Recycle, recycle, recycle...

Apart from the fact that there is absolutely no way to dispose of rubbish here in Rwanda (apart from carrying it on a moto for over an hour to Kigali where you can deposit in a bin…where it will probably later be burnt, throwing it in your garden amongst the banana trees, or posting it down the loo… none of which really appeal) it makes you very mindful of your waste and how things can be creatively recycled. This is also a consideration when water and electricity can be expensive and often in short supply!

So here are a few of the ways that I reuse and recycle (and you wouldn't believe the rubbish I hang onto here!):

After I have cooked using my electric hotplate, I turn it off and use it to heat a pan of water for washing up as it cools down.

When I boil the kettle for tea, I always decant the remaining water either into my jug to cool for cold drinking water, or into my flask to make tea later. Filtered AND boilled water is a luxury!

After I’ve rinsed my clothes in my hand-washing bowl, I use the water to wash either my shoes or the floor – no use wasting good water or detergent!!

As plastic bags are banned here, groceries often get packaged into big brown paper bags, or envelopes as they are called here. (They come free in Kigali, but you have to pay here in the village!!). Apart from trying to remember to head to the market with a bagful of brown paper bags for fruit and veg purchases, they also make excellent rubbish bags, especially when you try to limit your waste to compost only.

Old milk powder jars and plastic water bottles make excellent pen/pencil/ruler pots in the TTC – water bottles can also be cut down to make funnels – no idea what I’d need a funnel for though – still trying to work that out!

Tomato puree comes in tiny cans – perfect to rinse out and use as tea light holders for the frequent power cuts we have here in the evenings - atmospheric recycling - my favourite!

 

Old towels get recycled as door mats, rainwater gets collected for handwashing, old tyres get recycled as sandals, used exercise books and information leaflets from medicine boxes (my neighbour works at the health centre) are used as toilet paper... interesting reading on the loo - fascinating to work out the most commonly prescribed medicines in my village each week...

Getting down with the locals...

How I know I am becoming Rwandese…

I go out with my phone in my hand not in my bag (sometimes)!

I phone friends just to greet them even if I don’t have anything to actually say, apart from I am phoning to greet you! I have even ‘beeped’ friends too just to say hi! We don’t need to chat – they just need to know I thought of them. I kind of like that!

I can wear a fleece in 30 degree sunshine… as long as I am walking slowly enough – then I don’t get hot. Next: wooly hats and scarves - seriously!

And I'm getting better at slow walking.

One tablespoon of sugar in my tea just isn’t enough.

When I don’t understand I just look blankly and say ‘mmmmm’ in a 'yes' kind of way.

I have been known to go back to bed when there is a thunderstorm.

I have started washing my shoes – people check you know!

I can eat 7 different kinds of carbs in one meal – rice, pasta, potato, sweet potato, cooked banana, cassava, chips… and still have room for more!

I’m not quite so early these days – ‘on time’ is the new late (for me)!

I think auto-tune sounds normal now (on Rwandan radio!!)

I go to shake hands with my VSO friends when I greet them… and ask how they slept, how their morning was, how was the day etc… awkward!

I put my bag on a chair of its own rather than on the floor.

I can send texts while riding a moto.

And use salt as the main seasoning for a meal

But…

I’m never actually late,

I don’t take phone calls during conversations, in class, in meetings… or under the table where I think no-one will notice… or hear!!

Or call my friends from somebody else's phone so they don't recognise the number, but fail to mention that its me for the entire conversation! Keep them guessing!

Or pass my friends' phone numbers to other friends that they don't know so they can make mysterious greeting calls to people they have never met! (Who are you? Have we  met? Did I give you my number? Oh, thank you - have a wonderful day too...speak soon (I'm sure). So who was that?)

I don’t burp in the company of friends or colleagues, or partake in other 'nose related habits' in public...

Or laugh when people say Good Morning to me,

Tell my friends how fat they have become, even if they are looking gooooood...

Declare my love to someone I have just met, whether in person, in a staff meeting, over the phone, at the market...

Beat chairs, desks, bus seats until every trace of dust has been removed,

Use Not when what I really mean is No, as in:

Do you understand?
Not
Did you have enough melange?
Not
Did I give you my number?
Not
Is that enough sugar for you?
Not
Is your seat clean?
Not
Are my shoes ok?
Not
So, are we starting on time this morning?
Not
Did we ever chat about using the word 'no'?...

And until I'm into the swing of conversation, I  generally tend not to start conversations with ‘Did you go to church?’ or ‘Have you got a bible in your house?’ especially at 5.30 in the morning, or on the bus, or to a complete stranger!

 

For now, I haven't developed these habits YET…but there’s still time, ha ha! Perhaps I will pick one to try out for fun!

December - Home sweet home.

Mwaramuste! Amakuro? Amashyo… (My latest favourite greeting – a Swahili one that means ‘I wish you many cows’! This goes down very well in my village!)Then… three hugs, a forehead touch, and a complicated combination of handshakes, shoulder barges, then how did you sleep? How was the morning? How is your family? Where are you going? Where have you come from this morning?  Looking good! Thanks, you too! Have a good day, see you later, have a good journey… (Sneaky glances at my shoes!).

Phew, greeting completed!

I have definitely found that having a sense of humour is key to surviving here and there are so many surreal, challenging, unusual or hilarious moments that I find that I spend a lot of time laughing!

