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.
FRIDAY
Woke up 0345 when my guard decided to switch his radio on for some early morning gospel lectures (or something like that). Then woke up properly at 0530 when he started sweeping up outside my bedroom window. Need to have SERIOUS chat about this. I got up and went out to him and indicated he should turn down the radio. He turned it off and acted like he was afraid he was about to be fired. A happy medium is all I am asking for - I really need to start learning Kinyarwandan!! (Alfred: given that the sound of birdsong is deafening by about 0530, maybe Ruairí should just try getting up! That's probably why Alexandré does and the radio is to drown out the sound of the BLOODY BIRDS!).
Anyway, got to the office around 0705 and I was the last in!! Everyone was there and all smartly turned out for the District inspection. I tried to keep out of the way as there was nothing I could do to help. When the bigwigs all arrived (13 of them and only one woman) we all trooped into the big hall for the 'meeting'. It is like an amphitheatre so we are all sitting on chairs on the steps while the big-wigs are down below us. Everyone was REALLY nervous (read previous blog for more details on why!).
The way it worked was this (and for those of my colleagues who have just survived - I hope - a Whole School Inspection, you might want to contemplate this way of doing it): the bigwig said a few general words of welcome (much briefer than most I have to say). Then he announces which departments are going to be examined and on which aspects (Vice-Mayor for Social and Cultural Affairs, Good Governance Dept, Sport & Youth and whatever). They then have half an hour to go and grab all the documentation they need and everyone meets back in the hall.
Each person being examined takes the floor in turn and gets questions fired at them, which they have to answer and provide the appropriate documentation to back up their reply (budget report, schedule, receipt, statistical breakdown, whatever). Some were very calm. some were amazingly flustered. Overall it seemed to go very well and all seemed both happy and relieved when it was over. It was all in Kinyarwanda of course but Alexis Bigira, the chargé for education, sat beside me the whole time and explained what was going on, which was really good of him.
When it finished, everyone vanished off for lunch and I thought that would be the end of it. But as I worked away on my statistics lo and behold! everyone actually did appear back after lunch and got right back down to work again! Overall, it was a pretty impressive performance by my new colleagues and I was glad I decided to attend the thing. The results of the competition will be announced on December 28th by President Kagame himself - really important stuff!
Francois had asked me if I had any gin in the house as he would like a quick drink after work!! He had actually escaped being examined but he was probably quite worried as he is so new in the job! So I headed home at 1530, met him on the road so he gave me a lift home. Enoch, the Ugandan teacher who does the classes with me (mentioned at length in last Saturday's blog) also turned up at that point - he wanted to bring me to his local beside his school. So we had a quick gin to celebrate and headed off there. Francois took Enoch on his bike and I headed off on foot. En route I met a) Kenneth, a plumber and Ugandan friend of Enoch's b) the local carpenter who knew I had called in the previous day but didn't know what I wanted - Kenneth explained that I might need some furniture made and I would get back to him c) the local Catholic parish priest d) Eric, a primary school teacher from Kibirizi.
Enoch's local is far nicer than either of the pubs I had been in so far but they don't cook food (last Saturday's bar does a goat brochette and half a baked potato for only 300RWF, though Vestine the barmaid does talk an awful lot and in an amazingly loud voice!). Francois stayed for one drink and then headed off but nor before dropping another bombshell in a casual by-the-way fashion - he is taking three weeks' leave starting .... right now! He hoped I would be able to find something to do during that time!! This is what drives me mad about Francois - lovely guy and all that but has he no idea? Luckliy I was able to counter - earlier I had received a text from Amy Parker saying that they might need another teacher in Butare for the British Council training course for teaching English to teachers from the Teacher Training Colleges. I had kicked to touch because I felt I should ask Francois first in case he had any plans for me during that time!!! Ha ha ha ha!
Enoch and I stayed for ages - he is a really nice guy with a background in history and geography. We talked about Rwanda and how it might or might not change in the future, its strengths and weaknesses and compared it to the political and cultural situations in Uganda and the Congo, as well as Ireland for that matter (more on that anon). Then he said that the restaurant did serve fish! I said great let's go for it. The guy brought out plates and cutlery, and then four small tins of pilchards - exactly the same kind I had had for dinner a few nights ago!! Not quite what I wa expecting but, as with the other night, they are actually very tasty.
Then Enoch insisted on paying for everything as I had done so the previous Saturday which was good of him and pretty unusual here - every other time I have been out (including with my boss) Rwandans have expected me to pay for everything out of my presumed-to-be bottomless muzungu pockets. Then he walked me all the way home even though the local is beside his apartment (which was just as well as it was pitch black and my torch was only working fitfully). Nice evening but it was quite late and I have umuganda tomorrow!
SATURDAY
So much for umuganda! Woke up 0530 (I am taking Alfred's advice - might as well get up early seeing as the birds will force me to get up about 15 minutes after Alexandré anyway) and tried to get out of bed. My left leg showed a marked disinclination to accompany the rest of my body, or did so in a lethargic, not very enthusiastic kind of way. Something had bitten me, either on my way home or in the bed, on the back of the left knee and it was really swollen and red. Walking around helped a little but only a little. So when Jean-Claude turned up to collect me, I had to cry off. Felt such an idiot after having made such a big deal of how I was going to do it! Not a good start to the day.
Washed my Chelsea shirt lovingly and hung it out in the gloom and mist to 'dry' - wet and humid today, not good drying conditions (Alfred: it got better later) and then did three solid hours of French grammar!! Yeah! C'est époustouflant!! Then Antoine arrived to put the finishing touches to the generator, install the 13 amp fuse and fix a few of the switches. He did all that and then I did a great thing - I boiled the kettle and made coffee! Best coffee I ever tasted. Mind you the kettle took AGES because the generator just isn't able to handle a 2000W appliance but it struggles manfully.
Then things got even better. John Simpson, the British Council guy, rang me and said they did want me to come and work but not necessarily as a teacher. He has to go back to Kigali so he needs someone to keep an eye on the whole course, troubleshoot generally, help organise the assessments, create an additional eighth class if extra students turn up, fill in for absent teachers and so on. Just like my old job - brilliant. So I will be moving to Butare for two weeks, working properly every day and doing something I know I can do - that'll be nice. Otherwise it would have been three weeks of terminal boredom trying to come up with things to do here. Luckily Antoine was still here so I got him to explain to Alexandré what was happening so he wouldn't wonder where I had disappeared off to!!
The rest of the day was spent reading, listening to music, doing a little more French, emailing my doctor in Ireland for advice about my leg (very prompt reply, thanks Paul!) and trying to text Amy about the Butare thing but my calls wouldn't go through (Alfred: idiot had no credit, didn't think to check that obvious answer until that night!). Turned on the generator later and recharged my laptop (takes about 70 minutes to fully charge it and then it's good for about 2 hours) and then made a pot of tea!!! Enoch called in to borrow my Barack Obama book to read while I am away and I gave him my most recent Economist as well.
I suspect Alexandré's reservations about the generator are to do with the noise. It is VERY loud and you have to leave the door of the storeroom open so the fumes don't build up. I think he was afraid that I would have it on all the time or late at night (he knows I stay up much later than him) but I think he is OK now and it means he can recharge his own phone as well!!!
So dinner was my last tin of tuna and all but two slices of bread (those are for breakfast tomorrow) and then it's off to the delights of Butare (once I have collected my laundry which had better be ready or I am in real trouble for workclothes!). Manchester derby kicks off 1530 my time followed by Chelsea-Arsenal - oh yeah! Gonna be two good days in a row!
Keep those comments and emails coming - it is really nice to hear from people who are reading this (even just so I know someone is!!). You can comment at the bottom of each blog or email me at roheithir@gmail.com
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Thursday 27th November - Day Eighty-Two 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.
Generators - spawn of the devil. I have never had a lot of luck with electrixity before now and it's nice to see that I am at least being consistent in this regard. Generator arrived Tuesday (see previous blog). I had to be at work early - 0700 at the latest - so I decied to not turn on the generator this morning. Arrived home with a gleaming image of a steaming cup of coffee made with my own hands. Obstacle One: Alexandré wasn't there and he had the key to the outhouse with the generator. When he finally arrived we found out the plug on the lead was gone.
About half an hour later the electrician Antoine turned up with all the stuff. Meanwhile Alexandré had disappeared with the key. We hung around as I tried to decipher Antoine's French (interspersed with English technical terms). Eventually Alexandré arrived (he had gone for water to be fair). Antoine fitted the plug and tested the generator - everything worked. Then I plugged in my kettle and everything stopped working! Apparently I need a 13-amp fuse for the kettle and hot-plate to work (Alfred: parts for one generator: RWF 15,000; payment for labour RWF10,000; watching Ruairí's face while he pretends to understand what he is being told about electric-related things in broken Rwandan French, stuff he hasn't a clue about even in English - priceless!). So, more waiting, probably until Saturday. Still, it was nice to actually see the interior of the house lit up for once as even in daylight it is very dim.
Had my first visitor tonight - Jean-Claude a primary school teacher here in Gisagara. He didn't stay too long (apparently Rwandan visitors are known to stay for ages!), made sure I wasn't serving him alcohol and gently enquired whether I would be interested in joining him at the Pentacostalist Church on Sunday. I gently declined and there was no problem! I walked him home (you should always walk a visitor at least part of the way home) and he asked whether I could help him with any English grammar and vocabulary books for his work (ah-ha, there is usually something!) so I said I would look into it for him.
Work was a lot more interesting than normal. Usual start - there at seven to meet Enoch and Charis (who turned up at 0830), gave Francois the English class outline (Alfred: Oy! You were supposed to email that to Jane, weren't you? Hello? ........). Then I worked away on statistics for a bit. Then the fun started. Apparently some government bigwig is coming tomorrow and all the school principals will be ther so Francois said was there any chance I could have a complete list of all the problems with the statistical returns for each school! Cool - three hours solid work and it was done. Then they freaked out because the guy coming said he wanted to see their preparations for the new adult literacy campaign, so I got that to turn into a one-page Excel summary.
Most interesting of all, I met the guy who is the official statistician for the District - Jules. We only had a few minutes but we both immediately realised we need a quiet private little chat sometime next week. I was also ralking to the chargé d'education later, Alexis, when I gave him the stuff Francois asked me to do. Three things were immediately apparent: he was a bit pissed off that I had been asked to do this as educational statistics are his area, he thought the Excel document was actually a Word document (not great if you are a statistician) and (though this is not exactly definite) I think he is worried that my being here will make it easier for the District to relocate him. Have to keep an eye on that.
Anyway, big day tomorrow. It is some kind of performance review - don't start, Alfred! Everyone was working late and they want me to be there to meet Mr Important. Francois has also promised a meeting at 1400 - I can't wait!!!
Saturday is umuganda - voluntary communal work day. Everyone seems to be really surprised that I want to do it - apparently it would be perfectly OK if I skipped it. However a) it might be fun b) it will allow more people to see me and get used to me and c) I live here, I'm not a tourist, so I should. I gather we will be building houses with mud bricks for widows - sounds good. My new friend Jean-Claude has offered to call by Saturday morning and collect me at 0700!!
Sunday is funday - Butare, lunch in Matar, and Arsenal-Chelsea in the Faucon, Butare's resident angel, Jane Keenan, has offered to put me up for the night as it kicks off 1800 our time (I did help her with a computer problem the other night but the debts are piling up) - must wash my Joe Cole shirt tomorrow!
BANK TIP: If you are opening an account almost anywhere in Africa, go to ECOBANK - after being told how bad banks here were, these guys are as good as anything back at home.
MARKET TIP: when bargaining in the market, no price is too low to start off with.
PIT LATRINE TIP: well, maybe not. I'll wait until I am really desperate for interesting stuff!
There's a gecko living in my bedroom now.
Candles burn a lot faster than you expect.
Fruit flies are the most annoying lifeform I have so far encountered here.
Peanut butter and banana sandwich - bad idea.
Saudi Arabian pilchards in a tomato and chili sauce for only RWF400 - surprisingly nice.
Generators - spawn of the devil. I have never had a lot of luck with electrixity before now and it's nice to see that I am at least being consistent in this regard. Generator arrived Tuesday (see previous blog). I had to be at work early - 0700 at the latest - so I decied to not turn on the generator this morning. Arrived home with a gleaming image of a steaming cup of coffee made with my own hands. Obstacle One: Alexandré wasn't there and he had the key to the outhouse with the generator. When he finally arrived we found out the plug on the lead was gone.
