Today Azad pointed at the moon and said "mummy, I want to go there." We were taking a walk after I got back home from work - counting motorcycles, naming colors, and finding "new" moons. He looked up at the sky every few minutes, saw the moon again and said "another one!". It was a pretty incredible moment, mostly because it made me realize that he's on the verge of an entirely new and exciting phase in his life. He's a little boy now. No longer a baby.
Moving to another country/continent can be a big change for anyone, but its been an incredibly big change for Azad. A tremendous amount has happened in his life between August, when we first arrived in Kigali, and now. As soon as we got here Azad started at a full day daycare for the first time. 40 new "friends", a dozen new teachers, a new routine, potty training... you name it. Things started off well, but after two weeks he fell sick, and stayed sick on and off for about two months. At this time we came face to face with how desperately difficult it can be to find good medical services here, and how scary that can feel. In the end it was nothing serious, but when Azad had a high and unexplained fever for the sixth time in two months, and when no doctor even bothered to ask for a blood test, we were desperate. Desperate enough that we were willing to fly to another country or continent if needed, but luckily it didn't come to that.
Then Shilesh's parents visited us for a little over a month, and that really helped Azad get back to good health! They also got to spend a lot of quality time with us, with Azad, and generally relax in Rwanda. We went on a trip together to Lake Kivu on the border of the D.R. Congo, and they also did a Safari trip to Kenya. It was really nice time!
We traveled to India for a couple of weeks in December, and had a very fun trip! Shilesh and Azad traveled to Bangalore and Kerala for a week, and I hung out in Bombay mostly. Ankur (my brother) and I did a short trip to visit our grand parents, aunt and cousin in Gujarat. We spent a weekend outside of Mumbai with my family, which was fantastic!! We shopped a lot - I guess we were really craving some retail therapy, given that consumerism hasn't quite made it to Kigali. Shilesh and I both went a little crazy at the new Zara store that's opened in Mumbai. It was fun. I've posted lots of pictures from our India trip.
Work is going well. I have to force myself to get off my computer and get out in the field, even though that means I have a pile of work waiting for me when I get back. A couple of week ago I visited a coffee cooperative called Nasho, that's all the way to the east near the Tanzanian border. TechnoServe helped this farmer group set up a coffee washing station (total capital cost is roughly $12,000 divided across 520 farmers and payable over four years) to produce fully washed (i.e., specialty) coffee. This was the first year of their operation, and they did incredibly well. The cooperative collected good coffee volumes, demonstrated good/clean governance, kept costs down, and sold their coffee to buyers in Europe at great prices. Overall a recipe for making a good profit and for farmers seeing a good chunk of it. I went for the second payment (i.e., profit) distribution ceremony and danced with the farmers. It was a very happy day for them!
There was some great moments during field visits in the past few months. The most interesting moment was when I realized that most coffee farmers have never tasted coffee. They often don't have a clue what is done with the cherry they deliver to the wet mill. One farmer asked if it is used to make medicine. We took roasted and ground coffee to the farmers and did a coffee cupping session for them to help them understand what a good cup of coffee tastes like. Watching their face light up was just an incredible moment.
On the home front things continue to be incredibly relaxing. We've met some lovely people and become good friends. We end up hanging out with the same folks every weekend, which has been great. Shilesh plays tennis every weekend - lots of great clay courts in Kigali. We have also been going out dancing a lot. There's a club in Kigali called "New Cadillac" (nothing new about it - its been around for ten years I think!) and whenever I go there I have the best time and always joke - "I've gone clubbing in Mumbai, London, New York, Boston and Minneapolis, but I've never had as much fun as I've had at New Cadillac!" A little bit of a stretch, but not too far off the mark. Its always a really a great time!
My little experiment in gardening has not been as successful as I would have hoped. Turns out growing vegetables is a lot harder than I imagined. Every vegetable I grow attracts pests, and every vegetable I harvest is infested with worms. Its actually starting to make me have nightmares, so I think I'm going to move to trying to grow flowers instead.
Azad started at a new school in January. Its a Belgian pre-school just down the street from our house. He goes from 8 am to noon. Our housekeeper fetches him from school, puts him down for a nap, feeds him lunch when he wakes up and then hangs out with him till I get home at 5:30 or 6 pm. Its a much better schedule for him than before, and he's stayed healthy so far (touch wood), and hopefully it will stay that way. Our housekeeper is really lovely. Azad has become very fond of her, which is a huge help. She stays over most Saturday nights so we can go out, and he doesn't even bat an eyelid when we say bye. We tell him we have to go the "the office" (is that wrong?!?!) and he says bye bye!
I wont say anything about Shilesh's job because I know he wants to write up a post with some interesting experiences he's had.
