Saturday 27th September: Days Twenty-One in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Breakfast was just tea – couldn’t face another omelette sandwich. Last night’s dinner was so full of carbohydrates I still felt stuffed when I woke up: boiled potatoes, sweet potato stew, rice, beans (kidney), beans (runner), spinach lookalike (imboga) – the only options I didn’t try were the plantains (too bready), intoryi (mini-aubergines that taste revolting) and spaghetti. I also avoided the meat – partly because I am not eating much meat but also it’s much more expensive: veg buffet is RWF1000 but each piece of meat is RWF200 extra. Side salad (coleslaw with 1 small dollop of mayonnaise is free – mayonnaise is dispensed by the waitress as it is expensive!!).

Tina headed off for the bus but returned as we realised that today is umuganda : everyone is working on community projects or similar things. This happens on the last Saturday of each month, so nothing will be open or functioning until twelve. This is a big thing here – sometimes they build classrooms, repair roads, refurbish dwellings – whatever the community leaders think needs doing in that particular area. Once that’s over, Tina’ll head off for Catherine’s party in Kigali. I’ll focus on French and maybe plan out a few possible strategies.

Just been chatting to a guy who is working here in the hotel – Éli. We were wondering about him as he seems extremely bright and well-educated to be just working in a hotel. Turns out he is from the Congo and has come here to study Information Management techniques in Butare University – he is just working here for the summer to make a bit of cash. He told us that umuganda also exists in the Congo but there it happens every Saturday from eight until ten. Once we get settled in here and actually become ‘inhabitants’ I expect we’ll be joining in too!

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Well, isn’t it when you least expect it that things suddenly change! After talking to Éli, this other guy sat down and started talking to me. We chatted a bit – about the genocide and its aftermath, among other things - and then he said he had a project he wanted to show me. Now that is quite common here – often people think that as a muzungu you can give them references, jobs, money, English classes, whatever – but I agreed to look at it with him if only to improve my French. To cut a long story short (or as short as I can because we talked for just over four hours – my French is really coming on!) his name is Pascal and he is the manager of the hotel and Éli’s older brother. His project is based on a number of small-scale activities in the southern province aimed specifically at addressing the psychological needs of widows and orphans from the genocide, especially women who were raped and made pregnant and then found themselves and their illegitimate children rejected by both community and family. It covers a microfinance project, training schemes for orphans, seminars and group activities so these people who are mostly living in isolation can get together and share their experiences and realise they are not alone.

He also told me about his own background – eldest of eight, father died when he was young (Éli is the youngest of the eight and was nine months old when the father died), dropped out of school to raise the family; worked on the streets selling beignets which he cooked himself and other foods, then worked in construction, trained as a plumber (as well as doing a six-months course in psychology), opened a restaurant in Butare a few years ago and then moved on to become the manager of the Hotel Ineza one year ago. He showed me some photos of the place when he started – amazing what he has done with the place so far (pictures to follow). He is also big into cooking, so we browsed through his collection of recipes from a big French-African cookbook and have made tentative arrangements to follow this up somehow (my French got overstretched trying to read the book, translate what he was saying and edit out the John Denver music blaring in the background from a radio being carried by a local carpenter having his lunch so I’m not quite sure what I agreed to).

Anyway, just to have a four-hour conversation in French was amazing enough. I offered to take photos of the hotel for the website he is developing: he aims to have internet access in all rooms by next year (I think there is only one other hotel in all Rwanda that has that!) and a big TV screen set up by January so we can all watch football (I mentioned I was off to watch Premiership football this afternoon). Then a rather strange thing happened: this guy in a red t-shirt appeared at the table, shook my hand and said could he have a word when I was finished. I remembered meeting him in the street yesterday when he said he had ‘quelques choses interessant’ to show me (I thing there’s a ‘de’ and an accent in there somewhere). I said I might be in the Hotel Faucon later but wasn’t and he had obviously managed to track me down here). When I did go up to talk to him, he offered to sell me some ‘genuine’ village artifacts – wedding dolls, circumcision masks, dance masks etc – all from the Congo and presumably smuggled out. He was looking for $1,500 for the wedding dolls and spoke darkly of not having much time, not safe for him to hang around, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and so on!! I politely declined – either they were fakes and not worth much or genuine and illegal, though they were quite striking.

Anyway, I am meeting Pascal for dinner tonight in Butare’s only chinese restaurant, named – appropriately enough – the Chinese Restaurant. Felt I have made my first real Rwandan friend, which is a really nice feeling!! Â bientôt!

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Watched Chelsea beating Stoke and then – hilariously – Hull beating Arsenal in a bar full of Arsenal fans! Had a long chat with Jane Keenan (PHARE volunteer based in Butare working on the AIDS/HIV programme) about possible approaches and strategies in my work (and my curio dealer also turned up and gave me a big grin!). Then joined Pascal and two friends – Chantal and Jean-Pierre – for some food in the Hotel Ineza (I was late so they had decided to scrap the Chinese restaurant!). Had a really nice evening just chatting away, especially as they are from the Congo rather than Rwanda and they told me loads of ways in which the Congo and Rwanda differ – there is no strong musical or dance tradition in Rwanda compared to other African countries and especially compared to the Congo.

I made one faux pas – we were sharing a large grilled tilapia on a dish, so a basin was brought in with soapd and water to wash our hands before we started eating from the one fish with our fingers. When Chantal arrived a little late, I wiped my hands on a napkin and shook hands – no, no, no, as I realised when the other two offered their right elbow to be shaken instead of their hand! Not that they minded, they just thought it was funny, but I decided not to have any more of the fish in case I made things worse (a pity – it was a really gorgeous fish and I don’t usually care for fish!).

Then to bed (via two hours of Civilization 3) – meeting Jane for breakfast tomorrow morning to get some more education on Rwanda, VSO and other matters!

Here are some pictures – I haven’t posted any in a while!

This is Jane Keenan, seeing as I have mentioned her a few times

This is the Ineza Hotel. The manager – Pascal – is the third from the left in the group photo.

If you remember the story about the guy who accidentally stole the policeman’s briefcase, this is a picture of the aftermath. Kitoze is in the checked shirt!

Some local wildlife!

This is a typical building on the road from Gisagara to Butare – basically wattle-and-daub, a wooden framework plastered with mud and then left to dry.

This is an unusual building behind our house in Gisagara, made from wooden poles and banana leaves. We think it is used for storing cabbages!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Bhuel, cad go díreach atá ag tarlú sa tír seo?

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Réamhnóta: mo leithscéal as chomh fada agus atá sé seo!!

Rud amháin a dúradh liom agus mé ag teacht anseo ná gan aon ábhar polaitiúil a chur i mblaganna nó fiú i mo chuid emails. Measaim go bhfuil daoine b’fhéidir beagáinín róeaglach faoi na cúrsaí seo ach, os rud é go bhfuil an t-ábhar seo á tháispeáint go hoscailte ar an idirlíon (seachas a bheith á chur go príobháideach chuig daoine aonair) coinneoidh me mo chuid tagairtí agus smaointe ar chúrsaí polaitíochta (agus aon rud achrannach eile) i nGaeilge. Dóibh siúd nach bhfuil Gaeilge acu, faigh duine éigin go bhfuil (cé nach mbeidh sibh in ann an moladh sin féin a léamh!).

Rud eile faoi, tá sé fíorthábhachtach do VSO nach mbreathnófaí orthu faoi go rabhadar rud ar bith seachas neamhspleách go hiomlán i gcúrsaí polaitíochta. Ar ndóigh, tá VSO i bhfad ró-politically correct (cuir leagan Gaeilge chugam air sin, duine éigin) le rá linn glan nach bhfuil cead againn páirt a ghlacadh i gcúrsaí polaitíochta anseo ach tháinig siad chomh gar dó agus a d’fhéadfaidís. Bhí fadhb an-mhór níos luaithe i mbliana le oibrí deonach de chuid VSO a rinne a leithéid (tá sé AN-DEACAIR fáil amach cad go díreach a rinne sé): mar sin moltar dúinn gan labhairt le daoine ar chúrsaí polaitíochta inmheánacha, gan bheith páirteach i léirsithe, cruinnithe nó agóidí, gan suaitheantais nó t-léinte a chaitheamh le manaí nó siombail pholaitiúla agus mar sin de.

É sin ráite, ní fhéadfainn teacht chuig tír mar seo, tír a raibh an oiread sin spéise agam inti fiú sular tháinig me, gan súil a dhíriú ar an taobh sin de chúrsaí. Mar sin, tar éis fiche lá a chaitheamh anseo, seo mar a bhreathnaíonn cúrsaí don tsúil eachtrannach!

