Village of Hope

So yesterday we had the big bash at the "Village of Hope" (VoH), and i'm compelled to write at least a little something about the place before moving on.

The VoH was started by my organization but has taken on a life of its own. It began as an off-shoot of the Polyclinic of Hope that provided services to victims of rape during the genocide, widows, and women living with HIV/AIDS (many of which were intentionally infected during the genocide) to provide more comprehensive assistance. 20 women and their families actually live there and constitute the core group - and they themselves have become mobilizers in their community and reach out to approximately 4000 "beneficiaries" (I promise that the NGO-speak will soon end). They do everything from vocational training to food distribution to farming to home-care visits for women who can't reach the center.

It's pretty impressive. I'll admit that at first I was skeptical, having had trouble putting all the pieces together as the relationship with RWN is still ambiguous (the VoH has been slowly moving towards its independence); the lack of proper documentation of how they work makes it all look like one big fat mess; and i was never able to pin down any sort of routine - of course, not speaking kinyarwanda didn't help.
But all this is mostly because it's rather flexible and the women respond to their own needs as they may arise. They have organized themselves into committees and each one will be in charge of a different task (agriculture, education, drama, taking care of orphans, and so on...), and there's no real formal hierarchy of approval for these decision.

The nicest part about the VoH is that it provides a space for all these women to get together. It gives them an an excuse to leave the house, a reason to shower and put on their nice clothes. In fact the main organizer was telling me how they had to assign different days for different groups to meet because the women were coming too often.

But back to the fiesta. It was officially held to celebrate the Red Ribbon Award which the VoH received, so all the big shots were invited. When the RWN staff arrived, however, the women had already been getting their party on for some time, despite the horrible rain. This included the consumption of enormous vats of "urgwawu" (sp?) - a homemade wheat based alcohol. Being the first one to jump out of the van in our matching dresses in front of the hundred or so women that were waiting to receive their guests, I prompted a round of applause and laughter - and turned visibly red. But I took it in stride, being accustomed to being a source of amusement.

Overall, the day went well - plenty of people showed up, the rain eventually stopped, we sold greeting cards and the speeches weren't too long. And now, some pictures.

Me and some of the women I work with. Mary, my boss, is on the far left.

Trying to maneuver my way out of a situation - "But you have my e-mail, you don't need my number!" How do you say that in kinyarwanda?