Four eggs too short of scotch to be fun at a picnic!!!

So whilst the family that plays together stays together, the family that volunteers together goes their separate ways after a short while but not before much linguistic hilarity has been had!  Marit and Synnove are two lovely Norwegian volunteers who are doing a couple of months at the orphanage.  As is the case with many scandinavians, they speak excellent english and are decidedly quirky.  Synnove's Mum has a plaster over her webcam lest people spy on her when she is emailing!!
However we were talking about one of the ladies who is ' a couple of scotch eggs short of a good picnic' and trying to explain to Synnove what this meant and in trying to get up to snuff with more idiomatic English expressions it came out later as 'four eggs too short of scotch to be fun at a picnic'!! Then again she was describing 'Uncle Fester' AKA Patrick ( french but lives in the US - need I say more!!) so she may have a point.  But whilst it would be fair to say, she is a tad challenged as far as this expression goes, she has definitely got the hang of 'moist gusset' and 'slurry bum' so I really feel like I have made the widest contribution possible during this volunteering sejour;-)
So one more week to go and then we are off to Kenya - it is a strange time.  We are getting to grips with lots of things now and have managed to sort out a fair few activities, some of which I hope will have some long term benefit as well as hanging out with all manner of people here.  And whilst I would never want to live here, it does feel sad to be leaving nevertheless - as is the case I imagine with a lot of this type of work, it is a bittersweet experience.
But we are still going on some school uniforms, new plastificated mattresses have been delivered to the clinic - when I get home I will post pictures of the old ones - almost enough to make you feel instantly better, sponsoring of children and more health cards still to get sorted in amongst hopefully getting a nonchalant tan!  Do have crappy chav marks at the moment which I am tempted to keep so I can rant on about the heat and walking around so much - but may see whether Kenya gets shot of some of them.
We have a basket teaching lady who is here for a month too and have managed to convince Uncle Fester to move from Kigali for his last 2 months so that he can carry on the work where we may not get completely sorted.
So off to the beach now for a swim in the lake before it rains again and need to figure out whether we can watch the 6 nations in our local bar tomorrow and hope that it is way less underwhelming that the Australian Open Final - so toodle pip!

Gentle African progress

So I have been back a couple of weeks now and it has been an eventful!  And it started with the journey.  My flight back was using Kenya Airways to Nairobi and then an hour between landing and a Rwandair Express flight into Kigali.  So I get to Heathrow and am wondering whether they can check me all the way through which they can – great me thinks.  And I then ask as to whether my bags will also go straight through too – yes says the airport lady without hesitating or indeed really looking at my ticket.  Now you know when your whole body just screams ‘Really???’  Indeed what I heard her say was ‘if you think I can be arsed to check, get a life and by the time all this rubbish takes place you will be thousands of miles away and I will be tucked up in my bed so give me one reason why I should bother!’ Or words to that effect.  Now you may be thinking that it is indeed a short time between flights and it is Africa so may be I should just lighten up (geez how Septic was that!!)  But the reason I was concerned was not because it was going to mean I had to go commando (is that worse for girls than boys??) but because of the cream.

The cream huh?  Now you may be wondering why I had chosen to doubtless break some international laws as well as why on earth I wanted to smuggle cream.  Now lest you be thinking I am crazy, rest assured I smuggled loads of other stuff too – which makes me way less random albeit more interesting to anyone from Customs and Immigration that may be reading!  Oh yep – I smuggled fahita packs, Cadburys caramel, digestive biscuits and crisps and stuff.  So why on earth did I do that?

Well two reasons really.  One because although our house lady does a fabulous job in preparing meals for us, it would be fair to say that there is a lack of variety.  And as the lovely Tim had now been here for 6 weeks or so, I was racking my brains as to what I could bring back for him that would provide a tad more umph into the diet.  And also we have to fend for ourselves on Sunday evenings so I thought it might be nice to have a house meal together to celebrate the New Year.  Now I knew that Tim was now well sorted as far as the purveying of chickens were concerned and I figured that a banoffee pie would be lovely and relatively easy to make in our ‘kitchen’.  That’s why I was concerned about the cream – obviously!

So Kenyan Airways – the seat I had, had controls that could not be read and neither did the On/Off button or the Go Back button work!  So once I got into a choice of genre of movies I was stuck and when I decided to attempt to get some shuteye, I couldn’t turn the thing off.  And the headsets that usually rest snug around your head kept falling back as did my head.  Luckily or unluckily the flight landed into Nairobi at 3am so it was not like I wanted to sleep much – except for when we arrived!