About half an hour later the electrician Antoine turned up with all the stuff. Meanwhile Alexandré had disappeared with the key. We hung around as I tried to decipher Antoine's French (interspersed with English technical terms). Eventually Alexandré arrived (he had gone for water to be fair). Antoine fitted the plug and tested the generator - everything worked. Then I plugged in my kettle and everything stopped working! Apparently I need a 13-amp fuse for the kettle and hot-plate to work (Alfred: parts for one generator: RWF 15,000; payment for labour RWF10,000; watching Ruairí's face while he pretends to understand what he is being told about electric-related things in broken Rwandan French, stuff he hasn't a clue about even in English - priceless!). So, more waiting, probably until Saturday. Still, it was nice to actually see the interior of the house lit up for once as even in daylight it is very dim.
Had my first visitor tonight - Jean-Claude a primary school teacher here in Gisagara. He didn't stay too long (apparently Rwandan visitors are known to stay for ages!), made sure I wasn't serving him alcohol and gently enquired whether I would be interested in joining him at the Pentacostalist Church on Sunday. I gently declined and there was no problem! I walked him home (you should always walk a visitor at least part of the way home) and he asked whether I could help him with any English grammar and vocabulary books for his work (ah-ha, there is usually something!) so I said I would look into it for him.
Work was a lot more interesting than normal. Usual start - there at seven to meet Enoch and Charis (who turned up at 0830), gave Francois the English class outline (Alfred: Oy! You were supposed to email that to Jane, weren't you? Hello? ........). Then I worked away on statistics for a bit. Then the fun started. Apparently some government bigwig is coming tomorrow and all the school principals will be ther so Francois said was there any chance I could have a complete list of all the problems with the statistical returns for each school! Cool - three hours solid work and it was done. Then they freaked out because the guy coming said he wanted to see their preparations for the new adult literacy campaign, so I got that to turn into a one-page Excel summary.
Most interesting of all, I met the guy who is the official statistician for the District - Jules. We only had a few minutes but we both immediately realised we need a quiet private little chat sometime next week. I was also ralking to the chargé d'education later, Alexis, when I gave him the stuff Francois asked me to do. Three things were immediately apparent: he was a bit pissed off that I had been asked to do this as educational statistics are his area, he thought the Excel document was actually a Word document (not great if you are a statistician) and (though this is not exactly definite) I think he is worried that my being here will make it easier for the District to relocate him. Have to keep an eye on that.
Anyway, big day tomorrow. It is some kind of performance review - don't start, Alfred! Everyone was working late and they want me to be there to meet Mr Important. Francois has also promised a meeting at 1400 - I can't wait!!!
Saturday is umuganda - voluntary communal work day. Everyone seems to be really surprised that I want to do it - apparently it would be perfectly OK if I skipped it. However a) it might be fun b) it will allow more people to see me and get used to me and c) I live here, I'm not a tourist, so I should. I gather we will be building houses with mud bricks for widows - sounds good. My new friend Jean-Claude has offered to call by Saturday morning and collect me at 0700!!
Sunday is funday - Butare, lunch in Matar, and Arsenal-Chelsea in the Faucon, Butare's resident angel, Jane Keenan, has offered to put me up for the night as it kicks off 1800 our time (I did help her with a computer problem the other night but the debts are piling up) - must wash my Joe Cole shirt tomorrow!
BANK TIP: If you are opening an account almost anywhere in Africa, go to ECOBANK - after being told how bad banks here were, these guys are as good as anything back at home.
MARKET TIP: when bargaining in the market, no price is too low to start off with.
PIT LATRINE TIP: well, maybe not. I'll wait until I am really desperate for interesting stuff!
There's a gecko living in my bedroom now.
Candles burn a lot faster than you expect.
Fruit flies are the most annoying lifeform I have so far encountered here.
Peanut butter and banana sandwich - bad idea.
Saudi Arabian pilchards in a tomato and chili sauce for only RWF400 - surprisingly nice.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday 25th and Wednesday 26th November, Days Eighty and Eighty-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.
TUESDAY
Hmmm. Had my meeting this morning with the sector primary school representatives (Alfred: it would help if he explained how this works - Rwanda is divided into thirty districts, of which Giagara is one, Each is divided into sectors (13 in Gisagara) which are in turn divided into cellules. The principal of one primary school in each sector is designated as sector representative, a lot of extra work for no extra pay!) - I had thought it was supposed to be in the afternoon and with ALL the primary principals but that could have been my French letting me down. Anyway, Francois had asked me to talk to them about statistics and do out a sheet showing how exactly the forms needed to be filled in. When my turn came to speak, Francois kindly stepped out, so when they all started shouting questions at me, I had no idea what was going on! And the chargé, Alexis, just sat there and was no help at all.
Anyway, I think the problem was they thought I was asking them to do all this year's statistics all over again, whereas I was just pointing out that next year they needed to be done properly. Mind you, of the statistics I am working on at the moment, only 41 of 65 schools have returned anything and many of the 41 are a complete mess and in some cases unusable.
Meeting over, Francois and I went to meet my Education Manager Charlotte Phillips - we met at my house. Francois was (guess!) late and, as Charlotte and I sat in the sittingroom, I heard a wierd buzzing noise. I opened the door to the hallway to find it was full of bees!! We ran outside to see a swarm gathered around a ventilation brick in the roof and we could also hear them buzzing around in the attic. Panic! Long discussions about insecticides and other means of extermination. I promptly gassed all the ones in the hallway and Francois said he would ask the agronomist at the District for help. As it transpired, however, it seems to have been a swarm looking for somewhere to nest rather than an actual nest in the attic, so I think I am in the clear. They cleared off and haven't been back since
The meeting with Charlotte went fine. I obviously have reservations about the job so far but it is early days so no worries. Also she brought the generator, so that is being fitted and installed at the moment. Antoine, the local electrician, found out most of his wiring is cockeyed and had to redo it all. Then Alexandré the guard had a fit when he realised there was no lock on the door of the room the generator is housed in and it would be his responsibility if it got stolen! Anyway, all got sorted in the end and Antoine will be back tomorrow with more cabling, sockets and a proper plug for the generator (you really don't want to see what he jerryrigged to get it going!!).
WEDNESDAY
Another day, another whatever. Think I will knock off the daily reporting before I bore everyone to death. High point (so far): sitting in the cybercafe in Butare right now writing this, also finding out that Matar sell 20l jerrycans for only RWF1900. Low point: more pointless trawling through inaccurate statistics that are unlikely to be of any use. If there is one thing I really need a bike for, its trawling backwards and forwards between my own powerless office and the District Office a mile away. I found a baseball cap in the market today so at least I should be able to ward off the worst of the sunstroke. It really is hot, hot, hot, at least by my feeble standards (apologies to friends in Eritrea, Cambodia and Zambia reading this). Once I have proper power, I will post my considerd thoughts on Rwanda and Rwandans so far but that needs careful compilation, and probably in more than one language.
Anyway, I came into Butare to go to the bank, or else my guard will not get paid on Saturday and he seems pissed off at the generator coming for some reason so there's no point making things worse. The laundry situation is a story for another time. I'm off to Matar to buy an electric kettle so I can have coffee for breakfast tomorrow morning!!! And maybe some more pineapple gin (wonderful stuff, thought it would be horrible, how wrong was I!) - my colleagues back in Rathdown could probably do with some at the moment.
A Mutzig in the Faucon here I come - and then home. Will fill you in on my 'meeting' today with Enoch and Charis to 'plan' 'our' English classes another time - meeting them and Francois at 0700 tomorrow.
TUESDAY
Hmmm. Had my meeting this morning with the sector primary school representatives (Alfred: it would help if he explained how this works - Rwanda is divided into thirty districts, of which Giagara is one, Each is divided into sectors (13 in Gisagara) which are in turn divided into cellules. The principal of one primary school in each sector is designated as sector representative, a lot of extra work for no extra pay!) - I had thought it was supposed to be in the afternoon and with ALL the primary principals but that could have been my French letting me down. Anyway, Francois had asked me to talk to them about statistics and do out a sheet showing how exactly the forms needed to be filled in. When my turn came to speak, Francois kindly stepped out, so when they all started shouting questions at me, I had no idea what was going on! And the chargé, Alexis, just sat there and was no help at all.
Anyway, I think the problem was they thought I was asking them to do all this year's statistics all over again, whereas I was just pointing out that next year they needed to be done properly. Mind you, of the statistics I am working on at the moment, only 41 of 65 schools have returned anything and many of the 41 are a complete mess and in some cases unusable.
Meeting over, Francois and I went to meet my Education Manager Charlotte Phillips - we met at my house. Francois was (guess!) late and, as Charlotte and I sat in the sittingroom, I heard a wierd buzzing noise. I opened the door to the hallway to find it was full of bees!! We ran outside to see a swarm gathered around a ventilation brick in the roof and we could also hear them buzzing around in the attic. Panic! Long discussions about insecticides and other means of extermination. I promptly gassed all the ones in the hallway and Francois said he would ask the agronomist at the District for help. As it transpired, however, it seems to have been a swarm looking for somewhere to nest rather than an actual nest in the attic, so I think I am in the clear. They cleared off and haven't been back since
The meeting with Charlotte went fine. I obviously have reservations about the job so far but it is early days so no worries. Also she brought the generator, so that is being fitted and installed at the moment. Antoine, the local electrician, found out most of his wiring is cockeyed and had to redo it all. Then Alexandré the guard had a fit when he realised there was no lock on the door of the room the generator is housed in and it would be his responsibility if it got stolen! Anyway, all got sorted in the end and Antoine will be back tomorrow with more cabling, sockets and a proper plug for the generator (you really don't want to see what he jerryrigged to get it going!!).
WEDNESDAY
Another day, another whatever. Think I will knock off the daily reporting before I bore everyone to death. High point (so far): sitting in the cybercafe in Butare right now writing this, also finding out that Matar sell 20l jerrycans for only RWF1900. Low point: more pointless trawling through inaccurate statistics that are unlikely to be of any use. If there is one thing I really need a bike for, its trawling backwards and forwards between my own powerless office and the District Office a mile away. I found a baseball cap in the market today so at least I should be able to ward off the worst of the sunstroke. It really is hot, hot, hot, at least by my feeble standards (apologies to friends in Eritrea, Cambodia and Zambia reading this). Once I have proper power, I will post my considerd thoughts on Rwanda and Rwandans so far but that needs careful compilation, and probably in more than one language.
Anyway, I came into Butare to go to the bank, or else my guard will not get paid on Saturday and he seems pissed off at the generator coming for some reason so there's no point making things worse. The laundry situation is a story for another time. I'm off to Matar to buy an electric kettle so I can have coffee for breakfast tomorrow morning!!! And maybe some more pineapple gin (wonderful stuff, thought it would be horrible, how wrong was I!) - my colleagues back in Rathdown could probably do with some at the moment.
A Mutzig in the Faucon here I come - and then home. Will fill you in on my 'meeting' today with Enoch and Charis to 'plan' 'our' English classes another time - meeting them and Francois at 0700 tomorrow.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday 22nd to Monday 24th November: Days Seventy-Seven to Seventy-Nine 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.
I'm beginning to get the 'Get me the hell out of here' feeling! After Friday's fiasco comes Monday's fiasco ... but all in it's own good time.
I'm beginning to get the 'Get me the hell out of here' feeling! After Friday's fiasco comes Monday's fiasco ... but all in it's own good time.
On a different note, if you want to read a really fascinating blog by a VSO volunteer try this one: it's by Becks (Rebecca) Wilson who is in Eritrea and did the Teacher Development training course with me. Makes Rwanda look like Switzerland at times (though not from what is happening to me at the moment!). You can find it on the following link:
SATURDAY
This turned out better than expected. Did some housework (Alexandré is really getting the hang of being around me - no loud radios early on weekend mornings, generally sussing out what I do and don't like) and then headed to the market. I was limited to things I don't have to cook and that was more of a limitation than I expected. I ended up with tomatoes, bananas and some plastic cups. That was it. Nothing else was really suitable. There was thankfully very little fuss or excitement, compared to the last time I came - people must be getting used to me!
