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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment