Numbers

15 hours was the length of the flight from Dulles International Airport into Addis Ababa Ethiopia, and it was a little more than 25 hours from the time that the plane took off in Atlanta to when I first stepped foot in Kigali.

75 degrees is the temperature that I then felt blowing on my face and continue to feel round the clock here in Rwanda. This number varies slightly around the hour of rain that is guaranteed during the “little” rainy season.

3 was the number of British accents that greeted me at the door of my new home. Interestingly, a home that has no numbers for its address other than “across the street from Centre de Sante Gitega”.

$579.00 Rwandan Francs was what the exchange bureau handed me for each crisp American dollar bill, and $7000 RwF was what I then traded the lady at the market for a bag of produce too heavy to carry without help.

7-6 was the final score of the ultimate Frisbee game I played Sunday evening a group of ex-pats and Rwandan men and women at the local sports club. To be honest, I can’t remember which of those numbers belonged to my team.

When I decided to come to Rwanda the quantitative was my focus. As a medical student required to spend a five month period doing research I knew that I wanted to spend this time abroad, in a new place. As the months before my departure counted down to days I quickly became focused on the quantitative. “How many subjects will I need for my sample size?” I asked. “What is a good amount of bug spray to take for five months?” I wondered. Trying to quantify the list of questions leads me to a number approaching infinity it seems.

Somehow, in the preparation for this excursion I got lost in the quantitative and left the qualitative to the wayside. I’ve been in Rwanda for 5 days, 5 days, and some odd hours and I’ve finally begun to appreciate the intangibles that led me here in the first place. My first week of work at Project San Francisco has reminded me that some calculations await me in the future, but the patients and staff at the clinic reinforce that I am here for something more. Whether that is learning to cut a pineapple (as I did tonight), or throwing my first punch at a bag of coffee beans (as I did at Tae Kwon Do lessons in a coffee warehouse last night) I am certain that more than the quantitative awaits.

I have nearly five months in Africa and I plan to make the most of it—whatever that may be. As my friends, family, and mentors there is nothing I would love more than to share what this amazing place offers. Not in terms of statistics or tallies, but from a qualitative viewpoint that appropriately reflects the spirit of the country. I invite you to this blog in the hopes that you get some pleasure from the sights, sounds, and stories of this country along with me. And I write it with the hopes that the only thing I will be counting during my time wandering through the country are my many blessings.

The view of the sunset and gate outside of my home and its surrounding garden (pictured above). Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills, this is the view from atop ours. The first photo is the view from my Ethiopian Airlines flight into Kigali.