Went to collect my laundry and couldn't find anyone in. Ended up going for a beer with Enoch the Ugandan English teacher who works with me and it turned into a long sessio0n, especially as we got trapped by rain! We talked a lot about Ugandan politics, the genocide (he remembers the bodies floating down the rivers into Uganda and how everyone suddenly stopped eating fish). Came home in the rain and had to slow navigate the steps down to my house by waiting for flashes of lightening to illuminate them! Continued reading Foucault's Pendulum which I have finally got into -not sure if my enthusiasm will last so I am trying to read it quickly!
SUNDAY
Ah, Sunday morning hymns on the radio - knew Alexandré's discipline wouldn't survive the Sabbath. No matter, I was up early anyway. Hayley called last night and suggested a walk in the arboretum in Butare. Met up (just about - not a lot of motos around on the Sabbath) and headed off. I actually brought an umbrella to shelter me from the sun - only women ever do that here but I figured there wouldn't be anyone around in the arboretum (Alfred: but Hayley did take a picture - sure I can get hold of a copy of it for you!) but I am still really burned from the bike test and hats are not exactly easy to get here. Amy has promised to find me one in the market (Alfred: that should be good for a laugh - have a look at Andy Crow's blog to see the kind of stuff they usually buy!) so here's hoping. Walked around for a few hours (lots of trees, what a surprise, never knew there were so many kinds of eucalyptus) and then back to Butare for a burger in Matar (met Jane en route as well). Then Hayley headed off, I did some shopping in Matar (Lebanese supermarket with a small terrace restaurant - that makes it sound much more exotic than it actually is!) - bought (wait for it) sardines, pilchards in chili tomato sauce, two small vegetarian pizzas, some waragi (Ugandan gin), bread, washing-up liquid - think that's it. Oh, some mints as well. Then Amy from Kigeme turned up from nowhere and we went for a few beers to round off a really nice day.
Had long chats with both Amy and Hayley about our placements and how things are going - it was nice to have time to sit and chat, everything seems to be really hectic when any of us are gathered together.
Then got a moto home and it was nearly dark when we set out. It really is an exciting experience being on a moto in the dark (wouldn't fancy actually driving in the dark, mind you!). really good driver, must look out for him again. Supper of bananas and cheese (THAT'S the other thing I bought) but actually only ate the bananas as they are ripening really fast and I need to hurry up and eat them. Then out on the verandah in the dark playing hymns by The Sixteen, listening to the bats and tryng my gin (Tyson brand, not really to be recommended, will try the Pineapple vodka next).
MONDAY
Amy had warned me today was National Tree Planting Day or something or other. Anyway, got to work at 0700 and collected my recharging cable and surge protector. Francois said his office was going to be out of commission for the day (no electricity) but we might find somewhere in the maon District office where I could work. Most staff were going off to another sector to plant trees and the senior staff (including him) had a budget meeting. He wandered off to see where I could work and - of course - promptly disappeared. After standing around for a while feeling a complete spare tool, I started exploring. The main meeting hall is undergoing renovations (filling holes in the floor with concrete, drilling etc) - this meant the electricity was on there, so I set myself up in the corner and got to work (and recharging). Word soon spread that the muzungu had a six-gang cable, so all day I had people coming to recharge their mobile phones. I showed then how to press down the top pin so as to insert a two-pin plug, but then had to constantly warn them to UNPLUG THE THING BEFORE YOU STICK A METAL THING INTO IT!!
I won't bore you with what I was working on (statistics). Suffice to say I am pretty sure these are the wrong statistics and I don't even know for sure what Francois wants done with them but a) it is something to do and b) I am getting reacquanited with Excel. I finally threw in the towel at 1630 and headed home. Francois had made a big deal of calling around this evening and on the way home he passed me on his bike and said - surprise surprise - he had to take someone to Butare and wouldn't be able to.
So here I am after my supper of over-ripe plantain and bread and water - it'll be nice when the generator lets me make coffee (Alfred: of course the lazy bugger could get the kerosene stove working if he really wanted to, so let's cut back on any incipient sympathy out there). I am posting some photos of my latest buddies, the colony of weaver birds (at least I think that's what they are, one of the photos looks rather parrot-ish. Lots of birds around here but my camera isn't the best for close-ups. I am also thinking of all my colleagues back in Rathdown who are having a Whole School Evaluation starting today - hope all is going well!!
There's a lot of these little guys around two!!!!
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd November: Days Seventy-Three to Seventy-Seven 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.
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
Oh boy! Not a good two days. Left Gisagara early Tuesday morning and went to the Post Office to collect my parcel. Turned out not to be batteries etc that I was expecting but my Amazon.com parcel. Luckily Andy was staying in Jane’s house in Butare so I was able to leave it there rather than lug it up to Kigali with me. Got the bus up with Amy still not really knowing what was happening Wednesday. The government had called for nationwide protests from 0900 to 1800 to mark Rose Kabuye’s extradition from Germany to France so I thought it unlikely it would be possible to have any practice at all. Anyway, en route, Heloise rang and said I was needed for a meeting with a police official that afternoon re the exam. So, when I arrived in Kigali, instead of doing my shopping as I had planned, I had to jump on a moto and head straight to the VSO office. Long story short, the meeting never happened, just hung around doing sod all for three hours in the hotel in case the meeting actually happened.
Anyway, things picked up majorly later on. I met up with Marion and Eric for a drink and an Ethiopian meal that evening. Eric is from Limerick and possibly one of only three Irish speakers in Rwanda (me and Joe O’Toole being the other two). Marion I think you have encountered before (check out her really interesting blog at http://heathenblogging.blogspot.com). We had a great night – draught Mutzig in a bar called High Noon which has the highest barstools known to mankind, a nice Ethiopian meal and then Eric remembered Munster were playing the All-Blacks and we headed for a bar which had satellite TV. They were showing England v. Czech Republic but Eric managed to convince them to change over to the rugby!! Eric is a fan of rugby rather like fish are quite partial to water – the bar staff didn’t stand a chance! The result was somewhat heartbreaking but it was a really good night, even if I did consume somewhat more beer than expected! Marion also gave me a hotplate (which I now remember I left in her house) which will come in useful when my generator arrives.
Wednesday was a strange day, to say the least. We all had breakfast together and then just sat around listening to the sounds of demonstrations, chanting, singing and so on outside. We were tempted to go out and have a look but prudence dictated otherwise. There was also a group of German tourists staying here – they also stayed put, not surprisingly. Then at 1330 we were told demonstrations had ceased and it was OK to go out, which we did. I have to admit I was somewhat more concerned than my colleagues about the possible mood but everything was fine – expect for the training itself! They keep on telling us about new things at the last minute. Basically there are two tests: the first involves weaving between cones set 1m apart but today we found out that the cones we were practising with (little thingies) are not what are used in the test – that uses the big ones you see on roads and you have to take a completely different tactic with them!! Then there is the hill start (which we have only practised on the flat!) plus slowing and stopping, balancing for three seconds without putting a foot down and then moving off again. I made a complete pig’s ear of all of it and actually packed it in early and went home - I was only getting worse! I am doing the test tomorrow for the experience and without any real expectation of passing it. I may settle for getting a scooter to start off with because you don’t need a licence for that and graduate to a proper motorcycle once I have a little more experience!!
Other than that, I have started working on the statistics for Francois, which is proving to be more of a challenge than I expected (my Excel knowledge is struggling with the new 2007 version but it’ll be fine). I have to give a presentation on Friday morning at 0900 (approximately!) to all the primary principals about our training plans for next year and also some guidelines on new procedures for statistical returns which I am writing right now!
What else? It seems Han and Mans are inviting people up to Gasarenda for Christmas, which is absolutely fantastic as I can’t think of anywhere in Rwanda I would rather spend Christmas Day. They are heading back to Holland after two years here so it’ll be a kind of farewell.
On the Rose Kabuye thing, I don’t intend going into it in any detail here but it is worth reading up about her on the Internet – she is a really iconic figure here, rather like Michael Collins would have been in Ireland or La Passionaria in the Spanish Civil War. It’ll be fascinating to see how the French handle the whole thing. Right now, living in Rwanda, I’m glad my surname is Ó hEithir and not von Hildebrand ...........
THURSDAY
Headed off at 0730 for practice. Els had arrived the previous night after beign told by Bruce that practice was cancelled, so she missed out completely on it. The test takes palce beside the Amahoro Stadium which is where everyone comes to practice, so there was a big crowd of people watching. We practised for hours and the police didn't turn up until around 1200 for the actual test. The test was just the cones, no hill start and, to my amazement, I did it perfectly first time! The police were quite lenient and allowed us to have a number of efforts and most of us finally managed to pass. Caithfear a rá nach raibh an slua róshásta nuair a chonaic siad go raibh na póilíní ag dealeáil linn ar bhealach an-difriúil leis an ngnáth-Rwandach - agus an ceart acu; ba léir gur dúradh leis na póilíní gach seans a thabhairt dúinn toisc gur volunteers muid nó toisc craiceann geal a bheith againn ('sé and ara cheann a bhí in aigne an tslua!).
Anyway, it was ferociously hot and I got burned quite badly and, as I found later, picked up a bit of sunstroke. We grabbed some lunch in the Ethiopian restaurant nearby, then I went into town to look for batteries and a rucksack. To my surprise Nakhumat did not have the batteries I wanted but when I asked in another photo shop, the guy called someone in from the footpath who took me to a little photoshop buried away in a warehouse and there they were: CR123A lithium batteries! So at least I have water. I also found a large rucksack (agian, Nakhumat had none) which I got fopr RWF7000 (turned out to be a piece of s*** but I'll make it work somehow) and then jumped on the bus for Butare.
By the time I got there I was feeling a bit dizzy, it was raining and pitch dark, so I was going to stay over in my old haunt the Ineza, but dear Jane for the umpteenth time offered to put me up for the night and I gratefully accepted. I had rung Francois from Kigali and he told me the meeting had been put back to 11:00 so I had plenty of time to get out there, change and chat with him before we started.
FRIDAY
Jane and Jean headed off at 0600 so I lazed around until 0700(!), had coffee (really appreciate that as I can't yet boil water chez moi) and swung by the post office at eight to see if there were any parcels. No, just the Economist. Ah well. Then I got a moto and headed for Gisagara. En route we ran into a police checkpoint (there are hundreds of traffic checkpoints) who promptly arrested my driver and impounded his moto (he may not have been licensed to carry passengers in this area!). Eventually the police flagged down a passing ambulance and told it to take me to Gisagara!
Got home, changed quickly an dashed to the office in the blazing sun in my good suit! Turns out the meeting was not postponed until 1100, it wasn't on at all. Everyoen in the District was heading to another District, Ruhango, fo some sort of interDistrict sports occasion which, presumably, must have been planned ages ago! WTF? They tried to get me a lift but when I got to the main office with Alexis everyoen ahd gone and I said I would stay - at least there was electricity in the main office!
I worked from 1100 to 1300 and then they said they were closing up for lunch and the generator wouyld be off for the next hour or so. I headed home to grab a bite, got back and found that everyuone had decided to take the afternoon off and the office with my surge protector and recharger was locked!! Mind you, I won't have access to any electricity until Monday anyway so it probably doesn't matter so much!
So home again (my guard was really wondering what the hell was going on), went for a beer around 1700 (not nthe brothel place, and I may have been overhasty in that judgement anyway), back for a splendid dinner of a tin of tuna fish and two large bananas (I paid RWF50 for each of them, suspect I was ripped off but they were huge and perfectly ripe). A small glass of Ugandan Waragi gin and then off to bed. Interesting day.
SATURDAY
Quick Saturday note. Thanks to all those who emailed me re the moto test - much appreciated. Battery is almost dead so Saturday will be updated with the next blog. Heading off to the market to buy a few things. generator should arrive from VSO Tuesday but, as I have learned not to take that for granted, I will not be buying anything that ahs to be cooked!!! Jane and JEan may come out and be my first visitors today - that would be cool!!
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
Oh boy! Not a good two days. Left Gisagara early Tuesday morning and went to the Post Office to collect my parcel. Turned out not to be batteries etc that I was expecting but my Amazon.com parcel. Luckily Andy was staying in Jane’s house in Butare so I was able to leave it there rather than lug it up to Kigali with me. Got the bus up with Amy still not really knowing what was happening Wednesday. The government had called for nationwide protests from 0900 to 1800 to mark Rose Kabuye’s extradition from Germany to France so I thought it unlikely it would be possible to have any practice at all. Anyway, en route, Heloise rang and said I was needed for a meeting with a police official that afternoon re the exam. So, when I arrived in Kigali, instead of doing my shopping as I had planned, I had to jump on a moto and head straight to the VSO office. Long story short, the meeting never happened, just hung around doing sod all for three hours in the hotel in case the meeting actually happened.
