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.
MONDAY (cont.)
Deo collected me at Jane’s place and was very mysterious about where we were going, just said ‘you’ll see’ when I asked where we were going to eat. Turned out to be a bar near the market which I knew but hadn’t actually drunk in before. We had a few beers and the worst brochettes I have had since I came here (all full of entrail-type dangly bits and fat). He told me a bit more about his life – he used to own a taxi company and had his own cars etc but lost all that while in prison. When he came out a local man lent him a motor-cycle so he could make a living (the guy actually called in to the bar and Deo introduced me to him as ‘mon patron’. He is now trying to save up for his own moto and eventually wants to get a car and get back into the taxi business, but it’s going to be a long haul. Later we were joined by his cousin Albert who is 62 and lives only a few yards away from me in Gisagara. Albert was also in prison – in his case for fourteen years – and rarely leaves his house any more. However, he had gone to Kigali that day to buy presents for family kids and Deo was bringing him back to Gisagara that night. Deo didn’t actually say Albert was also unjustly accused but I am presuming that is the case. Albert speaks really nice French and I think Deo was hinting that if I wanted Kinyarwandan classes, Albert might be the one to go to as this would give Albert a little more contact with the outside world as well.
Anyway, off they headed and I walked down to the Stadium to meet Andy who had rung earlier and, finding out I was in Butare, said he would stay over with me in Jane’s and we could go watch Chelsea Everton! What a fantastic idea! And that is what we did. Of course an 8:00 p.m. kick-off in UK is 22:00 here so it was nearly midnight before the game ended in a miserable 0-0 draw and John Terry sent off (Alfred: please see last blog entry for my prediction on this match; I can hear Jean Goggin cackling all the way from Ireland). Ah well!
TUESDAY
Andy and I eventually headed off to the bus after a long slow leisurely start to the day followed by lunch in Matar (Alfred: special entry on Matar in the pipeline). I had SO much stuff in my backpack and the 5lt of wine weighed a lot more than I remembered but luckily Jane’s is very near where you catch the bus. I got a front seat and then he managed to stow my bag in the boot anyway so it ended up being quite a nice trip. Andy got off at Gikongoro and will join us tomorrow for his birthday celebration. I got to Kigeme, met Amy, dumped my stuff, had a beer and a chat, went home to eat (spaghetti and peas, really nice) and then went back for another beer!! We also planned out exactly how we were going to manage all the cooking over the next two days – I think we have it all sorted out!! When we got home, Claudine (Amy’s domestique) had put on a big pot of beans but they were far from done so we just left them to cook on.
WEDNESDAY (Christmas Eve and Andrew Crow’s birthday)
Amy actually had to go in to work today, though there wasn’t a lot going on but she had things to do herself. I sat around and read Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach (having finished Atonement the previous day) and then the first seventy pages of A Thousand Splendid Suns – wonderful stuff. (Alfred: more on books also coming up in the pipeline). We then went to Gikongoro to meet Andy for lunch. We went to the Source de Nil guesthouse where I had a melange because I hadn’t had one in ages (you DO get withdrawal symptoms eventually, seriously). Then we went to the market to do some shopping: potatoes, green beans, avocadoes, onions, and tea. Andy also bought a fleece as a Christmas present for his guard Vincent. Back to Kigeme with Amy, then Hayley, Andy and Thom arrived so Amy and I made the guacamole with the avocados Thom had brought (plus two Amy had got) and we headed off to the pub. On the way we met Mans and Han in a taxi and they joined us shortly after that. Then back for Andy’s birthday dinner: soup (made by Claudine), guacamole, vegetarian chilli and rice – we actually saved the fruit salad for breakfast because everyone was stuffed! Then Andy got his special presents: a Rwandan alcopop (just launched), chocolate, a tie with condoms on it (as suits his status as a PHARE volunteer) and cards. We also sang Christmas songs but there wasn’t really space to play Twister so we decided to hold that over to Christmas Day. It was a great evening (well, I thought it was anyway).
Thom had baggsed the bed so Andy and I were sleeping on the concrete floor in the sitting room. It’s been a while since I have done this and it was an interesting experience, especially as I need to sleep on my side or else I snore tremendously. Managed to sleep reasonably well and Andy said I didn’t snore at any stage, so at least that went OK!! Can't say I am dying to repeat the experience!!z
Andy wasn’t feeling to great this morning: hadn’t slept much but also has a heavy cold. We had the fruit salad and then scrambled eggs and bread for breakfast and huge quantities of tea and then Mans and Han and I headed off to Gasarenda to start preparing stuff. It was really nice being back in their house as I had such happy memories of the last two times I was there. Anyway, the food plan was: potato and bean salad as a starter (except Anne-Marie their domestique had already cooked a load of peas, so we changed it to potato and pea and onion salad with a dressing Anne-Marie made from honey, vinegar, ginger and I am not sure what else but it was gorgeous), vegetarian stir-fry with rice as a main course and banoffi pie for dessert. I was also making hummus and carrot sticks as a starter that people could pick at. Everything is cooked on either a charcoal stove or a kerosene stove, so the order of things had to be worked out as well. The two tins of condensed milk need to be boiled unopened for two hours for the milk to caramelise so that was first (Alfred: actually, the potatoes got cooked first and Anne-Marie only put on the potatoes, not the beans, which is why they were left out of the salad – get it right!). Meanwhile I crushed the two tins of chickpeas in the vegetable mill with garlic and olive oil and salt and chopped up the carrots. Then it was preparing the other vegetables for the stir-fry – ginger, garlic, carrots, onions, green peppers, baby corn (tinned) – and the sauce – soy sauce and a garlic chilli sauce I found in Nakumat.
