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.
Han on the left, Mans is the tall guy in the middle right.
Monday
Best to roll these in together I think. Monday we went with Enias to Gisagara to see the house. It was not an auspicious event: we were shown around by Eugene, the District Executive Secretary, who seemed intent on showing us how poor the house was. And it is in pretty poor shape – the structure seems OK but there are no ceilings, just the tin roof, a lot of animal droppings in the house (rats? mice? can’t tell), dark and discoloured walls and floors, no wiring, some broken windows, no fence or gate, an outside toilet (i.e. hole in the ground) that cannot be used because the ground has subsided and will have to be reconstructed. Eugene apologised for the house but said it was the best they could do. Both Tina and I read this as his saying ‘Go back to thinking of Butare’, a feeling strengthened when the mayor (who we met later) said he would be willing to give either or both of us a lift when possible. Also saw Francois briefly and arranged to meet him later. We grabbed as much of our stuff in Gisagara as we could and threw it into Enias’ truck to bring back to Butare.
Arriving back in Butare, we called Malenge, the real estate broker (for want of a better word) and went to look at three houses, all of them very nice (one especially so) – we told him that RWF200,000 is the maximum we can pay so it is up to him to earn his commission. Tina is also exploring various other options for placements – maybe in Shyogwe Diocese, maybe in Butare. Went to the Faucon to wait for Francois but he never showed (it was absolutely foul weather so I can’t really blame him – heaviest rain I have seen since we got here).
Best to roll these in together I think. Monday we went with Enias to Gisagara to see the house. It was not an auspicious event: we were shown around by Eugene, the District Executive Secretary, who seemed intent on showing us how poor the house was. And it is in pretty poor shape – the structure seems OK but there are no ceilings, just the tin roof, a lot of animal droppings in the house (rats? mice? can’t tell), dark and discoloured walls and floors, no wiring, some broken windows, no fence or gate, an outside toilet (i.e. hole in the ground) that cannot be used because the ground has subsided and will have to be reconstructed. Eugene apologised for the house but said it was the best they could do. Both Tina and I read this as his saying ‘Go back to thinking of Butare’, a feeling strengthened when the mayor (who we met later) said he would be willing to give either or both of us a lift when possible. Also saw Francois briefly and arranged to meet him later. We grabbed as much of our stuff in Gisagara as we could and threw it into Enias’ truck to bring back to Butare.
Arriving back in Butare, we called Malenge, the real estate broker (for want of a better word) and went to look at three houses, all of them very nice (one especially so) – we told him that RWF200,000 is the maximum we can pay so it is up to him to earn his commission. Tina is also exploring various other options for placements – maybe in Shyogwe Diocese, maybe in Butare. Went to the Faucon to wait for Francois but he never showed (it was absolutely foul weather so I can’t really blame him – heaviest rain I have seen since we got here).
Tuesday
Tuesday morning and both of us have work to do! I got up really early and, of course, there was no hot water outside my door (they aren’t used to my getting up before 6!). Got water, showered, breakfasted and off to Gikongoro to meet Mans (really tall Dutch guy in earlier photographs). Had an absolutely fantastic day discussing educational statistics (Alfred: I warned you all about this before, remember?). Mans has done a mountain of work over the last two years and took me through the over 1,000 files he has amassed. Why is this interesting? Well, the first problem most districts have is they have no idea what the situation is. How do you know where to start if you don’t have a baseline to start from? So Mans has put together all the data for the last three years for every school in his district and drawn up reports showing where the problems are, what could be done, where there has been achievement and progress and so on. He also had a lot of stuff on training for school principals, quality assurance, inspections and a load of other stuff – and he gave me the lot (400+MB). This means that when I start in Gisagara I will have ready-made templates for everything (and Mans is much better at Excel than I am) which is going to save me an incredible amount of work. I think it is the single greatest amount of help I have ever received in one go in my life – thank you Mans!!
Also saw Andy (briefly) – he shares an office with Mans but realised suddenly that his meeting in Butare was on Tuesday – which was now! He arrived back six hours later completely wrecked (and to find me hogging his laptop to check emails) – he was over 75 minutes late for the meeting and it still didn’t start for an hour after he arrived and it was all in Kinyarwandan. Such dedication (this is not sarcasm!) – the PHARE volunteers (antiAIDS programme in schools) seem to have a much heavier schedule than the rest of us with huge areas to cover and constant meetings, many of them up in Kigali. I would have arrived at the meeting with a ready-made excuse of an urgent meeting at 1300 so as to make a get-away!
Went back home with Mans to Gasarenda where he and Han live. This was another really important thing for me because their house had originally been in far worse condition than the one I saw in Gisagara and they took me through exactly how they had turned it into the really nice home (as opposed to house) it now is. It certainly made me rethink somewhat the possibilities of that house, which is just as well as Charlotte had rung me earlier and said she and Mike Silvey (VSO Country Director) were adamant that the house in Gisagara could be made to work. I was somewhat sceptical but agreed to discuss the possibility – having seen Mans and Han’s place, I have a better idea of how that could be done. The bit that made me almost lose my temper was Charlotte’s blithe assurance that all the work necessary could be done within two weeks – I’ve been here long enough to know how facile a statement that is (I did check with others who have been here longer than me and no-one felt like correcting me!). In the meantime I presume I remain at the Ineza or relocate to wherever Tina is ending up – that wasn’t exactly clear. Meanwhile I am drawing up a report on all this for the VSO Ireland office – if there are any Irish volunteers thinking of coming out here I need to give the office a few tips!
We had a really nice evening – they are both from Utrecht which is about the only place in The Netherlands I really know and have been here for two years. We had a really nice meal prepared by their domestique Anne-Marie (beef, potatoes, sauce, salad, tea, passion fruit) and chatted about loads of things, including a lot of practical things like water, domestiques, language classes, keeping rats and mice out, security and so on. Earlyish bed (actually, 2230 isn’t at all early if you get up at 0530) and a few extra blankets from Han which were very welcome, as Gasarenda is at 2000m and it is COLD at night (which also means no mosquitoes, mind you).
Wednesday
Kind of an anticlimax day and yet not at the same time. Came back down from Gasarenda around ten and, apart from ding a bit of laundry, spent the rest of the day exploring the stuff Mans gave me – Lord, there is so much of it and a lot of it is insanely complicated. Also, for some reason, only items in his folder with filenames or foldernames beginning with the letter ‘J’ onwards got copied (no idea, he just copied the entire folder onto my flash drive) but I rang him and he will send the rest with Joe tomorow.
Off to the cybercafe and then maybe a beer while I tease out in my head the various ideas I have for starting work (data inputting is about as exciting as it is going to get for a while!!). I need to check with the Program Office about the Mayor’s request that I/we help with English training for the District staff. I have no problem with doing it and I suppose it does come under the heading of capacity building which is part of my brief but I better make sure I am suppsoed to get into stuff like that. Meanwhile, someone has tied a young goat up just outside my bedroom window (tonight’s dinner?) and if it doesn’t stop bleating soon it’s probably short life is going to be even shorter than expected .....
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.
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