Yes it was difficult but how you dealt with the
difficulty I know I used humour to deal with the
difficulty. I guess your self-mechanism of
preservation or helping yourself to cope with
the area. The poverty, especially Rwanda,
was very hard to see. I know I went I think it was
Lieutenant commander Harwood, he was an MO,
went for a walk and saw the villages up in the hills
and people living in huts made out of mud and
straws and seeing the female part of that tribe.
Their job was basically going down and walk
five kilometres down the hill, put water in these
buckets, put it on top of their head and walk all
the way up the hill while the male portion,
the younger male portion would take
care of the herd. The elder males would just sit
there and smoke their pot all day, that’s the
mentality of these little villages.
One thing the doc said, he said, “Denis,
don’t bother explaining to them where you
come from or where on earth you are from
because these guys only see as far,
their world exists as far as their eyes can see
because some of these villagers haven’t
been more than two, three kilometres from
where they were born. You explain beyond that,
they can’t do it!” Me being all over the place
I had a hard time to conceive that part.
Again, the value of life of their system.
If you weren’t a part of that particular tribe
or family tree, their cattle was worth
more than you were.