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!
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