Anyway, things picked up majorly later on. I met up with Marion and Eric for a drink and an Ethiopian meal that evening. Eric is from Limerick and possibly one of only three Irish speakers in Rwanda (me and Joe O’Toole being the other two). Marion I think you have encountered before (check out her really interesting blog at http://heathenblogging.blogspot.com). We had a great night – draught Mutzig in a bar called High Noon which has the highest barstools known to mankind, a nice Ethiopian meal and then Eric remembered Munster were playing the All-Blacks and we headed for a bar which had satellite TV. They were showing England v. Czech Republic but Eric managed to convince them to change over to the rugby!! Eric is a fan of rugby rather like fish are quite partial to water – the bar staff didn’t stand a chance! The result was somewhat heartbreaking but it was a really good night, even if I did consume somewhat more beer than expected! Marion also gave me a hotplate (which I now remember I left in her house) which will come in useful when my generator arrives.
Wednesday was a strange day, to say the least. We all had breakfast together and then just sat around listening to the sounds of demonstrations, chanting, singing and so on outside. We were tempted to go out and have a look but prudence dictated otherwise. There was also a group of German tourists staying here – they also stayed put, not surprisingly. Then at 1330 we were told demonstrations had ceased and it was OK to go out, which we did. I have to admit I was somewhat more concerned than my colleagues about the possible mood but everything was fine – expect for the training itself! They keep on telling us about new things at the last minute. Basically there are two tests: the first involves weaving between cones set 1m apart but today we found out that the cones we were practising with (little thingies) are not what are used in the test – that uses the big ones you see on roads and you have to take a completely different tactic with them!! Then there is the hill start (which we have only practised on the flat!) plus slowing and stopping, balancing for three seconds without putting a foot down and then moving off again. I made a complete pig’s ear of all of it and actually packed it in early and went home - I was only getting worse! I am doing the test tomorrow for the experience and without any real expectation of passing it. I may settle for getting a scooter to start off with because you don’t need a licence for that and graduate to a proper motorcycle once I have a little more experience!!
Other than that, I have started working on the statistics for Francois, which is proving to be more of a challenge than I expected (my Excel knowledge is struggling with the new 2007 version but it’ll be fine). I have to give a presentation on Friday morning at 0900 (approximately!) to all the primary principals about our training plans for next year and also some guidelines on new procedures for statistical returns which I am writing right now!
What else? It seems Han and Mans are inviting people up to Gasarenda for Christmas, which is absolutely fantastic as I can’t think of anywhere in Rwanda I would rather spend Christmas Day. They are heading back to Holland after two years here so it’ll be a kind of farewell.
On the Rose Kabuye thing, I don’t intend going into it in any detail here but it is worth reading up about her on the Internet – she is a really iconic figure here, rather like Michael Collins would have been in Ireland or La Passionaria in the Spanish Civil War. It’ll be fascinating to see how the French handle the whole thing. Right now, living in Rwanda, I’m glad my surname is Ó hEithir and not von Hildebrand ...........
THURSDAY
Headed off at 0730 for practice. Els had arrived the previous night after beign told by Bruce that practice was cancelled, so she missed out completely on it. The test takes palce beside the Amahoro Stadium which is where everyone comes to practice, so there was a big crowd of people watching. We practised for hours and the police didn't turn up until around 1200 for the actual test. The test was just the cones, no hill start and, to my amazement, I did it perfectly first time! The police were quite lenient and allowed us to have a number of efforts and most of us finally managed to pass. Caithfear a rá nach raibh an slua róshásta nuair a chonaic siad go raibh na póilíní ag dealeáil linn ar bhealach an-difriúil leis an ngnáth-Rwandach - agus an ceart acu; ba léir gur dúradh leis na póilíní gach seans a thabhairt dúinn toisc gur volunteers muid nó toisc craiceann geal a bheith againn ('sé and ara cheann a bhí in aigne an tslua!).
Anyway, it was ferociously hot and I got burned quite badly and, as I found later, picked up a bit of sunstroke. We grabbed some lunch in the Ethiopian restaurant nearby, then I went into town to look for batteries and a rucksack. To my surprise Nakhumat did not have the batteries I wanted but when I asked in another photo shop, the guy called someone in from the footpath who took me to a little photoshop buried away in a warehouse and there they were: CR123A lithium batteries! So at least I have water. I also found a large rucksack (agian, Nakhumat had none) which I got fopr RWF7000 (turned out to be a piece of s*** but I'll make it work somehow) and then jumped on the bus for Butare.
By the time I got there I was feeling a bit dizzy, it was raining and pitch dark, so I was going to stay over in my old haunt the Ineza, but dear Jane for the umpteenth time offered to put me up for the night and I gratefully accepted. I had rung Francois from Kigali and he told me the meeting had been put back to 11:00 so I had plenty of time to get out there, change and chat with him before we started.
FRIDAY
Jane and Jean headed off at 0600 so I lazed around until 0700(!), had coffee (really appreciate that as I can't yet boil water chez moi) and swung by the post office at eight to see if there were any parcels. No, just the Economist. Ah well. Then I got a moto and headed for Gisagara. En route we ran into a police checkpoint (there are hundreds of traffic checkpoints) who promptly arrested my driver and impounded his moto (he may not have been licensed to carry passengers in this area!). Eventually the police flagged down a passing ambulance and told it to take me to Gisagara!
Got home, changed quickly an dashed to the office in the blazing sun in my good suit! Turns out the meeting was not postponed until 1100, it wasn't on at all. Everyoen in the District was heading to another District, Ruhango, fo some sort of interDistrict sports occasion which, presumably, must have been planned ages ago! WTF? They tried to get me a lift but when I got to the main office with Alexis everyoen ahd gone and I said I would stay - at least there was electricity in the main office!
I worked from 1100 to 1300 and then they said they were closing up for lunch and the generator wouyld be off for the next hour or so. I headed home to grab a bite, got back and found that everyuone had decided to take the afternoon off and the office with my surge protector and recharger was locked!! Mind you, I won't have access to any electricity until Monday anyway so it probably doesn't matter so much!
So home again (my guard was really wondering what the hell was going on), went for a beer around 1700 (not nthe brothel place, and I may have been overhasty in that judgement anyway), back for a splendid dinner of a tin of tuna fish and two large bananas (I paid RWF50 for each of them, suspect I was ripped off but they were huge and perfectly ripe). A small glass of Ugandan Waragi gin and then off to bed. Interesting day.
SATURDAY
Quick Saturday note. Thanks to all those who emailed me re the moto test - much appreciated. Battery is almost dead so Saturday will be updated with the next blog. Heading off to the market to buy a few things. generator should arrive from VSO Tuesday but, as I have learned not to take that for granted, I will not be buying anything that ahs to be cooked!!! Jane and JEan may come out and be my first visitors today - that would be cool!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Christmas presents!
OK - in response to popular demand, here are some useful (and mostly light) things you can send me if you want to (and thanks to all those who inquired):
chocolate (like cigarettes in prison, a barter currency)
cup-a-soups
herbs & spices
shrink-wrapped parmesan (like the grana padano they sell in most supermarkets)
your selected downloads from YouTube, podcasts or whatever that you think I might enjoy
seeds (vegetables)
silly surprise things that I wouldn't expect (but would actually like - no Kenny Rodgers greatest hits please!)
I'll think of more anon!! Murabeho!
chocolate (like cigarettes in prison, a barter currency)
cup-a-soups
herbs & spices
shrink-wrapped parmesan (like the grana padano they sell in most supermarkets)
your selected downloads from YouTube, podcasts or whatever that you think I might enjoy
seeds (vegetables)
silly surprise things that I wouldn't expect (but would actually like - no Kenny Rodgers greatest hits please!)
I'll think of more anon!! Murabeho!
Monday 17th November: Day Seventy-Two 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.
Just finishing my first real day at work - so to speak. Turned up at seven, sat around until nine because, apparently, every Monday morning there is a big meeting of all senior staff until nine, so the offices remain locked and the generator off! Then Francois was rushing around telling me how many important things he had to tell me but never actually getting around to doing so. Then he went for lunch and so did I (bread and bananas and water - more about the diet anon). When I got back, it turned out there is a meeting of all primary school principals on Friday and he needed to find out how many of these schools we have 2008 returns for so he could tell the ones we are missing to resubmit their details (surely if they aren't on the computer they exist on paper somewhere? what is the point of getting them to resubmit paper returns if we already have them? Mind you, if some do have them in Excel, it would be worth it all right). Anyway, this meant my trawling through all the files in the computer to see which of them are actually 2008 pupil returns. Turns out 41 of the 65 are on the computer so he is going to try and track down the rest.
Computer skills here are virtually non-existent – I really feel I might be better off teaching everyone basic Word and Excel, if you want real capacity-building. Maybe further anon ...
Domestically, well the guard is turning out to be a .... I was going to say a problem but thatv isn’t fair. I suspect he is even more puzzled by my behaviour than I am by his. Rwandans don’t tend to think of others very much, to be blunt. It doesn’t strike Alexandré (that’s how he pronounces it so that’s how I am writing it) that turning on his radio at full blast at 0530 outside my bedroom window might be something he might think about not doing, if you get my drift. One of my workmates, Jean-Pierre, is going to call in with me later and we can have an interpreted three-way chat. I think Alexandré is trerrified of doing anything wrong so he hovers around me all the time in case I want anything. He knows it makes little sense for me to have a guard who speaks neither French nor English but I am happy to keep him if we can just work out some basic communication! I gave him RWF2000 last night and what I thought were fairly clear instructions to buy kerosene for the stove and lamp (I mean, I mimed it all, what else would I pour into a kerosene stove and lamp!) but as of lunchtime today there was no sign. However, I have found a bakery, a hardware store, a snack and telephoen credit shop and two bars – not bad. The first bar – La Permanence de Gisagara – has a suspicious number of young, extremely attractive young women sitting around in it for no apparent reason. The second (nameless) was more lively. I met a young guy called Walter who is off to Kampala on Monday to seek his fortune and was desperate to try out his English on me (it wasn’t bad, actually). He was there with three brothers, his sister, his sister’s husband, two of his brothers and a clatter of kids. It was really nice meeting them and they hustled away some other local guy who decided that muzungu meant free beer! I have arranged to meet Walter next Friday for a farewell beer before his departure.
Food: well, I can’t cook yet and I don’t think my guard is going to be up to that. Once I get the generator I will be able to boil kettles and so on. With kerosene I can get my stove going. A charcoal stove is cheaper but more work and I don’t have an obvious space to put it in. So I am living on sliced white bread, bananas and peanut butter and water, sometimes mixed with (why did I pick this) concentrated strawberry juice. Not the unhealthiest diet in the world and I am not one who minds eating the same thing day in and day out – up to a point.
Locals: I have to say there has been far less hassle from kids than I expected. A few do shout muzungu as you would expect but generally they are far less intrusive than I had expected in a town/village where no muzungu has ever lived before. Have made quite a few acquaintances, some of whom may graduate into friends (the speed with which they start hinting they might like ‘a present’ is usually a giveaway – so far I haven’t budged). All in all, this is looking like a nice place to live.
Writing poetry strikes me like one way of filling up the inevitable free time that crops up so be prepared to get more inflicted upon you! And to all those who have written offering to send me stuff for Christmas, I will be writing back individually, don't worry. It's just I wasn't sure what I needed yet. However, to anyone who would like to drop me a line the old-fashioned way, remember my address:
Ruairi O hEithir
BP 129
Butare
Rwanda.
Murabeho!!!!
