Procrastination

I have an exam in less than 12 hours but I felt the urgent need to document the marvel of the towel tablet.

Enjoy.



PS - Do not swallow

Mo' money, no problems

When you have supportive friends and family, there is no reason to worry.

Last week I was so stressed out that I wasn't going to have enough money to cover my contribution to even the basics of the trip (cost of living, project costs, etc). On Wednesday I realized that I was about $500 short of reaching my goal and I was worried.

I shouldn't be so surprised but there are so many people that love me and support what this group is doing and all of a sudden, I was covered. I've been given everything from tablets that turn into towels (they're magical little things) to offers of paying for the remainder of my expenses.

It blows my mind how awesome people are. I'm not sure why anyone is ever cynical of other people because everyone that I know is amazing. If you're one of those people who is often mad at the world, you should get to know my friends and family... they'll treat you right.

*Below is a photo of everything I need to get to Uganda... well almost everything*

"Vlog"

In exactly one week I will be boarding a plane that will take me to Uganda and I couldn't be more excited.
The lovely people at The Cord have been incredibly supportive and are trusting me with a video recorder to document parts of my trip. I figured I should test it out so here is my first awkward video blog (Consider this a warning):



As I said in the video, here is a list of the projects we'll be doing:
Sport for Peace Program
This will be run almost like a day camp that you would see here. We'll likely have a different sport each week and then a huge tournament at the end of the week. The goal is to bring together different groups of kids and encourage them to leave their battles on the field.
Performance for Peace Program
We're hoping to focus this project on empowering women within the community. The goal is to observe the culture, learn about certain issues that women deal with and then create effective performances that tackle the tough stuff that Ugandan people live with everyday.
Poultry Farm
Yep, chickens. We'll be building this with our very own hands. We're hoping to create opportunities for economic development in Arua. I'll probably stay away from this one for the most part because I'm not a fan of hard labour... or chickens. But, we'll see. Maybe I'll love it.
Internet Cafe
I can see myself spending a lot of time here. What we're doing isn't as obvious as the title though. We're also hoping to create a library and possibly an education centre within. This would be a good opportunity to start up a writing workshop too.

Our group is viewing these projects with open minds. We're going to Arua with these particular projects in mind but what we really want to do is learn what the community wants and needs. My main goal for all of these projects is to share knowledge between us and the locals so that after we leave, the community-building programs and economic development projects are sustained.

As for writing, I have many ideas and every day I think of new things to write about. Here is a quick list of some ideas I have:
Life after the Rwandan genocide
You can expect this article in the International section of The Cord, sometime in the fall.
Human interest pieces
Depending on the people I meet, I'm sure I'll find some interesting stories and I hope I'll be able to share them with everyone through the In-Depth section of The Cord. They could be published anytime throughout the year so keep an eye out for them.
Happynism
This project is just beginning so I'll keep you in suspense for now but it'll be a collaborative, worldwide effort. Watch for a teaser video in the fall and then a more in-depth article with cool photos around Christmas.



Hopefully I'll get at least one more post up before I head out to Uganda and then the next time you hear from me will be when we've finally reached our destination. It's going to be a long trip with layovers in London and Dubai. We'll probably stay in Kampala for a bit before heading to Arua on an eight-hour bus ride. I'll probably do another video blog when I get there so that you can see how grungy I am.

15th anniversary

Most people know about the Rwandan genocide that occurred exactly 15 years ago. For some reason though, I can't seem to pinpoint the first time I heard about the massacre that dragged on, widely unnoticed by the international community, for 100 days. Nearly 1 million people were slaughtered and tossed to the side of the road in the days that followed the April 6 assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana in 1994. 

At the time, I was just seven years old and naturally, I cared more about how my friends were treating me than how the Rwandan people were treating each other. After doing a quick Wikipedia search on events from 1994, it appears that Kurt Cobain's infamous suicide occurred the day before President Habyarimana was killed. I definitely recall hearing about Cobain's death so it's not as if I was completely sheltered. But it makes me wonder what's wrong with us when a celebrity's death overshadows a murderous rampage that killed hundreds of thousands of people.