Sna toghacháin pairliminte an tseachtain seo caite bhuaigh páirtí an rialtais go heasca le móramh mór. Ar ndóigh, os rud é nár sheas aon pháirtí mar fhreasúra (thaobhaigh gach páirtí eile a sheas le polasaithe an rialtais) ní aon ionadh. Tá (measaim) cúig pháirtí ann ar fad – an t-aon pháirtí a bhí ann a bhí i gcoinne an Rialtais, diúltaíodh cead dóibh seasamh ar an mbonn gur sháraigh an páirtí na rialacha dochta atá ann faoi chosc a bheith ar aon pháirtí polaitíochta atá bunaithe ar bhonn eitneach (sa chás seo gur dírithe ar Hutus amháin a bhí siad). Tá céatadán na mban sa pharlaimint ardaithe ó 48% chuig 55%, rud a léiríonn mar atá ag éirí le polasaí oifigiúil an rialtais i dtaca le stádas na mban, seachas aon mhórathrú i meon agus dearcadh na ndaoine i gcoitinne sa tír.

Ní chloistear riamh aon chaitheamh anuas ar pholasaithe an rialtais nó ar an Uachtarán Kagame féin. Tá a phictiúir siúd le feiceáil i ngach foirgneamh poiblí – scoileanna, bainc, oifig poist, fiú tithe ósta is bialanna uaireanta. Tá na húdaráis an-dian faoi ráiteas ar bith a cheaptar a bheith frithrialtais. Ceann de na bealaigh is fearr le gáire a bheith agat ná an New Times a léamh, an príomhnuachtán Béarla anseo. Is beag alt ann nach bhfeiceann tú lámh PRO an rialtais taobh thiar de, go háirithe agus iad ag caint ar na Náisiúin Aontaithe, an Fhrainc is an Bheilg agus lucht na Hutus a bhfuil dídean fós á thairiscint dóibh sna tíortha sin. Bhí raic ollmhór an bhliain seo caite nuair a scríobh oifigeach de chuid an UNDP (nó eagraíocht éigin de chuid an UN) tuarascáil ag insint na fírinne faoi chuid de na rudaí a bhí ar siúl sa tír. Aontaíonn beagnach gach duine nach raibh ann ach an fhírinne agus is ag cur síos ar mhí-éifeacht seachas coiriúlacht de chineál ar bith a bhí sé. Ach chuaigh an rialtas as a chiall, ag rá gur chuid eile de phlean an UN a bhí ann le drochmheas a chaitheamh ar Rwanda agus sa deireadh tharraing an UN siar an tuarascáil, ghabh leithscéal ar son an oifigigh (a bhí ag éirí as ar aon nós – b’shin an fáth go raibh sé de dhánaíocht a leithéid a dhéanamh!) agus d’fhoilsigh leagan leasaithe cúpla mí ina dhiaidh sin a bhí níos sásúla!

Agus sin ar fad ráite, agus go háirithe tar éis bheith ag caint le go leor daoine eile anseo a chaith tamall ag obair i go leor tíortha eile ar an mór-roinn seo, tá sé dochreidte chomh socair is atá cúrsaí anseo. Don chuid is mó, ta daoine sásta go leor le cúrsaí polaitíochta, go háirithe nuair a bhreathnaíonn siad ar na tíortha mórthimpeall orthu: an Congo ina scrios fós (tuilleadh faoi sin níos déanaí) agus cúrsai fós dona go leor i mBurundi (tá cosc iomlán orainn taisteal chuig an dá thír sin – maraíodh oibrí de chuid an VSO i mBurundi an bhliain seo caite nuair a thug sí neamhaird ar an moladh seo agus thóg sí bus chuig Bujumbura. Stop treallchogaithe an bus agus mharaigh siad gach duine a bhí air ar thaobh an bhóthair). Freisin, bhain na himeachtaí i Kenya geit uafásach as an tír ar fad – ní amháin go bhféadfadh a léithéid tarlú i dtír a bhí (mar a cheap daoine gach áit ar domhain) ar na tíortha ba shocair san Afraic ach – gan amhras – gur tháinig a lán drochchuimhní ar ais chuig gach duine láithreach. Is deacair cuimhneamh uaireanta nach bhfuil sé ach ceithre bliana déag ó tharla na sléachtanna anseo agus go raibh beagnach gach duine a fheiceann tú pairteach ann ar bhealach amháin nó ar bhealach eile (agus ar thaobh na ndúnmharfóiri don chuid is mó).

Ar ndóigh, dóibh siúd a bhfuil eolas acu ar an méid a tharla ceithre bliana déag ó shin, ní aon ionadh go bhfuil an tír seo amhrasach faoi na Náisiúin Aontaithe agus faoin Aontas Eorpach (measann siad go bhfuil tionchar an-mhór ag an Fhrainc ar gach cinneadh a dhéantar ansin). Tá fhios ag cách faoin tuarascáil a foilsíodh anseo le déanaí faoi ról na Fraince sna sléachtanna, faoin gcúirt sa Fhrainc a d’eisigh barántas don Uachtarán Kagame ag maíomh gurb é atá ciontach as marú an Uachtaráin Habariyama agus an bealach ar dhún an rialtas anseo Ambasáid na Fraince. Is cinnte go bhfuil an rialtas anseo fós an-pháirteach sa chogadh atá fós ar siúl in Iarthar an Chongo, cé nach n-admhaítear sin go hoscailte ach – chun na fírinne a ra – ní féidir liom bun ná barr a dhéanamh as atá ar siúl ansin.

Ar aon nós, gan dul níos doimhne isteach i gcúrsai nach bhfuil an oiread sin eolais agam futhu (!) tá Rwanda faoi láthair ar cheann de na tíortha is siochánta agus is socair san Afraic - faoi láthair. Airíonn tú iontach sábháilte i ngach áit, tá daoine cairdiúil (fiosrach, ach cairdiúil) le eachtrannaigh ar bhealach nach bhfeiceann tú go minic i dtíortha maguird (dar leo siúd a bhí ag obair i Tanzania, Kenya is Uganda). Tá na póilíní freisin cairdiúil is cabhraitheach, a bhformhór acu gan airm. Tá an leibhéal corruption ceapaithe bheith ar an ceann is ísle san Afraic. Tá an ráta fás eacnamaíoch fós an-ard agus dul chun cinn maith déanta in oideachas, sláinte agus roinnt ranna eile. Tá iarratas Rwanda do bhallraíocht sa British Commonwealth á phlé agus ceaptar go nglacfar leis roimh an chéad ollchruinniú eile den Commonwealth i mí na Samhna na bliana seo chugainn. Agus tá pleananna difriúla ag an Rialtas don todhchaí le teacht timpeall ar chuid de na mhórdheacrachtaí bunúsacha ata ag an tír seo: bóthar iarainn nua chuig an gcósta i Tanzania chun teacht timpeall ar an gcostas ollmhór gach rud a thabhairt isteach ar bhóithre, líne ola ar an mbonn céanna, díriú ar IT sna scoileanna is ollscoileanna chun cineál ‘East African Digital Hub’ a dhéanamh as an tír agus Béarla a chur in ionad na Fraincise le taispeáint gur leis an OirAfraic a bhaineann Rwanda anois (Kenya, Tanzania is Uganda).

Ach ...... faoi láthair is deacair a fheiceáil conas a éireoidh le aon cheann acu seo agus níl na rudaí sin ag díriú ar na fadhbanna is mó atá ann. Níl an fás eacnamaíoch ag freastal ar formhór an daonra – feiceann tú an t-ardaicme is meánaicme nua i mButare is Kigali ach níl iontu ach céatadán fíorbheag den daonra. Tá an daonra ag fás ag ráta 3% in aghaidh na bliana – rachaidh an daonra ó 9 milliun chuig beagnach 20 milliúin taobh istigh de 25-30 bliain. Tá an méid talúna atá ar fáil dóibh ag ísliú agus an talamh atá ann tá an chré ídithe agus spíonta. Tá an ráta eisimirce iontach íseal: is fuath le mhuintir Rwanda a bheith ó bhaile. Iad siúd a théann thar lear filleann siad a luaithe agus is féidir leo. Is cuma cé mhéad postanna IT a chruthaíonn tú nó má éiríonn leat praghas an ola a ísliú trí phíopa a thógáil – cad a dhéanfaidh an tír seo le 20 milliún duine nuair nach féidir leat deileáil leis an 9 milliún atá ann faoi láthair?

Ní he nach dtuigeann an Rialtas seo ach nuair atá an fhadhb chomh mór agus chomh scanrúil sin, is fearr b’fhéidir gan caint faoi go ró-oscailte. Tá polasaí ag an Rialtas gan ach trí pháiste a bheith ag gach clann ach níl ann ach moladh agus níl se d’acmhainn ag 97% den daonra leas a bhaint as modhanna frithghiniúna fiú dá mbeidís toilteanach a leithéid a dhéanamh (ní ach le déanaí a tharraing na hEaglaisí siar a gcosc ar choiscíni a úsáid sa chogadh in aghaidh SEIF). Tá a lán oibre ar siúl i dtaca le caomhnú na talún, modhanna nua feirmeoireachta, díriú ar chaife is tae mar tháirgí easportála, feirmeoireacht éisc agus go leor eile. Ach mura féidir le duine éigin teacht ar fhreagra ar an mbonncheist Malthusach seo, níl ann ach snámh in aghaidh easa.

