Week ONE!!

First week at mysite was eventful!! We got there on Saturday, April 18th. That day we met with our resource family over some Fanta (fanta is the general term for soft drinks here, you can ask for fanta coka, fanta sprite, or fanta orange). On Sunday, we had two guys help us clean the house (I share a two bedroom house with another volunteer). That day, we went to a baptism party for our host family's 10-months old daughter. On Monday, I started work with the NGO I'm assigned to, the Access Project. We accompanied our counterpart, Dr paul, on visits to several health centers as part of an audit review of the health insurance services in the district.

On Tuesday, I was interacting with some orphan kids at an orphanage adjacent to one of the district hospitals and of course all those kids had to cough in my face which left me sick and house bound for the rest of the week (I'm still trying to fully recover or "yashize" in kinyarwanda). Thursday night, we were invited out to dinner with the Chief Police Commander in our district and were accompanied by the mayor and other officials. Saturday, I worked on fixing my Peace Corps issued mountian bike and that night we went to visit another volunteer at a city nearby. We spent the night there and came back the next day in the afternoon.

Today, I'm back in the office and setting up a work plan for the week with more health center visits and assessments as well as interviewing for health insurance managers for the district...fun fun!!