Just finishing my first real day at work - so to speak. Turned up at seven, sat around until nine because, apparently, every Monday morning there is a big meeting of all senior staff until nine, so the offices remain locked and the generator off! Then Francois was rushing around telling me how many important things he had to tell me but never actually getting around to doing so. Then he went for lunch and so did I (bread and bananas and water - more about the diet anon). When I got back, it turned out there is a meeting of all primary school principals on Friday and he needed to find out how many of these schools we have 2008 returns for so he could tell the ones we are missing to resubmit their details (surely if they aren't on the computer they exist on paper somewhere? what is the point of getting them to resubmit paper returns if we already have them? Mind you, if some do have them in Excel, it would be worth it all right). Anyway, this meant my trawling through all the files in the computer to see which of them are actually 2008 pupil returns. Turns out 41 of the 65 are on the computer so he is going to try and track down the rest.
Computer skills here are virtually non-existent – I really feel I might be better off teaching everyone basic Word and Excel, if you want real capacity-building. Maybe further anon ...
Domestically, well the guard is turning out to be a .... I was going to say a problem but thatv isn’t fair. I suspect he is even more puzzled by my behaviour than I am by his. Rwandans don’t tend to think of others very much, to be blunt. It doesn’t strike Alexandré (that’s how he pronounces it so that’s how I am writing it) that turning on his radio at full blast at 0530 outside my bedroom window might be something he might think about not doing, if you get my drift. One of my workmates, Jean-Pierre, is going to call in with me later and we can have an interpreted three-way chat. I think Alexandré is trerrified of doing anything wrong so he hovers around me all the time in case I want anything. He knows it makes little sense for me to have a guard who speaks neither French nor English but I am happy to keep him if we can just work out some basic communication! I gave him RWF2000 last night and what I thought were fairly clear instructions to buy kerosene for the stove and lamp (I mean, I mimed it all, what else would I pour into a kerosene stove and lamp!) but as of lunchtime today there was no sign. However, I have found a bakery, a hardware store, a snack and telephoen credit shop and two bars – not bad. The first bar – La Permanence de Gisagara – has a suspicious number of young, extremely attractive young women sitting around in it for no apparent reason. The second (nameless) was more lively. I met a young guy called Walter who is off to Kampala on Monday to seek his fortune and was desperate to try out his English on me (it wasn’t bad, actually). He was there with three brothers, his sister, his sister’s husband, two of his brothers and a clatter of kids. It was really nice meeting them and they hustled away some other local guy who decided that muzungu meant free beer! I have arranged to meet Walter next Friday for a farewell beer before his departure.
Food: well, I can’t cook yet and I don’t think my guard is going to be up to that. Once I get the generator I will be able to boil kettles and so on. With kerosene I can get my stove going. A charcoal stove is cheaper but more work and I don’t have an obvious space to put it in. So I am living on sliced white bread, bananas and peanut butter and water, sometimes mixed with (why did I pick this) concentrated strawberry juice. Not the unhealthiest diet in the world and I am not one who minds eating the same thing day in and day out – up to a point.
Locals: I have to say there has been far less hassle from kids than I expected. A few do shout muzungu as you would expect but generally they are far less intrusive than I had expected in a town/village where no muzungu has ever lived before. Have made quite a few acquaintances, some of whom may graduate into friends (the speed with which they start hinting they might like ‘a present’ is usually a giveaway – so far I haven’t budged). All in all, this is looking like a nice place to live.
Writing poetry strikes me like one way of filling up the inevitable free time that crops up so be prepared to get more inflicted upon you! And to all those who have written offering to send me stuff for Christmas, I will be writing back individually, don't worry. It's just I wasn't sure what I needed yet. However, to anyone who would like to drop me a line the old-fashioned way, remember my address:
Ruairi O hEithir
BP 129
Butare
Rwanda.
Murabeho!!!!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Wednesday 12th to Sunday 16th November 2008: Days Sixty-Seven to Seventy-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.
Pictures are: first dinner in new house, weaver bird nests behind house, view behind house, sitting -room and the front of the house from the road (it is set somewhat below the road on a steep slope).
And so here I am in my new house. Pictures are included so I don’t need to say too much. It is positively palatial compared to what many volunteers have had to and are enduring. It does need some work, though mostly in various domestic items that are needed (a desk, bin, basin, more jerrycans, kerosene and petrol containers (presuming the generator does arrive) cafetière and so forth. I arrived here Saturday afternoon and Alexandré and I spent about two hours putting stuff away – he had very definite ideas on where some things should go so I just went with the flow for the time being ; there will be plenty of time to sort things around later. Then I sat down to my first meal of bananas, bread, peanut butter and Jus de Fraises!
Today was a rather different day to most I have spent so far. I woke at 0500 as Alexandre had his radio on full blast outside my window (have sorted that out with him). Was up at six, had breakfast of bread, bananas and water (still no fuel for boiling water) and then settled down for a morning of reading and studying Kinyarwandan. Alexandrè went off to church at around ten so I had two blissful hours on my own on the verandah, listening to music from Mali and writing my first poem!!! I had always said I would write some poetry out here and Tracey, Naomi and Chris gave me a special book to write them in so it’s nice to have got off to a start (I originally wrote ‘good start’ but that’s hardly for me to say!).
Living without electricity is definitely the biggest challenge: even when and if the generator arrives, it is expensive to run so I won’t be able to have it on all the time. However, all my electrical gadgets are either flat or nearly so and I can’t rely on the office having electricity so careful planning is called for.
To fill in from the last post, motorcycle training continued Wednesday and Thursday and was fine, difficult on Wednesday and better Thursday. On Thursday they told us of a whole new part of the test for the first time: starting in neutral with the right foot on the brake, then changing into first with your left foot and setting off without putting either foot on the ground! Not easy (at least not for us). Anyway, VSO have decided to give us one day’s additional training next Wednesday the day before the exam, so that may help. That means I will go to work Monday and then promptly vanish off on Tuesday morning to Kigali and not return until Thursday evening! Francois must think I have disappeared altogether!
On Wednesday I heard from Tina Hewing in England – the doctor thinks she has a disease she caught from a rat in Rwanda! Not so pleasant! Anyway, hopefully now that they know what it is she will be cured and back with us soon. I hear the weather is miserable in England so that will be an incentive for her to hurry back!
On Thursday a big crows of us went to Sole Luna, an Italian restaurant in Kigali. The food was so-so (well, I rodered an indifferent pizza but some of the others were pretty impressive-looking) and I also tried Rwandan Guinness for the first time! It’s a bit like one of those specialist dark Belgian bottled beers, 7.5% and very strong-tasting. It was fine for about half the bottle and then it got really heavy going. No wonder the Rwandans mix it with Coke or orange!
One other interesting thing: while speeds are slow on the Internet, some things seem to download faster than expected, YouTube for example. Managed to download Sarah Palin’s greatest hits on Friday!! Going to keep that until 2012 in case we need it.
OK – the battery on my laptop is a bit low and it will take a while to upload the pictures so that’s it for now. The poem is a bit rough so feel free to criticise and suggest amendments! (Hovering between ‘dirt’ which rhymes better and ‘earth’ which seems to work better in the context).
Rwandan Sonnet
A lake appears and so I dive straight in –
I who cannot swim and fear the strange!
The fish, some small and plump, some long and thin,
Swim all around and wonder at the change.
Into their world of water, calm and mild,
(Though far below lie bones and blood-red earth)
This unfamiliar creature has arrived,
A plump Ophelia in a Chelsea shirt.
And so I drift, not sure of where I go
And sometimes wondering why the hell I’m here.
The water’s warm, the fish seem friendly, so
I’ll just keep floating for the next two years.
And rather than obey the current’s whim,
Maybe its time I found out how to swim!
Today was a rather different day to most I have spent so far. I woke at 0500 as Alexandre had his radio on full blast outside my window (have sorted that out with him). Was up at six, had breakfast of bread, bananas and water (still no fuel for boiling water) and then settled down for a morning of reading and studying Kinyarwandan. Alexandrè went off to church at around ten so I had two blissful hours on my own on the verandah, listening to music from Mali and writing my first poem!!! I had always said I would write some poetry out here and Tracey, Naomi and Chris gave me a special book to write them in so it’s nice to have got off to a start (I originally wrote ‘good start’ but that’s hardly for me to say!).
Living without electricity is definitely the biggest challenge: even when and if the generator arrives, it is expensive to run so I won’t be able to have it on all the time. However, all my electrical gadgets are either flat or nearly so and I can’t rely on the office having electricity so careful planning is called for.
To fill in from the last post, motorcycle training continued Wednesday and Thursday and was fine, difficult on Wednesday and better Thursday. On Thursday they told us of a whole new part of the test for the first time: starting in neutral with the right foot on the brake, then changing into first with your left foot and setting off without putting either foot on the ground! Not easy (at least not for us). Anyway, VSO have decided to give us one day’s additional training next Wednesday the day before the exam, so that may help. That means I will go to work Monday and then promptly vanish off on Tuesday morning to Kigali and not return until Thursday evening! Francois must think I have disappeared altogether!
On Wednesday I heard from Tina Hewing in England – the doctor thinks she has a disease she caught from a rat in Rwanda! Not so pleasant! Anyway, hopefully now that they know what it is she will be cured and back with us soon. I hear the weather is miserable in England so that will be an incentive for her to hurry back!
On Thursday a big crows of us went to Sole Luna, an Italian restaurant in Kigali. The food was so-so (well, I rodered an indifferent pizza but some of the others were pretty impressive-looking) and I also tried Rwandan Guinness for the first time! It’s a bit like one of those specialist dark Belgian bottled beers, 7.5% and very strong-tasting. It was fine for about half the bottle and then it got really heavy going. No wonder the Rwandans mix it with Coke or orange!
One other interesting thing: while speeds are slow on the Internet, some things seem to download faster than expected, YouTube for example. Managed to download Sarah Palin’s greatest hits on Friday!! Going to keep that until 2012 in case we need it.
OK – the battery on my laptop is a bit low and it will take a while to upload the pictures so that’s it for now. The poem is a bit rough so feel free to criticise and suggest amendments! (Hovering between ‘dirt’ which rhymes better and ‘earth’ which seems to work better in the context).
Rwandan Sonnet
A lake appears and so I dive straight in –
I who cannot swim and fear the strange!
The fish, some small and plump, some long and thin,
Swim all around and wonder at the change.
Into their world of water, calm and mild,
(Though far below lie bones and blood-red earth)
This unfamiliar creature has arrived,
A plump Ophelia in a Chelsea shirt.
And so I drift, not sure of where I go
And sometimes wondering why the hell I’m here.
The water’s warm, the fish seem friendly, so
I’ll just keep floating for the next two years.
And rather than obey the current’s whim,
Maybe its time I found out how to swim!
I have now closed my fundraising account for VSO. Thanks again to everyone who helped me break my target of €10,000 - your support really meant a lot to me.
Friday, November 14, 2008
No date
I'm back in Butare and moving into my new house in Gisagara tomorrow. The generator still hasn't arrived from Kibeyho so I will not have electricity for the moment. This means internet access will be intermittent for the foreseeable future. Will try and update tomorrow but that may be it for a while!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th November: Days Sixty-Five and Sixty-Six
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.
MOTORBIKE TRAINING
This is the only game in town at the moment and just about the best fun I have had in I don't know how long. Today we were maneouvering between cones set 1.5 metres apart and doing emergency stops and changing gears up and down quickly. I managed to start getting the hang of balancing the clutch and throttle to keep moving really slowly though I do need a little more practice, to put it mildly. We have two more days of training (which boils down to about 45 minutes - 1 hour of actual bike time each) and the test is on Thursday week. Fun fun fun!! Other than that it is Amani jail-fever time but I am off tonight to a restaurant which specialises in barbequed chicken (chicken is rare and expensive here!!) to meet Steve and pick up my Kinyarwandan grammar book!
The other big news here is the arrest of Rose Kabuye in Germany and her extradition to France for trial in the alleged plot to assassinate President Habariyamana in 1994. I'm sure you have all seen the story (though I am sure it's not as big with all of you as it is here). Suffice to say the government here seems to be actually relishing the prospect, given the flimsiness of the charges.
Anyone got any tips on motorbike expertise - please let me know!!!
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!
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Monday 3rd to Sunday 9th November: Days Fifty-Eight to Sixty-Four in Rwanda
Do they look absorbed or what? Thom and Andy (with Nidhi dozing in the background)
Me, Amy, Thom, Andy and Nidhi (and thanks to Heloise for taking the photo)
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.
Hmmm – this is going to be tricky, so much has happened in the last week or so, it could take forever to describe it all! First of all, I think I should pick out the highlights and then give a quick summary of what else happened!
ELECTION NIGHT!!
