My Long Journey to Rwanda

I woke up on February 11, 2018, my departure date, at 2 a.m., so had 3 1/2 hours of sleep. I finished cleaning and moving out of my apartment, then left for the airport at 3:45 a.m. The drive from Sierra Vista to the Tucson International Airport is usually about 1 1/2 hours. However, on this very early Sunday morning with no traffic, it was shorter.

The Peace Corps pays for volunteers to bring two suitcases, each not exceeding 50 lbs, which is the airlines’ weight limit. I was concerned that I would be over that limit. Because my Peace Corps job involves teaching at a legal institute, I must dress in business attire. Thus, I had to pack several suits and pairs of dress shoes, in addition to my regular clothes. Plus, I packed many law books and several briefcases given to me by my generous friend, retired Judge Friedman. I had initially planned to mail the law books, but my Peace Corps coordinator suggested that instead I pay for a third suitcase, which I did with the help of a gift from my good friends, Terry and Diane Clemons. So I packed three suitcases and spread the books and legal briefcases among them. Law books are especially heavy, so I was very concerned that, even with three bags, I would exceed the weight limit. My friend, Steve Anderson, helped me pack and we checked each bag at least 5 times on his bathroom scale. Still, we were concerned that his scale might not match the airline’s. Once at the airport, we made a bee-line for the huge scale near the airport’s entrance doors and were relieved when each suitcase weighed in under 50 lbs. At the airline check-in counter, the airline attendant looked quizzically at the suitcases and reminded us of the 50 lb. limit. We assured her that each was under the limit. When we placed the bags on her scale, she was surprised that each came in about 2 lbs. under the limit. Whew! Step one of my journey successfully completed.

My first of four flights was from Tucson to Houston on Sunday morning. From Houston, I flew to Washington-Dulles, then to Brussels, Belgium, where I am sitting, waiting for the bus to take me to the Africa terminal as I write this.  The final 8 hour flight will be from Brussels to Kigali, which is the capital of Rwanda, where I am scheduled to arrive about 7:30 Monday night, likely quite exhausted from sitting on airplanes and in airports for well over a day.  But I had a little bit of luxury, as I met a lovely young woman who is also flying to Kigali and had a pass from her employer to an Airport Club.  So I breakfasted on a chocolate croissant and espresso – so French, or in this case, Belgian.

It’s been a long and sometimes arduous journey getting this far. I originally saw the Peace Corps Response position posted on the Peace Corps’ website in late 2016. The departure was scheduled for May of 2017. I contacted the Peace Corps recruiter to say I was interested in the position but could not leave until the first week of August of 2017. She told me to apply anyway, explaining that, if there were no other acceptable candidates, my request for a later departure would be considered. So, I applied, and in February the Peace Corps notified me that they selected another candidate. I did not think again about the position until May, when the Peace Corps notified me that the chosen candidate was unable to go and that the departure date had been extended to August. Was I still interested, they asked. Sure, I responded. They told me that there was at least one other candidate, and they set a time for my interview. I prepared for the interview by going to the local library and checking out and reading all seven of the library’s books, including a very good children’s book, on Rwanda. I also bought and read a travel guide on Rwanda Travel. Shortly after the interview, the Peace Corps selected me, thus starting the whirlwind process of submitting my legal and medical documentation by the end of June.

The legal clearance submissions were easy – getting my fingerprints taken at the local police station, sending them to the Peace Corps and filling out forms allowing the Office of Personnel Management to conduct a background investigation on me. The medical part, however, was much more complicated and time-consuming. The Peace Corps understandably wants its volunteers in top physical condition so that volunteers work hard and are not distracted by, or unable to work due to, medical issues. Therefore, the Peace Corps requires numerous dental and medical records and tests. I spent the entire month of June completing their requirements and uploading the reports and documentation to the Peace Corps’ medical portal for review by their nurse, doctor and dentist. The Peace Corps’ dentist required that I have additional dental work before approving my departure. I also had 13 vaccinations for everything from hepatitis to rabies. After I received my medical clearance, I had a problem with a finger. Two doctors misdiagnosed it as cellulitis, which held up my medical clearance. A third doctor finally correctly determined that I had arthritis in that finger (guess I’m getting old); he gave me documentation to submit to the Peace Corps, and the Peace Corps gave me final medical clearance. Also, despite my having had a top-secret security clearance with my prior federal jobs and a request by the Peace Corps to expedite my background investigation, the Office of Personnel Management did not complete their investigation in time for me to leave as scheduled in August. So, after insuring the legal institute still wanted me, the Peace Corps re-scheduled my departure to the next group departure date, which was six months later or February 11, 2018. Last August, that seemed so far away. A week after my first scheduled departure in August, my background investigation was completed and I finally received my legal clearance to depart.

I tried to use the time between August and February productively. I read more books about Rwanda and, several times a week, read Rwanda’s main newspaper “The New Times.” I bought a CD on Ikinyarwanda, Rwanda’s main language, and practiced. I bought and studied an English-Ikinyarwanda dictionary. (Thank goodness for Amazon.). I prepared flash cards of common words and phrases and memorized numbers up to a million. I got 2 more vaccinations. I bought a new computer, two new suitcases and last-minute clothing items; filed my taxes; had a final dental appointment; had my car serviced; discontinued my car insurance; cancelled my internet and electricity; suspended my cell phone plan; and affixed to my backpack the tiny but powerful flashlight that Martha was certain I’d find useful in Rwanda. Finally, in the days before my departure, I said farewell to my many friends and neighbors and, with the help of Steve, moved my car and all of my belongings into storage. The night before my departure, Steve and I were too busy to eat, but my next door neighbor, Mary, brought over two huge pieces of tiramisu for us to eat, and it was a delight.