So getting the connection in Nairobi was easy and I allowed my head to loll loads on the hour flight into Kigali and then waited with trepidation for my luggage.  Given it was a small plane with only about 20 people on it, there was not much luggage and no, of course, mine wasn’t there.  Stupid!  Luckily however the cream somehow survived and we had chicken fahitas and banoffee pie – scrummy!

So being back felt a little weird as it felt like an age since I had been gone and lots had happened and been done whilst I had been away.  Chief among some of the activity was the rumblings of the appearance of some misdemeanours here.  It is always so difficult to assume positive intent around what people do when things appear to be corrupt.  There were some issues in how things were dealt with that greatly affected the house.  And it is equally difficult not to judge the people for doing this.  But if you had 8 kids all of whom were hungry and you saw the opportunity to make a little money in order to help feed them, wouldn’t you?  Of course it doesn’t excuse the behaviour, it means that conversations were had and procedures put in place to mitigate the likelihood of unfairness or stealing being possible.  But it is a challenge energetically and emotionally to put so much in and sometimes feel like you are being taken advantage of – it is also understandable.

But as is often seems the case here – it is one step backward and then one forward.  The lovely Christy (AKA the Vegetarian Chicken Tsar) had made a lot of progress in my absence in lots of ways – one of which was in relation to some peeps in need of prosthetic limbs as well as wheelchairs.  One of these peeps was a lady called Margaret.  Margaret is a 15 year old orphan.  So for those of you with children around that age, think about their current lives.  As well as being an orphan, Margaret had an infection when she was young which resulted in the bottom of her left leg being amputated.  I know – deeply upsetting.  However it gets worse – recently she was raped and as a result now has a beautiful 1 month old son called Eric.  She currently lives with an Aunt who abuses her but she has nowhere else to go – albeit she gets to the market early every day to beg – it is all she can do.

So Christy and I were with the GBV ladies picking up school uniforms that had been made when we happened to bump into Margaret as we were doing a little shopping.  It seemed like a fantastic God given opportunity to introduce the ladies to Margaret as Christy had mentioned her to them the day before and said she was desperately in need of their support.  So the GBV ladies trek to the other side of the market with us and meet Margaret.  Firstly Fortuna picks up Eric and starts cuddling him and then Janet takes over and tries to fix his ‘nappy’ which is put on more haphazardly than I think even I would have done!  Then again – think of your 15 year olds and what they might do at this point.  I have never seen such a smile from Margaret – to be included and taken care of even just a little reduced her to tears as well as all of the rest of us.  It was heartbreaking to think that she has never had any community nor people to take care of her at any level.  And it is even more heartwarming that now she does.  As a result of the fabulous work that Christy is doing, it seems that we are also likely to be able to get her a prosthetic leg so hopefully that will improve her mobility too.  It was a truly humbling and inspiring morning and what makes all this so totally worthwhile.

Christmas - surreal as ever!

Well usually at about this time, I am esconsced in the Gorilla hotel on my laptop deciding what intrepid adventures to report on and how to have you have a feel of what it is like in Rwanda.  Today is very different however because I am actually sat at my desk at home in good old middle England.

Sadly I woke up on 23rd December to find out that my mother in law as I call her as she calls me her BOGOF daughter (Buy-One-Get-One-Free) as she got Sis and me as an extra bonus, was seriously ill in intensive care.  This all happened very quickly as a result of a chest infection that escalated horribly.  So Tim and I spent what would have been the very early morning in the UK trying to get more information as to just how bad it was.  And it is very disconcerting being that far away and being asleep when it sounds like things had gone downhill so rapidly.  I began to feel awful that I was so far away from everyone at what was a horrible time and I decided that I needed to come back to be with my family.  And as Tim put it, even if she had made a spectacular recovery, I was going to feel out of sorts being in Rwanda knowing that things were so difficult at home.  So with the help of the amazing Debs, I managed to get a flight booked back and sorted and jumped on the 3.5 hour bus ride from Gisenyi to Kigali.  Sadly she died while I was in the airport in Kigali waiting for the start of a journey through Entebbe and then Amsterdam before into London.