Best night of my life? Must be pretty close to it. Things started off really badly, actually. I had been told that a restaurant in town managed by two Americans – Torrero – was showing the results. Mike Silvey had kindly offered his place but there was a big gang of us who wanted to see it so that would have been a bit much for Mike. Once we had eventually figured out what time the first results would be arriving in (we figured around 0100 Rwandan time) six of us decided to head off to Torrereo around 2330 to soak up some atmosphere. Thom, Andy, Amy and Heloise got a taxi and Nidhi and I followed on motos. When I got there it turned out they weren’t showing the results! Disaster! We had no idea where to go but went into Nakhumat 24-hour store to buy cake and see if there were any display TVs we might see something on! Anyway, while I wandered around feeling like a complete idiot for having dragged all these people out for nothing, and Andy and Thom consoled themselves with cake, resourceful Nidhi (if you are ever stuck, Nidhi will usually sort things out) chatted to the security guard on the entrance, got him to ring around his friends and discovered that a bar cum night-club called Carwash was showing the results! Yeah Nidhi!
We again piled into taxis and motos and arrived at a big open-air club with a giant screen showing CNN and inconspicuously plonked ourselves bang centre in front of it! There wasn’t a very big crowd to be honest but a definite air of excitement and tension. Anyway, you all know the result! As the results began to come in and it looked more and more like ‘our’ guy was going to win, people were getting more and more excited. There were quite a lot of Kenyans and Ugandans there (I think the owner is Kenyan) but also quite a few Rwandans.
The CNN coverage was quite good, though I had forgotten what US TV coverage is like. Someone called Soledad O’Brien who had a very loud voice had the unenviable job of analysing exit polls statistics early on when there was a real dearth of real news and they also had this dumb thing of holographically projecting the reporters outside in the field onto the studio floor (Star Trek Deep Space Nine fans will remember that this technique was tried and abandoned some time ago) – it did lead to a really great line from one woman reporter who said ’As I stand here talking to you I am being simultaneously ringed by thirty-seven cameras’.
The night was further enlivened by a large rat who kept on running around under our feet, obviously completely confused as to what the hell was going on at an hour when he probably usually took his evening constitutional in complete isolation, but we kind of got used to him after a while and eventually he ran straight up the wall and disappeared. Later on some prostitutes came in (as happens a lot here) but they got really involved in what was happening on the screen and began singing and dancing and trying to hold bottles of beer up to Obama’s lips whenever he appeared on the screen.
Anyway, sitting there in my blue Obama shirt (see pics) loads of people kept on coming up and shaking hands, hugging and so on, especially as the night wore on and the result became more and more obvious. By 0500 it was clear that as soon as California closed that would put him over the top and that, of course is what happened. As everyone stood and cheered and clapped, I promptly burst into tears like I have never done before in my entire life, to the complete bemusement of at least some of the Kenyans and Rwandans around me (Alfred: actually, some Rwandans have said that crying with joy is not unknown around here but others have strongly disagreed, so, yes, he did confuse quite a lot of them!). I can’t even begin to describe how happy I felt: all my life I have been teaching courses on civil rights, racism, anti-Semitism, international relations, whatever. If anyone had told me I would live to see the day a black man would be elected president of the USA I would never have believed it. I remember talking to my friend Cormac some months ago about the likely result and he said that, while he would love to see it happen, he just couldn’t see it. I disagreed but honestly in my heart I wasn’t so sure!
The next, and maybe most interesting thing that happened, was John McCain’s concession speech. Most people listened pretty respectfully (some who were very pissed were booing him but were told to shut up by the rest). It was a great speech – dignified, generous and in no way begrudging or half-hearted. Once he had finished, two people said to me separately that what they had just seen was – for them – a lesson in true democracy, the complete acceptance by one candidate of the will of the people even though he had lost. One man contrasted it with what happened in Kenya before and is happening at the moment in Zambia: ‘the true essence of democracy’ he said ‘ is what happens when you lose, not when you win’.
Anyway, we waited until Obama’s victory speech and the parade of the family and the Bidens and all that. By now it was 0730 and we were supposed to be back for 0800 for a briefing on visas, residency permits and so on. We piled into buses and got to the guesthouse at 0750, in time for a quick coffee and bite. What a night. I can’t think of a better way to have spent such an occasion (or better company to be in, Rwandans and abazungu both).
MOTORBIKE TRAINING
This is AWESOME! I am just furious I waited until I was 49 to try this out. We started today (Sunday) - a little theory class on road signs (these are a bit unusual here – no wheelbarrows allowed, signs for railway crossings in a country with no railways, various things for animals and livestock) and then off to the nearby stadium to actually get on a bike! They explained the clutch, brakes, gears, starter and then off we went. We actually had to start with a guy riding pillion with us, which actually made it more difficult but it was incredible how quickly we all got the hang of it (that’s Bruce, Hayley, Els and me by the way). (Alfred: while Ruairí is trying to type this, a huge choir is singing Shine, Jesus, Shine next door for a wedding, at about one quarter of the speed the girls would sing it at assembly in Rathdown. Earlier we had Bind Us Together and Guide Me Oh Thou Great Jehovah. Just like being at school!). We did starting and stopping, changing gears (1st to 4th and down again – that’s tricky, operating the gear lever with your toe is not easy for me with my huge big feet). In the afternoon we did manoeuvring through cones and that was hard – down in second gear and trying to balance the clutch and accelerator without stalling. But it was such fun!
The only downside is that the test which was supposed to be on Thursday has been postponed to next Thursday and I have committed myself to going to Nyamasheke to help Joe with a training workshop. There is nothing VSO can do about the postponement but they could have told us on Friday when they knew. It is all very well for me because I need the training but for the PHARE people and Amy, the only reason for hanging around was for the test. Anyway, I’ll finish the training and maybe I can arrange for the District to set up a test for me. But it is such fun! And yah sucks boo to Alfred who thought I was going to be hopeless! (Alfred: one chicken, two chickens, three chickens, four chickens ........).
TINA GOING HOME
You may remember that Tina Hewing has been having a difficult time. Tina was with me and Christina on SKWID training and also teacher development so we have got to know each other really well since we joined VSO. Poor Tina fell ill and, after four or five weeks, had really not made any serious progress so she flew back to England on Thursday to get properly checked out (the Polyclinique here doesn’t really seem to be the best, though – to be fair – there are those here who would disagree). We all really hope she will be back soon (she sent me a poem today from England – at least I think it was a poem. It started like this:
Hey Ruairí,
it's cold.
It's so cold.
It's so very cold.
It's weird.
It's so weird.
To be in England.
Nice, eh!). Come back soon, Tina, we all miss you.
KINYARWANDA CLASSES
We had an amazing teacher called Emmanuel, same guy as we had the last time. It’s funny watching how different (Alfred: Oh sweet Lord – a full brass marching band has now started up outside, sounds like rather inebriated Italian villagers playing late at night at a village festival in some Fellini film) people react to the language. Joe is a natural linguist who speaks excellent French and Spanish but he finds he can’t get a handle on Kinyarwandan at all (or Kinny as we call it for short). I, who tends to rely more on books, notes and grammar, am finding it a little easier but it is still a bugger! Ivana is doing really well – I don’t know if being Slovak means she is better at some of the sounds but she definitely way ahead of most of us when it comes to pronunciation.
Anyway, Emmanuel has been teaching us more than just Kinyarwandan: when we discuss some of the things you can’t say in Kinyarwandan you begin to realise a lot about how you can analyse a society through its use of language. For example, to turn a male word into a female word you add the ending –kazi (as we would say waiter/waitress, actor/actress and so on). But the word kazi is also the word for ‘work’ because the overwhelming bulk of all labour here is done by women, so ‘woman’ and ‘work’ is the same thing. We also ran into great difficulties with phrases such as ‘I am engaged’,‘I have a boyfriend’, ‘I have a partner’ and so on. Emmanuel said some of them could be translated but they had no real meaning in Kinyarwandan – you are either married or not. If someone has been to visit your father and given him some banana beer, this is a sign of interest and other men are not supposed to be allowed to visit you but that seems to be about it! And the phrase ‘I have no religion’ or ‘I don’t have any religious beliefs’ translates roughly into ‘I am dead’ or 'I have no life' or something equally dramatic.
Even better was when we speculated, if I were going out with Heloise and then dumped her for Ivana, what phrase would be useful for Heloise in the situation to let Ivana know exactly how she felt. Emmanuel said the phrase would be (can't remember the word) – which means ‘Congratulations! That was NOT what Heloise had in mind (though ‘You’re welcome to him’ might work)! Emmanuel also offered us this philosophical/linguistic gem: ‘You must remember that there are many realities that do not exist in Kinyarwandan.’
But the best, the very best of all, is when we were doing the Present Continuous, which he explained by saying it was the equivalent to the French phrase Je suis en train de, I am –ing or I am in the process of –ing. The example he gave was Ndimo ndasura which means ‘I am in the process of farting’. We speculated how long a fart would have to be to have time to say the phrase (Alfred: mind you, Rwandans are less shy than we would be about various audible expressions of internal bodily functions, so the phrase may prove to be useful). Talk about a phrase that sticks in your head!
It turns out Emmanuel is from Gisagara where I am going to live. His mother’s house is about 100m or less from mine, so I will see him over the Christmas when he comes home to visit.
IN-COUNTRY TRAINING 2
The training has been a bit hit-and-miss to be honest but some bits were good – the police briefing, the AIDS workshop, advice on coping and coping with not coping. But the best was the Disability workshop, presented by (among others) Karen Woolard, a VSO volunteer who is just finishing her stint here and heading back to England. She is one of these people whose own belief and commitment and passion inspire and infect those around her. I was always aware of and committed to the idea that disability awareness and training is a core part of VSO’s mission but her insights and examples and suggestions really transformed the way I look at the whole thing. In particular she told us of the Liliane Fonds, a Dutch charity that does amazing work through mediators around the world helping children with disabilities, either with medical tests, equipment (crutches, callipers etc), schooling or whatever they need. It sounds like something I would like to get more involved in and maybe some of the girls back in Rathdown – either through SUCH or CSPE projects or whatever. If anyone is interested, have a look at their website http://www.lilianefonds.org/. I’ll keep you posted on any developments.
FUNDRAISING
I have decided to close my VSO fundraising page at the end of next week. I have exceeded my target of €10,000 (currently the fund is at €10,500) and – again – thank you to everyone who contributed (there is still a few days if you want to get in there). I will be doing more fundraising further down the line for projects here in Rwanda so you’ll be hearing from me again!!
MY WEBSITE
Buying a modem means I now have permanent – if painfully slow – access to the Internet and I have updated my website (http://www.ruairioheithir.ie/). I have removed most of the existing material (apart from the Darth Vader canteen sketch which cannot be touched) and replaced it with mostly Rwandan material, including some full-sized photos. There are also photos of all the people I have been mentioning in my blog! I will continue to put some photos here in my blog as well. I also hope to design a ‘Teach Yourself Kinyarwandan’ for the website so you can all join in the fun!
KEVIN KELLY AND PAMELA UWAKWE: an apology
One unfortunate thing that happened – or rather didn’t happen to me – was the reception for Kevin Kelly’s official installation as Irish ambassador to Rwanda. I had received an email about this but because the subject line was vague and it was a name I had never heard of before, I decided not to open it. I only found out when I arrived in Kigali at 1500 that there was a reception at 1800. Standing there with a backpack and shopping bag, smelly and sweaty, I decided that I couldn’t really turn up looking like this! Idiot that I was, I forgot that Pamela Uwakwe, Kevin’s wife and my former student, would be there! Darn! I figure I’ll get over to Kampala and see her at some stage but that was unfortunate. Sorry Kevin and Pamela! Actually, Kevin’s appointment was really big news here – every single radio and TV bulletin gave it top billing along with the troubles in the Congo (of which more on another occasion). I think the government see it as a sort of European vote-of-confidence at a rather difficult time.
WILDLIFE MOMENTS
It’s been mostly birds so far – really loud early-morning birds usually right outside my window or on the roof at 0500. But when Nidhi and I went to visit Tina in her hotel last Tuesday, we met a large green snake in the driveway – about a metre long. Neither of us reacted particularly alarmed (not sure why) but just pointed it out to the hotel staff. It was only afterwards when we told people its size and colour, they speculated that it may have been a green mamba, not the kind of snake you want to have a close personal encounter with! So anyway, running total so far is three rats, one praying mantis, quite a few lizards and geckos, one monkey crossing the road, one snake and uncounted cockroaches, fleas and bedbugs (Alfred: to be accurate, the fleas and bedbugs are unseen but their presence is indisputable).