Sin ráite, nuair a bhreathnaíonn tú ar chuid de thíortha na hÁise agus an mórthitim tobann a tháinig ar an ráta breithe nuair a d’fheabhasaigh cúrsaí eacnamaíochta, feictear dúinn go dtarlaíonn a leithéidí: más féidir leis an Rialtas anseo feabhas a chur ar an saol eacnamaíoch ar bhealach a dhéanfaidh difir mór i saolta na ngnáthdhaoine, b’fhéidir go mbeadh seans éigin ann ansin.

Bhuel, sin iad mo smaointe faoi láthair (agus, cosúil leis an mblag féin, rófhada agus iomarca athrá!!) B’fhéidir go dtabharfainn faoin gceist arís i gceann tamall nuair atá níos mó den tír féin feicthe agam (agus níor labhair mé faoi cheist na teangan anseo – sin an chéad ábhar cainte eile is dócha, fíorspéisiúil dúinne a bhfuil cur amach againn ar stair na Gaeilge sa chóras oideachais againn féin).

Slán tamall! Murabeho!

Friday 26th September: Day Twenty in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Another day to kill. Cybercafe, maybe call out to Gisagara again to pick up some more things – especially my French dictionary and grammar book. There is a party in Kigali this weekend: Catherine Devine – one of the Irish VSO volunteers is having a hooley. Tina might go up for it – she probably needs a break from me at this stage! My family and friends will know how relaxed and affable I am when kept hanging around for ages with absolutely nothing to do!! Tina has been doing her best to be positive and cheerful but we have run out of things to do and say and discuss: we’re both quite work-orientated people so this enforced laziness is not doing either of us any good.

I’m not sure when I am going to get to post my blog so I will take this opportunity to wish all my nephews a very Happy Birthday – lá breithe faoi shéan is faoi mhaise a Phádraic, a Choilm agus a Iain! Bíodh lá iontach agaibh cibé lá a bhíonn an ceiliúradh mór!

I also know I promised to post stuff in Irish occasionally (mainly so Alfred can’t read any of the more sensitive comments – for all his other accomplishments, linguistic diversity isn’t one of them!). For those of you whose capability in this area is less than optimum (you can see I’ve been practising my civil service jargon) you will need to find a translator!

Short version of today: breakfast, visited Butare Cathedral (biggest in Rwanda, see pictures, probably needs to be full of worshipeprs to come alive), beer in Hotel Igazana and then home. Tina heading to Kigali for weekend (staying with Christina), Andy Crow coming down from Gikongoro Sunday to watch some football. Still no news on a house ........

Oh yes, met a really nice guy called Lambert (though Tina has spoken to him a lot more). He is a librarian in an American school and library here in Butare, fantastic English and has asked us to call in and see around the place!! Good to make friends!

Murabeho!


Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Thursday 25th September: Day Nineteen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Another insanely boring day! We got up, had breakfast and then wondered what the hell we were going to do for the day. We had to get our English-Kinyarwandan vocabulary sheets copied for Ephraim in Gisagara so we deliberately walked to the farthest point of the town where we knew there was a photocopy shop just to kill time. We did find some interesting new places – a market, some wholesale shops and loads of places selling tiny dried fish which looked pretty revolting to be honest. There was also – wait for it – a macrobiotic food shop! Anyway, having done that we went back to the hotel and then decided to visit the Rwanda National Museum which is just outside Butare. Absolutely fantastic place, spent over two hours there, can’t recommend it highly enough. Pictures to follow once I get out to Gisagara and get a USB cable which is only one of the important things I forgot! Got quite burned as well because both my hat and my sunblock are ... guess where? back in Gisagara.

Anyway the rest of the day was pretty uneventful – back to hotel, two hours redesigning my website although it’ll probably be two years before I get to upload it and a beer in the hotel courtyard with Suzanne and her partner (Suzanne is from Canada and was with us in Kigali and has now arrived in Butare). Jane joined us later and Tina brought her up to speed with events (such as they are). Dinner here and then ... well, here I am typing more insanely ordinary facts – Alfred is right, it’s only because I don’t have anything else to do. Even my French grammar book and dictionary are out in Gisagara. Oh, one thing else – I bought a motorbike helmet so I can start getting some lessons ASAP. It’s not a great helmet – it’ll do for training and driving on ordinary roads but if I am going to do any offroad driving I’ll need something with added protection.

And as for Alfred’s point yesterday – yes, these blogs ARE too long and detailed; I think a bit of self-censorship is in order. So, interesting events and observations only from now on!!

OBSERVATION: Electricity.
Laptop, MP3 player, rechargeable torch, mobile phone, camcorder, Palm Pilot, eBook reader, PowerChimp recharger – it’s all a bit sad really. I’ll have to wean myself off this gadget-dependency! Mind you, I was typing up this blog last night and, after a while, I felt my fingers becoming tingly and rough on the surface of the laptop. Tried some moisturising cream, no effect. Then I realised I was actually getting an electric shock from the casing of the laptop because I had it plugged in while I was using it! Gotta be careful!!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Wednesday 24th September: Day Eighteen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Ok – Jane now needs to pick up someone en route so my trip will have to be cancelled. After early breakfast with Jane she gives me a spare key to house and says to stay on and use the Internet until I am ready to go and just lock up after me. I get several day’s worth of blog posted (but no photos – won’t up-load for some reason). Also get all my current emails answered (Facebook is going to have to wait until later!). Then I realise that the power has obviously been off for ages and I have been draining the battery on Jane’s laptop! I decide to leave it plugged in when I leave (it has a surge protector) so it can recharge if the power comes back (which it does just as I leave) but I text Jane and tell her to warn me if that wasn’t the right thing to do! No answer so I presume all is OK.

I meet up with Tina who has been having a really rough time with stuff from home. As regards our own situation we decide to ring Lydia in the VSO Office and fill her in. We tell her we are moving into this hotel for the time being until the housing situation is sorted and that we need to move our stuff from Gisagara to Butare. She rings Francois and then calls us back saying that Francois is going to meet us for lunch. The situation regarding our workspace is OK (that may well have been a misunderstanding on my part) and they are currently looking at three houses before deciding where we will be living. I said that’s fine but we are moving anyway and we can sort out later who exactly is paying for the hotel (I suspect it will be shared between VSO and us – they can certainly stump up for whatever rent they would have been paying for us if we were already in a house – apparently VSO have agreed to pay our rent until January, at which point the District’s new budget will kick in and they will assume responsibility.

So we are sitting here in the sun in the hotel courtyard – the place is rapidly filling up for lunch, seems to be a popular place. The rooms aren’t the largest so I hope we can fit our luggage in – we’ll see!!

Later on Wednesday....

Of course, no news or movement from Francois. We had a buffet lunch in the hotel (all you can pile on your plate for RWF1000, meat extra) and then we got motos out to Gisagara, stuffed as much into our rucksacks as we could and came back to the hotel. At least I was finally able to brush my teeth and change my underwear! We were going to meet Jane later but the heavens opened and gave us our first real foretaste of what the rainy season is like here – torrential downpour and wonderful thinder and lightning display (accompanied by the inevitable power failure). This meant no meeting up with Jane so we just stayed put and read by torchlight. Tina then went to bed early (Alfred here: blah, blah, blah, blah - I doubt anyone in the world is actually interested in hearing this level of detail about what’s going on – give us all a break! I think it’s just because he is bored and has so much time on his hands. Let’s all pray he actually gets down to work soon and gives us all a break. Then we can hear some REALLY interesting stuff about Rwandan Educational statistics!!! Can’t wait!)


Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Tuesday 23rd September: Day Seventeen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

1 Alfred is not looking so well these days ...














2 Soraya lighting a charcoal stove with slips of paper














3 Charcoal stove successfully lit!















4 Assembled water filter (with three 'candles')














5 Our 'practicalities' training group














6 Steve assembling the kerosene stove

Woke at six, got up at eight. Have now read most of ‘The Name of the Rose’ while in bed in the morning wondering if it worth getting up yet. I don’t want to wander into Jacques while he is getting ready for work, so I am waiting until I am sure he is gone to work before using the bathroom. This is getting really ridiculous – yesterday was the crowning point where Tina and I had to try and find somewhere to cower (I use the word advisedly) while the Sector Executive Secretary, District Executive Secretary and two colleagues had lunch in the sitting room. We were reluctant to ask Ephraim to do anything because obviously his main job is working for Jacques and whatever other District officials are using the house.

Needless to say Francois did not turn up at nine. Meanwhile both Tina and I spent a half hour each looking for one thing – a head torch in her case (found) and a flash drive in mine (not found). Because everything is still in our suitcases after almost three weeks we have absolutely no idea where anything is. Of all the annoying and frustrating aspects of the situation, this is probably the worst.

Francois eventually turned up at 10:30 and said he was going into Butare to (he hoped) look at a house for us. We said we were also going in and would love an opportunity to look at the house too. We arranged that he would ring us in Butare at some stage (don’t hold your breath here). To skip to the chase, all we got was a message (referring to a comment we had made earlier about shopping needs) that we had better shop for at least the next week – in other words, it will be at least a week before they can find us anything!! Tina’s reaction to this was akin to Geoff Boycott being asked to comment on the inclusion of synchronised swimming in the Olympics (good Sheffield woman that she is) – ‘not having it!’. The heavens also opened at that stage so we decided we are staying in Butare tonight in a cheap but nice hotel that Jane Keenan recommended and, if it is OK we are going to move in there until things get sorted out.

