Peaks and Troughs

I knew it would happen and so it did! This week I went from one of my lowest lows to one of the highest highs in the matter of just a few days. Yes it was the week of World AIDS Day and Monday began with my discovery that nothing that had been planned had actually happened, from booking a room to securing additional funding – nothing. Throughout the day it seemed to get worse culminating in my line manager publicly ticking me off (while I struggled to see him through my sunstroke) for not keeping him informed – nothing was happening how can I keep anyone informed of that?! I was pretty much on the verge of breakdown all day.

You can imagine my surprise on Tuesday when suddenly things came together so thoroughly that I was almost twiddling my thumbs by the end of the day, well not quite but… So my emergency meeting bore fruit in the shape of massive funding support from another donor and the assigning of roles and budget for every activity – hoorah. The rest of a week was a jumble of chasing people about, visiting banks and artists (who were painting the banner), putting up posters around the town (I felt like a student again) and calling youth clubs to check they were coming. But we did it!

The event was scheduled to start at 10am, so of course most of the competing youth clubs did not show up until 11am. By this point I was ready to take most things in my stride, as long as some people showed up it was a blessing! But we ended up with a full hall, six youth clubs competing in the areas of theatre and song on the theme of World AIDS Day in Rwanda: ‘The responsibility of the family vis-à-vis children in the fight against AIDS’. There were some particularly brilliant songs and poems, but generally the spirits were high and when the rain trapped us in at the end we just cranked up the music and everyone got dancing! After a speedy lunch it was time for the second half of the day a football match between the Military and the District teams. Standing on the sideline in the drizzle I was taken back to many a football game back in England, if it wasn’t for the state of the pitch (with no lines and almost no grass).

The following day was another kettle of fish entirely! Saturday was the District official event for World AIDS Day, which had been planned to coincide with Umuganda – the day for communal work in Rwanda. So I was picked up bright and early to go tree planting, much to the surprise of assembled Rwandans I relished the opportunity to get stuck in with my hoe and plant the little saplings. The joy was slightly diminished went the rain set in and the sorrow deepened when after three hours of damp planting we were subjected to three hours of speeches outside in the cold and all in Kinyarwanda! I was not a happy (or warm) Hannah by 3pm when we finally returned to Nyagatare, but the gift of a free lunch from the organisers was enough to make this impoverished volunteer perk up and fill her buffet plate as full as it would go!

On Sunday I discovered that if you are looking for a work out then head down to the Anglican Church in Nyagatare, where the enthusiasm of the singing and dancing reached such dizzying heights that the congregation was regularly taken to the level of jogging on the spot! Admittedly I did only stay for 2 of the 6 hours worth of service, so perhaps things calmed down after the intro! The rest of the day was much more subdued, just me and my laundry/housework.

And in other news I am in danger of turning into a banana such is my love for the sweet little ones we get here; my life is an almost endless stream of decanting water from tap to jerry can to saucepan to filter to bottle to mouth; and I have rediscovered the joy of the thermos – copious cups of tea throughout my working day – I could be at home!

Until next time…

Fun and Games

I have just made a hasty retreat from my Sunday morning walk; I was feeling as though the sun was unusually hot for this time in the morning and as I turned my head I was somehow not surprised to see thick black clouds charging over the hills to my right, so less than 15 mins in I was forced to turn tail and return home prematurely to my breakfast of pineapple, banana and yogurt. This has become my Sunday ritual (not the retreating part!) and is a lovely break from yoga and porridge of weekdays; I go into town on Saturdays and pick up the yogurt (ikiviguto) from any of the restaurants which has it, they decant it from a massive vat into my empty water bottle, the lack of fridge at my house means that it is always a little fizzy by now and tends to explode on opening but it is delicious nonetheless.

It has been a tiring week but overall a successful one I feel. Many a stressful phonecall preceded the events of this week which was a training for young people in peer education and how to be good facilitators, as they will be supporting the schools in the district with the weekly activities in Anti AIDS Clubs. It had not been an easy task hunting down 8 people between 21 and 28 willing to work as a volunteer and with no other work commitments to the extent that at 5am on Tuesday morning I was still tracking people down, but somehow by the end of the first day of the training I did indeed have 8 young people from Nyagatare and Ellie had her 16 for Ngoma District. The training took place in Kibungo, the heart of Ngoma District, so I travelled down on Monday with my facilitators and the two trainers who have worked with us for a year and who were to conduct the training.

