Thursday, December 14, 2017

Field visit for community dialogue

Since the Seed program has been up and running - and we're to the point of winding down! - I haven't been going on so many field visits. A couple of weeks ago, S and I returned to a town in North Kivu near the Uganda border that we had visited before the program started.

We had just a couple of days notice and required traveling through Rwanda and Uganda due to insecurity on the road in Congo. We travelled Saturday and Sunday for an event on Monday then all the way back Tuesday. I was happy because one of our female Seeders came along with us as a kind of exchange visit - and so I wouldn't be the only woman in our group. Travel was pretty exhausting but not as bad as I had feared. On our Tuesday return, I got six stamps in my passport!

Monday was kinda eventful. I understood about 15% of the community dialogue because it was conducted in Swahili and Kinyarwanda. But I knew my real goal of being there was to encourage the facilitators (including one of our Seeders) in their work, and I think my presence was what mattered. We ate really well during the trip...aside from not having any coffee. Even the meal prepared in bulk for the community dialogue had some of the best beans I've eaten!  

I get a lot more unwanted attention as a white person in the more rural places and where people aren’t familiar with you. We checked in with officials in town first thing on Monday morning, but that didn't prevent us (me) from getting hastled at road blocks along the way. I showed my passport and the guy wrote something in his book then let us go...

I enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL views of extinct volcanos and green countryside. My pictures do not to it justice at all.

I hope you enjoy these photos!