In some ways I have everything I need here, and more if I’m honest, especially in comparison to other people in my village, but in other ways my home and routines are very simple and it can feel like I am camping in a muddy field! Walking to collect water every day, dealing with the mud (especially muddy shoes and muddy toes), waiting till it stops raining to dash to my loo which is at the end of my garden, keeping everything dry and clean, dealing with the wildlife! But none of these things I mind really and they have all become part life. I’m definitely glad I’m not squeamish about creepy crawlies (giant ‘armoured’ jumping spiders that leap sideways, scuttling lizards, crickets, giant buzzing, whirring hornets…or the many snakes that I have heard live here but that I have yet to meet) or afraid of the dark and all the bright amber eyes that peer at me at night from behind the banana trees when I’m sitting out on my step gazing at the moon.

I have discovered a gentle pace of life here, yet I am always busy and everyday tasks fill my time. Through simple, repetitive, manual tasks I have found the time to be mindful and reflective and I really value this. It is a pleasure every day to hear water gushing from the tap into my turquoise bucket, and it feels good to carry a heavy, full bucket back to my house because I know I do not have to worry about having clean water to drink and wash with, for that day at least (unless the water comes out the colour of gravy – which it has done a few times). I filter and sometimes boil water too and it is all good! 

Hand washing all my clothes is something I don’t mind doing and having clean fresh, clothes feels like an achievement every time! The sun is so strong that they usually dry quickly and if they don’t, my lovely neighbours bring them in for me if I am at work and it starts to rain. Washing sheets, however, is a nightmare and I’ll admit I am useless at it! Last time, I had to have a bowl on hand for all the spare bubbles and in the end, my neighbours couldn’t bear to watch me anymore and they insisted on finishing the job properly, which I was secretly relieved about. They also whisked my shoes away to wash too and gave the floor a quick scrub too! I’m very house proud and keep everything immaculate (bleached, disinfected, rinsed) but I think because I have different ways of doing things my neighbours don’t consider that they have been properly unless it has been done their way… but that’s ok and we live together very happily. Maybe there’s something in wiping the floor with a muddy towel…but I’m not so sure!

 

My tiny mud house has a tin roof and is cosy and homely. I have made it comfortable and it feels very much like ‘home’. However, I have noticed that because it is made from mud, the outside seems to be slowly crumbling and there is always dust to sweep up inside - I really think it is slowly disintegrating every day! About a month ago I decided I needed to do a few home improvements, including putting up my own curtains from some fabric I’d bought in a market, and getting some hooks and nails in the walls so I could hang up bags and scarves and tea towels. I’d managed to find some giant nails, but didn’t have a hammer, so I used my frying pan…which really made me laugh. I could barely bang the nails as I was laughing so much – using a frying pan seemed so wrong! It was really loud and I was worried that the noise would wake my neighbours…and it also occurred to me that I might end up actually knocking the wall down if I banged the nail in too hard – not sure how I’d explain that to my neighbours! So then I used my shoe instead, the rubber sole was much quieter…but it still amused me to be banging in a nail with my shoe. But the wall is still standing and it’s good to have places to hang everything.

I think there are advantages to living in a house made of mud and having an outdoor toilet built of mud too as you can’t see the dirt…but sometimes I think the walls of the toilet are a bit like a magic eye picture and the more I look at them, the more spiders and beetles and cobwebs and lizards I notice! Using a pit latrine, which is just a hole in the ground, is no problem, but I do worry that I might fall down it one day… well… I don’t think all of me would fit, but losing one leg down it, after a few beers, is a worry! At night I wear a lovely head torch but I have to be quick because all the flying bugs are attracted to the light.

But it’s funny thinking about how quickly you can adapt to a different way of being and how different everyday life is back in the UK – although perhaps its more about the details of daily life and how much you get used to taking things for granted when you don’t have to give them a second thought - running water, HOT running water (!!), a clean bathroom… in fact an indoor bathroom, electricity, appliances… and although everything here takes longer to do, it also gives you time and space to think and appreciate what you do have here… and what you have back home.

 

November - Finding a rhythm.

Having been here for 2 months now I have found a rhythm and routine at home and in my work. Today I was speaking at a huge conference for Senior 6 Students who have just finished college, including some from my TTC (so they are aged between 18 and 25, although some students are older) and I had to give a presentation about volunteering as they all have to do National Service - I was asked at very short notice - as in I had a call 30 minutes before it started!! And was literally handed a microphone as I got off my moto taxi and walked in through the doors! But it went well and there was a fantastic atmosphere and at the end the students (there were around 600) did an amazing song with drumming and clapping and we were led through the middle of them as we left. It was really powerful.

After several months of intensive work on writing a training manual for the new English Language Curriculum and Language Methods and Practice Curriculum (as well as finishing writing the English Language Curriculum), the draft copy has been published and I feel very proud to have been a part of the process (and my name is in print...at the top of the list!!!!!). The next stage is to deliver the training to every TTC tutor in Rwanda who teaches Languages (English, French, Kinyarwanda, and Swahili), Teaching Methods and Practice or Foundations of Education. The training was postponed from December, but will now take place over 6 days in January at a TTC in the south of Rwanda. I am very excited to deliver this training, but also pretty nervous too, although I know we have planned it very thoroughly and many of the workshops have been planned as model lessons from the curriculum. So hopefully it will have a positive impact as the tutors will return to their TTCs confidently, really understanding the new curriculum and with lots of practical ideas about methodology and resources. We have also included sessions on planning and assessment, teaching and learning styles, parental and community involvement, and much more! We have linked it to local literature and resources to make it completely relevant to the tutors and students, and we had some excellent planning sessions liaising with Rwandan and Ugandan TTC tutors - all very different to the old curriculum which was grammar heavy and HUGE!

Another element of my work, since the TTC closed for the Christmas holidays, has been to plan and deliver story-telling workshops to local nursery and primary teachers, as well as run story telling sessions with children in my village. This has been a really lovely part of my job, and very different to the curriculum based work I was doing at KIE (Kigali Institute of Education). I love the variety here - from working at a national level to working right in the heart of my village with tiny children and their parents... sitting under a tree! Everything I plan and do needs to be discussed with my Sector Education Officer and he authorises what I do, although he is positive and supportive of everything so far! But to run storytelling activities with children in the village, he first announces it at church - the hub of the community!

