It's been six years since I lived in Entebbe and posted on this blog. Megan and I have been in Bukavu for six days now and, since we'll be here for the next year, insh'Allah, (and because we just had lunch at a fancy hotel with relatively fast internet) I decided to resuscitate it.
We're here because I just started as a research fellow with the Development Economics Group at Wageningen University (WU). Megan's looking for work in environmental policy research or university-level math teaching (so please holler if you have any leads). While we look for an apartment we're staying at Chez Mundi, a large house, really a complex, in the middle of Bukavu. Mundi coordinates the Universite' Catholique de Bukavu's collaborations with several Belgian and Dutch universities. His home has at least eight bedrooms, a backup generator, reliable (albeit slow) internet, and, until a truck ran into a water main two days ago, running water. His wife, mother, and seven beautiful children ranging in age from around 3 to 21 live at the house. The kids are usually on their laptops. When Megan and I arrived we were with two profs and a PhD student from WU. In addition to our squad, two Belgian profs, a Congolese prof, and a Belgian med student were also staying at Chez Mundi. Over dinner the first night one of the Belgian profs claimed that half of DRC prefers dry sex while the other half prefers wet sex, and that there are herbs, "easy to find", to facilitate either style.
On a completely different note, here's the view from our bedroom:
We spent the first two days in meetings with directors or agronomists from the six Congolese agricultural NGOs with whom we're working, through the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, on a DFID-funded, ESRC-coordinated, RCT to test the effectiveness of a package of seeds, fertilizer and inoculants as part of the Gates-funded N2Africa project. Megan valiantly took minutes of the proceedings, which were almost entirely in French. I understood about 50%.
On the fourth day, after Janneke and Lonneke went back to Holland, Koen showed us around town. When we found AI on the wall of a barbershop, I had to get a photo:
First of all, please try and get them to paint a real baller: Tim Duncan. Second, I vote wet, although my sample size on dry is rather low. Third, readers may soon begin protesting in the streets of Marsh Harbour if a picture of Megan isnt posted. Fourth, really looking forward to the blog. Kick ass over there.
ReplyDeleteYeah AI pre neoprene sleeve? What a backwards place. I would prefer to get a little bit more Megan up on that blog action as well. can't wait to put this in my rss reader and catch up over my morning coffee. I'm happy to finally get an update, the NE misses you both, let me know when Kay's and I should swing by.
ReplyDeleteGalt, you remember Iverson's "practice" diatribe? Well, replace "practice" with "Tim Duncan." Tim Duncan? Tim Duncan!? I'm leading the league in scoring and you're talking about Tim Duncan?
ReplyDeleteHa.
Aaron, y'all can come by anytime. You want me to line up some gorillas (or guerillas)?
And, yes, ok, photos of Megan to come.