By now the weather had deteriorated sharply and a massive electrical storm blew up and a really heavy downpour. This meant we had to move the already lit charcoal stove from the outhouse to just outside the back door or else the ingredients would get drowned on their way to be cooked (to say nothing of the completed food on the way back!).
Next stage was the Banoffi Pie. First we removed the two tins of condensed milk from the fire. Then Andy and Thom beat the bejaysus out of the McVities digestives to get the biscuit crumbs. Then they were layered and the milk poured over to set.
(Alfred: At this stage Anne-Marie was quite bemused over just how complicated one could make a single meal for eight people. Ruairí did ask her whether men ordinarily cooked in Rwanda and she said rarely – you could tell what was going through her mind, watching Ruairí, Andy and Thom at work!!)
Anyway, we made the rice, served up the starter and then I went out into the porch to cook the stir-fry on the little charcoal stove. It was definitely one of the most interesting culinary experiences of my life. For a start, I never before realised how important it is cooking a stir-fry that you be able to HEAR the food cooking. The thunder, lightning and incessant downpour made this impossible (though the lightning was handy for being able to see what I was doing as it was really dark and gloomy at this stage) so I just threw stuff in and hoped for the best. It was at least edible, though the soy sauce I had bought (and had never used before) turned out to be much saltier than I had expected which was a bit of a disappointment, but everyone seemed happy enough with it.
By now, unfortunately, we had lost Andy, who had been feeling increasingly unwell and had then got really sick, so we packed him off to bed and wished him a speedy recovery. Meanwhile everyone else polished off the stir-fry and it was time for dessert – Banoffi Pie!! Unfortunately, the milk had not set (we probably should have left it boiling for longer) but we chopped up the bananas and sprinkled on brown sugar for the caramel effect. It did look rather unBanoffi Pie-like as we ladled it out onto the plates but figured it should taste fine.
Then, just as we were about to eat, Hayley announced loudly to all and sundry: ‘I have piles’. Han, Man and Anne-Marie were not familiar with the term but Thom, Amy and I collapsed with laughter (Thom may have actually inhaled his portion of pie, I’m not sure). Eventually, Hayley explained that she was actually trying to say something else (.i. piles of something) but had kind of got lost after the first three words. Anyway, it made the pie even more memorable and it tasted OK too!!
After dinner it was Twister and Top Trumps (had never played either before but enjoyed Twister and WON Top Trumps!!!) – it was funny watching Anne-Marie’s reaction to Twister (I don’t think it is big in Rwanda) but she was really good at it once she had got over her initial astonishment at the entire concept!
FRIDAY (Boxing Day, as I have started calling it as no-one knows what the hell St Stephen’s Day is)
Had to bet up in the middle of the night to go to the latrine – not a fun experience, though at least there isn’t a steep flight of stairs down to it as there is in my house and there is electricity, which had decided to come back on during the night). A nice Eastern European type breakfast of sausage and cheese (memories of Prague). Then we went off to see a local drum maker from whom Han and Mans had ordered three drums to take back to Holland with them. It was a really interesting visit, most of which I caught on video so some of you may get to see him showing us how to make a drum some day. Amy ordered two drums while she was there and I may well go back myself at some stage. Then we packed up – Han and Mans are heading home in January so they were pressing their every possession on us! I have to figure out some way to get a truck up here to collect their single bed as well as various other things they have promised me!! Stopped off briefly in Kigeme and then headed on to Gikongoro with Andy. Amy and Thom joined us later and we went off to see the Arsenal Aston Villa match. Our first stop proved to be on the side of town with no power so we ended up walking quite a bit to a bar called La Fraicheur. There was a big crowd there, mostly Arsenal fans and they and Thom were quite pleased when Arsenal went 2-0 up, less pleased when Villa got a penalty and then equalised during injury time. Amy and Thom got moto back up to Kigeme and Andy and I headed for bed! (La Fraicheur does a really good Omelette Speciale, by the way).
