My mom's update

Since I've been really bad about it, my mom has taken it into her own hands to write a post. I'm sorry I'm a really bad blogger, part of it is thee is not very good internet, part of it is there's too much going on. But I think my mom sums up for the most part how I feel and I'll just have to tell you about the crazy adventures another time. So here are my mom's thoughts:

"So much has been happening over the past days that it seems like years since we combated
mosquitoes in Kigali. We have been to the Source of the Nile and back and are in a nice hotel,
Auberge Bob Sejour, with a spectacular view of Kigali. The adventure continues, as today we will
visit HOPE association where many children who head households acquire vocational skills from a small, local group of inspiring folks.

The south was inspiring – also exhausting, striking, educational, hard to encompass in words.

We have been having a great trip and it has been quite productive. We set out to find heroes and
we have met many -- children like Emmanuel who have emerged from Child labor to excel in
school, children like Nimere and Efuru who head households by working and providing for younger siblings to go to school, and so many other adult heroes – Gilbert, Evelyn, Jean-Yves. Some stories truly pierce the heart.

After the trek to the Source of the Nile involved three flat tires in one day due to roads and possible overnight on side of the road with trees crashing during thunder and lightning we have been somewhat too consumed with filming more and more kids, rain forest, and tea plantations.

We did make it to the Source of the Nile with the help of a Guide and two Rangers! It involved a trek through a canopy of rainforest with orchids and mushrooms and oversized trees and worms to a serene place where we reflected and soaked in beauty.

Yesterday, our visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, one of many in Rwanda, opened up new
avenues of thought and emotions. One is challenged to display the kind of dignity that Rwandans portray after losing so many souls in a few months.

The spirit of the population here is so willing to forgive, or at least learn how to forgive, and try very hard to forgive. And they have a lot to be angry about , not just neighbors killing one another as part of a hate-inspired planned and orchestrated genocide but also being forgotten by the world, and they cope with energetic hope. Lessons to learn here for us all."

Update: Mosquito Killed

Well, after I wrote that last post, I tried to take a short nap to make up for some lost sleep. But as I lay in the bed, fearful of getting more bites, I looked up to the ceiling, and who did I see??? The little sucker just staring down at me. He was just waiting for my eyes to close. See, last night I killed the first one after he had gotten my right arm pretty good. I thought I was safe and fell asleep for a bit until the second one swooped in, buzzing in my ear to taunt me all night. I tried to stay under the sheet, but I was sweating because it was so hot. Why don't they have mosquito nets in this country??
Anyways, after a patient pursuit with a few near misses I finally got the little guy. He was slow because he was so fat with my blood but still elusive enough to give me a pretty good chase. But in the end, my determination to get revenge won out! See for yourself...

good morning!

Maybe it was the two mosquitoes who ravaged me throughout the night, leaving me itching 10 colossal welts on my arm and legs, maybe it was the fact that we've run out of cash and all the banks are closed until Tuesday and we're not sure how were going to pay our hotel room tomorrow when we want to check out, maybe it was thanks to my mother for sharing this blog with everyone she knows and now I am feeling performance anxiety, or maybe it was the anti-malarial medicine dream about the mafia trying to kill me and having to hide under a couch while I anticipated getting shot in the back of the head, but for some reason I didn't sleep well last night.
It's Sunday. All I want to do today is try to get more than 5,000 Rwandan francs to come out of the ATM at a time and book a hotel in Butare. Why do only two places in this entire country accept credit card and why is everything so damn expensive?

Saturday Morning

Well, its a beautiful Saturday morning here in Kigali. I just ate breakfast and I thought I would catch up on my blog a little. Yesterday was our first full day here and we ran around taking care of a lot of business. Our first stop was Nakumat- the Walmart of east Africa. We picked up some bottled water, peanut butter, crackers and tissues (I am fighting off a bit of a cold). We also exchanged some money at the bank and tried unsuccessfully to buy a wireless modem since the hotel internet has been unreliable.
Next stop was to meet with Minister of Labor for the region at the source of the Nile. Gilbert was a bit hesitant at first about our ideas and our motives behind making a film about these inspirational kids, but we reassured him that we were not here to exploit the kids, but rather to give them a voice and show some of the positive action that has been taking place. He began to get very excited about it and we arranged to meet the Vice Mayor of the region on Tuesday morning down in Nyaruguru. Unfortunately as a result of the Presidential Inauguration occurring on Monday, many important people in Rwanda are up in Kigali through the Monday. This puts us at a stand still for taking video a little because our contacts are busy with government affairs. But it also gives us a few days to relax, see the sights in Kigali and make plans.
After our meeting with Gilbert, we went for lunch at the restaurant next to our hotel called Mickey Mouse restaurant. Even in Rwanda I can't get away from Disney.
After lunch, Julien met up with us at the hotel. He took us to get a modem for the computer and we set out to find a group called Association Hope. This was a small locally run program that my mother had come to review in 2008. They had left a big impression on her because they were so driven and successful and completely built from the ground up by local people who had a lot of ambition. This small group takes children withdrawn from child labor, many who are orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS in the family and teaches them vocational skills like sewing and entrepreneurial and marketing skills. They also teach "life skills" like sex education and psycho-social support.
We found the group but the director Mary was out for the day. We got her number from the Deputy Director, Susannah and gave her a call. She would meet us at her home. So, we drove out to her neighborhood up a bouncy dirt path. After going up and down a few wrong hills we finally found her place with thanks to some local children who knew of her.
She invited us in and we spoke to her about our plans. She was very interested. But we wont be able to see her and the kids until next Monday because we will be down in the southern district for all of next week. Our time here is starting to feel very full and we have only been in Rwanda two nights!
By this time it was getting late. We decided to call it a night and arranged to meet with Julien today to go to an expo. Also, mom and I might tory to get over to the genocide memorial. For now, we are taking the down time to reorganize our bags and get some laundry done.