Back in October I ran a reading and writing workshop in Kigali for writers and publishers and part of that was story telling.  Many of them had never had a story read to them and it was amazing and fascinating how reading a children's story to them (all smart professionals in suits) evoked the same reactions you get with children, they were fascinated by the illustrations, joined in with the repetition, finished the sentences, were desperate to know what happened next or how the story ended... and many came back the next day saying they had read a story to their children that night and it was the first time they had ever done it!

I have also spent time during the college holidays really getting to know the college tutors who live in the village. From the beginning they have been very lovely with me on a personal level, but it has taken time for them to feel confident to work with me, and it has been good that I have remained here in my village over the holidays as I feel they are  much more relaxed to chat with me...and just for us to get to know each other outside work. Last term in my TTC I quickly got an idea of where I was starting from...simply building relationships before we even started talking about teaching and learning! So now in the village, it has been really valuable simply to sit with them for an hour or so every day, watching the world go by and chat about the day or their family or their shop (as they all have second businesses!) and I really hope that this will pay off in college next term.

Life here in Rwanda is good and I am really happy - although this week has had a few ups and downs, but working through a few things has really been good for me in terms of finding confidence and strength when it counted and (in hindsight, now) knowing that I could. When I first arrived and had a few challenges to work through, one of my friends  here was offering some advice and she said 'Whatever happens you'll make it work...and sometimes you've just got to 'suck it up'...and it’s something I've kept in my mind ever since! I tell myself 'Hazel, just suck it up!' I really love being here, but it’s funny having only yourself to count on when things are difficult and you actually have to work through things.

Yesterday I ran an SEN focus group with teachers and head teachers but it was very far from my village - literally across the other side of Rwanda, and it was strange as I returned to my village (having travelled by jeep, mutata and moto) - it had been such a long journey back and I was shattered, but I had such a sense of 'coming home' as I arrived at the outskirts of my village. It really struck me as strange how I'd travelled for about 3 hours, the final part a long journey up my hill on dirt tracks, through jungles of banana trees, past tiny villages - it had been a real trek as the road was in a terrible condition after torrential rains...and yet I felt so happy to be coming home. And I really wondered what it was about my village that felt so much like home! It has definitely captured my heart here and I really feel part of the family with my lovely neighbours. It just struck me as funny that somewhere so remote and far away could feel so much like home! But it really does!! :)

People here in my village is wonderful and so kind and friendly and helpful and welcoming. Of course people are just people anywhere in the world (and I feel I have really good friends here and that I have really got to know people in my village) but also the longer I am here the more I notice the massive differences in culture - you know they are there, but you become more aware of the 'hidden' differences beneath the surface.  And there are big challenges here, especially in  my village which is very rural and remote, in terms of poverty and unemployment, education,  infrastructure, history... one friend here has nobody left in his family and couldn't complete his school, so he is entirely alone and has no education or possessions... yet he is also so caring and compassionate towards others and shares anything he has - he'd share his food every time...and he's  typical of how people are here - at times I feel really helpless because I don't really know how I could ever really make a difference...but I'm determined to come up with a plan and I'm looking into the work other branches of VSO (and other NGOs) do for young people here and vocational training schemes... lots of young people here who really, really want to make something of their lives and just need an opportunity.

But as well as being very aware of cultural values and expectations and trying to get things right, I am constantly surrounded by people who are wonderful and want to be with me and spend time together so in many ways I am extremely well integrated... and other volunteers joke about how I have so quickly become a part of my village, spending many weekends here and speaking Kinyarwanda with my neighbours and friends, spending time cooking and relaxing together, being invited to their homes... I am the only volunteer here in my village, as well as for at least an hour in any direction! Most other volunteers are either with other volunteers from VSO or other NGOs. So being here alone seems to be unusual, but in many ways it has also given me the chance to throw myself into life here and get to know the real day to day life in my village.

Also, being pretty far from a town also means that there are not really any western style treats, so day to day I simply buy what I can find in shops and at the market and my friends who live in larger villages and towns find it funny when I visit and get over excited about things like peanut butter or apples (and shampoo!!)...and even avocados and pineapples which we haven't had in our village for over a month now!! The market in my village is very small and seasonal and we really seem to only have tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, green beans and onions at the moment, as well as the usual rice, beans and 'ibitoki' - green cooked bananas. I don’t really mind though and have basic supplies to cook pasta and rice dishes, and it’s nice to have fresh local produce...if a little repetitive! In fact, going to the market is as much fun as cooking and I get on really well with all the lovely ladies that have stalls. They all know my name and we always have a good catch up and a giggle!

Anyway, being here really is the dream I had before I came and I know I am incredibly lucky that things have worked out well... I know it probably sounds daft but being here really blows my mind every day and it’s a very emotional and powerful experience.

October - Starry skies and volcanoes

http://vimeo.com/57465392

This week one of my friends asked me what a typical day is like for me…and I found it impossible to even begin to answer! October flew by in a whirlwind of work challenges, social invitations, end of term celebrations, travel, and my continued wonder and amazement at everyday experiences that leave me completely blown away.

 

  
I have been incredibly busy at work with writing training workshops, planning and delivering Writing Workshops to TTC students and Primary School teachers, travelling to Kigali for meetings at the University, work-shadowing at other TTCs and supporting the students at my TTC to prepare for end of year exams. My students always make me laugh and come out with classics lines, like 'There are some talkatives', 'Is your hair real?' and 'Some students are suffering from fatness'! I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be involved in such a variety of work, some at a national level, as well as to be based in such a lovely TTC, yet still get to do outreach work with local Primary Schools. It’s also been a pretty good way to get to know lots of people from my village and local area.