Other than that, today was interesting in other ways. I called into a motorbike shop and got more detailed prices etc. The guy in the shop said I definitely should be thinking of an off-road capable bike, a four stroke 150cc Chinese model for RWF1,500,000 (£1,500) if I am going on any of the rural roads. A 100cc two-stroke is only RWF500,000 but would not be able to handle anything other than proper roads or good dirt roads and would definitely struggle in the rainy season on any of the lesser roads. Of course, I don’t even know what two-stroke and four-stroke are but I already see myself charging around the rural by-roads of Rwanda, exchanging greetings in fluent Kinyarwandan with all and sundry (I know what Alfred is going to say about this!!). Seriously, though, Alexis said he is in charge of school inspections but he has not done a single one because the District can’t afford to pay for travel costs, so either I stick to schools within walking distance (two) or come up with another plan. Well, learning to ride a motorbike would put learning the feadóg mór into the ha’penny place as far as I’m concerned, though I can imagined all the mystified Rwandans at this muzungu creeping along at 30kph on his big 150cc red Chinese bike (of course red, it has to be red!).

OK – lots of beggars today, partly because we sat down in the street because there was a power cut and we were waiting for the cybercafé to resume business. I am doing my ‘as-I-learned-in-India’ routine of just pretending they aren’t there but it is proving much harder here: child cripples and nursing mothers and other quite genuine cases. It’s because I am not on holiday I think: I am going to be living here for two years so these people are actually a part of my community in some way, so I’ll have to see how this goes.

I also saw the highlights of the Chelsea - Man Utd match. Football is HUGE here but almost everyone supports Arsenal. Bringing my Joe Cole Chelsea shirt is probably the best thing I could have done: instant conversation starter. We went into a bank to open our first accounts today. We had been warned that doing anything in a bank can be a very long-drawn out experience but the ECOBANK was quite quick and efficient by Rwandan standards. The manager is an Arsenal supporter but his brother supports Chelsea, so instant bonhomie and chat and ‘do pop in to see me again the next time you are in town’.

So here we are sitting in the Hotel Faucon (second-best hotel in Butare, plastic chairs, rooms only RWF15,000 a night, big two-bed apartments for RWF20,000 – good value, breakfast included) waiting to meet Jane Keenan (poor Jane, she has already been so good to all of us volunteers and here we are imposing on her again – luckily I have more chocolate to reward her with!!) and get some advice on what we do next!

Anyway – to sum up. I am here for two years so a few days at the start isn’t the be-all and end-all. I like this place, I like the people, the climate is reasonable (though about to get a lot wetter) and I can already (if somewhat dimly) see the potential to do some effective work over the next two years. I am beginning to wonder, however, just how much preparation actually went into our placement here - a lot of what is happening just doesn't add up if the proper preparation and research had been done in advance. In theory, the discussions on the placement started over six months ago, so how come things are so screwed up? (I have to laugh at the sentence in my placement outline 'Electricity should not be a problem' - either whoever wrote it has a quirky sense of humour (it won't be a problem because there isn't any!) or else even the most basic checking out wasn't done). Anyway, as the song said, things can only get better!

LATER ... met Jane and filled her in. We tried to book in at the Hotel Ineza but they only had one room for tonight so Tina is staying there and I am going to stay in Jane’s spare room. She is heading off to visit three different schools tomorrow and has invited me to come with her if I like. Meanwhile, Tina will head back to Gisagara and pick up some vital supplies for us until we can get our entire stock moved. Jane has a really nice place with wonderful things in it like a fridge and a cooker!! She fed us pizza and salad too and we chatted for ages until Tina headed back to the hotel. Roll on tomorrow!!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Monday 22nd September: Day Sixteen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

A complete waste of a day. We got up at the crack of dawn and were all decked out in our workclothes for our first official meeting with the Director of Ecucation (Francois) and the Chargé (Alexis). The meeting was fine, though Alexis’ French was a bit of a challenge and the statistics and information they gave us were a bit depressing, especially as regards budgets and the lack of them). We also outlined our intentions and hopes for our placement as well as we could at this stage. Francois left saying we would be meeting the mayor later that day.

And that was it. No mayor, no phone call, no information, nothing. A gang of people turned up to have lunch in “our” sitting-room (eating freshly made cassava bread which has to be smelled to be believed – think uncleaned drains), Alexis dropped in eventually and seemed surprised we had heard nothing. Meanwhile, we read, tried to study French and Kinyarwandan and generally wondered what the hell we were doing here. If we were actually on holiday, we would have gone off and done something INTERESTING but we are supposed to be at work, so we didn’t. We kind of needed to do some shopping in Butare but it is RWF4000 for a round trip on a motorbike (our daily wage is RWF5000). So in the end we sent Ephraim off with RWF600 to get us 6 eggs and he came back with seven so we had a nice omelette for dinner with tomatoes and onions in it. Then, that night there was a massive thunderstorm which was exciting and we spent about an hour teaching Ephraim numbers in English – he pretty much got from 1 to 100 OK but cannot say thye ‘th’ sound for anything – it obviously doesn’t exist in Rwandan and Tina says it is a really difficult sound even for kids in England and Ireland. Also, there are no vowel digraphs in Kinyarwandan so ‘eight’ was a nightmare for him. Nice kid and really keen to learn.

Francois rang and said he would see us at nine tomorrow. We’ll see.

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

AFTER FIFTEEN DAYS IN RWANDA – SOME OBSERVATIONS

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

OBSERVATION ONE: Poverty
This country is poor, poorer than I imagined. Not poor in the obviously desperate poverty of a shantytown or a slum but the overwhelming majority of the population have virtually nothing. Looking at the dwellings as we walked and drove around, we could quickly see the handful of ‘successful’ people and families – they live in brick buildings of which there are a few scattered here and there. Next step down is mud-brick buildings sometimes with plaster on the outside. Finally you have small wattle and daub huts, usually with only one small window. Most of these are crumbling before your very eyes. On Sunday they were demolishing one of these houses opposite our house and it only took them about 45 minutes to completely do so and carry away all the bits.

Almost all the children we saw on our walks are barefoot and wear what must be their only clothes – many are wearing tattered school clothes even on a Sunday. Almost none wore shoes – if they had them they were probably saving them for school. And the main reason (he says after a bare two weeks in the country) is just the sheer number of people. Labour is so cheap that few people buy off-the-peg clothes. You borrow the garment and bring it to a tailor to get it copied. Hand-made is always the cheapest. A daily wage for a labourer is RWF200 which is about the price of a kilo of potatoes. About 30% of the population never handle money at all. The government is asking families to limit themselves to three children per family but that is not likely to happen, given that contraception is both frowned upon and – more importantly – totally out of the financial reach of most families.

For my work – as I am beginning to realise – this means there is absolutely no budget for additional expenditure (see Monday and Tuesday’s blogs for more details). Whatever Tina and I come up with is going to have to be pretty much things that don’t cost anything! That may cramp our style a little bit – or just make us more inventive!

OBSERVATION TWO: Red
Mars could be like this. Everywhere, on every surface, on your skin, in your ears, hair, clothes, on books and tables, nails and shoes (especially shoes!) – pinkish-red dust permeates everything. I remember being in Prague for Christmas in 1990 when everyone was still burning lignite and there was terrible air pollution. I had just walked home to the flat I was staying in and I took out a tissue and blew my nose. The ghastly black mess that appeared made me think my sinuses had disintegrated! Well, blowing your nose after a motorcycle ride in Rwanda is even more dramatic! Fans of the film ‘Total Recall’ will know what I mean – it’s just like that and it gives the countryside an eerie quality, especially when you recall what happened fourteen years ago.

OBSERVATION THREE: Kinyarwandan
Absolutely have to learn it. Have gone through some of the grammar and so on and it’s not as bad as I first feared, though still quite tough going - a large part of the problem is the incredible variations in how they pronounce words! The tenses are OK by and large with only two irregular verbs (be and have as you might have guessed). Another problem is the way in which words combine and merge and all pronouns and adjectives agree with other words in about ten different ways (seriously – ten or so noun classes and each has its own set of rules for agreement with adjectives etc). Anyway, we are going to hire a teacher soon and set to it.

OBSERVATION FOUR: Stars
They are different here. When we were out the other night watching the car rally, it was the first time the skies had been clear enough to see the stars and I suddenly realised that I didn’t recognise a single one of them. That’s a first. I remember stories of sailors in times of old who would never panic as long as they could see the stars and therefore know where they were. It was really peculiar – I should be able to recognise some after all – we are only 2 degrees south of the equator so Ireland’s southern sky constellations must be visible here but not the ones I am used to – Orion, Plough, Cassiopea (?sp).

