quick trip

a week ago there was a lovely birthday party for our friend, Isa, who is Puerto Rican. she cooked this wonderful meal (plantain lasagne! salad! beans!) and we all sat around by candlelight and enjoyed it with some rwandan neighbors. then, like all good parties, the tables got pushed aside, Rihanna was on the stereo, and a bottle of tequila made it's way around.

johan cooking

raph napping on the platform

my view

kiddies waiting for the feast

i got up at 4am the next day to leave on a 9-hour bus to Kampala.

and i made it. it was kind of hot. the kenyan lady sitting next to me was kind of feisty. but i arrived and found Justin and a few of his friends drinking a Nile Special and eating pizza at the hostel. the next two days we just wandered like tourists. tried to mail something home (post office was closed. it was sunday.) battled with a few ATMs. ate some chicken and chips. and walked about 4 miles back to the hostel. we had a nice Chinese food dinner (yes. in uganda.) and i "watched" the super bowl with his buddy Tim at the Irish-themed bar, Bubbles O'Leary, in town (by "watched" i mean i had a few drinks for 4 hours leading up to the 2:45am kick-off and then immediately dozed off next to a friendly Ugandan man who had prime real estate in a comfy booth) i woke up in time to see Madonna kill it and moto-ed home.

then we boarded a bus to a town in western uganda. there are so many speed bumps in the road, so bus rides are less than enjoyable. (as Tim brought up, "they spend so much money to pave the road so they aren't bumpy...") and our seats were right over the rear wheel. we reached the town. packed 8 people in a sedan for a shared ride out to the hotel. relaxed. went on a beautiful night walk through the jungle (with a guide) and went to sleep. Justin et al went to trek chimpanzees the next morning and i finished 'let the great world spin' over a cup of coffee (wonderful book).

then we went to check our email before heading out on a bus to a lake 8 hours away. and Justin had received some horrible news that his mother's health was deteriorating. Small-town-Uganda feels really far away when there's an emergency. through broken phone lines and dropped internets he switched his flight and we grabbed the last bus back to Kampala. he never once raised his voice. we spent the next 24 hours talking about favorite childhood memories and trying to pass the time by walking the over-fed dog at the hostel. it may have been the longest 24 hours of our friendship, time just wouldn't move fast enough.

walking the hostel dog

he boarded the plane last night and i came back to kigali. i have gotten quite good at sleeping in bus terminals. i can curl up just right and doze off on my backpack. the african mamas straight up just make a bed for themselves on the sidewalk, but i'm not there yet. i boarded the bus at 1am and pop 90's lady music was blasting (a sample track). i sat down and thought, are they really going to play this for 8 hours through the night? the answer: YES. when you buy the first class bus ticket you get music! and lights! so lucky.

and now i am back in the city. alexa (from d.c.) is visiting for the next few days. there is a dinner cook-off tomorrow night. and i will dive head first into this job hunt. my East African travel plans are tabled indefinitely with the loss of my travel partner. so, for the next 6 weeks, i'll be cozied up in Kigali until i leave on the road in mid-march. makes for a boring blog, but i'll try to take some photos of the city.

week one

i am in a coffee shop in kigali. a nice one. with wifi and iced coffee and big couches to lounge in. i'm here with two friends, having laptop time, reading the news and planning next moves. moves for the immediate future (tonight) and the distant future (next year).

this first week was seamless: i have taken almost daily naps in the hammock in my room. Raph and I have drank a lot of juice and watched louis on the projector screen. there were two parties at the house last weekend. one full of dancing rwandans celebrating a graduation and the other full of ex-pats celebrating the chinese new year. there was a lovely dinner in a Grace's backyard, as her parents were visiting and nearly two dozen of us sat around and ate delicious pasta and salad by candlelight. i have spent my days wandering in search of faster internet. i got horribly lost one day through the poorer part of town and came out sunburned and with a marriage proposal. kigali is hilly. my dreams of getting a bicycle have been quickly squashed due to how often i would have to get off to push it on foot.

wednesday was a national holiday (hero's day. held to recognize the heros who saved someone during the genocide) and a handful of us bussed to musanze (3 hours to the north) to have dinner with a rwandan family. it was nice and quiet. and enjoyable to get out of my house and kigali for 24 hours. we just sat and took some beer and coffee and watched cheesy music videos.

walking in town. volcanos in the distance.

brad, ernest and i outside of ernest's home

new friends

preparing guacamole (a mzungu favorite)

i am working on transitioning to the Lauren that is not dependent on the internet. the one that doesn't freak out when i can't check my email for 24 hours. it's a slow process but i'm hoping to get there.