We had Teacher’s Day where Rwanda celebrates teachers…though we had to work for the morning! But the afternoon was spent at the local stadium with a football match between the Primary School and the Secondary School/TTC.  It seemed the whole village turned out to watch – lucky for us, they mostly watched from our goal area…a bit of an unfair advantage! We won! I was very impressed by the female players who played in their everyday shoes and got properly stuck into the game. The second half lasted three times as long as the first half, the ref joined in and the ball exploded! We then spent the afternoon in the church listening to speeches celebrating teachers (in Kinyarwanda), drinking Primus – the local beer, and finally dancing! I think I danced with everyone in the village and was home before 7!

 

I started Kinyarwanda lessons which I was very excited about having spent several weeks searching for a teacher, asking around everyone for recommendations and trying to decide who to ask. I finally settled on someone but the lesson didn’t go quite as planned… after spending the first 25 minutes with my teacher getting over the shock that I hadn’t blessed the tea I made her, we said Grace for a significant amount of time, and then finally got onto the lesson.  We decided to create a  dialogue to discuss the different times of the day that I do different things to help with  learn times and daily activities… but again, another 25 minutes was spent with my teacher trying to decide what to call the people in the dialogue and my suggestion of 1 and 2 didn’t go down well! Finally we got onto what happened and when, but again my teacher was too caught up in whether the logistics of the day worked and insisted on telling me that I couldn’t possibly undertake tasks in a particular order because it wasn’t possible – but I just wanted to learn the vocabulary! I also wanted to say that I enjoyed my journey to work each day because I love walking, but again she didn’t understand – no-one here walks if they can help it, and in the end I had to settle for ‘I like my walk to work because it is short’! Needless to say, I didn’t have a second lesson and have since picked up plenty of language lessons from keen students who also love to chat and practice their English.

I have since had a couple of Kinyarwanda lessons with  an ex-student after she finished her final year in my TTC…and we mainly learnt the lyrics of Rwandan RnB tunes… so I’m not so bad at asking ‘Where have you been all my life?’ and ‘I’m walking in your footsteps’ which go down pretty well here!

My travels have also continued to make my journey to work every day a wonderful experience. From blue misty hills to sudden rainstorms where I have had to shelter under a nearby porch with my moto driver, to roads so muddy that are impassable apart from by foot (in sandals). As I arrived back in my village one day, there was the brightest rainbow arching across the valley over Nzige, from one hill to another, like a magical welcoming gateway!

 

I also had a trip up north to Gisenyi where the scenery was stunning and the hills looked like they had been crocheted together from green and brown wool, mist hung between the mountains, and the sky glowed red at night above the volcano.

There have been plenty of opportunities for socialising in my village too. We have 16 KIE interns at our TTC and they are very lovely indeed. Some of them invited me for dinner which was such a special evening and we also had a huge birthday party celebration in our village where we put up scarves and banners and silk sheets to make an outdoor marquee, I entertained guests by introducing my favourite ‘School Christmas Party’ games (the Newspaper game and the Balloon game) – hilarious! We ate and drank and danced through the night, surrounded by banana trees, under the stars. I walked home under the most incredibly bright moonlit sky, remembering to look down occasionally so I didn’t fall down holes or tread on toads and arrived home to a garden full of fireflies.

 

Dust storms and tea lights

Settling into daily life…

So it’s now my third week here in my village! Things here are good and what is funny is that some of the little things that I would initially have mentioned in my blog, are now so ‘everyday’ that it’s hard to think of them!! So I need to make sure that I keep on noticing them all! And that’s another funny thing – that even though doing VSO is something I’ve dreamt of doing all my life, now I’m here… and really living in a tiny village in the middle of Africa, surrounded by banana trees and gathering my water in buckets when the supply reaches the village, this is now my life and it’s just normal for me! But I do get lots of ‘reality check moments’ when I think, ‘Wow! I’m really here!!’

 

Fabric in my favourite Kigali cafe

 

So, I shall write about some of my favourite moments from the past few weeks, the ones that know I will remember forever. Those times when you are so in the moment, thinking ‘this is why I’m here… and I’ll never get this chance to do this again!’ And I feel very lucky indeed.

Rainstorm

At the moment it is the short rainy season, which I discovered is about how long it rains for, rather than the length of the season. I’ll admit that I initially thought it was about the length of each actual raindrop… until I realised probably not! (Lots of time to think here!) Mornings are fresh and mild, but the days really heat up until the air is steaming and sweltering and the tin roofs creak and crack and flex as they expand and the sky becomes hazy and the clouds roll in. I really love the dramatic weather that unfolds each day and from my college I can see the storm clouds rolling in over the hills in the distance, and then up the valley towards the village. Yesterday I was wandering through the village after lunch and out of nowhere a dust storm whirled up, spinning the red dust in spirals as everyone dived into shops and houses for cover.

Another day I was walking back to college with my colleagues after lunch and suddenly the air pressure changed and the wind gusted and whipped up the dust and leaves and the rain started so heavily we didn’t even have a moment to dive for shelter! We sprinted off the road, helter-skeltering along a tiny path through the banana trees to the first house we could see, to shelter beneath the porch. We huddled together, flattening ourselves against the wall to avoid the pummelling rain, which was bouncing up from the ground with as much force as it was falling.

Before we had caught our breath, and still grinning from the exhilaration of escaping the sudden rainstorm, the door had opened and we were being invited into the little house. As our eyes adjusted slowly to the dark room we were welcomed in by a very charming gentleman who seemed as happy to have unexpected guests as we were to have been offered shelter! We followed the usual Rwandan greetings and our elderly host was very bemused by my Kinyarwanda, and proudly insisted that we all speak English.