OBSERVATION SIX: Police and the law
You don’t mess with the police. Not that people are afraid of them – for the most part the relationship with the community seems to be easygoing and friendly but their authority is absolute. As I mentioned before about our walk into Butare, even the youngest kids behaved thenselves if there was a policeman anywhere in the vicinity! There are also a lot of private security guards, outside banks and other important buildings. They usually wear black and carry pump-action shotguns, as opposed to the police who wear navy-black and carry AK47s (well, some of them do – most are only armed with a switch to whip recalcitrant boys out of the way with but the ones with AK47s do look quite impressive!).

AND SOME PICTURES.....

Maybe not - the connection crashes every time I try and upload! Some other time!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Sunday 21st September: Day Fifteen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Tea, then shower, then breakfast. It was definitely colder last night – wore a t-shirt under my nightshirt. We are definitely going to need heavier blankets soon. I think Tina is wearing her cardigan in bed for warmth. I also had to turn off my phone to try and retain whatever small charge it still had. We chatted for a bit about what we are going to discuss with the District Office and the Mayor on Monday, focussing on the two main issues of a) where exactly are we going to be living and when? and b) where exactly are we going to be working (.i. we need an office and desk, or prefereably desks). Tina has been talking of maybe getting bicycles and cycling in and out from Butare – it’s a bit of a trek, probably an hour with some serious hills, but it would certainly keep us fit! Anyway, we decided to try walking to Butare, whcih we figured was about 2½-3 hours or so to give us a better idea of the topography. We figured on attracting some attention along the way – and so we did.

We headed off at 10.30 laden down with various bits of electronic equipment that we hoped to recharge in Butare and immediately gathered an enormous retinue of children. This continued throughout the journey because there is no end to any of the villages and settlements. You pass an occasional sign that shows a village limit but the houses are just constant. It was hard to tell which children belonged to which house but there were definitely individual houses where we counted up to 14 children – the average in Rwanda is supposed to be six but I suspect in a rural area like this it is more. As before we had lots of kids following us and also adults lining the route to watch this strange spectacle. As we got further from Gisagara people got more astonished – as a friend pointed out to us later, it wasn’t so much seeing abazungu as seeing them walking that was the really peculiar thing.

At one point a man came out of a house and set of towards Butare a few paces ahead of us. We caught up with him and started chatting. He was from Save, a town near Butare and had stayed over with a friend because the roads were closed because of the rally. It was nice to have company and he spoke reasonable French and also English. He preferred te latter – he said he found English much easier to learn than French. He worked as a secretaire to a copyiste – I suspect this means a papeterie or photocopy shop – but had been a primary teacher before. We had a long discussion about many topics and then – suddenly – we heard a roaring sound on the road behind us. As we scurried up a bank, a Subaru rallycar went by at about 100kph – the rally was still on! So, for the next half hour, we would walk for three minutes and then find a bank or somewhere else to stand away from the road as the next car came through. We met various policemen along the way who were busily keeping locals away from the road but didn’t seem to want to interfere with our insane wanderings! We had one or two hairy moments when either there wasn’t anywhere really safe to stand or the cars came perilously near to slipping off the edge of the road and spinning out of control.

When the race finished a policecar pulled up beside us and offered us a lift the rest of the way into Butare, which we and our new friend gratefully accepted. We had been walking two hours and figured there was another hour to go so (most of it uphill) so the lift was most welcome. When we got to Butare we all hopped out with our bags. As the policecar sped off, Kitoze was holding a grey bag which he presumed belonged to one of us. When both of us denied ownership, he realised he had taken the policeman’s bag from the car! Absolute panic! He grabbed the nearest moto rider, jumped on the back and ordered him to pursue the police car. No good – he returned five minutes later pretty worried but then found another policeman who had also been in the car with us and who agreed to mind the bag and return it to the other policeman (who seemed a pretty senior guy from the way everyone was deferring to him). It all seemed to end with laughs and slaps on the back so I hope no harm was done (more on the police and people’s reaction to them later).

We bought our friend a beer in a nearby hotel and found out his name was Nemeyimana Kizito. He siad he was a frere de famille of our boss, Francois (still figuring out exactly what that means but it is some sort of cousin) and we discussed maybe employing him later as a mentor for our Kinyarwandan classes – he siad, with eight children to support on RWF25,000 per month, he would be very interested!! Before we left him, he brought us to a cycle shop and introduced us to its owner. A mountain bike would be RWF100,00 – 150,000 and a Yamaha 100cc motorbike RWF485,000, about €600. Definitely a possible option though I would have to enquire about tests, training and so on. Something to check for the near future.

We hit the cybercafe for an hour, where I also recharged my phone and got a message from Andy and Amy that they were in town so we all met up for a drink and something to eat. Jane and a Rwandan friend of hers were also with them. We all filled each other in on our adventures and got something to eat (again, unbelievably slow service but the food was good) and then Tina and I dashed off for a moto because it was getting dark.

The drive back from Butare was probably the most exciting and interesting thing I have experienced so far in my time here in Rwanda. Dark fell rapidly, so the bike had to slow down. The road was thronged with people hurrying home and, in the distance, huge sheets of lightening began to light up the sky and we realised there was a storm approaching. As we got near Gisagara we felt the first drops of rain falling and got to the house just before the heavens opened (though the rain actually only lasted a few minutes). Fabulous trip, really ... can’t find the word. Spooky? Unreal? Otherworldly – that’s probably the closest. You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere ploughing through the dark but there are actually hundreds of shadowy people passing you by on each side.

Skipped supper and early bed. A bit shattered after more exercise in one day than in our entire visit so far and also preparing ourselves mentally for tomorrow.

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Saturday 20th September: Day Fourteen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

An entire weekend with nothing to do – it really feels like an empty void waiting to be filled. I actually woke at 6.00 but lounged around in bed until about 8.30 either dozng or reading The Name of the Rose: haven’t done that since I was on college! Nice cold shower which got at least some of the red dust off me (more on that anon). We decided to use some of the water from the filter to make tea and see if the chalkiness came through. When Ephraim brought the tea it was deep black and did taste rather of chalk (though it later transpired that Ephraim may have made the tea by boiling the water with the teabags already in them). Anyway, I suspect we will not be using the filters grom now on: the water has to be sterilised anyway and then straining it through fine muslin seems to do the trick (thank you Mammy!). Bread, peanut butter and tomatoes for breakfast. Tina wrote some letters and also did some research in her guide book on likely places to stay in Butare (!), I did some French grammar and then we took our courage in our hands and set off for the market!

Oh boy – that was an experience. We rapidly acquired an entourage of about 50-60 young children, all laughing and roaring, asking us our names but mostly shouting ‘Bonjour’ and shrieking with laughter when we answered in Kinyarwandan, but all quite friendly and only one or two asked us for money and even then in a rather half-hearted way that indicated they knew it wasn’t really going to happen (except for one – there’s always one – an older girl of about 14 who must have asked me about ten times and followed us all around the entire marketplace – ah well). When we got to the actual marketplace itself, the adults seemed to be more spooked by us than the children! The market was interesting (no pics I’m afraid, wasn’t sure how people would react) – divided into different sections for food, clothes, grain and rice, and shoes (so many shoes, everywhere you go there are people selling shoes). We caused absolutely havoc as we tried to go up and down the aisles followed by this throng. We bought tomatoes, rice and shallots. Tina did most of the bargaining and did pretty well: it’s tough remembering these insanely long numbers when you are in the middle of a shrieking throng that roars with laughter every time you try and pronounce a word (though they were more likely laughing at the prices we were prepared to pay!). We almost bought a large bag of rice for RWF600 thinking it was RWF160 (maganatandatu as opposed to ijanatandatu). (Later edit: actually RWF600 for a kilo of rice turns out to be a fair price, rice is expensive here).

However, while occasionally irritating, the atmosphere was very friendly and accommodating and the adults certainly got used to us very quickly. If ever they kids got a little too close or irritating, Tina would turn around and do her special Primary School ‘oya’ (which means ‘no!’) with immediate effect. And when we got near our gate, we turned and said Murabeho! – they all replied and stayed on the street, didn’t come near the gate or the fence. So much for the sense of privacy not being observed in Rwanda (or maybe it’s because it is the District house we are in, I’m not sure).

We had figured that on being the major part of the day. We would cook the rice later (or rather get Ephraim to do so) and lix in the tomatoes, shallots and a green pepper we already had for a rice salad with sardines on the side and that would be that for the day. Then Ephraim came running in talking excitedly about something or other that was going on. Eventually we deduced there was a rally coming through the village! We had seen a lot of people climbing trees all right and wondered what was up. We waited for about an hour outside our gate and suddenly they came – not bikes as we expected but big proper rally cars, mostly Subarus, roaring past as ferocious speeds to the intense enjoyment of all. The whole thing took about two hours and most of the rest of the village got a chance to get a good look at us. Then a load of kids got me to take a movie clip of them and play it back to them. This caused such hilarity a bigger group formed and threatened to spill out onto the race track so a policeman came along with a switch and, while being careful to neither catch me with it or look me in the eye, began tapping the kids on their behinds to drive them further away from the road before they caused an accident. A bit embarrassing really – I should have been a little more conscious of safety!!

