Flora, the Kiva client whom I featured in the February Edition of Kiva's monthly newsletter (see blog post “Head of the Class Meets Head of the Household” for story)
When students see us passing while we visit clients in the office pick-up truck, they scramble for a ride to shorten their several kilometer trek to school. Down the road, you can almost see the many children running after the car.
Products at a Kiva client's business. I visited her stall and found a wide assortment of used bottles that she sells to customers as a way of carrying the milk that they buy.
The client amongst her wares. Her business sits in a busy hardware-sector market full of industrial-style and recycled goods.
The kitchen of a restaurant owned by a Kiva client, at the foothills of one of Gisenyi's many hills. It is located on the grounds of a secondary school where she has won the contract to prepare all lunches and dinners for all 220 boarding students.
A Kiva client who sells fish at the Gisenyi town market is aptly atired in a fish-decorated top. Her baby is tied to her back, hence the towel wrapped around her torso.
The fish corner of the Gisenyi market, nestled below a Rwandese hill.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, with the small dark wood houses, bears a stark contrast to the high-end construction taking place in the foreground on Rwandese land. The border is marked by a small rope near the man in the black pants and is not visible here.
In the car headed back to Kigali from Gisenyi. Volcanos punctuate the skyline with the clouds adding dramatic effect.
In Kigali, on my walk from the Head Office to the minibus-taxi stand at the bottom of the Hill. Bright sunset, laughing schoolgirls, and a motorbike with the helmet provided for the passenger.
The opening night of a 5-day convention on Forgiveness. Here, a group of Rwanda's most famous and talented vocalists and musicians performed a song composed for the event. On the far right is my friend Una, who I met on the evening of Obama's Inauguration.
Apparently turquoise walls wash me out. Here, I'm looking flourescent with my coworker, John (center) and one of our clients in Gikongoro in the south of Rwanda
John and me training the staff of the branch in Gikongoro. I look at the credit officers, eagerly hoping for recognition as I describe the Kiva process.
I'm fairly certain that John is laughing at me because I just badly misprounced a client group name. I'm trying to cover it up by using excessive hand motions.
A tranquil view from a violent place. In the foreground is a school building that houses some of the 50,000 victims who were slaughtered on this piece of land during the 1994 Genocide.
The Universite Nationale du Rwanda, in Butare. My coworker John attended the University and took me on a tour of the campus.
Me at the University. The campus is surrounded by a beautiful forest.
The University's library. I particularly like the clarifying label taking up the entire lawn. I guess it ensures that no one can claim that they didn't do their work because they couldn't find the library.
Making paper at Cards from Africa, a local company employing Rwandese orphans who care for their younger siblings.
This little man was quite stone-faced but entirely endearing. Here, he sits in the classroom at the school started by my friend, John, enjoying the tail end of snack time.
Two big-eyed Rwandese school girls
On Alex's last night in Rwanda before returning to the U.S., he attempted to carry his trunk as the Rwandese do: on his head. His face indicates that for him, this is not an entirely natural position.
Alex's farewell dinner, with a cameo appearance by Jara--a former Kiva fellow who recently finished up work in Dar.
