Last Friday, we had the opportunity to visit the National University of Rwanda, which is located in Butare (about a 20 minute walk from our house). RVCP member Jean D’amour and his friend, Jean Claude, (not to be confused with Jean Claude the RVCP coordinator, better known by our group as JC) picked us up at the house and we headed out on the main road towards the university. There are about 12,000 students studying at the University from all over Rwanda and also neighboring countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, DRC). It was interesting to hear about different academic programs from RVCP members who all study at NUR (some of the most popular are agriculture, medicine, and pharmaceutical studies).
The moment I arrived on campus it felt like I had stepped into a different country. At first glimpse, NUR did not seem that different from any small liberal arts university in the United States. The main campus was isolated from main street Butare and the overall atmosphere was relaxed but with an undertone of academic frenzy. We shuffled in and out of groups of diligent looking students as we walked past the academic buildings, gymnasium, and dormitories. At the gym, I started to watch a pickup basketball game and was grabbed by a student in a white doctor’s coat who asked me if I knew how to play billiards. I told him with complete honesty that I really wasn’t very good but he handed me the stick anyway and directed me towards the table. I guess he figured it would be almost impossible for me to lose anyway considering I only needed to get the 8-ball in and my opponent still had four balls left. Apparently he misjudged my abilities (or lack thereof). I did end up losing the game for him, but he was kind about it. In traditional Rwandan fashion he tried to get my number out of the casual four-minute interaction. I replied (again, with complete honesty) that I didn’t know my cell phone number and our group headed towards the exit.
We passed through a small forest on the outskirts of campus where students studying agriculture conduct research and, according to Jean Claude, “take their lovers,” and headed back towards the main road. As we were walking to the Medical Facility for the weekly RVCP meeting, I was tapped on the shoulder. A guy who looked vaguely familiar to me shook my hand and said, “nice to see you again, Emma.” I smiled and shook his hand as I frantically searched my memory for any glimpse of when or where in the last two weeks I had met this man. He must have sensed my bewilderment, because he asked me if I remembered his name. Instantly it hit me. His name was Livingston and we had talked on the way back from Gitarama the week before. It was a rather awkward conversation mostly because it had been really hard to hear him over the chatter in the back of the bus and the engine drone, but at the time, he seemed genuinely kind, intelligent, and interested in my travels. “Of course,” I replied. “Livingston, we sat next to each other on the bus.” It was enough to convince him that I had remembered him from the beginning. Amanda on the other hand, was not convinced and started laughing.
We approached the Faculty of Medicine a little bit after 5:30 and waited outside for the rest of the RVCP members to arrive (the meeting technically started at 5:30 but we were early according to “Rwanda time”). After the majority of the members arrived, Jean D’amour started the meeting. The coordinators of each of the five projects introduced themselves and briefly gave a description of the projects they had been working on. We heard from the coordinators of the water and sanitation, HIV prevention, malaria prevention, income generation (which is made up of several microfinance projects), and the pyramid project for women’s empowerment. Since our group had been spending the majority of our time at the health clinic, it was interesting to hear about other RVCP projects from different members.
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