So I feel very glad that I got back on Xmas Eve to be with my family and my adopted father in law too at what was and is a surreal time.  It was weird to have no warm clothes and to be cold for the first time in a month as well as to see snow.  And strange to be eating a fully fledged Xmas dinner with the trimmings that Mummals had already lovingly started to prepare instead of having what had sounded like it may be a little random given the challenges of finding chubby chickens in Rwanda albeit it sounds like it went very well.  And bizarre to have got my head around the idea of spending Xmas in a hot place that is not really Xmassy at all to then find myself back in the thick of lots of Xmas spirit as people dashed around in Schiphol airport in Amsterdam amongst wads of Xmas trees and decorations.

What is good is that it was quick and fairly painless for her which I am sure is the way that she would have wanted to go and she lived a full life until such time as she popped off.  And it reminds me how important family, friends and community are and how quickly life can change, how unexpected that often feels and how much we have to be grateful for.  So in her honour and to celebrate and honour the circle of life, I thought I would amuse and/or horrify you with one of the  things that I shocked us when we were first in the clinic in Murara.  As Tim has medical experience, the director of the clinic showed us around as Tim said he was very happy to contribute wherever would be useful so he showed us around the 6 or so buildings, one of which was the maternity unit, a term that I use lightly!  This encompasses a room with 3 grotty beds in where you can go if you are in labour, the delivery room and then a room with 4-5 beds where you can recover for 10 minutes before getting back out into the fields!

So for those of you yummy mummies whose birth plan may not have panned out exactly as you desired here, consider having the next one in an African clinic if you are contemplating having more as you won't need a birth plan cos there are no options and you just get on with it!  So to honour the circle of life and because I can with a wireless network that doesn't take an hour to load a photo, have a gander at the attached photo and I hope that makes you all more diligent in doing your pelvic floor exercises as well as appreciating the NHS!  And whilst you ponder how different your birth experience may have been and be thankful, see if you can get the smell of a stable mixed with a butchers shop in your nostrils and then I think you have the whole experience down!

So it seems poignant to consider the simplicity of birth experiences in Rwanda and how quickly we can go and this makes me intent on enjoying what is here and now,which is exactly what Mummals would have wanted, so thought I would take this opportunity to let you all know that I am home now for a couple of weeks and would love to see as many of you as I can before I go back for another stint.
So Happy New Year - make the most if it cos you just never know how long it may last!  Licence for a cosmopolitan or two me thinks!!xx

Noheti Nziza

Well first of all, I really should apologise to Brenda – turns out she is not a matronly like pensioner with an ample bosom but a beautiful funky petite American of Mexican descent – I probably only get points for the fact that she is a woman – other than that, not even close!

So today I want to tell you a bit more about the communities that we work with as well as our sales meetings.  We work with 2 cooperatives – the Isangano and the Duhirwe.  The Isangano Cooperative consists of 187 members who are HIV infected.  Members live in the rural impoverished areas in Gisenyi.  Isangano, loosely translated, means “happy people who invite others to join them.”  This name was chosen by co-op members in order to reduce the stigma associated with having HIV and to increase community support for those who are infected with HIV. Meetings are held at the Murara Health Clinic which is also just north of Gisenyi.  Working together and meeting at the clinic is a way of increasing a sense of community, as well as increasing self-sufficiency through small business development.

Members work together on income generating activities such as making beads, jewellery, laundry soap, and farming. When items created by the cooperative are sold, the money goes back into the cooperative and the group decides collectively how to spend the money in a way that will best benefit members. Profits may be spent on purchasing school uniforms, health cards, livestock, food, assisting financially destitute members, and other needs as they arise. In addition to the work they do amongst themselves, the Isangano Cooperative also collaborates with the Duhirwe cooperative, learning new skills for creating crafts and farming and increasing the sustainability and skills development across an even wider area.

The cooperative has been creating and selling products on a small scale level since 2007.  Not only does the cooperative work to improve its financial stability, members have also been active in increasing community awareness about HIV. Members travel to neighbouring villages to educate communities about HIV and do home visits to provide support for one another, provide care and comfort to those who are ill, and reduce isolation simply by being present. Members report that the community they have created helps them to feel physically and emotionally stronger.

The Duhirwe Cooperative works similarly and consists of approximately twenty women who have experienced gender-based violence and are currently living in or near Gisenyi. Women who have experienced interpersonal violence often feel a sense of shame and isolation from their community. Being a part of the Duhirwe Cooperative provides women with a chance to connect with their community, increase self-esteem, and to increase their financial stability through small business transactions.  The Duhirwe women currently make all of their products by hand including dolls, baskets, beads, and jewellery on a small scale.

One of the aims of working with the co-ops is to help them find avenues to sell their products and also to develop skills and confidence in doing so.  So we have been working with Olive in looking at a number of the hotels in the area as the market for many of these products is primarily tourists or out of towners.

So today we had 2 appointments so was a big day!  So you may well know how it is – you have an important meeting and you want to be all spangly for it.  And I know that it is important to have some perspective on these meetings but it really did feel very important because the success thereof really will change lives: any money that is made from the ventures will help children go to school, buy livestock as well as provisions and really improve the lives of those in the co-ops that we work with. 

So usually you imagine a hot shower and then selecting an appropriate confidence inspiring sales outfit – right?  Well it was kind of like that – NOT!  Unfortunately we had no electricity which I know normally would mean that your boiler may well not work.  Luckily we don’t have a boiler!  But we do have a kettle that we couldn’t boil – so it was a cold shower to kick off.  Given that I succumbed to the hedonistic pleasure of kettle boiling to add a little hot water to a bowl to ‘shower’ with to diminish the hyper ventilating, going back was painful – probably quite like child birth except that nothing like enough time had passed for me to forget how horrible cold showers are!  But some semblance of non French inspired personal hygiene completed, was time to choose an outfit.  I did think about trying loads of things on and then discarding them but that would probably have taken me all of about 3 minutes!  So plummed for a non manky top and most respectable jeans.  And had to allow my tommy hilfiger plimsolls to stick as did not think walking on the lava roads in my Jimmy Choos would work – cos obviously I bought all my pairs of those!!

So Olive said that we should say 8am if we needed to be ready by 10 to meet the ladies so I left early and as the walk was earlier than usual and gave rise to another, possibly not frequent, pre big meeting concern.  On one street that we walk down, one of the great morning pleasures is being greeted and hugged by some of the young kids as they shout Muzungu as we walk past.  My personal favourite is ‘Snot Bucket’!  Actually I don’t know his name in Kinyarwandan but he is so named as I think there has only been one day when his face has not shone with goobly snot!  But I love him – he runs up so incredibly excited with open arms and it is just delightful.  Sometimes he falters and stumbles as he gets close whilst rushing on the lava rocks which obviously means that either my trousers or my shirt then take on the mantle of a tissue!  I consider it all added value and it does not bother me usually but was sure that I had read in the good sales manual that showing up to an important meeting snot-ridden may not create the best impact!  As I was early today, I missed him – which I was both sad and glad about!

The ladies turned up at about 8.30am and off we went to the Gorillas hotel which is a relatively new hotel also on the lake.  We met the Kenyan Manager who was just fabulous.  He was really keen to support the idea of helping the co-op support itself and asked us to make some sample baskets with the Gorillas Hotel logo on which he then said he would sell to the other Gorilla hotels in the country.  What was so lovely was his understanding and desire to help as well as help the ladies sell to his other hotels.  We came away with a commitment to make 3 samples.  He then talked about trays as well as menu covers so I think, assuming we do a good job initially, that this is exactly the kind of sustainable activity that will really help them.

We then went to the Serena which is probably the largest and arguably most ostentatious hotel in Gisenyi.  Unfortunately they were not as welcoming and very concerned about price.  The price that the ladies are marketing at is very reasonable in comparison to local prices.  They wanted us to sell to them for about half the price even though they put a 100% mark up on it.  And because it is more expensive to buy from their hotel shop, it is mainly tourists that buy there who do not want to brave the market.  We wanted to get across the idea of supporting the co-ops which is the why for doing it but they were not very interested.  Shame really as I think they are in an ideal position to really help the local community. 

But was a good day overall and I am glad that we have helped in a manner that will definitely help one of the communities and am sure we can start looking for other opportunities to find other venues so more market research tomorrow.

So have a fabulous Xmas – or Noheti Nziza as they say in Kinyarwandan.  I am imagining you all wishing you had shopped earlier because one always does but may be more important now as you may be snowed in a tad so rushing round to make sure all is tickety boo for Saturday.  Here things are less manic and we are mainly concerned about the Xmas dinner we have planned and the cooking thereof.  So if any of your Xmas dinner does not go exactly according to plan, spare a thought for us chasing our chickens around the garden to kill them as well as trying to cook them on a charcoal barbecue!  Be fair to say that it is likely to be more minimal than at home which is good because they don’t already have a stash of glossy mags talking about how to take off those Xmas pounds!  So may be similar albeit it may be a dip in the lake for us and building a snow man for you!  But have a fabulous one and do text and say just how difficult it is to move in the afternoon and how good the Queens speech is!  Loads of love…xxxx

Genocide memorial

So I am back in the Gorilla hotel which also overlooks the lake and has decent wi-fi.  As I don’t think carrying my laptop around does my back and hips any good , I thought I would explore the option of a dongle.  As with lots of things in Africa, this kind of thing hits up against their expectations of things versus a Muzungu's and was, as ever, a long, protracted conversation.

In essence, MTN which is probably the best, or at least longest serving, mobile telephone network does have dongles on which it outlines that the dongle may use GPRS, EDGE, 3G and HPDMA technologies.  In the UK, I think that most dongles end up working best on 3G networks which is what means that they are fairly quick.  There is definitely no 3G network in Gisenyi so I was interested in what made it quick as I as assured that it was quick albeit none of the chaps in the store could tell me why so I wanted to try it as I had a suspicion of the nigglingly massive kind that their ‘quick’ and mine were likely to be miles apart.  But they wanted me to say I would definitely buy it before testing it and I said that I would only buy it if it was quick and so a protracted 30 minute circular conversation went on! 

Eventually they did let me try it and it was about as quick as a drugged 3-legged tortoise in the hot sun!  Unfortunately I have not yet learned ‘ are you having a giraffe?’ in kinyarwandan so just left the shop.  Indeed will be having a chat with myself about what I have learned so far lannguage wise because although it is useful I am not sure about how wide the application of my current sentences is.  ‘Good Morning/Hello’ and ‘How are you?’ are all going well.  ‘How old are you?’ works quite often and particularly good in the orphanage but did not think it was likely to lead to stunning conversation with the chap who is the elderly Head of the Co-Operative that my bead ladies work within.  And ‘Who has got the glue?’ didn’t seem like it would lead to much more expansive discussion either so will have a chat with myself about my current possibly narrow focus;-)

So as the ‘dongle debacle’ receded into the book of learnings as far as experiential differences in time and speed, I did decide to buy a DVD player for the house.  We do have a TV but it is shite and has a lot of channels albeit we can’t get most of them.  What I have seen so far is Deal or No Deal which I find dull at home and an episode of Graham Norton where he was trying to divert attention from the dullness of the footie world cup – just a couple of months behind then!!  And apparently we only have a month’s worth and then we have to re-subscribe – in the interim all we seemed to get is a Nigerian soap, the only saving grace of which would be to show the lousier amateur dramatics associations in the UK that there is room for hope!  Indeed fully paid up members of Overactors Anonymous from what I saw!

But anyway, Ronnie Corbett proclivites notwithstanding, I want to get back to the genocide memorial that we saw in Kigali when we first arrived as I think that it would be remiss of me not to mention what is an astoundingly well done record of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda as well as commenting in some ways on our collective human nature.

Visiting somewhere such as a genocide memorial is one of those strange activities which, on the one hand, I want to ignore and, on the other, reminds me of our combined humanity and what it is to live with the good and evil in all of us.  The memorial is very well done – it details the events that led to the genocide, the genocide itself as well as outlining other genocides and the promises that have been made not to allow this to happen that have been broken and may still be if troubles in Bosnia continue to escalate. 

As ever with hindsight, it is so much easier to see the limitations of some of the global political organisations that we have which, despite their sometimes far reaching ideals, seem to represent and shine a massive torch on the fallibilities that we have as a world  trying to marry the desires and needs of nation states with the global good.  Examples of genocide, with Rwanda being a key case in point, remind us of how far we have to go in working together for the greater good and humanity.  There is no doubt that it is easy with hindsight to despair of what were cold, hard nosed, cowardly, budget-focused, self serving  political and ultimately inhumane decisions.  The question remains as to whether we will allow such things to take place in our current world again – let’s hope that Bosnia does not become an opportunity for us to see just how much we have or have not learned from Rwanda.

