence all of the power going out, light shutting off, the PowerPoint going black, everybody just sitting there waiting for it to come back on… It was truly a unique experience. I also realized that I don’t have keys to the department hallway so when I get there before everybody else does its never opened and I just have to sit on the floor outside in the elements and wait one of other faculty members to show up and let me in. So, on the days when on the other faculty members do not have morning class, I can’t start until somebody else gets there. So regardless of how punctual I am I still have to wait to teach until somebody arrives and lets me in. However, the most frustrating thing has been the construction that they’re doing to the rooms directly under my classroom in the dental department. There is a tremendous amount of construction happening and since everything is solid concrete demolishing walls with sledgehammers is extremely loud. It seems that they only get out the sledgehammers and bust down the walls when I’m trying to talk! The echo of that noise – everything being concrete – is incredible. I wish I would’ve brought a recorder to class to record it because there’s no way my description can do it justice. Imagine that you’re trying to talk and several people are right next to you with sledgehammers busting down concrete walls – and you have to try to talk over that – in a situation where it’s already difficult for your listeners to understand you.

A Visitor
The best news is my mother is coming to Rwanda to visit us and she will be here on Tuesday! Of course we are all elated! We have tons of great plans for when grandma arrives. Not only is she bringing with her a suitcase devoted entirely to stuff we need – saving us a ton on shipping, but we have tons of fun planned! For the five day she will be here we have two major events planned? Number one Angie and I are going gorilla trekking at volcanoes national Park. Apparently this is one of the most beautiful places on the planet – and this is been reported to be so not by Rwandan propaganda, but global travelers! Angie and I will be trekking the gorillas and my mom will be taking the boys to see the Golden monkeys in the wild! We would all like to see the gorillas but you must be 16 years old in order to trek gorillas. Apparently it is an extremely grueling trek up the mountainside and they let you stand within a few feet of wild gorillas. After we trek gorillas (and Golden monkeys) we’re going to the beach! That’s right apparently Rwanda also has one of the most beautiful beaches in the world – on Lake Kivu! Who knew? We’re going to spin the weekend trekking gorillas and lying around the beach – should be tons of fun. We are all very excited to see grandma!

On other exciting news – the president of the medical commission for the national Olympic and sports committee invited me to do a presentation to physiotherapists, physicians, and sports medicine staff. I will be discussing the role of the sports medicine team in the holistic healthcare of athletes as well as teaching a practical workshop on preventative taping and bracing. I am actually extremely excited about that and look forward to it. It just so happens that March – in America – is national athletic training month. So I will be celebrating national athletic training month by promoting athletic training and sports medicine to the national Olympic committee of Rwanda! I plan on taking lots of pictures and as soon as I have them I will post them on the blog.

I’ve still been collecting quite a few pictures of people carrying stuff on their heads – every day I am surprised by what else I see being carried on someone’s head. There are a few more pictures along those lines.

Never gets old... great balance

Other Stuff
Let’s see, what other exciting news is there… I know… Manu the head of department is leaving Rwanda for Canada in a couple weeks. Very exciting news for him and his family, but bad news for us. Manu is a wonderful man and it is obvious from the very short time that I’ve known him he is also a very capable leader, we will miss him! Manu is the one who initially contacted me about this Fulbright scholarship and was the one who I’d worked with for the previous several months organizing the trip, organizing the course modules, helping us get adjusted to Rwanda and the Rwandan teaching culture, etc. Two weeks ago – in preparation for his departure – he turned over his head of department duties to Nuhu. Nuhu is also very capable, but as you all know any change in leadership means changes in lots of other things too.  So it will be exciting to see how things evolve and change once Manu is physically gone.

sorry for the poor quality... Manu is in the center of the pic. Nuhu is at the table... Ann is left of Manu and Baptis is against the back wall.  This is a pic of one our famous faculty meetings...