Anyway, we went back and got started on dinner (it was actually getting dark – you forget that you need to plan your meals before it’s dark if you don’t have proper light). Choice of drinks was: unfiltered water (Gisagara vintage), filtered water (VSO vintage with added calcium carbonate), filtered water (SteriPen and muslin vintage) and bottled water (Butare vintage). Then, just as we figured that was it for the night and we had settled down to our first game of candlelit Scrabble, Ephraim reappeared very excited and dragged us down to the village – apparently the cars were coming back for a night-time drive-through. We walked through the entire length of the village in the pitch dark but the place was completely alive. One or two houses had kerosene lamps but most places were completely dark but there were hundreds and hundreds of people gathered. It was quite a sight in the darkness as the cars roared through one by one, ten in total. Again, very friendly crowd, curius but not intrusive. I think Ephraim is getting a kick out of bringing us around and is being asked loads of questions about us (picture of Ephraim to follow).

PS: Our inaugural Scrabble game ended in a tie – 273 each.

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Friday 19th September: Day Thirteen in Rwanda (continued)

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

OK – so Friday wasn’t as finished as I thought it was! We decided to send Ephraim for water: he was out back with two friends. He said it would be RWF200 and we said fine: when we left the room we heard the hysterical laughter we will become accustomed to when we have fallen for some outrageous price hike! (Having said that, Ephraim has continued to bring us water ever since at no extra charge so that may have been just to impress his friends). We set up the water filters but they are INCREDIBLY slow. Also we couldn’t boil the candles (that’s what the filtering mechanisms are called) so the water that eventually comes out is very chalky. I decided to use my Steripen that I had bought in The Great Outdoors and it works really well: you take a litre of water amd then insert the SteriPen. It emits UV radiation for 90 seconds and sterilises the water. Then I pour it through a few layers of muslin to filter out any impurities and it tastes great. So far so good. Now I do three litres every morning as soon as I get up and that is what we use for cooking and drinking. As long as the batteries hold out we’re fine for water! I had somewhat less success with my Powerchimp – a mobile battery that is suppsoed to charge mobile phones and other equipment. My phone is almost flat at this stage so that is something I will have to be careful about.

Ephraim joined us and tried to teach us some Kinyarwandan: we didn’t pick up much vocabulary but he certainly corrected our pronunciation a lot. They don’t seem to pronounce the final vowel in words here, unlike in Kigali. He’s a really nice kid (figure about 14-15) but we are not sure if we are supposed to be paying him or not. We will have to sort that out once we know what we are actually doing ourselves!

We skipped supper and then considered our situation. We don’t know where we are living or what our jobs are or when these are likely to be sorted out. We are still living out of suitcases and all our possessions are in Tina’s room, so I have to get into her room if I need anything. We can’t set up our mosquito nets (luckily it seems to be far too cold here for mosquitos, though I should have bought thicker blankets in Kigali!). On the other hand, people here are extremely nice, we have a roof over our heads and enough to eat (and we always knew variety is not an aspect of Rwandan eating habits) and it looks like things are on the way to getting sorted out.

Murabeho!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Thursday 18th and Friday 19th: Days Twelve and Thirteen in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Oh boy – prepare for a LONG blog!

Big day dawns! Joe was supposed to be the first leaving so we got up at six! Well, he did – I lay on until 6:30. Everyone was quite wound up, waiting for different employers or VSO vehicles that would bring them all off to their places of employment. Of course, few of the arranged times turned out to be correct and Tina and I ended up being one of the last to leave. Francois turned up around midday with a pickup truck and two other men and we loaded everything into it and off we went. We stopped for almost an hoiur and a half just down the road from the guesthouse at a printers where they were expecting to pick up something that – of course – wasn’t ready yet. Then a brief stop for some dry cleaning before finally heading for Butare.

It was a lovely drive – we got a great impression of the amazing topography of Rwanda: hills and valleys, all the different crops but, most of all, every inch possible under cultivation and everywhere inhabited. There was not one moment where you were not within sight of a couple of dwellings. It really brought home the massive problem Rwanda faces even at the moment. The thought of the existing population doubling in 20-30 years is frightening. Also, as we headed further south, the degree of poverty became much more pronounced. Except for the main towns of Butare and Gitagara we saw nothing but the most basic and primitive housing, no facilities, electricity, only occasional communal pumps (the most common sight on the roads is people travelling by bike or on foot with jerrycans) and hardly any shops except for the occasional place selling beer and Fanta.

It was also clear from the astonished looks of some, especially younger children, that abazungu are not a common sight here. In Kigali they would often shout muzungu! as I walked by. Here they seemed more dumbstruck than anything else. Should make school visits quite interesting!

We stopped off in Butare to buy some stuff for supper and breakfast and then arrived at the house. The house itself is fine, quite imposing really – big sittingroom with couches and armchairs and – incongruously – a large TV in the corner (no electricity however). Small dining room, kitchen amd bedrooms. This is where things began to get a little bit complicated. There was one very big bedroom and one tiny one. At first we thought this was it and we would have to work out who got the small one but eventually we deciphered that one of our two bedrooms wasn’t yet ready and the tiny one was only temporary. Francois showed us two locked bedrooms: one was the mayor’s who very occasionally stayed here if he couldn’t get back to his home in Butare. The other was the second bedroom which was currently being renovated for one of us.

The next thing was that Francois said that the workman who had been working on the house felt he should be paid RWF20,000 rather than RWF15,000 and he seemed to feel we would have to make up the difference. We said we would refer it to VSO and that seemed to be that. The next thing was that the tiny bedroom does not have a lock and the one on the large one didn’t work. Francois said he would have to get someone out to fix it and that would cost RWF8,000. This one we felt we didn’t really have any choice on so I coughed up. He then came back and said the guy wouldn’t come for less than RWF10,000 so that was another RWF2,000 (Tina did get a receipt off him for this).

Anyway, VSO had delivered the furniture for the house which was stacked in the kitchen but none of it (particularly the beds) had been assembled or put in rooms. Of course, the living room was already fully furnished and my bedroom (I took the small one for now, especially as it didn’t have a lock) would only barely fit a bed in it so the furniture (other than beds) would have to stay put until the other room was ready. It was now almost dark and we started assembling the beds. The slats were too broad so we had to cut about an inch of each of the supports with a Swiss Army knife. Eventually that all got done and we at least had beds to sleep on. We also explored the kitchen and found quite a lot of crockery, utensils, even vegetables but Francois said they belonged to others and weren’t ours to use, though we were allowed to use the sink. We couldn’t quite figure out what he was saying but thought the stuff belonged to the workers who were doing up the house for us.

Anyway, he left saying he would call back at around nine to bring us to the office and introduce us around, we’d be back at the house by 12 or so and then he’d be back after to do the tour of the district, bring us to Butare etc. We also had a ‘chat’ with a young boy (Ephraim) who lives out back and does the housework (I say ‘chat’ in that he only speaks Kinyarwandan). He gave us each a key for the back door and showed that he had one himself. The back door doesn’t have any glass in it, mind you, but it is barred. Wasn’t quite sure what he was getting at but figured we could check with Francois in the morning.

We then got down to making something to eat. We had no kerosene and no way of either heating or cooking anything, so fruit juice and water, bread and tuna were our staples. We lit a candle in the sitting-room and sat around (got to give Tina full marks here for always putting the best face on a situation!! As we got started we heard a noise in the kitchen and found a young girl (who Ephraim had obviously let in) curious to see the new occupants. I shook hands with her and ushered her out and Tina then very firmly closed the door: there were a few others hanging around but no one else came in.

Anyway, we continued with our ‘meal’ and I took a few photos. Then, we heard a key turning in the back door and a man walked into the sitting room. He introduced himself in very good English as Jack/Jacques and sat down on the sofa. He said he was the Executive Secretary for the District and that he lived here. The room that Francois had said was the one still being prepared for me was actually his and he had lived there for over two years. It was actually a requirement of his job as DES (District Executive Secretary) that he live here and be available. This, of course, explained the stuff in the kitchen. Jack was extremely nice and we chatted for a long time about his job and his background but Tina and I realised that what the District had told VSO was, to put it mildly, somewhat at variance with the truth. In other words, we were to all intents and purposes living in someone else’s house. It was his kitchen and his bathroom we were sharing, and not just with him necessarily as it transpired.

We cleared away our stuff and had a chat. At least the lock on Tina’s bedroom was working (if only from the inside) so we decided to head to bed (it was only about 8.30 but we felt knackered). I actually slept quite soundly and didn’t wake up til about six, though I did think I heard some people moving around during the night.

The next morning when I got up Tina had already been up since five and had only got to sleep around one. There had been a stream of people visiting the house all morning, all of them just walking in, either looking for Jack or about some other business. One policeman just walked in, went straight to Jack’s bedroom and emerged having changed his clothes. Another woman walked into the front door into the sitting room as Tina was sitting there, told Tina she had to kiss her on the cheek as a greeting, kissed her back and then marched off down to Jack’s room!! It is clear that this house is not just Jack’s as a residence, but is also used for general District business.