i have made a plan for the next little while. i (believe i) am laid-back, but there is always a plan brewing. always something that motivates me. i have a handful of contacts working in organizations in rwanda. i hope to meet them in person in the coming weeks and sell myself as a viable candidate for an internship/job position. i really want to stick with the refugees. so, that narrows the field considerably in rwanda. more opportunities in the DRC. it's odd to come to a place where human rights catastrophes and conflicts equal job opportunities. the message certainly gets lost somewhere. but i am applying. and emailing and calling. and hoping.

for something that starts in early May. i'm going to spend the next 3 mos traveling around. first in E. Africa with Justin then i'll be leaving in mid-March for a 6 week road trip in the big yellow bus that will end in Cape Town for Burning Man. more on that to come. but i'm excited. once in a lifetime opportunity to travel with good people through a part of the world i have never seen.

i have been listening to this song a lot. i miss you. i am beyond safe and healthy. and thank you to everyone for militantly posting news about the komen foundation, so i know who to be upset with. 'cause planned parenthood is doing a lot of good.

kigali

air travel is crazy. two days ago i was a real bawl-bag leaving d.c. and now i am unpacked, in my PJs and drinking tea on the patio in kigali. kind of well-rested. a little sick due to pushing my heart (and liver) a little too far in my last weekend.

but i made it!

the flight was a piece of cake. 13-hours to addis ababa then straight on to kigali. i napped and then watched the Godfather for the first time, which is long and a lot of people die. i also watched SJP in 'i don't know how she does it.' i freaked out a bit. it's weird to have 18 hours to contemplate your life choices alone. but then! Grace picked me up at the airport and we went to a super nice lunch with her parents (i got chicken salad and a beer) and i came home (!!) and napped/unpacked/chilled with a ex PCV-couch surfer-dude who was traveling around after finishing his service in Ethiopia. i made some dinner with my adorable, German roommate and as we were all sitting in the living room, Mr. Brad walked in dragging crates of beer and soda (a friend from my time last year in South Africa) and announced there are 2 parties at the house this weekend.

so, i think i'll be okay. today i'm going to wander out into town on foot for a sim card and groceries. it's a comfortable life. there is a puppy here to play with. it's sunny and 70 degrees. i wish i could put ya'll in my pocket and bring you here to hang out.

phone #: (011) or (+) 250 786182026

my room, all unpacked

2nd view (the hammock is for visitors :)

the house puppy

view from the backyard

patio where i took my breakfast and wrote this

in a nutshell

haiti happened. it's a beautiful, small country with passionate, kind, entertaining people. it had all of aspects i find myself loving about africa (smiling faces, no watches, fresh juice, reggaeton dancehall music, hilarious--not actually ironic--music videos and t-shirts, motorcycle rides, cheap beer, etc) but it is only a 3 hour flight from d.c.! i was never that far from home. i wished every day i spoke creole (or even better french), so i could have communicated with people better. i just felt like a doofus as i utilized every bit of body language i could muster to get a point across.

we--myself and an awesome team of 9 volunteers and 2 other trip leaders--began in port-au-prince where the earthquake looks as though it happened last week. no joke. there is rubble in the streets, caved in buildings, tents thrown up in any free space available in the urban center. tents are strewn together with USAID tarps and pieces of scrap metal, yet there are basic services available: water, illuminated latrines, and (some) assistance, so the individuals that flocked to port-au-prince seeking answers and potential opportunity are finding it difficult to leave now.

rape continues to be a problem.

as a group we moved to jacmel, a now sleepy coastal town 3 hours south of PaP. we moved in with Let Haiti Live and set up our tents and ground pads after a warm welcome. our work over the course of the week+ consisted of hauling cinder blocks up a steep hill, assembly-line style. as if there was any doubt, it was hot. like sweating-standing-still-hot. lots of water was consumed. the haitian students hung around and helped us out when we looked weak and as though we would melt. in the afternoons we taught english/art/leadership/etc. it was a blast. the kids were a riot and super smart and some even wore some sweet Nike sneaks. and every night i got to ride on a scooter--my favorite. just hanging out on the back of a scooter in perfect evening temperature, cruising by people dancing, praying, eating and just being. i loved that. there were many other priceless moments: swimming in an abandoned, warm ocean at dusk; dancing in a local bar-turned-live-music-joint; eating plantain chips; SUPER white socks thanks to hand-washing techniques i'll never be able to master; being woken up at 1am (and 4am and 5am) by a rooster, goat, cow; hearing 20+ haitian children proudly sing their national anthem; standing in the back of a pick-up truck as we came through small towns...