Waffles

We made it to Brussels!! After two tedious flights and a little too much time in the Porto airport feeling like a homeless person, we made it! Last night we were a little exhausted, I kept spontaneously falling asleep everywhere. We found a little cafe where we got soup and quiches, then quickly fell asleep in actual beds.
Thirteen hours later we woke up and ventured out for some Belgian waffles.

Now were are off the Royal Museum of Central Africa. It came highly recommended to us by our very interesting taxi driver yesterday on our ride in from the airport. The museum focuses mostly on the history of the Belgium Congo, but will probably have a little about Rwanda as well. Plus a large selection of African art and artifacts.
Well off we go. More to come later.

So, every Friday night I have to work until 3am on standby in case anything catastrophic occurs which would put us on the air. Tonight I decided to use my free time to organize my production binder. Using my handy skills as a career PA, I printed, copied, whole punched, collated, even made printed divider tabs for my binder. And as sad and pathetic as it may be that this is how I spent my Friday night into Saturday, I am a little proud.

and more...

back again for my 2nd post of the day. I wanted to share this web resource that I've recently joined called The D-Word. Its a collective of doc makers with all kinds of forums, resources and they even have guest experts who give conferences on all things documentary.

Also, I feel bad that I didn't mention what kind of progress was made this weekend, so here's a summary: Hotel rooms booked in Brussels and Kigali, wrote up a basic itinerary, read up about the Southern and Western provinces of Rwanda (where much of the filming will occur), found 2 prong round plug converters, and made a giant checklist of to-do's.

Major to-do's include:

• find a hotel in Butare (Huye)
• find some decent maps of Kigali and southern/western provinces
• figure out how much cash money i need to bring along
• draft up some permission to film and consent forms

tomorrow i get my second round of Hep A/B vaccine which is a shame because my arm was finally starting to feel better. Also, it turns out I am not resistant to measles so now I need that shot too!

Reading List

Last weekend, we got some serious work done. I am feeling good about the progress being made, but I'm also starting to freak out about the fact that we leave in 26 days! I have a huge amount of things to do before then. But, today a new book arrived in the mail, and I'm taking some time to read it because I think it will help focus my vision. Michael Rabiger's Directing the Documentary is a book that my teachers referenced frequently while in college and now it is helping me recreate the classroom in my living room. The new edition is updated and chock full of helpful tools and information that I may need. I'm getting really excited for this adventure, I know it's going to be great working behind the camera again. But I have a lot of work to do before I get there.
Check out my reading list below:
1. Rwanda Bradt Guide, by Philip Briggs and Janice Booth
2. Directing the Documentary, Fifth Edition by Michael Rabiger
3. A People Betrayed, The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide by L R Melvern
4. Land of A Thousand Hills, My Life in Rwanda by Rosamond Halsey Carr
5. Carrying Heavy Loads, Child Labor in Rwanda published by KURET with sponsorship from USDOL, World Vision and AED
6. The White Nile by Alan Moorehead
and many more...

No yellow fever for me!

Yesterday I went to my doctor to get all the vaccinations and prescriptions I will need for my trip. Today my arm is sore from all the shots I got. In order to travel to Rwanda, the CDC recommends you get vaccinated for yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, polio and typhoid. Even though I think some of these are a little extreme (polio) and expensive ($250 just for the shots and Dr visit, I still have to get the rx's for typhoid and malaria) I decided to get all the immunizations. But honestly, I got them all because of my track record with illnesses in Africa and because I really just can't afford to get sick right now.

As far as the other preparations, Ben and I went to B&H Monday to check out some microphones. Looks like I'm going to have to spring for a cheap lavalier that will set me back about $150. I've decided to assign myself some easy video projects next week so I can re-familiarize myself with the cameras and get back into practice.
This weekend I will be heading north to Vermont to meet with my Executive Producer (my mom) and we will finalize a lot of our plans. My goals for the weekend are to get an itinerary hammered out, flesh out our plan of attack for when we get there and get all of the hotel, car and flight arrangements taken care of. I think it will be really good to get out of NYC for a couple of hours too.

One last thought... I've been pretty bad about writing in this blog, so I'm going to try to start writing more frequently. I also need to keep a journal/record of my expedition for Nat Geo, so I think I might use this as my main medium for that when I'm over there.

Land of A Thousand Hills

I was reading the other day that Rwanda is sometimes referred to as the 'land of a thousand hills' because of its mountainous topography. I couldn't help but draw parallels to hurdles that have gotten me to where I am today with this project. And the hardest part is still to come. As I continue my preparation, I am feeling slightly overwhelmed by what needs to get done, so I've put together a simplified list of tasks that will help me get organized. This may become a reoccurring theme on this blog, and I apologize for that.

1. speak with NatGeo about equipment and date changes
2. speak with employers about days off
3. create a contact list
4. create an itinerary
5. make a reading list of books to get from the NYPL


Sorry this seems so rudimentary, but frankly, I need to get my shit in order. One last fun fact before I go- Rwanda has five volcanoes! I hope that's not foreshadowing anything about my luck in African countries.

Rwanda or Bust

I guess I should introduce myself and tell you why I'm here. My name is Robin and I'm working on a short film about child labor in Rwanda. I've been working on this project for over a year and I've received some financial support from National Geographic to film in September for two weeks. I'm hoping this blog will work like a sketch pad for me as I flesh out the details of the film and provide a 'behind the scenes' look at my process. I hope you enjoy learning about this film and the people in Rwanda. Please send me your questions and comments!