Day one we were hit by some slightly worrying pre-test results, which demonstrated relatively low levels of knowledge among some of the participants and over the week we were faced with some interesting ideas, such as the fact that women can lose their virginity by playing sports. These moments lead me into fits of panic (ah these guys are going into schools to inform school children and this is what they think?!) but fortunately they were fleeting as everyone seemed to embrace the training, getting involved in debates and games. Sticking to the agenda was nigh on impossible and in typical European style this brought me out in cold sweats, but somehow most things were covered and despite the constant singing and dancing (which showed total disregard for our warm ups but we did squash HIV with our dancing feet apparently) and the insistence on forming a committee (very popular here) who had lots of reporting duties, we got there in the end. And when it came to the young people running some sessions themselves it was really brilliant to see them following the manual we had provided, enjoying conducting the activities for themselves, and doing some really fantastic and energetic sessions.

There is a long way to go before I can be totally confident that all of the clubs will be well catered for by committed facilitators who attend regularly, and the follow-up is likely to be an arduous task requiring the utmost from my (limited) organisation skills, but it is great to have a new team of young people equipped to begin informing others. So onto the next challenge, will they be accepted by the schools? And in the immediate future will I be able to pull together an event for World AIDS Day by Friday?!?! It seems unlikely but I will let you know…

Ants in my Pants

And not only in my pants I can tell you! But let me explain: it has yet again been an eventful few weeks and not only have I been fidgeting about figuratively speaking, I have also been plagued by ants quite literally along the way.


It all began a just over two weeks ago when I headed over to Samira's house in the South again, but this time equipped with a tent and all set for a camping adventure the following day. The first shock came when we attempted a trial tent assembly only to find that Mel's tent was missing the waterproof sheeting - a must in rainy season! Oh well, in our casual way we chose not to be thwarted by this and packed everything ready to go. So the next morning we (Jane, Samira, Mel and I) set off, loaded with pre-prepared sandwiches for lunch and risotto for supper, in her neighbour, South African John's truck for Nyungwe National park - the largest Mountain Forest in Africa no less! And wow is it beautiful, more dramatic hills of course but this time covered in lush green trees rather than rows of crops, very much your ideal jungle-like environment. We drove the long and winding road for quite a while, dodging potholes and oncoming drivers, until we reached the campsite. And here came our second shock, it is quite expensive to visit the park it seems! This we would have known had we prepared better, but fitting with the theme of the trip - we had not! Again, not to be thwarted we decided to get our money's worth and choose the second longest (9km) guided trek and to head home afterwards, thereby avoiding the cost of staying and the inevitable dampness of a waterfilled tent.


And off we set with the rainclouds looming and our questionable fitness straining. But we were in luck, the rain barely touched us and we all managed it without a single injury, up and down the mountains in a tropical dreamland, with monkeys, snakes (it was an Ada as well!), gorgeous waterfalls (perfect for relieving the heat of the walk/climb) and ANTS; lots of evil biting ants which managed to get everywhere before you knew what was happening, sending us all dancing around hitting ourselves in desperate attempts to kill the little mites. But it really was fantastically beautiful and of course incredibly satisfying when we managed it in 4hr30 rather than the estimated 6hrs! As you will see Samira and I were so pleased and so convinced of how sexy we were by the end that we felt called upon to do a special sexy dance in celebration - undeniably hot I am sure you will agree - I am only sorry you cant see that my jeans are tucked into my socks...


After a congratulatory beer we headed home to reheat our risotto and then the next morning I braved the 8hr return journey to Nyagatare - not one I can do every weekend but it had been well worth it. Another busy week at work followed, with the usual cocktail of waiting around, lengthy meetings (through lunch!!!), limited translations and confusions. But it ended well when Ellie came down to plan a training we will be running next week in her town of Kibungo, 3hrs south of here. And then it was off to Kigali for a Halloween party! I managed to throw together a bat outfit (so pleased I brought the wrap-around skirt) and was accompanied by a black cat (Mel), a ghost (Ellie) and the best pumpkin (Hannah B). We did make a scary sight on the dance floor but it was lots of fun despite the confused looks of the Rwandan guests (not sure dressing up is the done thing around here).