Once I had washed a bit and brushed my teeth (drinking water is vanishing rapidly) we discussed what to do. The main thing is that this is not our house, it is – to all intents and purposes – Jacques’ (think I’ll use the French spelling). When Tina got up, she couldn’t use the bathroom because he was in there for ages getting ready for work. Whatever about no water or electricity (we knew that before we came) we cannot stay somewhere where we have absolutely no access to facilities of our own. We texted Lydia in VSO to this effect – she is away so we sent copies to Flavia and Charlotte and said we were meeting Francois at nine and would ring after that.

It is worrying that Francois has told us things that are obviously not the case (I don’t think my and Tina’s French could have been so bad as to be mistaken about that). The look on Jacques’ face when I told him Francois had said his bedroom was going to become mine was almost comical. I felt bad because he is perfectly entitled to be here, indeed is required to be here, so I don’t know if we have fallen into some kind of political gameplaying or what (the permutations there are endless so I gave up trying to second- and third-guess what exactly is going on).

Anyway we have both changed into good clothes ready to go and meet the mayor at nine (it now being ten!) but, of course cannot actually leave the house becasue none of the rooms here are lockable and Francois said under no circumstances should we leave the house without locking all our property away. I should add that the lock we spent RWF10,000 on and which only worked from inside Tina’s room anyway didn’t work at all this morning – Tina had to use a knife to get out of her bedroom! There was supposed to be someone coming this morning to fix it but so far no sign. Anyway, battery is getting low and I want to make sure I have enough power left to finish today’s entry. We have told VSO we can’t stay here as things are and we don’t want Jacques put out (even if that were offered) so it’s either somewhere else in Gisagara or they find us somewhere in Butare.

Much, much later on Friday

Well that was an interesting and – dare I say it – I hope productive day! Tina sent a long text to Lydia at around 8.30 explaining the situation and sent copies to Charlotte and Flavia when it transpired Lydia was away for the day. Francois turned up at ten or so, got the locksmith to fix the lock and then took us around the village (even he said you cannot call it a town). I thought I was prepared for the looks and interest but it was still quite disconcerting! Francois took us to his office (passing the sector HQ where our temporary housemate Jacques works) and showed us around and introduced us to all his associates. We left our computers there to recharge and then went to the bank but they didn’t have any application forms for opening an account. Then we walked to the District Office which was about a kilometre away. The sun was blazing down and I was wearing my good shirt and black trousers and (carrying) a black jacket plus laptop backpack so it was really tiring and thirst-inducing. As we walked to the office, Francois told us that the mayor was away so it would be Monday before any decision would be made. Tina and I expressed some alarm at this and I said I wasn’t sure what to tell VSO in this regard. Francois seemed a bit alarmed that we had already been in touch with VSO and assured us they were moving on this issue. He then, tentatively, suggested that we might consider living in Butare and coming in and out each day to work. We thought this would be a great idea and said it would have our full backing.

When we went into the office we were again shown around and introduced and then bumped into the vice-mayor who agreed to see us immediately. He was extremely pleasant (in both English and French) and said that when the placement was originally being suggested they had suggested Butare but that VSO office had said it wouldn’t really work. I have to say I can see exactly why the VSO Office would have though this: Butare is 20 minutes away by car or bike and there is no bus service but it turns out the majority of the staff live in Butare and there is no problem arranging a lift in and out each day. Anyway, we gave this idea our full support and agreed that we would stay as we were until Monday when there would be a meeting.

The vice-mayor siad he was going into Butare if we wanted a lift so we took him at his word and off we went. He even let us stop at Francois’ office to collect our computers and put them back in our house. He dropped us in Butare and we set off to explore what might become our new home. It actually seems a lot nicer than Kigali though there seem to be far more beggars and hawkers. Mind you there is only one real main street so it’s inevitable they all concentrate there. Some nice little supermarkets and shops, pub in the Hotel Faucon shows Premiership and Champions League football (!) and loads of cybercafes. We went into the Lebanese supermarket for lunch as a treat (the Mutzig was a very expensive RWF900 for a small bottle but is did come in a frozen glass but the burger chips and coleslaw was only RWF1500 and very good. That’s €1 and €1.80 respectively roughly (good value) and the average labourer would need seven days’ wages to buy the burger alone (not so good value).

It was nice to sit and relax for once and read a Ugandan paper about the trade dispute between Kenya and Uganda whereby Kenya has blocked imports of Ugandan bull semen in apparent retaliation for Uganda’s blocking imports of day-old chicks. Oh, and the RPF won the election by a landslide and the proportion of women in the Rwandan parliament has gone up from an amazing 48% to an incredible 55% (that latter was from a headline in a paper I didn’t actually buy). The main Rwandan English-language paper is the New Times which one could fairly say is a fairly strong supporter of the present administration, as indeed all the newspapers seem to be.

We then went to a cyber cafe where I answered a few emails and noted that Obama seems to be bouncing back a bit but it is still looking a bit hairy for November and that Chelsea had knocked four past Bordeaux!! We met up with Francois for a few minutes – he actually lives with hsi wife and four daughters in Butare so wasn’t heading back to Gisagara. We got some more water and packed everything into our packpacks and hired two motorbikes to bring us home (the price is usually RWF1500 but we couldn’t knock them down past RWF2000 each).

Now, getting a lift on the back of a motorbike in Kigali with slow-moving traffic and tarmac roads is one thing, this was quite another. The road from Butare to Gisagara is jsut a dirt track, though well-packed and firm and not as bumpy as some. However, it was quite bumpy enough for me! I kept bashing my helmet into the back of the driver’s as I didn’t see the bumps and ridges coming – I think he was getting quite irritated towards the end!! Anyway we arrived safely but I wondered what it would be like to do that for two hours instead of just ten or fifteen minutes and on less friendly roads too!

So here we are settled back in. The bar next door is doing a roaring Friday night trade but we are just glad to be home with a weekend to relax. I’m typing, Tina is texting and Beethoven’s 3rd is on in the background. Neither of us is very hungry so it’ll be early bed, lie in and then we are going to venture into the Gisagara fruit and vegetable market (quite possibly the first ever muzungus to do so – that should be quite something – full report to follow).

Murabeho!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Wednesday 17th: Day Eleven in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.


Kind of a nothing day but with some really interesting bits. Some volunteers had their discussions with their programme managers today (I had mine last week) so the rest of us started on a session with Soraya on ‘practicalities’ – how to set up and run a water filter, kerosene stove and lamp, charcoal stove and setting up a mosquito net. It all went quite well: you definitely want to be cooking on a charcoal fire for doing a stirfry, no question – a kerosene stove just doesn’t produce that much heat but charcoal is banned in parts of Rwanda because it adds to deforestation (given the price of kerosene I don’t know how people in those parts of the country cope). It is available and allowed in the south but we’ll see how we go (kerosene is paraffin, by the way, for us in Ireland!). The session went quite well and was extremely informative and useful.

Then Tina and I got a lift with some of the programme staff to the VSO office and just mooched around the resource room for a while. The internet connection was pretty slow but I did get on and sent a few messages, especially to all you wonderful people who are contributing to my sponsorship drive!! It’s great to get messages from people so keep them coming, or else make comments here on the blog page (that’s actually better in some ways, though bear in mind that blog comments won’t appear on the actual blog page until I have okayed them; that’s how the Blogger site operates). They have a library there so I took out a PD James and The Name of the Rose which I haven’t read in ages. Then we tootled back to the guesthouse, missing lunch (which is no loss for me given how much I have been eating recently) and had sessions on mentoring (our allowance for paying someone to help us with our French and/or Kinyarwandan during our stay – maximum of three hours per week at RWF2000 per hour) and our last Kinyarwandan class which was a bit heavy going for some because we are getting VERY tired but Emmanuelle is so enthusiastic we buckled down and did all the vocabulary on clothes and household items that he had prepared. We were also delighted to hear that we should have him again in November when we are all back in Kigali for ICT2 (our second bout of In-Country Training – VSO do love their acronyms).

It is interesting to look at how many foreign loanwords there are in Kinyarwandan and in what categories: for fruit and vegetables there are obviously very few and presumably apply to non-native plants: ikaroti, avokat, inanasi, itomati, ipera, and maracuja are all I could find so far. But for clothing virtually all items betray their foreign origin: how many of these can you decipher: karavati, ipantalo, ijinkisi, isogisi, ijaketi, umupira and ijipo. Guesses can be posted as comments on this blog! Also interesting is that in Burundi, which has a very similar language, almost all these words are translated into something that is recognisably Burundian whereas Rwandans use the French or English word and just stick a vowel on the front and make a few other minor changes. It’s a bit like the difference between saying mo rothar and mo bhicycle.