When I was in college we studied European Studies during the first year of which we talked about colonisation.  What I remember about that time was being put into small multi cultural groups and each taking a continent or area to research in terms of what was colonised and when.  This was in the late 80s during which the ‘Common Market’ was talked about frequently in terms of how unfair the then Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was and whether indeed we should be in bed with our European neighbours.  For us, it was also the first year of a 4 year study course and a time to get to understand how to work together as a multi cultural European group.  What I remember about one of the first experiences of working together as a small European group was the amount of posturing as to who had what in terms of colonised countries – it was a sorry state of affairs really and probably represented a microcosm of the arrogance that went with colonisation and is still endemic in most nation states today.

Against this it is equally sad to realise that the cause and incitement and ethnic hatred that characterised the genocide had it roots in colonial Belgium.  It was the anthropological Belgians that sought to characterise the Rwandans in terms of predominantly their facial features and delineate them as Tutsi and Hutu.  Having done that they then introduced this ethnicity on identity cards as well as treating the Tutsis as if they were more intelligent and giving them elevated status and more important jobs.  No wonder that this led to the increased disenchantment amongst the Hutu population and started the murmurings of discontent that eventually gave way to the genocide.  I think that starting at the memorial is a humbling way to be reminded of our relative white arrogance and the damage it has wrought over the centuries.

What the memorial does well is to gradually draw you in with the story of the build up before getting into the days of the genocide itself.  What is profoundly shocking is the speed with which the genocide took place as well as the manner of it.  During the 2nd world war, at least 2 million Jews were gassed which is more than the 1 million or so during the Rwandan genocide.  But the systematic gassing of the Jews took place over a 3 year period: they were taken off trains and told they were going to be de-loused and then gassed – in some ways, this allows the soldiers to be way less cognizant of the mass murder they were perpetrating.  In Rwandan, nearly 1 million Tutsi and moderate Hutus were killed during a 3 month period.  What is harrowing is that it was often neighbours that were guilty of perpetrating crimes, neighbours that had once been friends who then macheted their friends to death.  It was common for children to have both of them arms cut off and then be macheted across the neck and to bleed to death in front of their parents before their parents were then killed.  It was not enough to abstain as a Hutu- your choice was either to participate or be massacred yourself.

It is without doubt the manner in which the genocide took place that is frightening in relation to what it means to be human and it seems to be to have been the worst as far as the how is concerned.  There are a number of rooms in the memorial where there are photos of those killed and one of the last rooms shows pictures of children who were killed.  In addition to the age of their death, it also documents their favourite food, their favourite person, their favourite subject or activity and how they were killed.  There is something about the systematic massacre of defenceless and innocent children that really brings home just how vile we can be as a race and what we are capable of.  It makes me feel both ashamed and scared. I want to tell myself that it won’t happen again but the truth is that I am not sure that it won’t.  We live in a world where the media is the predominant vehicle that tells us of many global events and often we all only become aware of it when it is newsworthy but possibly already too late.  Let’s hope I am very wrong.

In the aftermath of the genocide in Rwanda what was put in place in 2002 are what are known as gacaca courts.  The essence of this is to have genocidaires as they are called, those who perpetrated the genocide, to hold an open court in the area where they committed atrocities.  The purpose of these courts is to hold open hearings where there is often a huge turn out in order to stop the degree of denial and also to help people with closure as to what happened to their families in some cases.  Whilst there are some obvious dangers in this, generally it appears to assist in the process of talking about what happened, allow more people to be tried, some of whom had been languishing in prisons for extended periods as well as give a sense of completion in areas in knowing what happened to some people who remain missing.

I also think that the extent to which Rwanda is developing itself is also helping and certainly it is a commonly held view that some of the Gender Based Violence that is perpetrated is lessened as people generate more income and are less exposed to poverty.

Anyway it is a visit that I would heartily recommend as I think it good to be reminded sometimes of that which we see on the television but that often never really affects us so personally.  I hope it has not been too harrowing to read and more interesting than history lessons.  And lastly and funnily, there are some gardens surrounding the museum and in one there is a pond with 4 creatures around the outside, which represent communicating about the genocide in hoping that publicity will lessen the possibility of it happening again.  One of the pictures that I cannot seem to load today unfortunately is of an elephant on a mobile phone.  Note to self – must read the guide book for where I can go and see these! 

And on another lighter note, Brenda arrives this evening.  I think she is from over t’other side of the pond and is obviously a buxom wench with matron like tendencies – right?  Anyone know a Brenda who isn’t??!!  She is coming to work at the orphanage and help the staff there in learning and how to deal with trauma which should be interesting so best get off home and dust my malaria net!