Posting some pictures - with captions - https://picasaweb.google.com/nupurparikh/January2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGqo8u9_ci4TA&feat=directlink. We miss you all. Once again - would love to see you in Kigali. My parents (and hopefully brother and family) are coming in May!!! Our good friends from Boston - Gopal and Veena - are coming in April, and we're doing a trip to Zanzibar together then!! Would love to see you here too:)
Moving to another country/continent can be a big change for anyone, but its been an incredibly big change for Azad. A tremendous amount has happened in his life between August, when we first arrived in Kigali, and now. As soon as we got here Azad started at a full day daycare for the first time. 40 new "friends", a dozen new teachers, a new routine, potty training... you name it. Things started off well, but after two weeks he fell sick, and stayed sick on and off for about two months. At this time we came face to face with how desperately difficult it can be to find good medical services here, and how scary that can feel. In the end it was nothing serious, but when Azad had a high and unexplained fever for the sixth time in two months, and when no doctor even bothered to ask for a blood test, we were desperate. Desperate enough that we were willing to fly to another country or continent if needed, but luckily it didn't come to that.
Then Shilesh's parents visited us for a little over a month, and that really helped Azad get back to good health! They also got to spend a lot of quality time with us, with Azad, and generally relax in Rwanda. We went on a trip together to Lake Kivu on the border of the D.R. Congo, and they also did a Safari trip to Kenya. It was really nice time!
We traveled to India for a couple of weeks in December, and had a very fun trip! Shilesh and Azad traveled to Bangalore and Kerala for a week, and I hung out in Bombay mostly. Ankur (my brother) and I did a short trip to visit our grand parents, aunt and cousin in Gujarat. We spent a weekend outside of Mumbai with my family, which was fantastic!! We shopped a lot - I guess we were really craving some retail therapy, given that consumerism hasn't quite made it to Kigali. Shilesh and I both went a little crazy at the new Zara store that's opened in Mumbai. It was fun. I've posted lots of pictures from our India trip.
Work is going well. I have to force myself to get off my computer and get out in the field, even though that means I have a pile of work waiting for me when I get back. A couple of week ago I visited a coffee cooperative called Nasho, that's all the way to the east near the Tanzanian border. TechnoServe helped this farmer group set up a coffee washing station (total capital cost is roughly $12,000 divided across 520 farmers and payable over four years) to produce fully washed (i.e., specialty) coffee. This was the first year of their operation, and they did incredibly well. The cooperative collected good coffee volumes, demonstrated good/clean governance, kept costs down, and sold their coffee to buyers in Europe at great prices. Overall a recipe for making a good profit and for farmers seeing a good chunk of it. I went for the second payment (i.e., profit) distribution ceremony and danced with the farmers. It was a very happy day for them!
There was some great moments during field visits in the past few months. The most interesting moment was when I realized that most coffee farmers have never tasted coffee. They often don't have a clue what is done with the cherry they deliver to the wet mill. One farmer asked if it is used to make medicine. We took roasted and ground coffee to the farmers and did a coffee cupping session for them to help them understand what a good cup of coffee tastes like. Watching their face light up was just an incredible moment.
On the home front things continue to be incredibly relaxing. We've met some lovely people and become good friends. We end up hanging out with the same folks every weekend, which has been great. Shilesh plays tennis every weekend - lots of great clay courts in Kigali. We have also been going out dancing a lot. There's a club in Kigali called "New Cadillac" (nothing new about it - its been around for ten years I think!) and whenever I go there I have the best time and always joke - "I've gone clubbing in Mumbai, London, New York, Boston and Minneapolis, but I've never had as much fun as I've had at New Cadillac!" A little bit of a stretch, but not too far off the mark. Its always a really a great time!
My little experiment in gardening has not been as successful as I would have hoped. Turns out growing vegetables is a lot harder than I imagined. Every vegetable I grow attracts pests, and every vegetable I harvest is infested with worms. Its actually starting to make me have nightmares, so I think I'm going to move to trying to grow flowers instead.
Azad started at a new school in January. Its a Belgian pre-school just down the street from our house. He goes from 8 am to noon. Our housekeeper fetches him from school, puts him down for a nap, feeds him lunch when he wakes up and then hangs out with him till I get home at 5:30 or 6 pm. Its a much better schedule for him than before, and he's stayed healthy so far (touch wood), and hopefully it will stay that way. Our housekeeper is really lovely. Azad has become very fond of her, which is a huge help. She stays over most Saturday nights so we can go out, and he doesn't even bat an eyelid when we say bye. We tell him we have to go the "the office" (is that wrong?!?!) and he says bye bye!
I wont say anything about Shilesh's job because I know he wants to write up a post with some interesting experiences he's had.
Posting some pictures - with captions - https://picasaweb.google.com/nupurparikh/January2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGqo8u9_ci4TA&feat=directlink. We miss you all. Once again - would love to see you in Kigali. My parents (and hopefully brother and family) are coming in May!!! Our good friends from Boston - Gopal and Veena - are coming in April, and we're doing a trip to Zanzibar together then!! Would love to see you here too:)
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