Week in Ruhengeri

Yes, I am an idealist. In the world I like to see, aid money is used to provide aid. To my more cynical readers, none of this will come as any surprise to you. And, when I’m honest with myself, it didn’t to me, either. But, that doesn’t mean I’m okay with it.

Last week, there was a workshop on internal savings and lending groups for the organizations involved with Higa Ubeho and the Peace Corps Volunteers who are working with them. The workshop was held in Ruhengeri, a large town in the mountains of Rwanda’s North Province.

Here’s a look at some of the expenditures related to the workshop:

-The workshop took place at La Palme, a very nice hotel in downtown Ruhengeri.

-All attendees (around 45) stayed at the hotel. Each person had their own room, though the rooms were meant to hold between two and four people. The cheapest rooms cost $60 per night.

-We attended breakfast and lunch buffets at the hotel.

-We were given an assortment of drinks and snacks twice each day.

-Each person was given 7,000F (about $12.30) for dinner each night – more than enough for us to not only eat, but to buy expensive Western food and also splurge on drinks or dessert.

-People attending the conference came from all over Rwanda, and transportation costs for most totaled 3,000F (about $5.25) to 5,000F (about $8.80). Yet, we were each given between 10,000F (about $17.50) and 15,000F (about $26.30) to “cover transportation.”

So, over the course of the week, I received 36,000F (about $63.15) in cash, on top of the provided amenities - while I was learning about people who work hard to save 150F (about $0.26) each week to contribute to their savings/lending group. It breaks my heart and makes me a little sick. I’m going to try to think of something useful to do with the 15,000F (about $26.30) I had left over, because that is obviously the very least I can do.

As an American living in Africa, yes, I thoroughly appreciate having the luxury of hot showers, CNN, pizza, and free Internet every once in awhile. But, this clearly went overboard, and I shouldn’t even have to point out that this should not be considered an acceptable use of “aid money.”

I hope our Rwandans counterparts who attended the workshop with us benefited from it and gained knowledge and skills they will be able to use to help others. But, couldn’t we have accomplished that without so much lavish expenditure, and used the money that would have been saved to pay school fees for more children affected by HIV/AIDS (one of the purposes of Higa Ubeho)?