Carleton to Kigali

ANDREW ARSENAULT - 2014 RWANDA COMM'S INTERN

[andrew-arsenault]

END OF THE LINE

This is it – my last day in Africa, for now. Venturing out to the market this morning for some last minute shopping, after which I’ll have a solid few hours of trial-and-error packing to look forward to. Then tonight, it’s up and away on a nine-hour red-eye from Kigali to Amsterdam, kicking off a full day of air travel and layovers. It’s going to be a long one, but nothing too strenuous with my friend Stephen King along for the ride.

These past two months have had a little bit of everything. Between my internship at the Aegis Trust and touring the country in my spare time, I’ve had so many amazing experiences and met countless amazing people from near and far. Aside from the photos and other souvenirs I’ve managed to gather, I’ll also head home today with a renewed love for travel, and a slightly broader perspective on the globalized world in which my career is unfolding. I can already tell that these fleeting weeks of stimulating work and immersive cultural exchange will stay with me well into the future, and I can hardly wait for the next adventure, whatever that is.

Without carrying on too much, I want to simply wrap it up with another round of thank-you’s. First, to the Aegis Social Enterprise team, for welcoming me into their fast-growing operation during a busy transitional period, and letting me contribute in my own little way to the advancement of their goals. Their jobs will never be done, and I can’t wait to come back here one day and see how much further they’ve come in promoting a secure, peaceful future for Rwanda. Also, thanks to all the roommates, friends and neighbours around town for being there every day to talk, share experiences and insights, and explore the sights together. Don’t know what I would have done without you all; let’s never be strangers. Lastly, thank you once again to anyone who read my posts here from time to time – you’re the best friends a guy could ask for. I can’t wait to see you all soon and catch up.

All the best. Until the next adventure…

-Andrew

[andrew-arsenault]

Trekking with Mountain Gorillas: Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda 

[andrew-arsenault]

MAKING IT COUNT

Time is really flying lately – it’s hard to believe I’ve only got two weeks left in Rwanda. I must admit that when looking ahead at the beginning of my stay, a full two months seemed incredibly daunting. Now though, as I should have expected, I can’t help but feel pressed to make sure I get all my souvenir shopping done in the short time I have left, go on a photo-walk to capture all the sights I’ve taken for granted from day to day, and make the most of my internship before leaving behind the never-ending flow of important and engaging work they do at Aegis. But, oh well – if anything, these reverse travel jitters are just keeping me on my toes, and I’m nothing but thankful for the experiences I’ve had while trying to fit everything in before it’s time to go.

The past couple of weekends have been very busy, filled with a mix of relaxing tourism around Kigali, along with some very hard-hitting journeys through Rwanda’s difficult history. One hot Saturday, we hiked up the winding dirt roads of the tallest hill in Kigali, treating ourselves to beautiful views of the city and garnering plenty of attention along the way from local children, waving and smiling out of fascination with our foreign appearance. Even as the way grew steeper and less hospitable, the hill turned out to be densely populated all the way to the top, with entire bustling neighbourhoods of houses and tiny shops stacked high above the surrounding valleys.

In contrast, this past weekend, we ventured downward – into a set of tombs housing the remains of tens of thousands of genocide victims. These graves are located at one of two churches in the small community of Nyamata east of Kigali, where masses of people tried to take refuge in the houses of worship during the genocide, only to be found and killed. Grenade holes in the walls of the churches, and crude weapons left behind after the massacres, serve as visceral testaments to the violence that consumed this nation a mere 20 years ago. In turn, the piles of clothes and personal effects covering the floors of the churches, as well as the human bones displayed in plain sight down in the tombs, remind any visitors of the terrible cost of such violence, and the endless need for education, peace-building, and sincere action to make the phrase “never again” a reality.  

Seeing these monuments to the genocide keeps me grounded in the mission of the Aegis Trust, and focused on doing all I can for this mission in my fleeting time with their Social Enterprise division. Each day in this tiny office, I learn a little more about the innovative business models and philosophies driving this team’s agenda of job creation and peace-building. Also, I’m happy to say that the promotions for Discovery Ball (the fundraising gala I mentioned a while back) are now in full swing! Please check out the cause on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and maybe give a like/follow if you’re feeling up to it?