Nuhu and I have been working on several research projects together… We have two epidemiology studies going on right now looking at the descriptive aspects of sports injuries to Rwandan athletes. There is literally zero research on injury rates, injury types, injury severity, prognosis, etc. and Nuhu is the head physiotherapist for the national Rwandan football (soccer) team so he has access to tons of data! Between the two of us we are collaborating on about eight different studies right now. Ironically, I am here on this Fulbright grant as a teacher only – and not as a researcher, but I can’t turn down the opportunity to help him get some research published.

Nice chicken...

The next blog will be after our gorilla trekking and Lake Kivu trip… So we hope to have tons of pictures for you all. In the meantime have a great weekend!

Classroom Daze & Cuban Cigars

Well.... Classroom space and punctuality continue to be extremely frustrating. This morning (mind you classes are supposed to start at 7:00 am) my regularly allotted classroom was taken by the nurses again, apparently because they need it more! Roaming around looking for classrooms every morning so far has not been fun, but seems to be part of the routine. I could not find any classrooms so I had to go the Dept Head again and ask for help… He walked with me down the hallways looking for a room and we bumped into the nursing faculty. A very short, intense conversation ensued… I was an outside bystander in what sounded like – at least from the tone – a very uncomfortable conversation (they were talking in in Kinyarwandan) between the two of them. It was obvious, I lost my argument for a classroom... so I was told that, "hey this is Africa... we don’t keep time well and everything is always negotiable."  What does that mean, I said? My Department head said, she (i.e., nursing faculty) told me that perhaps the room will be available this afternoon. So I asked, what I do with the class and my class time until then? Answer - give them a reading assignment and go back to your desk and wait till the afternoon... WOW - this can get real frustrating very fast... but, hey... I am in Africa... one could get the impression very quickly if not careful that no one really seems to expect much. The frustrating thing is that I spent time a week in advance preparing an hour-by-hour time grid for the week’s course content. The intent of the time grid was to avoid this exact situation. I was told if I create such a time grid turn it in an advance my rooms can be scheduled accordingly… I did that, but it did not help. So here I am, sitting in my office writing a blog, when I’m scheduled to be teaching… But, there are no classrooms available right now. So wait I must… (and I am typing in MS Word, cuz the internet on campus is down ;-)

Interestingly, on our way back to our desks (me and my dept head) he commented to me that this type of thing is exactly why "Africa" (specifically Rwanda) will never develop beyond a “developing country”... I nodded in agreement and bit my tongue…. 

Sitting in my office now for 20 minutes… A Student just walked in and said he found an open classroom. Yipee! We have classroom and I’ve got a good 90 minutes left of the morning time block…

Well… I made them skip their tea break, but I was able to get a good 90 minutes of lecture in – even did some clinical practicum as well… I feel like a professor on speed… trying to get in as much as possible whenever I have time – cuz you never know if your schedule will be honored tomorrow or not. Every lecture feels like a “last meal.”


Homework trouble

Here’s an interesting little scenario. Last Monday I assigned the entire class a reading assignment of a systematic review from a physiotherapy Journal.  I checked with them on Monday that they received it – of course they all verified that it was in their inbox. I double checked with them on Tuesday afternoon before I dismissed them and reminded them that Wednesday (today) we were going to have in class discussion about the reading and to be prepared to discuss it! Of course at no time on Monday or Tuesday was there any resistance or any attempt to even communicate with me that it would be difficult or hard to access the reading. I showed up today - for our second time block  - (we had a class this time) prepared to discuss the reading and of course – you guessed it – no one was prepared to discuss the reading. With a little bit of inquiry I was told – by the students – that it is not possible for the students to get the article because the computer labs and or their emails were not working properly… They tried to pull one over on me! But I was prepared…  I had written five short essay questions based on the reading assignment. I simply handed out the questions and said you have one hour to answer them. I will be back after lunch I expect every answer to be completed. Well, I show up after lunch… And wouldn’t you know it they were sitting in the classroom with laptops, tablets, copies of reading, all out in front of them frantically answering questions. Of course, you should’ve heard the moan when I walked in the room as to how difficult these five questions were! I chuckled, laughed, maybe even bellowed a bit… Told them they were easy and that there five minutes to complete them.