Do send emails and text and comment if you want cos it is lovely to know how the Xmas build up is going whilst I worry about what factor sun tan cream to wear!

Sunday lunch

Well some of you will be bellowing Xmas carols as I scribe so in order to virtually participate I have ordered chicken! And now they tell me they don't have any!!! One of the interesting things here is that one often orders something on a menu and then they come back 5 minutes later saying that you can't have whatever you ordered. For Xmas we have asked olive to get a chicken that Tim is going to kill and cook - none of your waitrose ordering here!!
So we have been out up the road on the motorbike that we have hired for the week end- there are some beautiful coves around the lake and lovely little inlets - feels kind of Majorcan only obviously with black people! Also saw a tea plantation and Rwanda also does coffee. Given the rainy season the vegetation is lush.
Anyway my iPhone typing is rubbish so will see whether I can get an omelette and dream of chicken tonight!

A morning in the life of a Muzungu in Gisenyi

So here we are at last in Gisenyi and lots has happened since I last got on line as you can imagine.  luckily there are a couple of hotels here where there is a decent wireless connection, one of which also has access to a hote shower - more about that later!!

But let me start by telling you about what a typical kind of day in the life of this volunteer work in Rwanda is like.  It gets light early here – maybe around 5.30am or so and is a pleasant shock coming from the 7am and change at the earliest (indeed it is probaby getting worse as I write) and takes me back to those summer days when the light wakes you gently.  Given we are not going to bed that late, it is not unpleasant to wake from slumber at about 6-6.30 and then doze.  My first thought tends to be whether I have got myself all hooked up in my malaria net and whether I am going to drag this off the ceiling as I clumsily untangle myself.  I haven’t so far but imagine I probably will at some point.  I then usually become aware of how clammy I am as it is hot at night too and sleeping surrounded by a malaria net has its obvious benefits but drawbacks in terms of making it hotter.  That said, the mossies have not been bad at all though which is a blessing. 

So having determined the relative malaria net destruction status as well as degree of clamminess, it hits me between the eyes – the cold shower!  Oh I did not see that coming!  It takes your breath away.  Indeed usually I hate showers that do not stand over a bath but in this instance I am grateful – grateful because I can soak and try to wash my hair and then hope that the hyperventilating subsides before I get to the rest of my body!!  It is grim!  However I was told that paying 3,000 Rwandan francs ( i know most of you will be well aware that it is about 900 rwandan francs to the £;-) for a sunbed on the beach at the Lake Kivu Serena hotel (which also has wireless) also gives access to the pool showers and if you time it right, these are hot – well ish – but certainly not breath takingly cold.  So the Sunday treat is a swim in the lake which is just delectable followed by a hot – ish shower!!  It is nice that I have already got to the point where I am grateful and indeed dreaming of all these things I will enjoy back home in a few months! Not that I am a wuss you understand;-)

So the business of getting up takes longer than usual both because we have more time but also because of the mental preparation needed for the shower and the mental excuses as to whether some kind of washing with facial wipes would suffice cos if I hum a bit, I am not likely to stick out much!  Maybe, given the colonisation history, this is where the French got their shower protocols from;-)  But we do have a flushing loo and also a bathroom that is ensuite so who am I to grumbleJ

Breakfast is usually had at about 7.30-8am and invariably involves some bread but sometimes with something else too.  There is the most fabulous fruit salad which contains a tomato fruit in it which is just yummy.  The water however is gupping!  It is boiled and then filtered but it still takes like swimming pool water that has been washed out in a muddy bucket! We have yet to find a solution to the problem so are currently forking out for bottled water.  In the grand schemes of things, a big bottle is about 60p so this is what we use to fill the kettle and then have coffee.  We have also managed to find some milk albeit long life (after an unfortunate episode with milk with a cottage cheese identity crisis) so coffee in the morning is good and a little treat.

We have 2 people that translate for us.  Olive is working with Tim who is busy on the HIV and AIDS programme.  So far he has taken blood for HIV tests, checked out pregnant women to ensure that their pregnancy is going to plan as well as do some consultation work.  So Olive works with him to make sure he understands what people are saying and he then fills in forms in French.  It is all very full on.  As of last year, all children are now learning English in school as opposed to French but those of the elderly and educated generation tend to speak French.  He has agreed to have a go at all the areas in the hospital as he probably has just as many qualifications as anyone else so shouldn’t be long before he is on the maternity ward!  Will post pictures of the 'delivery room' at some point- somewhat sparsely equipped one could say as well as how wet his feet may get!