Like I said before, it’s weird to suddenly feel the time constraint of having a mere two weeks left in Rwanda. The pressure is on to make the most of it – but I can live with that. That pressure is what keeps me persistent in contributing as much as I can to the goals of my generous hosts at the Aegis Trust. It’s also what gives me the kick to wake up early on Saturday mornings and experience the highs, lows, and invaluable lessons this country has to offer. A lot can happen in two weeks, and I have no doubt it will. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Cheers,

-Andrew

[andrew-arsenault]

Tanzania Safari, Day 2: Ngorongoro Crater

[andrew-arsenault]

Tanzania Safari, Day 1: Lake Manyara National Park

[andrew-arsenault]

Technical Difficulties

I might have spoken too soon last week when I promised another wave of photos from Tanzania. I can't even upload one right now, let alone a full set of 10. I'm not sure if it's a problem with the internet connection or the website itself, but I'll try and find a workaround - maybe Facebook and/or a Google Drive folder. Many apologies to anyone following along - will try and get them online one way or another. 

Cheers,

-A. 

[andrew-arsenault]

ARUSHA RECAP:

What an amazing four days in northern Tanzania. Huge thank you to Felicity and Emanuela for hosting us during our stay, showing us the beautiful city of Arusha and teaching us a handful of words in the lyrical Swahili language – asante sana! After having a month to grow comfortable in Rwanda, it was a real treat to step into a new, entirely unique environment for a few days and gain a slightly broader impression of the cultural mosaic that is Africa.

The Tanzanian landscape is simply breathtaking from any vantage point, with towering mountains interspersed among sprawling plains and dense, ancient jungles. Arusha’s high altitude makes it super chilly in the evenings, and the city rests at the base of Mount Meru, towering an impressive 15,000 feet above sea level. Shortly before leaving the city this past Sunday, the air was especially clear and we could also glimpse Mount Kilimanjaro 80 km off in the distance. A dormant volcano and the highest mountain in Africa at 19,000 feet above sea level, the barren, grey, rounded summit of Kilimanjaro stands in stark and beautiful contrast to the much more pronounced, forest-covered slopes of Meru.

A day of touring Arusha brought us to Tanzania’s National Natural History Museum, where I personally had one of my most thought-provoking moments of the trip. Inside the museum is a detailed display of timelines, artistic conceptions and actual fossils documenting the origins of human evolution in this region of East Africa. Strolling through this exhibit, it was a bit surreal to consider that this relatively small, coastal slice of the world is where it all began for our species. Very cool, I must say.

A delicate balance exists in Tanzania between the forces of industrialization and the traditional lifestyle of the Maasai, an indigenous society whose people live in small, transient communities throughout the rural north. Driving along the meandering highways outside of Arusha, we would often share the road with Maasai farmers dressed in vibrant reds and blues, carefully herding livestock between grazing patches. Whatever tensions may exist between the highly contrasting urban and rural segments of Tanzanian society, it was truly uplifting to see the nation’s ancient and modern cultures thriving alongside one another.

And how could I forget our Safari. Over two days of game drives through Lake Manyara National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, we were graced with some of the most amazing scenery and wildlife I can imagine. Hopefully the pictures to come will do it some justice – still trying to pick out the best ones. Come back soon for elephants and lions, among other things…

Thanks for reading!

-Andrew

[andrew-arsenault]

Hello From Tanzania!!!

...Arusha, to be exact! Thanks to anyone who checked out the safari photos from last weekend. Two Carleton interns here in Tanzania are generously hosting four of us from Rwanda, and while we're here we're doing another safari (two days, this time!) at the Ngorongoro Crater, a major wildlife conservation site. Many more pictures and details to come... Cheers! -Andrew

[andrew-arsenault]

Safari Saturday in Akagera Park: Part 2

[andrew-arsenault]

Safari Saturday in Akagera Park: Part 1 

[andrew-arsenault]

Into the Fold:

A lot has happened over the last little while – it’s hard to know how to frame it all neatly inside a few hundred words. In some respects it feels like a lifetime, and on the other hand it feels like no time at all. But enough with the clumsy attempt to wax philosophical. I’ll just get to the point, because one thing is for sure: bit by bit, with each new little facet of reality I experience here, my armour of tourist sensibility is falling away. Between those frequent moments of mind-bending culture shock and those which seem all too familiar as if I’d never left home, I feel an increasing sense of being truly “here”, and of meeting each new day with eyes and ears more open than before.