Once they realized I was serious… I gave them a very stern “come to Jesus” talk about not lying to me and trying to take advantage of me just because I am a white man who doesn’t know anything.  It went well! Because of my BGSU ATEP students J I am experienced at giving “come to Jesus” talks to students!!! They were sufficiently scared and made nervous, but the proof will come Friday when they have to present their group projects!! (I’ll let you know how it goes)

BTW - In that five minutes I gave them to complete the assignment I went to the department heads office told him about the reading assignment debacle and he just chuckled and told me to hold their nose to the grindstone and if they will try to get away with everything that they can and that I should not give them an inch. But, he did say to me again – note this is the second time today – that “this is Africa” and it just takes time to get things done. Even if I give everyone an hour-by-hour time block schedule, a week in advance of when we are lecturing, when we’re doing clinicals, when we are doing readings, when we are doing class discussions, etc., etc., etc.… We still can’t function and operate smoothly, on time, or on schedule.

The beauty of all this… Is that I’m learning to be much more flexible and easy going… well, maybe not easy going… but I am having fun! It may not sound like it, based on my blogs, but this truly a great place!  AND my faculty colleagues are wonderful! Extremely talented, helpful, and intelligent and have many of the same frustrations with students that we have in the States.

and one more thing... we all (the whole dept.) got one pack if sticky notes and 3 pens today... I think that is the allotment for the semester and it was a big deal for the faculty to get these "gifts" from the institute. They were hand delivered to each of us one at a time by the Dept chair.  Makes you wonder about who really needs collective bargaining... I am glad American faculty are not so spoiled and that we have no sense of entitlement :-)

Gifts from the Dept. head, hand delivered with a smile!!

Lunch
On a much brighter side note I did find my way to the Serena Hotel today for lunch! What an oasis and paradise – I can’t believe I have not found this place sooner. It is literally just across the street from the Institute and it is a very nice hotel – very nice even by American standards! The only downside was at lunch cost $20… But the salad bar was amazing, cheese and wine bar even – and steak… Chicken and beef kebabs… All on the lunch buffet and I was able to eat it overlooking a very nice hotel swimming pool! And bonus of all bonuses – the hotel has a wine and cigar bar! They even have genuine, authentic, the real deal Cuban cigars… Of course they are $40 apiece, but hey, just knowing I can get a real Cuban cigar and enjoy it in a nice environment… means I don’t really need a classroom after all!

Angie and the Boys!

Homeschooling is not so understood here (in case you didnt know we are homeschooling the boys here in Rwanda). But ironically once they meet my boys they all want to homeschool too... I am busy teaching and consulting so Angie and the boys have taken to volunteer to teach English and reading 2 days a week at a local village school!  Thanks so much to Karen Campbell (Dr. Brian Campbell's wife - She is the better side - he is just the extra load she carries) who donated books to the cause! Thank you Karen!!! Here are some pics of their volunteer service.

Here is Jay with a local artist... that zebra is made of cow poop!

Angie loving on the school kids

Angie teaching the school kids about American educational-learning songs... like the ABC's

Nate reading to the children one of the books donated by Karen Campbell

Thanks Brian he sent me toilet paper in a bud light box... he must of drank all the bud light, cuz there was none in the box - Thanks Dr. C.  But the TP came in handy... he knows me well!

Nate, playing the guitar for the kids...

this is just a picture of a hopelessly cute kid.

Nate reading to his class...

More Rainforest pics



Here we are near the bottom of the rainforest... this was one of the only flat spots on the entire trek.



Here we are starting our 2nd day trek into the rainforest and to the water fall.