MEETING PEOPLE
This is a great country for meeting people – you just have to be open to whoever wants to talk to you. True, often they will ask for money, references, a job abroad (a young man in Simba supermarket on Saturday asked me to arrange a trial with Chelsea for him, based on the fact (I presume) that I was wearing a Joe Cole shirt) but you also meet really interesting people. On Saturday we went down the hill to watch the Arsenal-Man Utd match and I stayed on afterwards to watch a bit of Portsmouth Sunderland before heading off (as I had intended) to a meeting of the St Patrick’s Day organising committee (sorry guys). I started talking to this guy in a fabulous pink shirt who turned out to be the assistant to the Rwandan Prosecutor-General (Alain is his name). We had an amazing conversation for two hours about the genocide, the obstacles lying in Rwanda’s way, how to modernise management and business practices, Rwandans’ difficulties with being self-critical, the looming demographic crisis, possible comparisons with Ireland’s last thirty years in Europe and so on and so forth. It was really, really fascinating – he was far more realistic and down-to-earth than most Rwandan officials I have spoken to: really hope to see him again. He is often down in Butare so we agreed to try and meet up sometime in the future.
By the time we finished it was too late for the meeting (sorry again guys) so I went home and had a nice evening emailing, Skyping and catching up on Facebook gossip with some of my students.
Thank you very much to all of you who helped me to reach and exceed my fundraising total. The fund will close next weekend, so if you or anyone else you know feel like contributing , please go to www.mycharity.ie/event/ruairi. Murakoze cyane cyane!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
And still we wait ...
Alfred here. Again. Still. I feel like Marvin in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - it's not me you are looking for but I'll kinda do until the main attraction comes around. HE (you know who) is still getting his act together after all the excitement of last week. Maybe it'll happen tomorrow, after the motorcycle training (and don't get me started on that!). Tonight he had a discussion on the future of Rwanda as a stable society with the assistant to the Rwandan Prosecutor-General and they decideed .......... oh hell, I'm going to wait until he tells you himself. I'm not paid enough to do this .......
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Normal transmission will be resumed as soon as possible.
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.
Alfred here: I'm afrad you're going to have to wait a little while for Ruairí to resume normal service. He had rather a wild night last night in central Kigali and hasn't actually been to bed yet as of 2049 Wednesday. Lots of wild stuff to tell you about (Kenyans, beer, rats, a green mamba, prostitutes, CNN, the new John McCain fan club and loads more. Like a pint of cold Carlsberg, it'll be worth waiting for.
Meanwhile he has managed to update his website - some nice photos of Rwandan countryside in high definition (relatively speaking). Have a look. I'm going to try and get him to go to bed and take off the Obama shirt he has now been wearing for twenty-seven hours non-stop ....
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!
Alfred here: I'm afrad you're going to have to wait a little while for Ruairí to resume normal service. He had rather a wild night last night in central Kigali and hasn't actually been to bed yet as of 2049 Wednesday. Lots of wild stuff to tell you about (Kenyans, beer, rats, a green mamba, prostitutes, CNN, the new John McCain fan club and loads more. Like a pint of cold Carlsberg, it'll be worth waiting for.
Meanwhile he has managed to update his website - some nice photos of Rwandan countryside in high definition (relatively speaking). Have a look. I'm going to try and get him to go to bed and take off the Obama shirt he has now been wearing for twenty-seven hours non-stop ....
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!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
ELECTION NIGHT!!!!!
Just heading off to the Torrero Tapas Bar in Central Kigali for the US Election Night Special! Fingers crossed! Proper blog update will follow!
Friday 31st October to Monday 3rd November: Days Fifty-Five to Fifty-Eight 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.
FRIDAY
Headed to the bank early – Jane needed some cash to pay her PHARE volunteers and I had it on me, but I want to pay my hotel bill to date and have enough on me to pay for a modem in Kigali. There was no one in the bank at all – I just walked straight up to the cashier and got my cash!!
Then I went to the Post Office: got my first letter today – go raibh míle maith agat, a Sheosaimh! It’s been a while since I got an actual handwritten letter from someone but it was also the first thing I have got from home. Then, just as I was about to head out and find a moto to go to work, Bosco rang from the VSO office. He said he was coming out to collect Tina’s stuff from Gisagara and wanted me to come along. This gave me two hours to pack all my stuff in the hotel because this was a perfect opportunity to move all my gear, minus whatever I needed for Kigali. I also zoomed up to the market to see if I could get the stuff on my shopping list (see earlier blog) but I gave up as I couldn’t find most of it!!
Anyway, Bosco arrived with Grâce, the woman who is managing the property for her father who is away in Amsterdam. We headed off and called first to my new house, where I stuck all my things in one bedroom (to which only I have the key) and we did a quick survey of the house to see what needed fixing and what furniture I might need. Because the house is technically ‘furnished’, VSO seemed to think that I didn’t need anything, while I was keen to hang on to at least a few bits and pieces, especially the bed (there are two beds in the house but they are very old and I’m not sure I would trust the mattresses or what might be in them!). Anyway, there was no real problem – Bosco was quite amenable and there really is very little that needs to be done with the house.
Over to Gisagara and we started dismantling Tina’s bed and loading the chairs, armchairs, cupboards and everything else onto the truck: I didn’t think it would be possible but Ephraim handled it all really well. The only thing we argued over was the small bedside table – for some reason VSO had only given us one and Bosco was under strict orders to bring it up to Gitarama, so I’ll have to nag VSO for a replacement at some stage because I don’t have anything else that will do in its place. Then off to the District Office for me to teach my class and for Bosco to draw up a contract between the District, VSO and Grâce for the house.
The class was another desultory affair: everyone was knackered (it was a REALLY hot day), Francois more than most as he had had a really hard week. I explained to the class that I would be away for two weeks and that we would discuss when I got back whether we would divide the class in three for the three teachers or what. Enoch (the other teacher present this day) didn’t seem to be sure either. On the one hand, if we do a 3-way split, it means I have to teach every day, but the classes are only for three months, until early January and I am not doing a whole lot else at the moment anyway, so it might be as well to have something concrete to do, give the day a shape, so to speak. I’m not very hopeful of our chances of making them all fluent – few people attend two classes in a row and they are all genuinely pretty busy, but we’ll see how it goes!!
Back in Butare I invited Francois for a beer (rarely have I seen a grown man more in need of a beer!). It was a really good move – he was pleased to be asked and over beer and brochettes we had our first real chat about my job and what things he would like me to do. We have agreed that the first aim is to do a training course in January or early February for all primary and secondary principals in the district on planning: five-year plans, annual plans, monitoring and evaluation and so on. All schools are supposed to do this and apparently virtually none here do. However, Francois seems to think this will need a three-day conference, which seems a bit OTT to me but it’s early days yet. He was also keen for me to come with him next week inspecting the secondary schools during their exams but that isn’t going to work because of my Kigali commitments.
He headed home, I dropped my stuff and headed to the Faucon for a nightcap. I had started reading Silas Marner that morning on my Palm Pilot and decided to see how far I could get with it. Not actually enjoying it as much as I expected I have to say (not a patch on Austen) but it has some nice things in it. This particular line really jumped out at me:
Every man's work, pursued steadily, tends ... to become an end in itself, and so to bridge over the loveless chasms of his life.
Hmmm, quite. Alfred’s going to love that one! Sitting in the Faucon was really nice, I felt for the first time a real sense of belonging and being at home – it may have been the way the barman simply brought me my large bottle of large Mützig without even asking what I wanted – that always makes you feel at home!
Anyway, saw Jean and Jean briefly (they were heading to the Faucon night-club) but not me, no thanks! Home and bed, off to Han & Mans’ party in Gasarenda tomorrow!!
SATURDAY
This always happens when your stuff is in three different places at the same time. I packed my phone charger and my Palm Pilot recharger in my suitcase so they are sitting out in Gisagara now! I will be calling out on Monday morning to drop off the stuff I am not bringing to Kigali but I’m not sure my phone will last that long. Well, maybe somebody in Gasarenda will have a Nokia recharger – I really don’t feel like shelling out for a new one. I hope the Palm Pilot holds out until I finish Silas Marner – he has just found the kid on the hearth and the mother has been found dead and Godfrey thinks all his prayers have been answered. Anyway, not the end of the world.
Had breakfast and then decided to cut my hair as I was feeling really hot! I set the razor for 10mm which is RATHER short but it is worth it for the relief. Of course, I then realised I had left my hat in the District Office after my English class, so I am probably going to get sunstroke today!!
I am about to go off and try and find something for Han and Mans before grabbing the bus to Gasarenda. Think I’ll wear my pineapple shirt from Las Vegas for the occasion! Next post will probably not be until either Sunday night or Monday night depending on how things go.
......
Met Soraya and Beate on the way to the bus so we went up to Gasarenda together, collecting a few more people en route in Kigeme. It was a really great party (see pictures at end!). I had some really interesting chats with old friends, also met a Canadian girl called Julie who has been here for quite a while (not with VSO any longer): her parents are Eritrean and she says Rwandans constantly think she is Rwandan! Han and Mans were in good form (it was Han’s birthday) and there must have been about thirty to thirty-five people there. Chatted to Cathryn Devine about the Troubles and Strabane, Soraya about food (as usual), among other things, to loads of people about the American elections and the ongoing trouble in the Eastern Congo, and so on and so on. I also arranged with a number of people to attend and help out with training courses (education planning and Resource Creation). Best of all, Berthe was there, a Dutch volunteer who came with us but who I hadn’t seen since our training (admire the picture of her beautifully designed salad!).
Lunch was fabulous (interesting what you start craving once you are on a Rwandan diet – there was a tuna-fish salad that everyone was avidly consuming, even people who don’t particularly like tuna fish, because tuna fish is rare and expensive here!) and plentiful, as was the wine, beer and even whiskey. Later we went down to a local night-club (The Pasadena) which was .... well, loud is the best word. We did get food (brochettes and baked potatoes which were good) but the music wasn’t exactly appealing. Then ten of us got into our hired bus and headed off for the Christian Boarding House in Kigeme where we were staying. A really really nice day and lots of friends I hadn’t seen in a while.
OBSERVATION: MUSIC in RWANDA
The music here is crap (sorry, but that’s the only word and Albert Reynolds said it was OK to use it). As Jane Keenan said (degree in Musicology from TCD) she had to pick the ONE country in nall of Africa with no real indigenous musical tradition. Bad hop-hop, the usual chart hits and ENDLESS BLOODY CÉLINE DION!!! Alain gave me about 2GB of assorted African music and it is fabulous stuff, especially the stuff from Mali which I reall like, but here ... nothing.
OBSERVATION: THE WORLD IS A BLOODY SMALL PLACE
Mans Schram’s brother Henk works in the same office as my brother Brian in Munich, the European Patent Agency (or is it EPO?).
OBSERVATION: ELECTRICITY
Andy took a risk and plugged in his DVD player without a surge protector. Bad move. Remind me never to do that. Anyone reading this and thinking of coming to Rwanda – bring a surge protector!!
OBSERVATION: STOKE CITY 2 ARSENAL 1.
That’s it. I could add Chelsea 5 Sunderland 0 but that would be gilding the lily.
SUNDAY
Early-ish start: hot shower (well, hot water poured into a bowl and poured over oneself but that’s still a really nice feeling) and then breakfast. When we went to pay the bill they said it was RWF4,200, not the RWF4,000 we had expected. It’s a tiny difference but you do get so fed up with people trying to rip you off all the time. Eventually we paid with rather bad grace, only to find out later from Amy that RWF4,200 was actually the right price all along, that’s what she had negotiated with the guesthouse! Ouch – telepathic apologies winging their way to the manager!
Tina, Joe, Steve, Beate, Berthe and I then headed back to Butare and had a drink at the Faucon. Checked my post – The Economist (so it does take just under ten days) and ANOTHER LETTER, again as Gaeilge! Go raibh míle Bláithín agus is féidir brath ar an bpost anseo maidir le rudaí a sheoladh chuig an tír seo – tuilleadh sonraí sa ríomhphost atá le teacht!