And then there is Leticia who works with Christine and I on the Gender Based Violence programme whilst Caitlin is on her own in the orphanage and forced to speak in the language of cuddle!  So Olive lives in the house as well as Katesi who does all the cooking.  This she does over charcoals in a room opposite the house.  Even though we do have BBC Entertainment and some of the run up to Xmas chef programmes, we have yet to find one that seems to fit our need in terms of how to get Xmas dinner on the table when you are working with an interesting barbecue - be great if someone could have a word!

So Leticia turns up at about 8.30 and there or thereabouts we then leave to go where we need to go.  If it is a Monday then all of us except Caitlin are off to the clinic.  So we leave the house to the spectacular view of Lake Kivu - we have swum in there and it was just glorious.  On the Congo side, there is a volcano whose name escapes me at the moment so there is a lot of lava and igneous rock around.  And there are very few decent roads (so Jock McGrumpy can use Gisenyi as an example of where more less than 30,000 feet would be more useful on Google Earth!) in Gisenyi so the walk down to town which takes about 15 minutes is down a muddy, invariably deep puddly,( it rains heavily for a short while most days) very bumpy, lava type road – the kind that you would never expect to drive a car over in the UK and you might think twice about a combine harvester too!  So at this point it is usually about 25 ° C so invariably we are always clammy after about 2 minutes (something which, during the morning pre-shower doze/meditation, comes up in terms  of why bother!). 

Down in town we then catch a mini bus – you know, the type that you can usually get about 14 people in.  Funnily enough in Rwanda, I have yet to see any health and safety signs or those of the ilk of what the maximum number of persons that can be carried is!  Probably because there are usually 18-19 people in the minibus before it considers leaving – so obviously the best thing about the bus is the windows as it would seem that many people have the same pre-cold shower chat with themselves!  Either that or deodorant seems a bit extravagant when you are hungry – fair point!!  The smells are something that I am getting used to though…  So we bobble along on the bus for about 15 minutes or so, most of which is on a relatively decent road.  It does seem to struggle going up the hill though and if I were a betting person, it would seem that there is a competition to see how long before a bus driver really needs to change gear!

So we get off the bus and then it is on the back of a push bike for 15 minutes.  Now those of you who have been paying attention and are ready for the test will remember that I said that there is a lot of lava and huge puddles knocking about so I find this quite scary!  And there is one hill that I get off and walk at.  Despite the fact that it is scary, I love this bit.  This is where we go into a poorer area on the way to the Murara clinic.  The road is lined with what look like wattle and daub houses to probably most of those with little building experience and behind these houses are ‘gardens’.  Lots of these people work in ‘cooperatives’ whereby they grow and sell vegetables as a group as well as making things e.g. necklaces, baskets, soaps etc as a group.

But what I love about the bike ride is that lots and lots of little kids come out of their houses and you hear the word ‘Muzungu’ lots.  Loosely translated this means ‘white skinned, pasty-looking, Johnny foreigner, traveller person’!  Bearing in mind that many of these peeps are unlikely to have seen a TV, it is a Mr Livingstone/the Queen type experience.  Lots of them wave or want to hold your hand or indeed cuddle you – it is just so lovely to be cuddled just cos!  That said, Caitlin has it going on all day in the orphanage so imagine you can overdose!  So it can feel a little like a royal parade where we get to meet and greet the locals – most of the time I like being an object of fascination.

So we usually arrive at the clinic at about 9.45 give or take an hour or so – African time is very flexible and the business of punctuality I am sure would be over rated if they even had a name for it!  We then spend the morning and early afternoon making beads with a group of usually 5-6 ladies or so and sometimes 1 chap.  All of these ladies are HIV ± and part of a cooperative too. 

So thats the morning taken care of - I will tell you more about the afternoon once i have figured out that I can post OK.

On a final note, it is always the little things that are of great hilarity: things that would just never occur to me and are different in a way that seems weird even though there is no reason why that should be the case.  Hence the picture of the bathroom below in the guest house in Gisenyi.  I cant seem to rotate it but why the loo is in the middle of the room just seems hilarious!

Anyway do email and text - it is nice to hear from everyone and hope you are all not too cold!

xxx