The next day we moved into the guest house where we had spent our first week in Rwanda for our second 'in-country training'. It has been a great week of catching up with all of the other volunteers who arrived here at the same time, eating far too much delicious food (just couldn't help myself - I hadn't cooked it or bought it - amazing!) and learning more about the country and how other volunteer placements are going.


And then today I was up early and back to Nyagatare (with all the excitement that comes with 22 people crammed into a 16 seater bus - Mum, Dad, Granny and two kids on my 3 man row!) by 11am almost crawling up the hill to my house under the weight of all the supplies I had brought with me from Kigali. The house was still standing on my return (always good) but then came the ants - it looked as though the bathroom was moving - they were everywhere, very tiny but very busy from the floor to the ceiling. So my afternoon has been spent blasting them with insecticide, sweeping them out and washing the floor. At least now the house is clean and I can head off to the training (in Kibungo) safe in the knowledge that I am ant-less at least for a little while...


PS For those who were looking for my address I have now added it to the bottom of the page x

Up Hill and Down Dale

The wind has suddenly swept up, throwing birds off their course and laundry off fences promising an imminent rain shower. And so I am briefly trapped inside, giving me the opportunity to finally get around to writing my blog. I am so sorry to have neglected you for so long, but more has got going around here than just the weather and I have been rushing about like a made person trying to keep up with all the work that needs to be done.

So what, I hear you ask, is that work then? Well, mostly I have been harnessing myself to my moto and jetting off around the district (jetting might be optimistic as its hard to get up a speed on dirt tracks riddles with craters but you know what I mean) to visit the 14 Secondary Schools here, all of which have Anti AIDS Clubs which the project has been supporting for the last year. Amidst many a bumpy ride, rocky road, sudden rain shower and of course ridicule of bemused Rwandan I have had the chance to see how all of these clubs are getting on. And with the odd exception this has mostly been great fun and incredibly encouraging with huge clubs squeezing into tiny classrooms with no electricity performing fantastic songs, dances, theatre and poems carrying messages about HIV and AIDS. Sadly at times I was roped into giving a little shimmy myself - yes, yes, highly entertaining for everyone but not a pretty sight to be sure, the Rwandan cow dance is not something I am yet able to do justice to as you will see below!

But this was not just a show for me to enjoy (although clearing my ear to ear grin gave away the fact that I was thoroughly entertained!), it gave me the chance to find out how the clubs were doing, what difficulties they face in meeting their goals and to think about how we might solve them. Of course we wont be able to solve everything but hopefully between their enthusiasm and my tiny pot of money (with a giant thinking cap and lots of brilliant colleagues) we might be able to comes up with something...

But it hasn't been all work! Two weeks ago one of the youth volunteers had a birthday so this was a great excuse for a group gathering and off I trekked to the Southern Province and a town called Gikongoro where Samira (birthday girl) works. There I met up with the other 6 youth volunteers for a weekend of creative culinary activity (it comes from loving to eat!) and walking in the stunning hills of Southern Rwanda, where we were never alone for long (see Mel below sharing her photos with some of our excited companions!).

All of this did remind me how lucky I am to be working in such a beautiful country where just wandering in the countryside is breathtaking.

And what now? Well we are working towards the events in Nyagatare for World AIDS Day then I am off to Kigali for training in a couple of weeks then down to Kibungo to train new facilitators who will support the Anti AIDS Clubs. So it doesn't stop and time is flying by. And of course I have gone on for far too long again without telling you about my friends the geckos, my race against the rivers of water entering my house every time it rains, my guard turning my garden into a small subsistence farm and the road of cuddles (where children dive out of anonymous doorways to hug the approaching Mzungu!). But this is enough for now...

Apologies that the above was written over a week before posting due technical difficulties (eek no time for posting and poor connection - sorry!)

Buhoro, buhoro - slowly, slowly

So they say, and so it goes… Since I last wrote I have had a couple of weeks in my new office and getting into the new job, or at least trying! Well, there I was all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to get cracking, but as with everything here it takes longer than you would like for things to start happening. So my first few weeks have been tainted with characteristic hitches, such as all the people who I am supposed to be reporting to being in Kigali on my first full week in Nyagatare, and not meeting my line manager until one week in when she happened to come in to my office looking for someone else!