So, drying off in in his front room, as the rain pounded the roof, he told us of his life and travels, his family and history, as well as his impressive work within very high circles. It was a real pleasure to meet such a charming and interesting gentleman and certainly an example of the value that people in Rwanda place on hospitality. Eventually the rain eased, we made our grateful thank you’s and goodbyes and shook hands and hugged in the Rwandan way, and we dashed through puddles as we made our way backup to college.

Glitter and gold.

Lightning storms are another almost daily feature of life here. The sky blackens and splits as lightning forks through the air, often so close to the college that it lights the room through windows on every side of the building! The thunder can be so loud that it becomes impossible to hold a conversation but I’ve been reassured that these are just normal throughout the rainy season and would not make the national news in the same way that they would in the UK and that I probably don’t need to consider sitting under the table! (It had crossed my mind.)

One afternoon, the lightning continued into the evening and the electricity went off, which it mostly does. So I sat outside my house in the moonlight, with my lovely neighbour and we chatted in a ‘melange’ (Kinyarwanda for mix) of Kinyarwanda and French as her daughter peeled potatoes and she fried them in oil.
 

Moongazing!

 

Our evening chats have become another lovely feature of life here and I know that I am very lucky that I live in the heart of my village (rather than where it was originally planned that I should live).

Apparently my little house was not considered to be ‘agreeable’ for me, but I’d honestly say that there is nothing that I want for or would possibly change! I just feel very fortunate to be here!

There is something magical about sitting outside beneath the silvery moon, as the banana trees rustle gently, huddled around the charcoal stove which glows gently…just chatting simply (until I learn some new vocabulary!) about the day. Sitting out under the stars and ‘moon-gazing’ has become an almost daily feature of my life here. It falls dark at 6.15 every night and quite rapidly becomes pitch black.

That evening the sky flashed with lightning and the moon cast a gentle yellow light and the charcoal stove gleamed amber and my lovely neighbour insisted on sharing the chips with me. They tasted delicious sprinkled with salt and tomato sauce… and we ate together with her family by candlelight under the moon.  I couldn’t imagine anything better!

Mysterious visitor.

I tend to get up really early around 5.30 as I can do so much more on a light morning than in the evening when there is almost always a power-cut. But until I had properly adjusted to this routine, I also kept my quite late nights and often felt that I really was the last person in my whole village to go to bed as the entire village fell quiet. One evening, as I made my way back towards my house from the pit latrine that is at the end of the garden, I spotted a large creature slinking away as it heard me. I have no idea what it was, but the next night, on a similar trip, my torch picked up two huge bright amber eyes in the dark, before they also turned and disappeared. I’m really curious about my night-time visitor… and wonder if I’ll ever know what it was.

I mentioned that my village falls quiet… but actually it’s really loud here at night, with the banana trees that sound like the sea and sometimes like the rain, chirps and chirrups of night-time birds and insects and howls and squeaks and cries and creaks that, like my visitor, remain a mystery to me. I would have imagined feeling very nervous venturing outside at night, but there is definitely something very magical about my night garden and I’m reminded of Carrie Hepple, the main character in one of my favourite childhood books.

Morning walk.

My walk to college is another pleasure of my daily life here. After a breakfast of pineapple or porridge with local honey and bananas with fresh Rwandan coffee, I leave my house around 7 and make my way along my narrow, slippery path up to the main road through the village, a dusty red track that has tiny shops on each side.
 

 

Walk to work.

 

I greet my neighbours and ask how they slept, how their morning was, how their family is, shaking hands and remembering the correct greeting for the time of day, as well as the correct response, and the hierarchy of respect, as well as the level of formality or familiarity (a complex system of hugging up to 3 times, touching foreheads, shaking hands but holding your arm as a mark of respect for the other person)… which is all very important, and I greet the moto-drivers and the children and the shop keepers, I make my way across the road and onto the path that leads to my TCC. There is a house where there always seems to be a game of draughts being played – using Fanta caps as pieces – such a great idea! So colourful too!

Seems I’m still a bit of a novelty here and being stared at is part of my daily life but people in the village are very friendly and are happy to chat if I greet them and I’ve started to make friends along the way too. I love the sights on my walk to work – bright fabrics with bold patterns, baskets of bananas and jerry-cans pushed along on bicycles, children with hoops and sticks and homemade footballs made from banana leaves, and fluorescent plastic flipflops. This afternoon, as I walked home from college to meet my new Kinyarwanda teacher at a café, I even had two people greet me – a real sign of becoming accepted – as well as somebody calling my name and waving wildly from about 100m away!

There is a group of very tiny children in scruffy uniforms that love to follow me and giggle nervously and run away as I smile at them and try to chat, and one in particular who often spots me from the end of the road and runs to me, throwing his arms around my knees to give me a huge hug! Children are very intrigued when they see me and they often try to touch my skin – I’ve been told that some believe that white skin is very delicate (and might break) or that it hurts me to touch my skin!! It seems they all want to find out!

I have a purple umbrella

If I’m lucky a local teacher from the primary school falls into step with me, although I tend to walk much faster than anybody else does, and we chat until the road forks and we take a different route. It’s nice to have a more meaningful conversation and their English tends to be good. It had been really good to have done a training workshop at the primary school as it means I know so many more people here now! However, I particularly enjoy walking with my students who are very softly spoken and respectful, and we chat quietly as we walk.  They love to ask me lots of questions about England and my job, before walking me to my classroom, shaking my hand again, wishing me a good day, and continuing on their way. I’ve become known to some of them as Miss Hazel, which I quite like!

