My Daughter, Hoes, and Fun Facts!

I have resolved to become a better blogger. I swear I will continue to update this somewhat regularly.
Today I was very nearly adopted by a four year old sassypants named Kevine. She latched onto me after we danced together to bide the time at the clinic because I didn't have any work to do, and began calling me Mama Muzungu, which eventually condensed into the dear Mamazungu. Eventually her mother needed to leave and quite literally dragged Kevine by the arm because she had decided that she now belonged to Mamazungu.
Today's work at the clinic wasn't the standard polio vaccination, because they do ophthalmology exams instead on Thursdays. So I helped Alphonsine, one of the nurses with whom I usually speak French, manage the ARV (anti retroviral medication) pharmacy requests. She taught me how to enter the patients' information and their prescriptions. The cutest thing was that she decided to work on her English today, and when she indicated gender in the pharmacy log, rather than "female" she would tell me "wife."
In other clinic news, on Wednesday one of the nurses brought me to see a newborn baby. And I mean NEW. BORN. Like, gray and covered in blood with the umbilical cord waving in the wind and its momma visible and spread-eagle in the background. Birth is gross, y'all.

Yesterday I did a home visit with a woman from the Association (of HIV positive people and their supporters). We had to take bicycle taxis--literally bicycles with seats above the rear tire--to her home because it was rural and not really accessible otherwise. I hoed the area outside her home to ensure that she would not be attacked by snakes hiding in the grass. I've never held a hoe before, and all of the Rwandans made fun of my hoeing stance, but I got the job done!

Now for some fun facts about Rwanda:
The day I arrived was the last Saturday of October. That is significant because the last Saturday of each month is cleaning day! Cleaning day is both your civic duty and a legal mandate. Kigali is incredibly beautiful and well-kept, and that is largely due to cleaning day and the civic culture it is a part of. On cleaning day, citizens of Rwanda take to the streets and the roads and clean and prune the hedges and trim the grass and pick up litter. The culture of respecting our city is pervasive; it is illegal at penalty of I think $75 to walk on the grass on the neutral ground (medians) of the roads here. Apparently, if you litter by President Paul Kagame's motorcade, he will get out and personally chastise you. Also, plastic bag are illegal here and have been for a couple of years now. Pretty progressive for a third world African country, no?