hurricane irene grounded me an extra 4 days. after a mild meltdown i returned from PaP back to jacmel for a surprise resurgence and an extra 2 day adventure, complete with crowded bus rides, extra Prestige and some serious rain that flooded our 2-room classroom. the PaP airport could be an entire story in itself, needless to say, it was mildly chaotic, but i'll save that for a rainy day? (get it?!)

now i am back in d.c., safe and sound, watching the storm pass by again.

pictures (a bit out of order):

we built a tippy tap!

kids listening to their peers teach us about haiti

the palace in port-au-prince, 1.5 years later

haitian street art

bassin bleu--like out of a movie

our view from atop of the hill

what happens to donated puzzles and jump ropes = decorations!

the local beer of choice

tess, mike and i with rolliance

steps down to the small beach

the whole gang after a soccer game

spectators

meryl, andrea and i

the team, piled into the back of a pickup

our view and where we ate all of our meals

some local kiddies at the bottom of the hill

the team on the road to jacmel

solar-operated lights by the latrines--public health in action!

where we stayed the first night

poisson en sauce creole

meryl probably said something funny--on a break from "hauling block"

an example of port-au-prince transportation: tap-taps (brightly colored and decorated buses, frequently seen with painted pictures of jesus and/or little wayne)

haiti, take II

i'm excited that soon i may have something on here worth reading. many travel posts ago, i was supposed to go to port-au-prince to lead a trip of volunteers in re-building a classroom in a boys school.

unfortunately, due to a devastating cholera outbreak and the subsequent riots, the trip was cancelled at the last minute. but now it's back! and on Saturday (yes, in 2 days) i am going down to Port-au-Prince and a southern, coastal town called Jacmel to lead the same dedicated volunteers. we'll be doing a little re-building, a little playing, a little English teaching, and a lot of hanging out with young kids.

you can read more here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/lauren-welch/haiti

(and as you'll see, the programs run mostly off of donations. my whole excursion is paid for, so ANY LITTLE BIT you can donate will go directly to the kids)

these photos (from about 8 months ago) give a compelling portrait of how much building there is left to do.

Heaven!? Give me mango!

The quickest way to make me happy is to put me in the back of a moving car with my iPod and cruise through rural Africa, any part of the continent will do. If you put my good friend next to me and five additional men in a little sedan for 4 hours, it may just make my week. That’s how I got back to Freetown from Bo with Evan the other day. What we would think of as 5 passenger vehicles, simply means we don’t have enough imagination. The cars in Sierra Leone are packed. When I arrived at the airport, we hopped in a cab and there were three of us in the back and a mildly confused Nigerian man in the front. He asked Evan why we weren’t going since the car was full and Evan said, “Oh no, they’re waiting for two more people. One up front with you and one in the back here.” Shocked, the Nigerian guy called over the taxi driver from the side of the road and asked him what we were waiting for. Naturally, the driver said, “Two more people. One up front with you and one in the back.” The Nigerian man ended up paying the $1 difference and we left for the ferry with some leg room to spare.

The trip back to Jimmi Bagbo this time was just wonderful. It was comfortable, I polished my four Mende words enough that I could be trusted to walk to the corner store alone, greeting people without embarrassing myself. Although, different from last time, is was hot. Stifling hot. If you were breathing, you were sweating. There was no way around it. It was like D.C. in the end of July without air conditioned buildings to duck into. Just damp. I took an average of three bucket baths a day. It was also mango season. Mangos were everywhere. Faiya climbed a tall tree for some, and people had long handmade stick tools to poke them from the trees. Everyone was eating mangos. It seemed as though Sierra Leone certainly had more mangos than they knew what to do with. Due to the abundance of one fruit, we spent an afternoon making mango chutney. It took awhile, but it was pretty delicious.

Evan working hard on his front porch to get the charcoal stove burnin'

Ibrahim liked to have his picture taken

Photo shoot with a few of the the frequent visitors

Every afternoon the humidity teased us into thinking it would rain. Then, on the last day in Jimmi, it finally did rain. Beautiful, clean, cooling African rain. Evan, Faiya and I stood outside and played frisbee for an hour and it was perfect. Evan’s porch was full of spectators (read: 20+ people) and the sunset was dramatic due to all the dark clouds and for a time no one was sweating, one might even goes as far to say it was cool outside.

the dramatic (rain-filled!) sky and the road leading up to Evan's house

Georgie at the bottom of the hill leading up to Evan's house

The three of us went on a bike ride the evening before. It’s too fun thrashing down dirt roads on nice, sturdy mountain bikes. There are palm trees everywhere and a handful of villages to stop in and say hello to. I also utilized my last opportunity for a motorcycle ride and went on a cruise with George (my grandfather’s namesake) and visited two nearby villages, one of which we got off the motorbike and went to tour the small pond, surrounded by thirty or so children. An elder in the village in the 1970s (or so) declared that if anyone that was born and raised in the village ate fish from the pond they would get leprosy, so naturally no one has tested that voodoo in 30+ years and the pond was full of big, edible fish I obviously had to see to believe. It was entertaining.