SATURDAY
Slept in a bit today – it is umuganda day and, if I was in Gisagara, I’d be out there building houses or planting trees or whatever but I really don’t feel like doing it in a different district so I just showered (a real shower!!!), read and had breakfast once Andy got up. He seems a lot better now but both of us have really bad head colds at this stage. We went down to Butare to meet Hayley, Amy and Thom but had to wait ages for a bus. When we did get one, the convoyer was intent on setting a new world record for how many people you can cram onto a single bus so it was a slow and very crowded trip. Lunch in Matar, then Andy and I went to the Faucon for a beer and Premiership highlights (Lampard and Drogba – yeah!). Then Andy went home and I stayed over in Jane’s (I have officially written to the Pope and asked for her to be beatified)
SUNDAY
Omelette for breakfast, finished The Book of Lights, got stuff from Gisagara and continued trying to contact my boss. I really would prefer to go back home but my boss lives here in Butare and my best chance of actually seeing him and bringing him up to date on my situation is by catching him here. (Alfred: are you wondering what ‘situation’ he is referring to? Stick around). Eventually, I contact him – we are meeting at 1800 in the Giant Animal Restaurant. I get there, no sign of him. He rings at 1900 and says he has gone to visit a friend and can’t be there until 2000. He actually arrives (with his wife) at 2045. We have a long chat and I bring him up to date on my problems (See later). He has his own problems: the government has just announced that all classes in primary will now be double vocation – two shifts per day – to enable the introduction of a nine-year instead of a six-year cycle for all schools. This means that all classes up to 6th class will be in two shifts – one half for the morning and the other half for the afternoon, alternating each week. Also at secondary level, the time allocation has been changed: French has dropped from six hours to two hours per week, English has gone from six to seven and Kinyarwandan has gone from two to five. This will entail quite a lot of timetable modifications (Alfred: that’s putting it mildly) and there are big meetings next Tuesday for all Primary and Secondary directors to discuss this. We arrange to get together tomorrow afternoon to discuss this further. He also tells me that there is no problem my continuing to work – albeit unofficially - in the District (Alfred: clarification coming).
WORK PERMIT SITUATION
Figured I would hold off on saying anything about this until the situation was clarified!! Remember how on Monday 15th December Jean-Claude had come down to sort out my contract? Well, on Friday 19th December Amina in the Program Office rang me to say that all my documentation had been lodged to process my residence and work permit applications, but the government had turned down my application for a work permit. This meant that I was legally no longer allowed to work anymore (Alfred: actually, it means you never should have been working in the first place). The problem was that I didn’t have a proper Garda clearance form. Now, VSO Ireland had told me I didn’t need one and had instead given me a statutory declaration to get filled out – basically a form stamped by a solicitor which states I don’t have a criminal record. To be fair to the Rwandan authorities, it isn’t a police clearance. To be fair to VSO Ireland, this form has been sufficient for every other Irish volunteer before me!
Anyway, frantic emailings and messages all around (with me having visions of getting deported in February when my tourist visa runs out) and my wonderful family between them seem to have got the situation sorted – documentation should be shipped out by air in early January and I should be all legal and bona fide soon after.
CHRISTMAS IN RWANDA
It’s not like at home. Really. Not at all. Even on Christmas Day everything seemed to be pretty much as normal. Everyone went to Church but they do that all the time anyway. There was a lot of drumming on Christmas Eve and people were a bit more smartly dressed Christmas Day coming from church but, overall, it is pretty much of a non-event here. As someone who has never been a big fan of Christmas anyway this was no great loss but it was still weird having so little going on.
BOOKS
Read a lot of good books recently (another sign of the lack of things to do). On Day 52 I had given a list of books I had read so far and their ratings – here is another update.
Ian McEwan, Atonement – 9/10, bloody brilliant, can’t understand why it took me three goes to get into it.
Ian McEwan, On Chesil Beach – 8/10, also brilliant, need to go back and read it again.
Mark Urban, Rifles – 7/10. History of the 52nd Rifle battalion during the Napoleonic Wars. Good, but a little lacking in substance in parts
Chaim Potok, The Book of Lights: 7/10. I read this years ago – my wife Angela introduced me to this great Jewish writer but this was one of his books that I found difficult to get into. I ordered it on Amazon and reread it and really enjoyed it this time (Davita’s Harp is his really great book, The Promise, The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev are also brilliant)
Geoffrey Robertson, The Justice Game (I think that’s the title, don’t have it here with me): 8/10 - started off slowly but really got into it. It covers all the great cause celebre cases of the seventies and eighties – Duncan Campbell, Oz, Stonehouse, The Romans in Britain, Boggs, Matrix Churchill and so on.
Graham Hancock, The Lords of Poverty: 5/10 - this exposé of the corruption of the aid industry started off promisingly but ended up being the same points made over and over again. Some good stuff in it but ultimately you riffle through the second half of the book as you come across the same stuff again and again.
Robert Calderisi, The Trouble With Africa: 7/10 – this was better, possibly because it was an unusual approach. Calderisi worked with the World Bank for 25 years and his answer is that the trouble with Africa is pretty much Africa itself. You won’t agree with many of the things he says but there are some tough truths in there as well.
THE GIANT MARROW
Han and Mans found some giant marrows in their garden when they came back from holiday. Thom took one of them away with him. There are pictures of ..... well .... OK, maybe another time.
MATAR
Matar used to be in Kigali but the Lebanese brothers who run it moved to Butare after a falling-out with their Rwandan landlords. It has become our spiritual home in Butare, our meeting place, oasis of calm and food that isn’t a melange or brochettes, purveyor of really nice small take-away pizzas and whatever one may want to make one’s life complete and satisfied. Next blog will be dedicated to the Matar Three.
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