However, I realise that the people in my village are very patient with my limited conversation topics, despite being very kind and encouraging about my very simple phrases. This week have managed to tell people that ‘I had to wait outside work because I don’t have the office key’ (new vocabulary: key and because)… ironically it was while I was waiting for my colleague to arrive that I stopped some students for a quick language lesson! Yesterday I managed, ‘It is raining but I have a purple umbrella’. (New vocabulary: umbrella and but).  I know it might be a step too far to announce that I do not have a key but I do have an umbrella! They may never speak to me again! I can also do ‘I am walking fast because I have a meeting’ and ‘This morning there was no water at my house’.  Ah… I also learnt ‘I am full’ after way too may Fanta na Mandazi!!

College life

I’m getting into the swing of college life.  I made a memorable and slightly unusual entrance on my first day, having come the ‘scenic route’. I had walked what I thought was the correct route, along with a large group of students – a good sign, I had imagined! I met an important man, the head-teacher, who had asked who I was… not really a great sign! But I introduced myself and as I realised that I  had arrived at the Primary school instead of the TTC, I turned the conversation  round by explaining my new job at the TTC and  that I was trying to link up with the primary schools a part of my new job – hence being there! He kindly pointed me in the right direction, past the water tank, and I made my grand entrance across the field and through the hedge! I continued confidently across the yard where all the TTC students were congregated, head held high and walking purposefully until I was out of sight around a corner, where I had to ask another student for further directions!

 

Morning at TTC with tudents gathering for morning news and prayers.

 

My first few days at college included a ‘snogging assembly’, a mystery of some disappearing markers… a disastrous attempt to teach ‘King of the Jungle’, observing a brilliant song about ‘Polluntioneeee’ and some very shaky grammar, including the past tenses: eatedeee and readedeee, several student parties including lots of dancing.

 

 

Baptism

 

Beyond college, I have been to a baptism in the village and  danced lots, discovered that I love ikivuguto – a curd drink like lassi that I can buy in a tiny café near my house, dealt with my exploding water filter (I arrived home one day to discover water pouring out from under my front door - usually I would have expected  it to be the other way around!), eaten lots of beans and rice for lunch at a different local café, arranged to start Kinyarwanda language lessons this week, made my first and second independent trips into Kigali, catching a moto-taxi out of my  village, free-wheeling most of the way down the hill to Kabuga where I catch a mutata bus into Kigali, discovered some of the best cafés in Kigali, located Fabric Alley where I plan to return on many occasions, and worked from the poolside in Kigali,  drinking coffee in the sunshine  (writing my weekly reports)... and danced lots!

I managed to buy an entire week’s vegetables for under £1 and amused myself arranging them into a rainbow on my kitchen table!  I have also branched out from tomato and garlic risotto, tomato and garlic pasta and tomato and garlic couscous… which had already become a bit repetitive… and discovered that my weekly shop includes everything I need to make coleslaw and guacamole! Yum!

 

Off to market

 

 

 

 Learner centred methodology training

 

Local primary school

 

 

'Ita ku mwana wese nk-uwawe'

Treat every child as if they were your own

 

 I have also successfully delivered my first 2 training workshops and been asked to return to do more. I found myself slightly lost halfway to Rwamagana one morning and simply couldn't imagine a lovelier place to be lost in the whole world... in the morning sunshine, amidst the banana trees, halfway up a hill... with a full tank on the moto and endless possibilities for the day ahead!! (And a perfect opportunity for a few photographs of course!) Oh… and the village water has come back on this evening after 4 days – best day ever!
 

 

Best place in the world to be lost!

Greetings from Nzige...

Sunsets, samosas (sambusas) and storks…

I write this on my first proper day in Nzige, a small rural and quite remote village in the east of Rwanda, about an hour and 15 minutes from Kigali (mainly along a dusty red dirt road!), where I shall be living and working for 12 months.

 

My in-country training has been a great introduction to life in Rwanda and Kigali has made a real impression on me. Life at the Amani Guest House has certainly been lots of fun and a very gentle start to my placement. We have been looked after very well and fed extremely well. The meals have been delicious and have included fresh pineapple, avocado, tomatoes, aubergines, passion fruits, tomato fruits, samosas, local cakes… and Rwandan coffee. There have been hot showers and the grounds are very beautiful, with avocado trees, frangipani and stunning views and sunsets over Kigali.

Kigali is a very clean, green city, across a number of hills, so at any time you can be looking down into a valley, above the eagles and kites that swirl gently on warm thermals, spiralling against a sky that is streaked pink and grey. We have also spotted storks and humming birds. Houses are tiny, and roofs low, so it is easy to forget that Kigali is a city, and playing fields, cultivated land and banana trees are nestled between houses and shops.

The nature of the geography of Kigali also means that you can always hear echoes of church singing amplified by the hills and thunder rolls and rumbles as the rains arrive each day. Torrential, deafening rain pounds the ground, turning the red dusty roads into slippery muddy tracks. I can’t even begin to imagine travelling to or from small village schools during the rainy season!! Not bringing my waterproof trousers seems to have been a huge mistake!

 
One evening we crossed town to visit an ‘English club’ held by another volunteer working in Youth and Development for young people to improve their English (not a club for English expats as some of our group had wondered!). We met and mingled with the group of 20 or so young people and spent the evening in groups chatting about our lives, experiences and aspirations. It was truly inspirational to meet such lovely, articulate, motivated young people and it really brings it home how important projects like this are. I’m hoping to link up with the volunteer running the group as I am planning a similar project in my area to support language and literacy skills for young people.

In-country training also consisted of a welcome dinner where we met the VSO team and current volunteers and were treated to a night of team building games, an excellent buffet and Intore dancing- really spectacular traditional Rwandan dancing. It was good to meet future colleagues (so I know who to email when I’m not sure about my new project) and other volunteers in a similar role or in a local district or sector. The VSO network is certainly really strong and supportive and it’s good to know that everyone is just a text away.