A few of the mornings I got up and walked to school with Evan so he could sign in (school was in session, but the kids hadn’t shown up yet). One morning we had sardines and bread for breakfast while we waited and I learned that I’m not a huge fan of fish before 8am. I hung out in a nice hammock a few times. I found some little puppies to swoon over. I got my hole-ridden (favorite) red jeans fixed at the tailor. I helped paint a flower box. I took a lot of film photos. We napped a lot. We tried to rig ways to stay cool. Evan’s grant to bring an internet class to Jimmi got accepted (<-- check it out). We cooked spaghetti. Everyone listened to the music tapes at night. We spent a night in Bo with Evan’s friend, Marty, eating chicken and having a few beers while watching ‘Who Wants to get Rich’.

My flight left at 4am, so the last night we splurged on chicken and chips and beer and an improvised beach bar across the road from the airport. I checked into the flight and we spent an hour sitting on the curb trying to entertain each other and stay awake while people slept on the sidewalks around us.

Earlier that day, on the ride back into Freetown, the Sierra Leone colors (blue, green and white) were painted on roads and rocks and trees, left over from the 50-years-of-independence-celebration and this was painted on a wall we drove by: Slavery lasted for a time, freedom is forever; and I thought it summed up the overall positive, sparky, passionate, friendly, happy people I met while having the privilege of visiting the country for a second time.

Now, it’s back to what I presume is reality. The people I miss has shifted as I’m now back in D.C., safe and sound and overwhelmed by all the choices (of everything!) available at Trader Joe’s. This particular jaunt to the beautiful African continent moved me significantly. I wouldn’t have traded the journey for all the bagel chips and cold cottage cheese in the world. The blog will stop till some other worth while adventure comes my way (Haiti in August?), but thanks a million for reading ya’ll, it meant a lot.

hippy-tastic

i'm not sure where to begin. it's hard to pick a starting point when an entire 10 days just blends together in beautiful, love-filled memories.

there is Judy: a big yellow, dream of a bus that carried us out to africa's version of Burning Man. she provided shelter, comfort, music and eventually she provided a little unanticipated adventure.

judy in the desert

there is Afrikaburn: a magical land where there is no money. everything is gifted. everyone shares. the only point is to have fun and be kind to your neighbors. so much laughter. so much hugging. so much hoola-hooping. there was a boat in the desert that played music. there was a house on wheels. there were countless people in costumes. there was coffee. there was a hot air balloon. there just wasn't any cell phone service or internet.

shawn, angel, raph, julie, liana and brad in our tented home

home base at afrikaburn

there is the "crack den": three rooms in a slightly run down hostel operated by a kind, young guy named lil Wayne in the Observatory suburb of Cape Town. We stayed longer than we had planned as Judy was repaired. It was our little nest in Cape Town: big kitchen, cozy beds and 12 people's luggage sprawled everywhere.

i want to just tell you about the 10 or so people i spent time with that touched my heart. i want to tell you what the sunrise looks like in the desert after an endless night of dancing and then what the sunset looks like that same day after an endless nap. i want to explain the shock we all felt when we pulled out of the desert and learned bin laden had been killed. i want to tell you about the view from the top of Table Mountain or what little penguins looks like in the rain in Simon's Town. i want to tell you how beautiful the Kirstenbosch gardens and how magical it is to stand at the base of a huge acacia (?) tree. i want to tell you how difficult it is to dance to 'drum and bass.' i want to tell you how the sunrise at the southernmost point of africa looks like a cheesy-ocean-oil-painting found in the mall (it's that hazy purple and powerful waves). i want to tell you that South Africa's autumn looks like New England in a way.

jonathan at the top of table mountain

sunrise

we took a vacation from our vacation

frolicking in the gardens on the last day

but, know this: i had a lovely time. i am safe. i am healthy. i shared good times with lovely strangers. i am excited to head home (after a brief visit to sierra leone with a mustached friend) and just be there. it's been a perfect post-Kenya adventure; it's going in a box.

here's to a wonderful d.c. summer, ya'll!