JP (Jean Pierre) and I had a driver issue the other day, so walked to the Hotel Laica to get a coffee while awaiting our transport. I saw this map and liked it...have sent it to my class in Alabama. I liked that you could see the size, Kigali, the capital but also the surrounding countries. I was reminded that when I heard I might go to Tajikistan, I had to go find out where it was and who its neighbors were. 
I wrote about Stanley below but here he is with the crew of ISHEMA, a tiny newspaper here in Kigali. The man on the far left is Jean Pierre, the young man I work with most directly here at IREX, and about whom I made mention above. Fidele, the guy holding Stanley and the paper is the owner of this irregularly printed newspaper along side his two staff. Yup...three people running a small paper trying to make a difference. This paper is printed in Kinyarwanda, the language of the people.
Stanley seen here again is travelling and reporting in our experiences to my cousin's grandson's class in Madison, Alabama. When I went out walking the other day at the crack of dawn, he literally escaped my hand and landed here...guess HE didn't want to walk with me....or at least not that early in the morning!
I was out for a power walk a bit earlier this morning and had the best time checking things out, as usual. Passing folks is always fun and when I greet people they smile the widest smiles. Found a Seven/Eleven corner store...spelled out that way. Closed, I might add.
Went out with Eddie and a few other folks to dinner at Zaffron, an Indian restaurant here in Kigali. Very inexpensive and delicious. We ordered five dishes, some vegetarian and some meat and shared. Yummy. Eddie's home is in the section of town called Kacyiru (Ka-chee-ru) and is very lovely indeed. All walled, gated compounds with lots of flowers, chirping birds and most recently, Eddie had a civet hanging around the yard. He appears to be gone...would have loved to see that.
Saw new territory this morning and enjoyed seeing folks out working on the grounds, picking up trash in the streets for Umuganda, the governmentally mandated community service work day scheduled the last Saturday of every month. When I passed, I waved and they laughed and said something, including Muzungu, which means white person. I laughed, waived my finger at them like I knew what they had said about me and they broke up.
An Art Magazine was launched here the other night and Eddie and I went. Great fun. Met the neatest folks and interestingly, one of the guys I am working with at BLINK, an entertainment magazine went, but not to cover the event, which would have made sense to ME. Nope, he went after the event for drinks and watched the art exhibits being taken down. I thought it a missed news opportunity...he didn't see it that way.
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