I’ve never seen so many muzungos in one place’

During our time in Kigali we also opened bank accounts, applied for work visas and got to grips with the buses and mutatas (mini buses) and motos (motorbike taxis) of Kigali. Growing confident with motos has been a highlight for me and I have loved zipping along moonlit streets in a convoy with friends in the evening as there is barely any other traffic on the roads so you pretty much have them to yourself! The small buses are lots of fun – a real squish with the other passengers - and they even have fold-down seats in the aisles! They always seem to have cool tunes on the stereo which seems to make everyone feel happy! On one of our trips into the centre we missed our stop, but this proved quite educational as we got to travel round the far end of town before the bus looped back round (luckily) and we jumped off in the main area.  It was handy to see how the different parts we’d been through linked up… so next time we’re lost, we’ll know the neighbouring areas! We were also taken to the large indoor market to get a feel for it all before it was all for real! We obviously stood out from the usual crowd as we heard a local man saying, ‘I’ve never seen so many muzungos in one place’. I’m definitely planning to head back there to stock up on fabric for a quilt project I hope will fill my evenings, a crochet hook and some wool, as well as materials for dresses, skirts and tops and handmade baskets for my home (‘mu rugo’) for bits and pieces.

The day before completing ICT, we all headed to T2000, an enormous Chinese supermarket, to stock up on all things essential for setting up home. Where do you even start? I think it would be fair to say that most of us came close to having a bit of a ‘moment’ and finally, after about 5 hours and three trolleys each, we passed through the checkout, with every item labelled in marker pen with our names, hands black from dust, ready to drop! We had a relay of 2 VSO jeeps carrying our purchases (sheets, duvets, pillows, buckets, jugs, bowls, plates, cups, cutlery, pots and pans, kettles, shelves…etc.), guarded carefully as they were loaded up  outside the shop, which dropped them off at our Guest House before returning for the next load.

Reclaiming all our purchases from the heap back at the guest house was nearly as much fun (lucky everything had been named)… and then the next challenge was loading up the taxi 2 days later as my boss arrived to take me to the village. We spent a good 30 minutes looking at my luggage and at the car and then nodding and smiling and hmmmm-ing and then opening the boot and then looking back at the luggage! In the end, a larger car was called for and after a number of attempts at packing and unpacking and repacking, we were all in and off we went… waving at the last few volunteers awaiting lifts to their new placements.

Having arrived, I was immediately introduced the local government official in the village, which was an honour and felt very important. A production line was then formed along which all my possessions were passed, to my new home (which has a very strong resemblance to the small barn round the back of our home in Winfarthing… just with a lick of paint!) I was asked several times if everything was there, but as it had been packed and unpacked and repacked before the journey started, and then removed from the car randomly, I had no idea! My three main pieces of luggage were there… and so far it seems that everything else arrived safe and sound - I haven’t missed anything yet!   It was an impressive sight to see my furniture arrive from the other end of the village, transported along the road through the village, carried on people’s heads; a bed, a mattress, a dining table and chairs, a coffee table, shelves, a cupboard and two lounge chairs – quite a procession. It was hard to resist reaching for my camera!! However it’s an image I won’t forget!

In Rwanda there are no problems only challenges (Local saying)

I am writing this, snuggled in my room (on my first proper day here after arriving), as the largest thunderstorm I have ever experienced is taking place directly above my house! ‘Moving wardrobes’ would not even begin to describe the booming thunder that sounds as though it is immediately above, if not on, my roof! When I arrived yesterday, the rain became so heavy, slashing diagonally, bouncing up from the ground and gushing from next door’s roof, and it was a relief when it finally stopped! I had wondered whether it would continue for days or weeks! Ironically, despite the torrential rain, I arrived to find that there was actually no water at the tap!

Today’s storm have given me the time to lie on my bed and contemplate my new home and life…reassured that later the rain will ease and stop eventually, as it finally did yesterday… and that the cycle will continue – even if at a slower pace than I am used to.  Rains come, rain stops, water goes… and eventually comes back. Buhoro, buhoro – ‘slowly slowly’ as they say.

The kindness of Neighbours…

This morning I woke at 6am to the wonderful sound of water splashing into jerry-cans and my heart lifted. My sweet neighbours, young girls who are kind and chatty (and very bemused by the funny ways of their new ‘muzungo’ neighbour), arrived at my door as soon as they saw that I had opened my curtains, and as I stood in my pyjamas in my doorway (in my purple fluffy slippers – my one luxury item from home… apart from my cafetierre), they busily rounded up my buckets, bowls and jerry-cans and filled them, bringing them back to my house.  It was such a relief that the water had come – I had imagined that there would be none for 3 days and that I would have to sparingly ration my one jerry-can (provided by my neighbours on my arrival), and I was really touched by their kindness towards me. Water and kindness from neighbours both seem pretty essential to surviving life here!

With water, I set about filling my water-filter and boiling the kettle for coffee. Having woken up at 6 I knew that I had time to orientate myself into the day in my new home…and took my time to make porridge and enjoy a pot of Rwandan coffee, sitting with my door open and sunshine streaming in.  I watched as the girls next door swept and mopped around their house, as huge brightly coloured plastic and metal bowls and buckets were filled and used for washing, washing up, clothes washing… and all were left in the sunshine to dry on a large wooden table. Not a bad place to do washing up I thought! Chickens strutted past, and cockerels crowed, passers-by peeped through the fence and smiled as they wandered past, and my first morning in Nzige, my little village, unfolded.

 

I shared a second pot of coffee with my neighbours, and used my shaky and very basic Kinyarwanda to explain that I didn’t have milk or sugar… and did they mind, or did they have some they could use…? I’m not sure what the outcome of the conversation was (everybody nodded and said yes), but they were very sweet and polite about the coffee and were very smiley when they returned the cups later.

