Emma's Class Field Trip to Inyenyeri in Gisenyi

Emma’s teacher, Mr. Thies, is young and dynamic and the kids just adore him. Already this semester, their class has hosted two family movie nights at the school and taken two field trips—one to Akagera Game Park (overnight) and on Tuesday to Gisenyi. In Gisenyi, the kids visited the site of a bio-fuels processing “plant” that also manufactures fuel efficient stoves for villagers accustomed to cooking with charcoal or on an open fire. These stoves produce a gas-like flame that is constant and burns cleaner than other fuels. The owner/director of the project is a visionary American, Eric Reynolds. His ambition is to get three of these stoves into every Rwandan home currently using charcoal or wood. He’d also like to eventually power electricity generating plants using these bio-fuels. At the moment though, the operation is in its initial phases. The machinery to manufacture the stoves is on the ground and the local staff is learning how to use these to produce the stoves. The villagers are being enticed into bringing in the raw materials that are needed to produce the fuel pellets. The fuel pellets are a mixture of dried banana leaves, eucalyptus leaves and native grasses, branches and just about anything else that can be burned. The stipulation is that no trees are destroyed in the process. Deforestation is a serious problem in Rwanda and this project aims to stem the cutting of trees for firewood. It’s a noble, ambitious effort and the kids were keen on seeing the production facilities and asked intelligent and thoughtful questions. We wish Eric and all of those involved in the project great success. Access the following link to find out more about what the folks at Inyenyeri do: http://www.facebook.com/Inyenyeri?sk=info Of course, being from Louisiana where we fire up the fronds during sugar cane harvest and produce tons and tons of bio-mass in the grinding of the cane, we saw all kinds of applications for the use of this technology back home. Perhaps someone can capitalize on this idea back home. Below: Eric holding stove as he explains the project. Pellets made from the dried bio-mass to be used in the stoves for cooking.

Gorilla mother with infant

Mother holding tightly on to her offspring.

GORILLAS

Gus and Reid went up to see the gorillas last weekend. The girls aren’t old enough and aren’t allowed to do the trek. Reid was at first skeptical. Permits are extremely expensive especially for foreigners. We’re able to buy them for half the price because we’ve got the resident’s visa---still that’s $250 US a pop. Additionally, although it’s possible to leave Kigali at an ungodly hour and make the 2-3 hour trip up to the Volcanoes National Park, it’s best to spend the night and head to the park at a more leisurely pace for the 7 am rendez-vous time. Accommodations in this country aren’t cheap anywhere, so that has to be factored into the expense of the trip. Petrol is about $6-$7 US / gal and driving conditions are insane to say the least. Understandably, Reid was reluctant to undertake that trip again. However, both returned convinced of the worthiness of the venture.

I asked Gus to record his impressions for the blog but he’s too lazy. So, I’ll have to convey his experience vicariously for our readers. The group they were assigned is one that inhabits the outer ranges of the park, the Susa Group. They’re the furthest out and the drive to the hike start point is about an hour and a half on a pretty poorly maintained dirt road. It’s another 45 minutes to an hour hike to the place in the forest where they hang out. This is a large group of about 33 individuals with about 5 silverbacks. Reid and Gus were able to see 3 of them. There were also a couple of females with infants ranging from 4 days old to 4 months old. The gorillas were calmly munching on vegetation. The guides continuously made grunting noises similar to the noises gorillas make showing contentment. The mothers held their babies closely. Some of the juveniles performed a few antics, but for the most part the experience consisted of the gorillas ignoring the humans while they went along with their daily routine. One little guy got a bit close but was waved away by the guide.

Reid’s skepticism was completely dispelled and he noted how magical an experience it was to be in the wilds with a 300 pound silverback gorilla 6 ft away with no fence, barrier or partition separating man and beast. The gorillas are truly one of the few great natural resources that Rwanda possesses. They bring in millions of dollars to the economy in terms of tourists buying permits, paying for accommodations, spending money on food and souvenirs, drivers and petrol. They unfortunately are under great pressure from loss of habitat, poaching, and disease. It’s quite a balancing act that has to take place to keep all the elements in equal proportion and not letting one element tip the scales. How long Rwanda can continue to do so is anybody's guess.