My first taste of Kigali nightlife two Fridays ago was nothing short of a ringing success. The beer was cold, the music was loud and no one in sight had to work in the morning – a winning combination pretty much anywhere you go. I didn’t know what to expect, but now I feel silly for even wondering about what might be different. Aside from the welcome difference that “last call” isn’t really part of the vocabulary here (FYI: I *only* stayed till 3am), I could just as easily have been somewhere in the Byward Market (what’s up, Ottawa). I guess a good party atmosphere is one of those things that always translates well. 

The work week to follow would bring forth a roller coaster of different experiences, further chipping away at my shell and bringing me into the fold of this tiny East African nation. Most notably, I was able to share in a significant milestone for Aegis Social Enterprise, in which the team officially opened a new, dedicated office space in order to better exercise its autonomy within Aegis Trust at large and accommodate the fast expansion of its many ongoing projects. It was quite a pleasant surprise to see this transition take place, as I hadn’t heard anything about it before coming over here. Moreover, by the end of the week I had enjoyed the chance to share the progress of my own work with the management, for which I received some excellent feedback. It’s a real privilege to work alongside this team during a period of such high morale and meaningful growth, and a major personal victory to be contributing something of value from a position of little to no inside knowledge. I’ve definitely come to the right place at the right time.

This weekend just past didn’t entail any clubbing, but was every bit as rich with vibrant, eye-opening moments. On Saturday a few of us ventured out to a HUGE marketplace with hundreds of merchants, booths stacked high with fresh, local foods and just about any variety of goods and services you can think of. I can’t wait for my fresh mangoes to ripen. No doubt I’ll be going back often to savour the true taste of Rwanda while I’m here and gather mementos to take with me when I go.

Sunday was a story all its own. Long after sunset, as we Canadians, some American business students and our Rwandan friends and colleagues sat around a bonfire in our backyard, I couldn’t help but think back to the summers when this was almost a weekly thing. The landscape is a little different here than in small-town Ontario (what’s up, Peterborough), but that didn’t stop me from feeling right at home, at least for a little while.

Like I said, the last week and a half has been a broad sprinkling of mostly ordinary stuff, somewhat awkward to talk about in a meaningful way without sounding like a tourist checking off an itinerary. But as I revisit these still-fresh memories and rhyme them off here, I hope I might have arrived at some sort of takeaway. Anyone who knows me will likely know that I’m a homebody, through and through. Travelling like this will never truly be within my comfort zone. All the same, I’m glad I went for it, because I know that even as these ordinary days of work and play slip by, my five senses are all hard at work teaching me how to thrive within this new, unfamiliar system. To me, this ability to adapt is worth learning and keeping sharp over time, so here I am. So far so good. ;) 

Cheers,

-Andrew A.

[andrew-arsenault]

Week One in Pictures

[andrew-arsenault]

Early Days and First Impressions:

Hello from a gorgeous café nestled in one of Kigali’s many sloping hillsides, and what a first week it’s been! Each day here is nothing short of its own adventure, from wrestling my way onto the local cellphone network, to practicing my French while bartering with motorcycle taxi (moto) drivers, only to mispronounce my destination and end up completely lost. All in a day’s work, though. Also, apologies for the difficulties with my wordpress blog, but thank you to all who have followed along to this new page! Hopefully I can get things uploaded here more easily.

I’m pleased to say I have 6 awesome roommates, also doing CMTS placements at media outlets throughout Kigali, to share this adventure with. We were fortunate enough to find a big, beautiful house that could accommodate all of us in a neighbourhood called Kacyiru, also built into a rolling hillside and with a beautiful view of the downtown core across the valley. Like many of the properties in this area it’s built like a fortress, with an imposing brick wall around the perimeter and a sturdy iron gate across the driveway. There is also a young gentleman named Esa, who guards the property and lives full-time in a small room of the house. In our week here we haven’t seen him leave the property once, and it doesn’t seem as if there are other security personnel who share the duties with him. The property managers have also assisted us in hiring Mama-Eve, an incredibly sweet woman who makes us breakfast and dinner each week day. None of us are used to having these kinds of services in our daily residential life, but here it is much more common, and we are grateful for their help and how welcome they make us feel.