As I had water, I organised myself to take a bucket shower in the room round the back of the house  -  it was cold, but my relief at just having water meant that I was  very thankful to be washing at all! As they say, there are no problems, only challenges – and the shower challenge needed to be addressed! It certainly woke me up. I spent the next hour or so sweeping and wiping and tidying my house and then used my bright pink lavender scented disinfectant to mop my floor – again to the amusement of my little neighbours, who probably thought there was a much more efficient way to undertake such tasks! I shall watch them and try to pick up tips!

I washed up my breakfast things at the table in the sunshine and headed off to meet my friend and colleague, at the market. It was a really happy surprise to find so many tables piled high with tomatoes, avocados, beans, onions, pineapples and bananas and with a local friend with us, we got some good deals (and I noted prices so I know what to pay when I go by myself!) I know my knowledge of numbers isn’t too bad, but everybody fell around laughing when I used them – it seems to be that they are so surprised that I know the words… and simply expect not to understand me… and having a huge crowd of people around me meant the situation was quite surreal! People seem genuinely shocked that I know a few words!

 

I carried all my veg home loose in my bag, beans rattling round with bananas and pineapples, avocados and garlic. As we wandered back, we popped into several of the little shops along the road where I was introduced to many friendly people who turned out to be the TTC tutors and my new colleagues…many of whom I learnt have enterprising second businesses as shop owners. I stocked up on milk powder and sugar (so that I can entertain according to local tastes!), a small blue bucket (for cleaning), a two-pronged plug adaptor and some freshly bakes sweet white bread rolls.

From first impressions, village life in Nzige is probably as you’d imagine life here to be – pretty rural; hens, clucking and scratching, roaming from garden to garden, cows, pigs and goats tethered in family compounds, banana trees, small children inquisitively peeping nervously from behind pillars or grinning widely as I pass…or just staring, bicycles wobbling precariously as their owners push loads of wood, sugarcane, milk pails… and women wearing striking, colourful, beautiful dresses. There is also a small café, where I am keen to have tea and a bar where we had lunch after I arrived yesterday – a tasty omelette and inyama y’ihene, or goat – really delicious! I’m really keen to take some photographs, but I think that my new neighbours need time to get used to me being here first before I start asking if its ok if I take pictures.

Having returned home from the market, and sheltered from the storm, I was honoured to have my first guest! Lucky I had bought in milk powder and sugar - my guest enjoyed 3 spoons of each in her coffee! We had a really lovely conversation, sharing stories of home and family and I showed her my photographs, which she took great interest in. It was strange sharing tales of family Christmases and pets and walks along Hadrian’s Wall and along the coast when I know that all these are a long way away! She is the niece of my landlady and she works in the TTC – she is very kind and helpful and had popped round to check that I was fine. I also know she’s at the end of a text of I need her and I’m hoping that she can be my Kinyarwanda language teacher -  I’m determined to become at least able to hold a normal conversation (I’ve pretty much done all  my introduction conversations now) and strangely frustrated that I haven’t become fluent by the end of my second day here!! Buhoro, buhoro. I felt like an ok host – I offered tea and coffee and had the required milk and sugar. We chatted about lots of thing and had some excellent silences which are perfectly usual and to be expected (as we were prepared for in ICT – it doesn’t mean your guest is feeling awkward, rather that they are happy to be with you), and I nearly ‘gave her the push’ which is actually a polite term and means walking your guest to your gate, but I couldn’t get my slippers off and flipflops on quickly enough! I’ll practice super-quick shoe changes before I host again.

So this evening I have unpacked – it was nice to get sorted out and settled in properly but then also felt odd as it made everything seem a bit more permanent – I know it will be home for now and putting my things out made it very real. But I am happy and today has gone really well and I have a very sweet and homely little house (2 rooms and a store that was meant to be my kitchen but I’ll use instead to house water bins and mops and wellies… and has an unusual aroma!). I’m onto my last clean cup for an evening mug of vanilla chai (as I  have been so busy entertaining today that all my cups have been used…so I’ll need to tackle washing up in the morning before coffee -  a logistical challenge when you have neither a kitchen nor a bathroom and the tap is at the end of the garden near the front gate).  I have my bedroom and kitchen set up and curtains and a kettle and I have full jerry-cans and I know a cold shower is possible, that my neighbours are very nice, that I like the market and know what to pay and can ask in Kinyarwanda… and I know how to get back to Kigali, how much to pay and where to get on/off the bus or moto. I can connect to the internet sometimes and have started my blog, so that’s good! I know that the rain does eventually stop and that the water eventually returns and that in Rwanda there are no problems, only challenges, which is handy as I came here seeking new challenges!

So, what have I learnt?

I am in sole charge of where I have left my keys.

It is good to tie your keys to yourself when using the pit latrine… or wear them like a necklace – never in your pocket.

The rain stops and eventually water comes back on.

Even when speaking perfectly good Kinyarwanda people may still look blankly at me.

The colour of my skin scares small children!

Rwandan coffee is very good and a good coffee makes everything ok.

Conditioner is just not going to happen when it is an achievement even to take a shower!

I can’t worry about how I look as I don’t have a mirror big enough to find out!

Always have a torch to hand.

The internet connects eventually (Skype doesn’t!) In fact, the time it takes to connect to the internet is well spent writing an entire blog entry! Buhoro, Buhoro!

It means the world to hear from friends and family.

Avocados are amazing here… and I can buy 4 (kane) for a pound (ijana Rwf).

My new neighbours rock!

Oh…  and I can wear both a head torch AND an anorak in the name of survival (its fine – I have no mirror!)