Steve is staying with me in the Ineza tonight, while Nidhi and Amy will come down later and stay with Jane and we all plan on going out to the Chinese restaurant tonight. At the moment it is pouring down from the heavens and has been doing so for at least two hours so I hope it lightens up later.
One interesting thing that happened yesterday: Joe had his pocket picked on the bus on the way up to Gasarenda. He had taken out his wallet to pay and then put it back in his pocket and, jsut a minute or two later, noticed it was gone. He made a huge big fuss about it and people were checking around and in the bus. Then (if I remember the story correctly – Joe will correct me if I got it wrong) a girl in the crowd had a word with the driver. He looked around the crowd and then dived into it and grabbed a guy who turned out to have Joe’s wallet! So, heartening that things turned out that way and they they took the initiative to get the wallet back. Made me just a little more conscious as well of where my wallet is and how easy it might be to lose it!
Got back to Butare and spent the afternoon rebuilding my website. Now that I am going to buy a modem, I hope to use my website for pictures and other bits and pieces that don’t really fit into the blog. That is presuming the modem is going to be able to upload high quality images but we can but try. Went out to the Chinese Restaurant with the gang (Steve, Heloise, Thom, Nidhi, Jane and Jean). Food was unusually slow coming and I regret not ordering soup as a starter as it was really good! Found myself coughing a lot again – if this keeps up I am going to get it checked out (though quite a few others have had the same problem since coming here because of the dust).
MONDAY
So, checking out of the Ineza time! Seems like ages that I have been living here ... and it is! Almost four weeks in this little room! Dropped some stuff out to Gisagara, met the guard Alexandré (you are going to be hearing a lot more about him, I suspect) and paid him his RWF15,000 for November and also agreed that he was willing to do stuff like shop, fetch water and run the generator when and if it arrives. Went to the District Office but my hat wasn’t there – that’s the last I am going to see of that, I suspect! Then off to Kigali to buy my modem! Yeee-hah!
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!
FRIDAY
Headed to the bank early – Jane needed some cash to pay her PHARE volunteers and I had it on me, but I want to pay my hotel bill to date and have enough on me to pay for a modem in Kigali. There was no one in the bank at all – I just walked straight up to the cashier and got my cash!!
Then I went to the Post Office: got my first letter today – go raibh míle maith agat, a Sheosaimh! It’s been a while since I got an actual handwritten letter from someone but it was also the first thing I have got from home. Then, just as I was about to head out and find a moto to go to work, Bosco rang from the VSO office. He said he was coming out to collect Tina’s stuff from Gisagara and wanted me to come along. This gave me two hours to pack all my stuff in the hotel because this was a perfect opportunity to move all my gear, minus whatever I needed for Kigali. I also zoomed up to the market to see if I could get the stuff on my shopping list (see earlier blog) but I gave up as I couldn’t find most of it!!
Anyway, Bosco arrived with Grâce, the woman who is managing the property for her father who is away in Amsterdam. We headed off and called first to my new house, where I stuck all my things in one bedroom (to which only I have the key) and we did a quick survey of the house to see what needed fixing and what furniture I might need. Because the house is technically ‘furnished’, VSO seemed to think that I didn’t need anything, while I was keen to hang on to at least a few bits and pieces, especially the bed (there are two beds in the house but they are very old and I’m not sure I would trust the mattresses or what might be in them!). Anyway, there was no real problem – Bosco was quite amenable and there really is very little that needs to be done with the house.
Over to Gisagara and we started dismantling Tina’s bed and loading the chairs, armchairs, cupboards and everything else onto the truck: I didn’t think it would be possible but Ephraim handled it all really well. The only thing we argued over was the small bedside table – for some reason VSO had only given us one and Bosco was under strict orders to bring it up to Gitarama, so I’ll have to nag VSO for a replacement at some stage because I don’t have anything else that will do in its place. Then off to the District Office for me to teach my class and for Bosco to draw up a contract between the District, VSO and Grâce for the house.
The class was another desultory affair: everyone was knackered (it was a REALLY hot day), Francois more than most as he had had a really hard week. I explained to the class that I would be away for two weeks and that we would discuss when I got back whether we would divide the class in three for the three teachers or what. Enoch (the other teacher present this day) didn’t seem to be sure either. On the one hand, if we do a 3-way split, it means I have to teach every day, but the classes are only for three months, until early January and I am not doing a whole lot else at the moment anyway, so it might be as well to have something concrete to do, give the day a shape, so to speak. I’m not very hopeful of our chances of making them all fluent – few people attend two classes in a row and they are all genuinely pretty busy, but we’ll see how it goes!!
Back in Butare I invited Francois for a beer (rarely have I seen a grown man more in need of a beer!). It was a really good move – he was pleased to be asked and over beer and brochettes we had our first real chat about my job and what things he would like me to do. We have agreed that the first aim is to do a training course in January or early February for all primary and secondary principals in the district on planning: five-year plans, annual plans, monitoring and evaluation and so on. All schools are supposed to do this and apparently virtually none here do. However, Francois seems to think this will need a three-day conference, which seems a bit OTT to me but it’s early days yet. He was also keen for me to come with him next week inspecting the secondary schools during their exams but that isn’t going to work because of my Kigali commitments.
He headed home, I dropped my stuff and headed to the Faucon for a nightcap. I had started reading Silas Marner that morning on my Palm Pilot and decided to see how far I could get with it. Not actually enjoying it as much as I expected I have to say (not a patch on Austen) but it has some nice things in it. This particular line really jumped out at me:
Every man's work, pursued steadily, tends ... to become an end in itself, and so to bridge over the loveless chasms of his life.
Hmmm, quite. Alfred’s going to love that one! Sitting in the Faucon was really nice, I felt for the first time a real sense of belonging and being at home – it may have been the way the barman simply brought me my large bottle of large Mützig without even asking what I wanted – that always makes you feel at home!
Anyway, saw Jean and Jean briefly (they were heading to the Faucon night-club) but not me, no thanks! Home and bed, off to Han & Mans’ party in Gasarenda tomorrow!!
SATURDAY
This always happens when your stuff is in three different places at the same time. I packed my phone charger and my Palm Pilot recharger in my suitcase so they are sitting out in Gisagara now! I will be calling out on Monday morning to drop off the stuff I am not bringing to Kigali but I’m not sure my phone will last that long. Well, maybe somebody in Gasarenda will have a Nokia recharger – I really don’t feel like shelling out for a new one. I hope the Palm Pilot holds out until I finish Silas Marner – he has just found the kid on the hearth and the mother has been found dead and Godfrey thinks all his prayers have been answered. Anyway, not the end of the world.
Had breakfast and then decided to cut my hair as I was feeling really hot! I set the razor for 10mm which is RATHER short but it is worth it for the relief. Of course, I then realised I had left my hat in the District Office after my English class, so I am probably going to get sunstroke today!!
I am about to go off and try and find something for Han and Mans before grabbing the bus to Gasarenda. Think I’ll wear my pineapple shirt from Las Vegas for the occasion! Next post will probably not be until either Sunday night or Monday night depending on how things go.
......
Met Soraya and Beate on the way to the bus so we went up to Gasarenda together, collecting a few more people en route in Kigeme. It was a really great party (see pictures at end!). I had some really interesting chats with old friends, also met a Canadian girl called Julie who has been here for quite a while (not with VSO any longer): her parents are Eritrean and she says Rwandans constantly think she is Rwandan! Han and Mans were in good form (it was Han’s birthday) and there must have been about thirty to thirty-five people there. Chatted to Cathryn Devine about the Troubles and Strabane, Soraya about food (as usual), among other things, to loads of people about the American elections and the ongoing trouble in the Eastern Congo, and so on and so on. I also arranged with a number of people to attend and help out with training courses (education planning and Resource Creation). Best of all, Berthe was there, a Dutch volunteer who came with us but who I hadn’t seen since our training (admire the picture of her beautifully designed salad!).
Lunch was fabulous (interesting what you start craving once you are on a Rwandan diet – there was a tuna-fish salad that everyone was avidly consuming, even people who don’t particularly like tuna fish, because tuna fish is rare and expensive here!) and plentiful, as was the wine, beer and even whiskey. Later we went down to a local night-club (The Pasadena) which was .... well, loud is the best word. We did get food (brochettes and baked potatoes which were good) but the music wasn’t exactly appealing. Then ten of us got into our hired bus and headed off for the Christian Boarding House in Kigeme where we were staying. A really really nice day and lots of friends I hadn’t seen in a while.
OBSERVATION: MUSIC in RWANDA
The music here is crap (sorry, but that’s the only word and Albert Reynolds said it was OK to use it). As Jane Keenan said (degree in Musicology from TCD) she had to pick the ONE country in nall of Africa with no real indigenous musical tradition. Bad hop-hop, the usual chart hits and ENDLESS BLOODY CÉLINE DION!!! Alain gave me about 2GB of assorted African music and it is fabulous stuff, especially the stuff from Mali which I reall like, but here ... nothing.
OBSERVATION: THE WORLD IS A BLOODY SMALL PLACE
Mans Schram’s brother Henk works in the same office as my brother Brian in Munich, the European Patent Agency (or is it EPO?).
OBSERVATION: ELECTRICITY
Andy took a risk and plugged in his DVD player without a surge protector. Bad move. Remind me never to do that. Anyone reading this and thinking of coming to Rwanda – bring a surge protector!!
OBSERVATION: STOKE CITY 2 ARSENAL 1.
That’s it. I could add Chelsea 5 Sunderland 0 but that would be gilding the lily.
SUNDAY
Early-ish start: hot shower (well, hot water poured into a bowl and poured over oneself but that’s still a really nice feeling) and then breakfast. When we went to pay the bill they said it was RWF4,200, not the RWF4,000 we had expected. It’s a tiny difference but you do get so fed up with people trying to rip you off all the time. Eventually we paid with rather bad grace, only to find out later from Amy that RWF4,200 was actually the right price all along, that’s what she had negotiated with the guesthouse! Ouch – telepathic apologies winging their way to the manager!
Tina, Joe, Steve, Beate, Berthe and I then headed back to Butare and had a drink at the Faucon. Checked my post – The Economist (so it does take just under ten days) and ANOTHER LETTER, again as Gaeilge! Go raibh míle Bláithín agus is féidir brath ar an bpost anseo maidir le rudaí a sheoladh chuig an tír seo – tuilleadh sonraí sa ríomhphost atá le teacht!
Steve is staying with me in the Ineza tonight, while Nidhi and Amy will come down later and stay with Jane and we all plan on going out to the Chinese restaurant tonight. At the moment it is pouring down from the heavens and has been doing so for at least two hours so I hope it lightens up later.
One interesting thing that happened yesterday: Joe had his pocket picked on the bus on the way up to Gasarenda. He had taken out his wallet to pay and then put it back in his pocket and, jsut a minute or two later, noticed it was gone. He made a huge big fuss about it and people were checking around and in the bus. Then (if I remember the story correctly – Joe will correct me if I got it wrong) a girl in the crowd had a word with the driver. He looked around the crowd and then dived into it and grabbed a guy who turned out to have Joe’s wallet! So, heartening that things turned out that way and they they took the initiative to get the wallet back. Made me just a little more conscious as well of where my wallet is and how easy it might be to lose it!
Got back to Butare and spent the afternoon rebuilding my website. Now that I am going to buy a modem, I hope to use my website for pictures and other bits and pieces that don’t really fit into the blog. That is presuming the modem is going to be able to upload high quality images but we can but try. Went out to the Chinese Restaurant with the gang (Steve, Heloise, Thom, Nidhi, Jane and Jean). Food was unusually slow coming and I regret not ordering soup as a starter as it was really good! Found myself coughing a lot again – if this keeps up I am going to get it checked out (though quite a few others have had the same problem since coming here because of the dust).
MONDAY
So, checking out of the Ineza time! Seems like ages that I have been living here ... and it is! Almost four weeks in this little room! Dropped some stuff out to Gisagara, met the guard Alexandré (you are going to be hearing a lot more about him, I suspect) and paid him his RWF15,000 for November and also agreed that he was willing to do stuff like shop, fetch water and run the generator when and if it arrives. Went to the District Office but my hat wasn’t there – that’s the last I am going to see of that, I suspect! Then off to Kigali to buy my modem! Yeee-hah!
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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