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.
The last VSO Newsletter concluded with some of David Brent’s words of advice – these are my five favourite ones, in reverse order:
5. Never do today that which will become someone else’s responsibility tomorrow.
4. If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.
3. Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
2. If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation.
1. Know your limitations and be content with them. Too much ambition results in promotion to a job you can't do.
Tuesday & Wednesday
Two very quiet days. As Nyanza was cancelled I figured there was no point heading out to Gisagara and I spent both Tuesday and (more fruitfully) Wednesday doing various bits and pieces with my French and Kinyarwandan (including writing my first long email in French which I sent off to my French-teaching friends with a somewhat nervous feeling!). Spent most of the time in the hotel with visits to cybercafé and the market and going to Matar for my meals. One thing I am trying to do is budget a little more carefully, which is really difficult while you are living in a hotel like this and have to pay for everything. My daily income is RWF5000 (£5, $7): a proper breakfast here is RWF1000 (tea, bread, omelette) and having just tea is RWF500. I can get a reasonable meal in the Matar for RWF2000 and that with breakfast more than does me for the day foodwise. But that is over half the RWF5000 gone already. The cybercafé is RWF100 per ten minutes and usually works out around RWF500 (given the slow speeds it takes a long time to do stuff and all the US political websites are really designed for broadband!). The batteries in my water purifier have finally given out so that’s another RWF500 per day for water. That leaves me with RWF1000 which is the price of one beer! That also doesn’t include the cost of buying phone credit (I spent RWF4000 on credit yesterday but that should last over a week).
Once I am actually living in a house it will get better, once I can prepare my own water and buy stuff in the market to prepare myself. VSO pays for a guard for the house so I will hire a domestique for a few days a week (say RWF15,000 per month) and I will also have to pay RWF20,000 per month for my modem credit, leaving me with RWF115,000 or about RWF25,000 per week plus RWF15,000 put aside for luxuries, emergencies etc or petrol for my generator if that comes through. That should be enough to manage and – let’s face it – there are going to be very few things in Gisagara to spend any extra money on.
As regards planning for the new house, I have been making a list of things that I am going to need that I do not have at the moment (obviously, once I actually move in this is likely to be added to!). So far I have come up with the following, all of which I can get in the market in Butare:
1 wide shallow plastic basin (for standing in while taking a shower)
1 deep plastic bin with lid (for storing water)
1 small vacuum flask
1 large vacuum flask
1 bucket with lid (night-time toilet)
2 large jerrycans (for water)
1 5-compartment tiffin box
Tools (hammer, screwdriver, pliers, nails & screws)
1 sleeping bag (I suspect this will have to be bought in Kigali)
This is in addition to the stuff Tina and I bought in Kigali of which I still have the lion’s share, I think, especially of the kitchen stuff, so we will have to do a redistribution of that once she moves into her new place. I am also preparing lists of things I am going to be asked to be posted out (friends and family be warned). (Alfred: that’s a bit ironic, don’t you think, as Alanis Morisette would say! This is the guy who, for the last twenty years whenever asked what he wanted for his birthday or Christmas would answer with ‘ehhhhhhhhhhhh.....’: now he’s FULL of ideas!!).
What else is going on? No sign of Bezo and my RWF5000 of course but Chelsea are playing Hull tonight so I’m sure he’ll be there: if nothing else I’ll get a chance to use my newly-acquired knowledge of French grammar to say ‘Tu me dois dix milles francs – où est-il?’ or should it be ‘Tu dois dix milles francs à moi’ – hmmm! Maybe I’ll just stick with ‘Où sont mes dix milles francs, Bezo?’.
Actually, yesterday and today I got through a ton of French. I brought this really good book that I got in Hodges Figgis called Barron’s Complete French Grammar Review and it is full of wonderful things and phrases. My favourite today was se faire faire, to have something done for you as in the phrase elle s’est fait faire une robe par une couturière. Nice one. I’m even getting the hang of things like y and en which had always defeated me before (Il y en avait douze and so on). However, I still find the word ainsi defeating me – I’m sure some kind person out there will email me with help!
The Kinyarwandan is a little on the back burner but I also have time for that. Given that the guard on my new house has neither French nor Kinyarwandan, it had better improve quickly! And I’m not sure what my chances of finding a French-speaking domestique in Gisagara are! Once I get my modem and can actually update my website, I intend having a ‘Teach Yourself Kinyarwandan’ section so you can all join in!
The other thing I have got a lot of done while I have been here (no surprise) is reading. So far I have read the following (each with marks out of 10):
Paul Theroux, DARK STAR SAFARI (brilliant piece of work, 9/10)
Umberto Eco, THE NAME OF THE ROSE (third time reading it, still 8/10)
Daniel Coyle, LANCE ARMSTRONG’S WAR (not bad, 6/10)
P.D. James THE LIGHTHOUSE (6/10) and THE MURDER ROOM (5/10) – I had forgotten how formulaic her books are
Jed Rubenfeld, THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER (6/10 – promised much more than it delivered)
Giles Bolton, POOR STORY (6/10 – good if you didn’t know anything about Africa and the aid industry)
At the moment I am reading Frank McCourt’s TEACHER MAN which I had started in Ireland but then lent to Jennifer (who is presumably still reading it) so I borrowed it from a friend here to finish. I have FOUCAULT’S PENDULUM in reserve, borrowed from the Motel Ineza library, in case I run out of stuff to read. I also began a book called NOMAD’S HOTEL by Cees Nooteboom which my goddaughter’s family gave me – travel essays about different hotels and places. A bit weird going but nice to dip into now and again (he has some lovely stuff about Tim Robinson and the Aran Islands). The Resource Room in Kigali has a good library (mostly fiction) and I am expecting my Amazon.com books to turn up any day - a heady mixture of SF, politics and French grammar!
Just got a text from Mike Silvey, the VSO Rwanda Country Director. He is coming down to Butare for the night and would like to meet up for a drink/bite to eat. Company!! That’s great, especially as Joe Walk now has to go directly to Kigali and won’t be staying over with me on Sunday night. And Mike is a soccer fan, so if Chelsea-Hull is on he’ll be dead keen! Must introduce him to Bezo ...........
Sign on the lawn at a drug rehabilitation centre: 'Keep off the Grass.'
Thank you very much to all of you who helped me to reach and exceed my fundraising total. I am continuing to fundraise for VSO for the next short while, so if you or anyone else you know feel like contributing , please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi. Murakoze cyane cyane!
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