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I’m currently sitting in the lobby of the Sirena Hotel Kigali – I’m pretty sure that Kenny G is what they are playing, though I’m not entirely sure I can identify his music from anything other than the abdominal pains it produces. Nonetheless, here I am – in Central Africa. My first impressions are totally clouded by jetlag but this is a beautiful place – and CLEAN. I think a few of my friends imagine Rwanda as some dusty, desolate place and that’s not true at all. Pull out your relief map and take a look. Rwanda is hilly, volcanic, and lush. The city of Kigali is in very good shape – lots of construction going on. It reminds me some of Central American cities – though much cleaner. Economically one can tell that it is on the rise – though from what depths, I am personally unsure. At the same time, the majority of office buildings I’ve seen so far are filled with relief and aid agencies, but that could be a result of my current location. There are guards everywhere – in front of most buildings. I am told, though, that that has more to do with people doing their civic duty and giving those less fortunate a job more than some greater security problem.

The people are beautiful and kind. Big smiles for anyone. The kids in the street give out a smiling “Bonjour!” to us. We went to an outstanding Indian restaurant last night with some more coworkers and had a grand time despite the jetlag.

We’ve had the luxury of taking Sunday off to recover before starting work today. I’ve got a very busy week ahead of me but hopefully this coming weekend I’ll get the opportunity to go visit the Gorillas who live in the volcano region. If not, perhaps a visit to the monkeys who live elsewhere.

I’ll be working out of the offices for our Twubakane project as well as working in conjunction with them for my small project. Luckily its a block away from my hotel (which has very good wireless access, I might add – spending my evenings IMing with all you lot!). The woman in charge of the project is a good person who knows the ropes. I’m lucky we have so many folks like her or I’d feel a bit overwhelmed.

What’s striking to me is that this place is so beautiful, and its on the verge of being a brilliant,and very modern place. At the same time, the shots I had to get to come here – the medication for malaria I have to take gives me the stark reality of health in Africa. Would we take these things more seriously if we had diseases like malaria in the US and Europe? I think that we would. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to come here without taking Malarone?

Since my malaria medicine seems to make me a little melancholy, I’ll say that 60-some years ago my uncle (half uncle, if you’re astounded by that timeline) came to Africa to teach people how to grow new types of crops in impossible situations. The continent moved him deeply – it always showed. I remember getting him to come talk to my fourth grade class about “Africa” which I probably thought was one big country. He brought all sorts of crafts and traditional items from Portuguese West Africa (Angola) and my classmates and I were glued to his every word. I always wanted to be like him. I’m not like him, he would have said kind things about Kenny G even if he didn’t like his music – I can’t do that. Nonetheless, I’ve at least made it to Africa and I’m hoping to do some good like he did.