While most foreigners that were situated in Rwanda at the time began to flee the country, a cameraman named Nick Hughes stuck around. On April 11, he filmed the murder of two Rwandans. The video was widely distributed through various media outlets across the globe but still, no one cared to pay attention. 

After reading an incredible article in the Toronto Star, I watched the video for the first time today. In the article, Allan Thompson described his quest to identify the two people in the video. In a trip to Rwanda a couple years after the genocide, Thompson came across a pile of corpses.

In one of the camps abandoned by civilians who had gone back to Rwanda, we came across a massacre site, nearly 20 bodies hacked apart and dumped in a heap. Some had their heads cracked open and brain matter exposed, others their entrails spilling out of body cavities. These were the first human remains I had seen outside of a funeral home, and they will always be with me. The most difficult to look at were the children, one a baby in a green woollen jumper, lying on its back, arms splayed. As if by reflex, my response was to take out my camera and step gingerly through the bodies, regarding them through my camera lens.

We've all read graphic excerpts such as this, whether it's from the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide or the ongoing conflicts in Sudan and the DRC. It's not pleasant to read but I'm fascinated by these stories because they are so unknown. I don't know why women are raped. I don't know why young boys become child soldiers. I wish I knew why  people are driven to cause pain, but I just don't. 

In receiving the Investigative Journalism Grant at The Cord, I've promised to write an article on life after the Rwandan genocide. Because I can't turn back time and force my seven-year-old self to care about international news, the best I can do is discover the hurt that the survivors have incurred and how the genocide has affected their lives. 

As I learned from Charlote Nizeyimana, it's important not to dwell on the past - hers involving a bittersweet survival of the genocide. She did explain though, that it's important to share stories about ourselves if it helps other people to gain a better understanding of humanity. Hopefully I can be used as an instrument to deliver that understanding. 

Plane tickets, group tension and The Cord

We finally bought our tickets today. The current plan is to leave Toronto on May 1, stay in Kampala at Makerere University for three weeks, go to Arua for six weeks to work on the projects and then to Rwanda for one week. 

We have come across the opportunity to take a peacebuilding course at the university and it's a chance that I don't think we will pass up. It will build a great relationship between Laurier and Makerere, we'll learn a lil somethin' and we'll be able to create more revenue for the university there.

The idea of going to the university in Kampala has come at a cost though. We're waiting to hear back from Makerere and Peter Donahue at Laurier International to see if we can get full support from Laurier. They've already offered to pay for tuition but we're hoping to have our accommodations covered as well. 

Although, the money-side of things isn't the only cost that has come along with the decision to go to Makerere for a few weeks. There has been a lot of tension between our group in the past couple of weeks. I won't get into detail about it all but it hasn't been pretty. Basically, the group has become divided. There is a group of six that want to go to the university and two people want to go straight to Arua to work on projects. Neither side is incorrect in what they want to do but it's just a matter of figuring things out so that each of us is able to work with what we're most interested in.

Needless to say, we have all been arguing over the details of the trip, where money is being allocated and how people have been treating each other. I don't like it one bit but I think in the end it will bond us all together (if that's not too naive of me to say). But we'll wait to hear what happens between the universities and I'll keep you all posted.

On another note, last night was the volunteer appreciation dinner for WLUSP and after numerous crying spells this week (four of which occurred last night), I've come to the realization that my favourite job in the world is now over. Although my passion lies more with writing than editing and being an editor was the toughest job I've had, my position at The Cord this year has been the most rewarding experience of my life and I imagine it will be hard to beat in the future. 

Perhaps you would say, "Why is Heather talking about The Cord right now? It has nothing to do with Uganda." It actually has everything to do with Uganda. If I wasn't hired as International Editor last May, I wouldn't have had the freedom to choose the articles that went in the section, therefore, I wouldn't have discovered my passion for human interest pieces and I would never have met Tk - the dude that made this trip possible. 

In my eyes, I owe it to The Cord to remain dedicated for as long as possible. Even if I don't get the Investigative Journalism Grant, I'll still write. Except that could be tricky because I might not have anything to write about if I can't afford to go to Uganda in the first place. 

Enter: money from the IJ Grant.