Tae Bo in Rwanda in French...

I have a spare 30 minutes so I thought I would try to write a bit about Rwanda and my impressions so far. First off, it is a beautiful country- it is also known as the land of a thousand hills and it is quite diverse in its environment. It is quite safe, as after the genocide 10 years ago there is a strong presence of secruity, UN, etc. Apparently the AVU normally stay at the famous hotel from "Hotel Rwanda", but for this conference we are staying at the Novotel. I thought that was quite interesting. Rwandese people are much more reserved and stand offish then the Kenyans. That was immediately noticeable when we checked into the hotel. Kigali is a smaller city than Nairobi and is located up in the hills. French is the prominent language here, which does no good for me... aren't there any Spanish speaking countries in Africa?? :)

Yesterday afternoon we arrived, we being my colleagues and I. The hotel is really quite nice with a wonderful pool and gym. I went to the gym before supper and wound up taking a Tae Bo class, which was in French. Thankfully I know how to count in French and as a result could follow along with the number of sets :)

Following that I joined some colleagues, members from the Open University in the UK, and the representative from the BBC for supper. It was nice getting to know some of the people I will be working with on the project. Today was a packed filled day with meetings from 9:30-6:00 pm and then I have another meeting at 6:30 pm. There are 26 representatives from all over Africa, representing different African Universities, as well as members from the UK and of course our Kenyan team. It is really remarkable what will be accomplished in the next 2 years here with the Open Educational Resource Portal.

An interesting fact about Africa- electricity is precious. In Tanzania for the past 6 months there is no electricity, daily, from 7 am- 7 pm!!!! I couldn't believe it!! And we are supposed to be offering them online resources- now there is a challenge! In many countries in Sub Sahara Africa electricity is limited and at times one can only have electricity 2-3 times per week. So many hardships here and yet people can still walk around with smiles on their faces.

I will be in Kigali for the rest of the week and am sure there will be more to report...