Wishing you a merry Christmas and happy new year!

JK: We are reunited (Melanie got back today! December 23) and off to Greece to spend Christmas and New Year with the Kots side of the family. The picture below shows us celebrating at Brussels' Christmas market over gluwein and tartiflette.

JK&MK: We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy, productive and healthy new year!

Erin go bragh

JK: The Irish are "grand". That is the simple conclusion made by JK after a four day trip to Ireland for a conference in Cork. The adventure started off in perfect fashion --in Dublin-- where JK and his old high school pal Ian toured the city, consuming ample amounts of Guinness, Irish stew, and warming up with daily doses of soccer watching in some of Dublin's seemingly infinite number of hospitable pubs. The nightlife did not disappoint either, with visits to pubs and live music bars.

Dublin

At the end of the glorious weekend, JK hopped on a train to Cork. He arrived just as the sun was setting, which gave him the most glorious first impression of the "rebel county". Since he was in fact in Cork for business (delivering a paper at an academic conference), JK did not get anywhere near the amount of time required to discover the city. But he vows to return to this fine corner of Europe, and next time with "the wife" in tow. ;)

Cork, Ireland

PRESS RELEASE OF MY NEW PROJECT

MK: Dear readers,

Please find below the press release for the new project that I am managing at UNDP in Rwanda. Right now, it is the biggest project at our country office.

MINITERE LAUNCHES NEW GEF PROJECT TO STRENGTHEN RWANDA’S FOREST NATIONAL PARKS

Kigali, December 12, 2006: On Thursday, Dec. 14th, the Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE) will publicly launch a new Global Environment Facility (GEF) project titled “Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation Capacity in the Forest Protected Area System of Rwanda.” The 6-year project, funded by $5.4 million of support from the UNDP branch of the GEF, is being announced during a half-day meeting at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kigali, with partners and stakeholders attending from across the country.

Known as PAB (Protected Areas Biodiversity), this project represents a strongly collaborative effort including national ministries, districts, NGOs and local associations who will work together to strengthen the conservation and management of Rwanda’s extraordinary forested parks. The Volcanoes National Park and Nyungwe National Park are globally renown for their unique wildlife - including mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, and numerous rare monkeys, birds, and plants – and represent a major commitment by the government and people of Rwanda to the great variety of nature (biodiversity) found in its mountain forests. The global attraction of Rwanda’s wildlife is at the base of an increasing ecotourism, which now represents one of the fastest growing sectors of the nation’s economy. The mountain forests of Rwanda also provide important ecological functions of water catchment, maintaining water supply, preventing soil erosion, and could provide significant hydro-electric power. These services benefit a large proportion of the country.

The project PAB is led by the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) of MINITERE, in close collaboration with the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks of MINICOM, districts surrounding the parks, community-level associations, and non-governmental conservation organizations, and will be executed with support from the UNDP GEF. This extensive and diverse set of partners indicates the importance of integrating conservation of wildlife and parks with the well-being and support of rural communities.

Emphasis of the PAB project will be on building the capacity of stakeholders at multiple levels to effectively conserve and manage wildlife, the parks, and natural resources surrounding them. In particular, the project will (1) strengthen management of the two montane forested parks through applied research, monitoring and evaluation, (2) increase local and district capacity to plan and co-manage appropriate development activities on lands neighboring protected areas, and (3) strengthen the central government’s institutional capacity to finance, monitor, and manage all protected areas.

In addition to improved forest conservation, the project is expected to result in increased tourism and associated economic activities, better management of trees, bamboo, soils and other natural resources in zones surrounding the parks, maintained water volume and quality essential to the entire nation, and increased income and employment in targeted neighbouring communities.

Thursday’s opening at the Intercontinental Hotel, running from 9am to 12:30pm, will feature opening remarks by the Honourable Minister in Charge of Lands and Environment Patricia Hajabakiga, UNDP Resident Representative Moustapha Soumaré, and the Director General of the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks.

For further information, please contact Jean de Dieu Kayiranga (Information Officer) in Kigali, tel. (250)08505778 or Melanie Kotsopoulos, GEF Programme Analyst (08669000).

Worlds apart? Not really.

They may be thousands of kilometers apart, but JK and MK are still connected through one of their favourite past times...... eating! Both pictures were taken on the same day (Dec 2). MK is at a UN event outside Kigali and JK is in Aachen, Germany to check out its famous Christmas Market. Pics here: (JIV Day) and (Aachen)

Where is Melanie hiding??