As for my placement at the Aegis Trust, I’ve had a very educational few days and developed a solid grasp on the work I’ll be doing over the next few weeks. Christian, my primary supervisor, is the manager of marketing and training programs at Aegis Social Enterprise, a division of the Trust which works to connect young genocide survivors with job training for reliable industries, such as tourism and customer service. Among the several social enterprises run by the Trust is the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where this café is located. My placement began here on Tuesday with a tour of the museum and burial site, where roughly 250,000 victims of the 1994 violence rest among a huge swath of palm trees, flowers and lively, crawling vines. As I walked among the tombs, an audio guide described the intricate symbolism of the geometric patterns in which the gardens were planted, the stonework of the pathways and the sculpted artwork arranged throughout the grounds. I can bring little justice to the arresting motifs of division, reunion, reverence and memory that unfolded during this stroll through a dark piece of history, but I can safely say it was one of the most moving experiences of my life.  

When I returned to the café after walking the burial grounds, Christian was waiting for me to discuss the link between what I had just experienced and the communication strategies we would be working on. The organization is looking to develop a holistic and formalized approach for distributing their outreach materials, as well as for tracking the reach and impact of their messaging through various platforms, such as social media, email blasts, and traditional advertising with local media outlets. There is a major fundraising gala coming up in October, and the pressure is on to sell tickets and secure sponsorships, so I’m well-positioned to jump right in and do all I can to support the communications arm of this cause. So far I’m deep into the design of a new excel spreadsheet (where I always feel right at home) for the tracking component, and sifting through numerous photos and videos in order to provide my recommendations on the most effective content to use in future outreach. I can already see beyond a doubt how rewarding this is going to be.

Thanks so much for reading! Pictures and more stories on the way…

-Andrew A.

[andrew-arsenault]

T-Minus 7 Days:

It’s time! Next Saturday, May 31, I’ll be landing in Kigali, Rwanda to cap off four amazing years at Carleton University with the internship of a lifetime. Since the end of exams, it’s been a solid six weeks or so of non-stop shopping, packing, paperwork and slippery timelines, not without the occasional moment of panic. Finally though, one week out, I’m ready to meet this adventure head-on.

I’m truly fortunate to have Aegis Trust Rwanda as my host organization. The Aegis Trust is a multinational outreach group dedicated to eliminating genocide through policy research and advocacy, and to helping the displaced survivors of mass atrocity with the years-long process of social and economic recovery. Based on what I know so far, I’ll be assisting staff with the further development of internal and external communications strategies to enhance the impact of their messaging and raise greater awareness among prospective donors or volunteers. More details to come as I get my bearings within the organization, but in the meantime, please read more about the Aegis Trust here.

My placement was coordinated through the Centre for Media and Transitional Societies, founded and run by Carleton’s own Professor Allan Thompson. This year alone, the internship program is about two dozen strong, with Carleton grads working in a wide range of different media and communication environments throughout Africa. Please take a moment to visit www.africa-interns.com and read up on the experiences of some incredibly talented young media professionals! I believe the site is currently under maintenance, but check back often!

I owe a great deal of thanks to Professor Thompson and the CMTS, as well as to the Carleton University School of Journalism and Communication. Over the last four years, I have truly learned from the best in gathering the tools to take on this new challenge. A big thank-you also goes out to my colleagues and mentors at work for their support and accommodation of my two-month absence. Lastly, I would never have pulled this off without the love and support of some amazing family and friends…cheers to you all!

And of course, to anyone reading this right now, please accept my thanks for your time, as well as my promise to share as much of this experience as I possibly can through this blog and other channels as the next two months unfold. Please check in from time to time if you can, and share your own insights and feedback in the comments.

Thanks for reading! More soon…

-Andrew A.