The 2012 Olympics opening ceremony is tonight in London. I am SO excited! Not just because of all the cool math and STEM stuff that one can do related to the Olympics, but also because I know an Olympian! Yep, a real-life, honest-to-goodness Olympian, he was in China in 2008 and he's in London now. Here's the story and the pictures.
In 2010 I had the great good fortune of being chosen as a Fulbright Scholar to Rwanda. I spent six of the most fantastic months of my life in that beautiful country and it absolutely changed my life. In fact, Rimwe is a direct result of my African experience. I will blog more in the future about that, but today I want to talk about my chance meeting with an Olympic hero. One you've probably never heard of and who has not been in the news. Until now.
Meet Jackson Niyomugabo, an amazing swimmer from Kibuye and one of only 7 members of Rwanda's 2012 Olympic Team to arrive in London this week. In the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he was the only athlete to represent the beautiful "Land of 1000 Hills" - the team, like the country, has grown and improved much in those four years. Yep, that's me next to him!
Jackson and Dr. Perdue at Lake Kivu, his Olympic training center
But I'm getting ahead of myself. In April, 2010 I went to visit Lake Kivu for the weekend. By then, I'd been in country for four months, had been working hard both as Director of E-Learning for the Kigali Institute of Science & Technology (KIST) and in teaching a fantastic group of students training to be teachers at the Kigali Institute of Education (KIE). I was ready for a little fun and relaxation and wow, did I find both in Lake Kivu. First of all, the lake, like the entire country of Rwanda, is absolutely, unbelievably, incredibly beautiful. Seriously. Every day I found something else to be amazed about and inspired by, either in the scenery or in the people. On that weekend, I found both.
It all started with a chance encounter with a guy I asked for directions to the hotel. Directions are challenging in Rwanda as roads often have no names and signs have only recently become a priority so there are few to be found outside the capital of Kigali. Anyway, I had found a hotel, just not the one I'd made the reservation for, and had stopped to find out how to get where I was going. The hotel I'd found by reasonably following the curving road around the lake was stunning: quaint and adorable and with views to die for -- so, when he asked, "Why don't you just stay here?" I had to go, "Yeah, why don't I?" So I did. Best. Decision. Ever.
Ah, even as I write about it now two years later, I have to stop myself from going on and on about it and get to the part about Jackson. Ok, so the next day I wanted to go on a boat ride on the lake.
The helpful hotel staff gave me a number of a guy, Andrew, who had a boat and who would take me on a two-hour-tour (... a two-hour tour...). Meet Andrew and his boat:
Yep, you guessed it. Andrew is Jackson's brother! (Andrew... Jackson. Brothers. I know, I loved it too, especially since I live in Virginia and grew up in Tennessee.) Anyway, Andrew was fantastic, the boat ride was awesome, the lake was fabulous, I got to see bats (thousands and thousands of bats), eat sambasa (little fish, like sardines, caught right out of the lake) for lunch, and .... meet his brother, the Olympic swimmer and pride of Rwanda, Jackson! In fact, when we pulled up to dock on Amahoro Island (Kinyarwandan for "Peace"), we passed Jackson swimming in the lake.
Turns out, Lake Kivu is Jackson's Olympic Training Center. No team of coaches, no cool "sharkskin" suits, no marketing swag or high tech gadgets. Just Jackson... and the lake. "Every day he swims", Andrew tells me about his brother, smiling broadly. He is practically bursting with pride. It shines from his eyes whenever he speaks of his brother. He tells me about how amazing it was that Jackson got to go to China. I can only imagine his joy when he found out that not only did Jackson get to go to London, but that six other athletes from Rwanda would join him.
After we tied off on the island to order lunch. Jackson swam in and joined us. Andrew introduced me. Jackson was sweet, funny, and SUCH an athlete. I was entertained during lunch by a sand volleyball game and, even in that, Jackson's competitiveness and winning spirit was evident. I bought them both a Primus (local beer, bottled at a company on the other side of the lake) and got to know them a bit better. By proxy, I got to know Rwanda a bit better too and loved it even more.
Honestly, it's even more amazing when you learn more of their story. Andrew tells me, during our climb up Napoleon Island (named because it looks like Napoleon's hat) to see the bats, that he and his family, including Jackson, had hidden on that very island during "the war" (how the locals refer to the genocide). They had to paddle by night, with no lights and no engine, across the entire lake in order to escape across the border until the madness was over. The entire ordeal took them five agonizing days, each one of which they were in danger of being caught and killed. It was months before they could safely come back home, and when they did, they heard the terrible news of others who didn't make it. It was hard to hear their story. It was hard to imagine the darkness, the terror, and the uncertainty, especially in the full-on shine shine of that day, after lunch on an island named for peace, and on a lake that is so spectacular.
Today, it is a different story altogether. Rwanda is thriving. Andrew's business is going great, and Jackson is in the Olympics, again. He will probably not medal, and you might never heard about him on national TV, but, to me, he earned the gold and the glory.
Enjoy the true spirit of the Olympics.
The Solver Blog
Author: Dr. Diana S. Perdue