First month in Kigali.....

MK: Well, I have survived my first month in Kigali.

For the first few days in Rwanda I stayed at the Hotel Mille Collines (made famous in the movie "Hotel Rwanda"). I am now renting a room for the time being from a nice Rwandan lady named Lilian who works for Rwandair (in Sales and Marketing). She has a charming 13year old daughter named Gloria (and a husband and 2 sons that are currently living in the UK). The house is nice and is located on one of the many hills (Gacuriro) that make up Kigali. I will be looking for a house of my own closer to my office (in Kiyovu) in the new year. The only catch with living with my host family is that I am woken up everyday at 6:00am because the neighbour behind our house has decided to perform a ritual that entails him singing, clapping, and whistling for exactly 15 minutes every morning (except Fridays of course because he is an Adventist!) .

Kigali as a capital city is nice and is relatively safe and lush with green rolling hills. Although Rwanda is the most denseley populated country in Africa, it is not really polluted and is surprisingly clean. It is by far one of the easiest cities in which to live. The downsides are: a high cost of living (rent, taxis, and food are expensive), the food is not all that exciting, and there is not much to do, so boredom comes easily.

I am working on UNDP/Rwanda's Global Environment Facility (GEF) programme. Mainly I am responsible for currently their largest project on "Strengthening Biodiversity Conservation Capacity in the Forest Protected Area System of Rwanda" (GEF resources are $5,450,000 with total allocated resources of USD$13,430,000). The project will be implemented in the Nyungwe Forest/National Park (where the chimpanzees are) and Volcano National Park (where the mountain gorillas are and where Dian Fossey carried out her research). I am organising our big project launch which will be held on Thursday the 14th of December. I have already secured the Minister of Land and Environment to give an opening remark as well as the head of all UN agencies here (UN Resident Co-ordinator/Resident Respresentative). In the new year, we will hold its big launch in one of the two parks.

I am travelling to Nyungwe Forest for an overnight stay in the Guest House on Monday the 11th of December to attend USAID's Eco-tourism project the following day. It is about a four-hour drive one-way. Because it is located near the Congolese border, I had to get UN security clearance to travel.

It is great working in the field as you never stay chained to your desk! I participated in Umuganda Day in which the last Saturday of every month, Rwandans are required to partake in community service (planting trees, cleaning up the garbage, stopping erosion and floods from the rains, etc.). For an interesting article, visit The New Times. I also took part in World AIDS Day (WAD) on Saturday the 2nd of December 2006. I had kids crawling all over me and playing with my hair! Speaking of which, there is a strange thing that happens to me all the time. I will be walking down the street or standing somewhere and someone behind me will pull my hair! If I turn around, they will give me a look like nothing happened but I will proceed to point to the clump of hair that is stuck between their fingers!!

Please check out our photos on Flickr and Picasa Web Albums!

The French Are OUT!!!

[JK: I am rather certain that the French would have quite a different perspective on this story]

"Business in Kigali city paralysed on Wednesday (22 November 2006) when thousands of infuriated Rwandans singing anti-France slogans and praising President Paul Kagame, staged a peaceful demonstration.

The impromptu demo was a public reaction to Monday’s call by a French magistrate, Jean Louis Bruguierre, for the arrest and trial of Kagame and nine Rwandan top military officers, accusing them of downing the plane that was carrying former Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana.

An estimated 15,000 demonstrators from all corners of the city took to the streets, many carrying placards and banners that described Kagame as a hero, and others condemning the French government over its alleged role in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide. Some of the placards read: “France = Arrogance, ‘Stop France and its politicians from our Lovely Country;’ France, Let us mind our business and not you; Les Francais = Interahamwe (French is equivalent to Interahamwe).”

Genocide witnesses at the stadium said the French trained and worked with Interahamwe to plan and execute the killings, which claimed at least one million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutu.“In 1992, French troops pitched camp near our home in Shyorongi (on the outskirts of Kigali) and they always mocked Tutsis until April 1994 when they worked with Interahamwe to kill them (Tutsis). I saw it myself,” Epiphany Mukasekuru, who nearly broke down, said in a brief testimony.

