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Rick Madonik, 2008 |
Gurgaon (Delhi), India
March 6, 2008
As I sit here, one week and thousands of miles removed, from the highlands of Eastern Africa, I have emptiness in my heart. I’m not quite sure if it’s the people I worked with from Canada, the experience of teaching at a national university, interacting daily with a small group of students or just living in a country with a storied past, that has left me with a feeling of melancholy. Perhaps, it’s the realization of a 4.5-month trip quickly coming to an end.
It doesn’t really matter. What I am sure of is the warm, comforting feelings of my experiences in Rwanda and a wish to one-day, return.
For five weeks I lived, worked and immersed myself in Rwandan life. Several things left deep impressions on me – mostly good and one, unfortunately, not so good.
For the most part, the political turmoil of the region hung in the air. Kenya – regarded as the most stable country and economic engine of East Africa – was tearing herself apart. Rioting and political upheaval over questionable election results left many East Africans with a feeling of despair. Many felt, if Kenya were to fail, it bode poorly for the entire region.
Uganda, for a short while, was listed as “DO NOT TRAVEL” by Canadian Foreign Affairs. Increased violence in Kampala, border incursions by rebels in Congo and the on going troubles in the north (Lord’s Resistance Army) all cited as reasons to avoid Rwanda’s northern neighbor. (The advisory would be downgraded – two steps – while I was in Rwanda.)
Congo (Democratic Republic) and Burundi have long standing security issues. My day-trip into Goma, just across the border town of Gisenyi, was taken only after some critical fact-finding and the hiring of a recommended “fixer.”
Sudan, and the Darfur region, continues to be in the news. At the same time, Sudan’s neighbor, Chad, fell to insurgents.
It seemed as if we were in the most stable country in the region, and given Rwanda’s not too distant past, its ironic a country still coming to grips with a large-scale genocide was the safest place to be.
Then, an earthquake struck along the southwestern Rwanda border. Centered in and Eastern Congo, it caused a significant loss of life and the destruction of countless homes and buildings.
To say my time in Rwanda was boring would be quite an understatement. It ran the gambit from the mundane to the exhilarating. It opened my eyes to the struggles of a nation trying to reconcile its recent past, while at the same time hosting a visit of a US President. As the middle class grows, the poor and displaced are sometimes forgotten with the progress. There is over cultivation of the land as one of Africa’s smallest nations tries to feed one of the continent’s most densely inhabited populations.
The people are friendly and welcoming, eager to speak to foreigners and to make friends. At the same time, they can be reserved, bordering on shy. They are learning of the past that tore the country apart, and yet, the genocide is not an open topic of conversation for most.
The one truly unfortunate experience for me was discovering the vast majority of my students engaging in plagiarism on a written word assignment. Having to give a “Zero” grade to 7 of 10 students was most disconcerting.
The most distressing episode occurred during the visit of US President George Bush, when one of my students was arrested, and detained for four hours, after photographing a military helicopter as it flew over Kigali.
On the flipside, I believe I was able to convey the basics of newspaper photography to them. I think it’s safe to say, by the end of the four weeks of classes they understood two additional simple facts. First, “emotion” is the cornerstone to a good photograph – regardless of its genre. Second, shoot lots of pictures – that way the choices during the edit process will be bountiful.