We then finished with a session with Mike Silvey who is the country director who was looking for a frank and open discussion of how the entire ICT had gone. So we did!! Overall, the group was extremely positive about almost everything, though – inevitably – you tend then to list the things that were could be improved the next time around. However, without going into those, overall we have been very impressed with the Programme Office here and the staff and especially those volunteers already incountry who worked so hard over the last week to greet us and make us feel at home: Bruce, Els, Chris, Paula, Cathy, Dani (?spelling) and I may have missed out a few others – sorry guys! Soraya and Jane in particular spent an enormous amount of time with us, answering stupid questions, guiding us around and showing incredible amounts of patience!

So I am now off to supper (it is 1856 my time, one hour ahead of Ireland and the UK). My employer is staying here tonight so he may well be at supper, so I am already trying to think in French!! I’ll update after supper!

OK – no employer but I got a nasty turn when I thought a guy at another table that I hadn’t even spoken to was him! Everyone’s thoughts are beginning to turn to breaking up tomorrow and what the reality of our placements is going to be. It’ll be good to get started but it has been very safe and protected here, so I’m pretty sure everyone is feeling some kind of degree of apprehension. However, we will see each other in eight weeks’ time which is good to know!

Just a quick word about my fundraising. You will have noticed that I have a little tag at the end of every entry about my fundraising for VSO. One or two people have asked me if I will be fundraising for any projects here in Rwanda itself at any stage. The answer is yes and you will hear all about it when it happens but I am strongly committed to fundraising for VSO as well. The degree of support they give their volunteers is enormous and it all costs. To give the figures of what VSO is paying for for me being here:
· three weeks of training in Birmingham including accommodation and flights
· all inoculations
· flights to and from Rwanda
· all accommodation costs in Rwanda
· the bulk of my RWF150,000 per month
· an equipment grant of RWF100,000
· a language grant of up to RWF6,000 per week for my entire time in country
· all medical costs incurred while in-country
· a holiday grant of (I think) about £400 if your placement is over one year
· a resettlement grant for when you return from your placement
I don’t think there is any other organisation that provides this level of support – both financial and organisational – to its volunteers. It means that countries that could not possibly afford to support volunteers themselves are able to tap into the skills, experience and enthusiasm of people like ... well, I suppose like me! The work VSO does and its vision of a world without poverty where everyone is equal is an inspiring and worthy one and I want to do everything I can to support them in this. So, that’s why I continue to look for your sponsorship in my fundraising drive!

Having said that, I do have a few ideas already about other projects that could do with support, combining the ideas of children’s health and education and you will be hearing more about that anon. In the meantime, thank you all again for your support, whether through sponsorship, emails, messages, blog comments or whatever. If anyone prefers to write in the old-fashioned way my new address is: Ruairi O hEithir, BP 129, Butare, Rwanda. Murabeho!

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.

Tuesday 16th: Day Ten in Rwanda

Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.

Boy, what a day! Started well – got some more laundry done while showering and had breakfast. Then I found out that Tina (housemate to be – you need to remember that ‘cos I won’t keep reminding you) got quite ill during the night with a bad stomach. She ended up staying in bed the whole day but was a little better when we got home this evening. This was unfortunate because today was .... SHOPPING DAY! We were all off to the Chinese Supermarket to buy everything we need for our new homes. And, in our case, because there haven’t been any voluinteers there before, everything means everything. In my case, two sets of everything because Tina wasn’t able to come. First I decided to go and change some travellers’ cheques – that took a little while but I must say the Bank of Kigali was nothing like as slow or inefficient as I was led to believe would be the case. I changes $400 into RWF207,000 or so – just as well as you will find out.

Got back to the supermarket to scenes of almost utter chaos. Each volunteer had made a pile on the floor in separate parts of the supermarket with buckets, linen, jerricans, mops, brushes, HUGE piles of toilet paper, and goodness knows what else. I had Tina’s list in one hand and mine in the other, trying to figure out which duplicated items we only needed one of (set of crockery) or both (bed linen). For those of you interested in shopping this is what you buy to set up house in Rwanda (if I can remember it all because it is all still packed away and there were a few impulse purchases!):

2 sets bed linen (each set being 2 sheets 2 pillowcases and one medium blanket)
4 pillows
2 large towels
2 medium towels
4 tea towels
4 cleaning cloths
1 floor brush
1 brush for cleaning dishes
1 pair latex kitchen gloves
1 set of two nail brushes (of which more anon)
1 wok
2 medium saucepans with lids
1 metal steamer thing (you know, the one that opens up like an inside-out cabbage)
1 jug for pouring
1 jug for measuring
1 20-litre jerrican
2 10-litre jerricans
4 sealable tuppaware containers
1 floor brush
1 brush and dustpan
4 dinner plates
4 side plates
4 mugs
4 knives, forks, large spoons and teaspoons
4 small wooden bowls (for eating stir-fry out of)
1 bucket (unfortunately not with lid)
2 small sealable buckets/bins, with lids
1 large and 1 small kitchen knife
1 plastic chopping board (I only found out later they had wooden ones which were far cheaper but I was running out of time at this stage)
1 vegetable peeler
1 wooden spatula
1 wooden spoon
6 drinking glasses
1 metal (unfortunately) teapot
1 thermos flask
1 umbrella
2 bars antibacterial soap
1 large pack toilet rolls
1 bottle opener

I think that’s everything – not absolutely sure. I had brought a can opener (thanks Mammy) and chopsticks from home, as well as a pepper mill and a supply of mixed peppercorns. I can already think of a few things we’ll need (a good plastic basin for washing clothes being the first) but I presume they can be got in Gisagara or Butare. The time pressure was because I got there later than the others and was trying to buy more stuff (obviously) and was then told the pick-up would soon be arriving so I had to hurry up!!

Anyway, all that cost – to my slight amazement – RWF197.400 or about £200 sterling. Now our equipment allowance is RWF100,000 each so that was OK but I hadn’t figured on actually spending it all in one go!! Some of the items were cheap but others were more expensive than at home. Basically anything imported is expensive – the two saucepans were RWF7,000 each, wok RWF15,000, bedlinen RWF17,000 and RWF8,000 respectively, each piece of cutlery RWF800 for a total of RWF12,800 and so on – all (except the wok) more than I would pay at home and this is out of my salary of RWF150,000 per month (which, as I mentioned before, is about three times what a Rwandan secondary teacher would get). Anyway, that’s why we have an equipment grant and thank you VSO for that! They packed all my stuff into two amazing bags (wait till you see the photos - Anime and Winnie-the-Pooh, both in screaming pink) and then we piled all our piles onto a pickup truck. One guy had to ride on the back of the truck to stop kids pinching our stuff as it went through the streets!

Then back to the guesthouse for lunch (it was incredibly hot and we were all tired and dehydrated from rushing around, plus a little shell-shocked at how expensive things ahd turned out to be). Lunch was fine and then I just had time for a quick shower (well, when I say shower, the cold water trickled out of the tap and I threw it over myself but it was still refreshing and made it possible for people to sit beside me in comfort). Tina had fallen asleep and seemed to be getting better, so we left her and Marjoulaine and Danielle and headed off for the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre.

We spent three hours here and I’m not sure how to go about describing it. In one way, it wasn’t dissimilar to many other exhibitions I have been to – the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC springs to mind, or Dachau. It was very well presented, beautifully mounted and lit (apart from a ten-minute power cut) and very detailed about exactly what happened both before and during the Genocide. It had some particularly heartbreaking displays on children and orphans and some of the video testimonies were quite hard to watch.

And then it strikes you that all the people you see around – the staff at the centre, the people you can see on the streets and on the banana farm across the valley, all the people you are going to work with for the next two years – actually experienced all of this quite recently, some of them as victims but far more of them as perpetrators. There are a large number of mass graves in the grounds of the centre with a total of 258,000 people buried in them – those are just victims from Kigali itself.

Anyway, there are pictures below to give an idea. I might come back to this a bit later in another blog once things have sunk in a bit more!

A very subdued bus ride back to the guesthouse and we got there around 5.50 and were expecting to see the British Ambassador at 6.15 for a security briefing (this was supposed to be last week but got cancelled). I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it but thought, what the hell, given that the British Embassy takes responsibility for all VSO volunteers regardless of their nationality I might as well. His name is Nick Cannon and he is relatively new here and he gave a really superb presentation on the history and culture of Rwanda, the genocide, its effects on Rwanda today, the present political climate (including the elections), a variety of tips on dos and don’ts in Rwanda and briefings on the security situation in neighbouring regions. He also spoke about Rwanda’s long-term plans and hopes and the enormous challenges it faces for the future. It was both fascinating and useful and he was extremely candid about botht the positive and more negatives aspects of both the present situation and the possible future scenarios. All in all, an hour well spent. He also told us that there is a pub in the British Embassy (called – by someone with a genius for names – The Goat & Gorilla) and as long as we tell them we are coming we are welcome any Thursday night (which is when it opens).

Then supper, then typing this. No one seems to have gone out tonight, don’t think anyone is in the mood.

Can't seem t get captions: pictures are

Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre

A wreath we laid on a mass grave

The current mass grave in which bodies that are still being found are placed

More mass graves

A sign that speaks for itself

Thank you very much to all those who have supported my ongoing fundraising effort. I will be continuing my fundraising for VSO for a few more months so, if you would like to contribute, please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi.