Happy birthday Rwanda, happy birthday America
So the 4th of July is also Rwandan liberation day, the day in 1994 when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took control of the country…
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Tourism in Rwanda Take I, or, ‘Which way to the mass graves?’
I don’t understand this . There are a hundred million things to write about here—me and my professional compatriots are trying to get a…
Read MoreTourism in Rwanda Take II, or, Baby Gorillas Are So Damn Cute
Two weeks ago, Rwanda held its fourth annual Kwita Izina, or naming ceremony for baby gorillas. For three or four days before, baby gorillas…
Read MoreEver on the edge
I’m keeping a list of things I need to blog, and I’ll get there, I promise. In the interim, a newsflash from the other…
Read MoreRwanda-isms I
I can’t believe it hasn’t occurred to me to do this sooner. Like every place in which English is not the mother language, the…
Read MoreThe universalities and idiosyncracies of civil service
The mail in Kigali works. I can finally vouch for it personally. It takes a while–one month, door to door, for a package from…
Read MoreA step, or a leap, or maybe nothing at all, for African women
About a week ago, the Christian Science Monitor ran an article I wrote from Sierra Leone on a new law protecting women in war…
Read MoreObservations in three acts
I. I have met only one person in Africa–though I’ve only been to four countries–who is, as a rule, early. But I’ve found the…
Read MoreNews from the south
South of the U.S., that is. Check out this incredible story about immigration that my friend Megan Feldman reported for the Dallas Observer: El…
Read MoreStuffing yourself
I’ve been in Uganda, visiting my friend Glenna, who lives in Kampala. Glenna’s apartment has the feel of someone who’s been here a long…
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