The president of Ibuka, an umbrella organisation of Genocide survivors, Francois Xavier Ngarambe, described Bruguierre’s allegations as scandalous and said that Paris should instead try itself together with the ringleaders of the Genocide who stay in France. “Have you ever heard of a serial killer calling for the prosecution of a policeman? They should first try Agathe Kanziga (Habyarimana’s wife), who chaired many meetings that planned the Genocide; Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, who raped women and owned a gun while he was a priest here,” said a furious Ngarambe. Kanziga and Munyeshyaka, who a week ago was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military Tribunal over Genocide crimes, live in France.

In particular, Ngarambe blamed French troops for the butcher of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in the areas that fell within a French-manned buffer zone called Zone Turquoise at the height of the Genocide. The zone, which stretched from Cyangugu in the Southwest to Gisenyi in the northwest of the country, is said to have provided safe passage to Genocidal forces which fled to the DR Congo as they lost power to then RPA forces. Kigali City Mayor, Dr.Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, accused the French of attempting to shift the guilt of their involvement in the 100-day slaughter to Rwandan heroes that stopped the French ‘barbaric actions.’ “We are here to remember barbaric actions of the French. Their hands are stained with the blood of innocent Rwandans and continue to be arrogant. However they will not accomplish their ill-intentions,” said the mayor.

The protesters sang patriotic songs with words that affirm their dedication to unity of Rwandans. “They should leave our defendant alone. Paul Kagame restored humanity, he is our all-time hero,” another witness, one Mukamusana, said. She accused the French military of killing Tutsi families in the former Ruhengeri province, now in the Northern Province. Bruguierre has already issued warrants for the arrest of Chief of General Staff (CGS), General James Kabarebe, Chief of Staff (Land Forces), Lieutenant General Charles Kayonga and Rwanda’s Ambassador to India, Lieutenant General Kayumba Nyamwasa. Others indicted include Joint Five (J5) head, Brigadier General Jack Nziza, Chief of State Protocol, Lieutenant Colonel (rtd) Rose Kabuye, MP Colonel (retired) Sam Kanyemera alias Kaka and Major Jacob Tumwine. President Kagame on Wednesday lambasted the French government and Bruguierre, calling the accusations rubbish."

Article courtesy of The NewTimes (Rwanda's Leading Newspaper).

Wednesday night soccer adventures in Europe

JK: Contrary to popular belief, it has not been one continuous wild party since "the wife" departed for Rwanda. In fact, week one sans Mélanie was marked by life spent mostly in solitary confinement, as I worked on some PhD deadlines.

But in an attempt not to completely lose my sense of humanity, I agreed to join a posse on a kamikaze Brussels-Paris-Brussels-in-one-night trip to see France and Greece play a soccer friendly. How is that for footballing dedication? Going all the way to France to see a meaningless game and -- quite predictably -- watch another totally mediocre Hellenic performance.

Still, the experience was fun. I drove down with two Gaulic supporters, my mates Fabrice and Frederic (aka together known as "Fabric"). We met Dénis "the soccer nazi" Trigylidas and two of Fabrice's connections at the stadium.

The Stade de France is a joy to behold; a beautiful stadium with a saucer-like roof. Its only shortcoming is its location, in the heart of "le 93", the notorious banlieu of St-Denis (where some of the worst riots occured last year). On the walk back to our car, I noticed three fresh piles of broken glass -- on our street alone! Fortunately, our, uh, uber-chic white Peugeot was not a target.

Here are some pics from the match.

France-Greece friendly, November

Melanie: Our Woman in Rwanda!

JK: Well, after our rather text-heavy and earth-shattering, four part educational series on Rwanda, I will spare your eyes and keep this short.

I can confirm that our fair maiden is now safe and sound in the capital, Kigali! She has already started work at the Sustainable Livelihood Unit of UNDP/Rwanda -- and enjoying it. What a great and interesting challenge it will be! Once she is settled, she will post an update on her first few weeks in Kigali, Rwanda.

Click here for the first pics our "Woman in Rwanda" has uploaded. The photo on this post shows children who died during the 1994 genocide.

Looking for Older Posts on our Blog???

MK & JK: If you are new to our blog, don't forget to check out our previous posts that may not be found on this page. Instead, they are located in the "Archived Posts" section organised by month located on the right hand side of our blog. Relax, pour a glass of chilled pinot grigio, and enjoy our tales!