I stayed up until 5 am working last night for pretty much no reason. I was capturing and logging footage, writing, editing, etc. At one point, I fell asleep waiting for a tape to capture so I decided it was time to get into bed and sleep. We got up and rendezvoused at Bourbon because we had a meeting there with Emily and Tom from Rock Solid designs in the day. Originally we were going to meet in the morning but they bumped it back into the afternoon. I had brought my hard drive and everything I needed so I just set up shop and used Bourbon as an office.
Interestingly enough, Kara and I are eating breakfast, and almost instantly I feel that I am going to be sick. I realize I absolutely cannot puke inside Bourbon Coffee and excuse myself. I ran to the bathroom just in time to throw up everything from last night and anything I’d already eaten. As soon I am done throwing up, like the second it’s all out of my mouth, I feel perfectly fine again. I return to the table and finish my breakfast like nothing happened.
Emily and Tom are amazing. They’re from the UK originally and have been here in Kigali for about a year now. Emily is an editor at Rock Solid for the magazine they publish, and Tom is a photographer, both freelance and for said magazine. He has a background as a fine artist as well , so we had lots to share. The reason we were getting together today is because when we met Emily the first time we talked about possibly doing an art show together of some sort. Today we were trying to plan the logistics. The show is intended to exhibit work that is being produced around our project with COVAGA. Tom is willing and excited to photograph the women and their work, so the show will feature his shots, as well as photographs of Kara’s and perhaps some of the video I put together. We hope to sell some of the COVAGA products as well. It is one thing to bring the work we do back to Canada and speak about it, but we all agree it would be so much better to do that here too, before we go.
Emily and Tom recommended the Kandt museum as a possible venue, as well as ways of potentially gathering funding and sponsorship for the event. After we finished divvying up the work involved in arranging the show, Emily and Tom had to run and Kara and Lama decided to go check out the Kandt. I had a lot of editing to do so I stayed at Bourbon to work. They reported later that the venue is absolutely amazing and if we do manage to get it it will be perfect. By the time I left Bourbon, it was quarter after 6 in the evening. I had been there since 10 am, and I had only left my chair to pee twice and throw up once. I basically sat there for 8 hours straight.
I had just enough time to get back to the hotel and drop off all my stuff so that we could go to Heaven for dinner. Heaven is a really fancy restaurant owned by Josh Ruxin’s wife, and we had been in touch with him and would hopefully be meeting him there tonight. He is from New York and involved with public health and is responsible for the Millenium Village. Kara and I cabbed to get there, and for the first time in Rwanda we knew how much the ride should cost, so we told one cabbie to beat it with his high muzungu price. Even the second cab driver we talked down 1000 francs. We’re getting the hang of things.
Lama was way behind schedule so Kara and I took a seat at the bar and had a drink and an appetizer. While we were sitting there, we were blown away by the music we kept hearing over the speakers. They even played Elliott Smith. I never expected to hear that in Kigali. Josh showed up and we sat and talked with him for a while until Lama and Freddy arrived. It was interesting to meet with him because he is doing a lot of work that coincides with what we’re hoping to do. They are developing the Bugesera district, specifically Gashora, and are aiming to have the whole region to a middle level income by 2012. They already have a 1.5 million dollar health center going up, they have plans to build an eco lodge, and are planning to invest 35 million in the next 5 years. Pretty amazing. They also are working with co-operatives there in development of a product line of baskets, jewelry and beads and are building a market and distribution in the US. They’re even establishing a brand to maintain a level of distinct quality. Josh is all about upscaling Rwanda to world standards of quality while doing so from within Rwanda. It’s apparent in the mandate of Heaven: they employ people of “vulnerable backgrounds”, they give them professional customer service training, they give them competitive wages and health benefits by first world standards, and everything is built and provided locally in Rwanda all with an emphasis on top of the line quality. I really admire the work that he and his wife are doing.
Heaven is really nice, and I respect its aims and goals, but it’s not my scene. I know where I belong and it’s not in really classy restaurants dining with the extremely elite. I like wearing t-shirts and jeans and comfy skate shoes. I don’t like cutting my hair. I hate shaving. I have awful posture and love slouching. I clearly don’t belong in Heaven. My discomfort aside, I had a good time and I was so happy Freddy made it out. We laughed a lot and obviously the food was tasty. It was unfortunate I had stayed up way too late the night before and I became quiet by the end of the night. I was just looking forward to sleeping, which I did as soon as Freddy dropped us off at the hotel.
