Now an update from Becky. I've been lazy and letting Ian do all the work but now it's my turn. Sorry, this won't be as interesting as the Gisenyi trip. No gun fights this week. We've both been spending most of our time doing actual work. I'm starting to analyze the orphan's stories for my dissertation. I ask them to tell me the history of Rwanda and their own history. The stories have been informative in what they don't say. They're shorter than what I would like but I'm retraining my translator and hopefully I'll get some longer ones soon. It seems that the orphans can't think of Rwanda before 1959, when their families started to get persecuted. It's like time didn't begin until the conflicts started. It's the same way with their own stories. Most can't remember life before 1994, except to say that it was peaceful and they had families. Life really only exists around violence for them.

Yesterday, I crashed the first annual conference on psycho-social interventions for vulnerable people. It was at the hotel near my office. No one bothered to ask if I was invited because they assumed any foreigner there was supposed to be there. Ian even came for lunch and no one noticed that he was eating without ever going to a seminar. I even got some documents on orphans and potential interventions that goes really well with my research. I also met the chair of the psychology department at the national university in Rwanda. He said he'd give me a job when I finished my dissertation. It was a nice thought even though my research would probably prohibit me every working for the government university. It doesn't quite follow the party line and the government can be a little strict with that sort of thing. He's got my contact info and asked me to come visit him in Butare while I'm here so we'll see what happens.