But the office itself is great; I am squeezed into a corner sharing a desk with piles of documents I don’t understand! It is actually the office of CDLS (District AIDS Control Commission) who coordinate all of the work in the district on HIV&AIDS. The Director and his assistant are both great, but we struggle slightly as they are both francophone and my French is a lot more rusty than I would have liked to admit and certainly not up to complicated policy discussion! They have both shown me around and I meet so many people as the office is something of a hub for anyone working on HIV&AIDS and related issues (youth, gender, you have to come through our office to get to the gender office), or anyone who needs the internet or photocopier as we have the only ones in the area it seems!

I should probably explain what it is that I actually do here at this point. So I coordinate the PHARE (prevention of HIV&AIDS in Rwanda through Education) project in Secondary Schools in Nyagatare District (15 in total), which is a VSO project funded by Irish Aid. Each school has an Anti-AIDS Club, we support these clubs by providing training and resources. I have a team of 5 facilitators who go to each of the schools once a week and facilitate sessions which are conducted by the 2 students and one teacher in each club who have already been trained, with the aid of a manual produced by the project. Then we look at other activities and areas of improvement.

Have you switched off?! Sorry, I thought that I ought to explain myself briefly. So this week has bee a lot of planning, interspersed with lots of waiting around (why say 8am when you mean to show up at 10am?). But of course I am adapting to the new pace of life, and beginning to understand that in a county where power (the sudden loss of), politics (the sudden change of) and weather (the sudden raining of) are unpredictable, one has to learn to be flexible and therefore any arrangements should be taken loosely to say the least (ie always bring a book or some work to get on with).

Ah as ever there is so much more to share, such as the bright lights of Kigali where I spent last weekend, the bus driver who spent the whole 3 hour return journey relating every detail of a Nigerian film he had just seen to the passengers, and the great PHARE team, my fellow volunteers with whom I have spent much time planning and learning about excel! But this will all have to wait for another instalment as I am sure that you have had quite enough for one visit!

Oh and I am currently accepting suggestions for my new hobby which should be both cheap and productive – I have a free weekend! Comments in the box below – many thanks!

Pictures: My office with my bike in the foreground (mine is in the far corner); and the PHARE team, each doing the same things in different districts in the East and South of Rwanda.

A Saturday in the Life of...

I am currently sitting here with the stench of kerosene on my hands - I will run you through how I got here! So woke up this morning as with every morning at six to the sound of Francois the guard-come-gardener sweeping the yard and hacking at various things. Fortunately, I managed to drift in and out of sleep until almost eight when I arose to Francois calling me for a chat. With lots of pointing franglaisrwanda and misunderstanding I got to the fact that he needed more money for a hoe and seeds etc, well I was a bit difficult and said the seeds could wait until December which is apparently planting season as we have carrots coming through at the moment anyway.

Quick bucket shower - ah how I love the combination of bucket and cold water! Then dressed and had my first cup of tea in this house (ah the joy) with a couple of bananas and we (Francois and I) set off for the market. There I haggled in broken Kinyarwanda (with constant, and very unslick reference to my vocab book and dictionary!) unsuccessfully for a massive bag of coal which should last me the year for £4.80. Then it was time for laundry, three buckets for washing and rinsing - well that look a good few hours, but was very satisfying and everything dried in a flash with the blazing sun, that is until the rains came this afternoon so the last few things don’t stand much chance now!

Then I munched another banana and a few spoonfuls of peanut butter (its delicious here and no need for the bread!) and set off for the shops, along the way I was greeted with the usual 'hello, how are you?'s to which I stubbornly reply 'fine, amakuru (how are you in Kinyarwanda)' to which I recieve giggles (from boys and girls alike) and the response 'ni meza'. This may get boring at some point but at the moment it isn’t a problem at all, after all I am a bizarre site around these parts, especially when sporting my sunhat like today. So I successfully bought eggs, pasta and bonus received a 'cadeau' of a pineapple! Hoorah. So home just in time to miss the downpour and bring in the laundry.

I then received some surprise visitors, very little ones ranging between the ages of 12 and 4, sporting cheeky grins and nicking my oranges (which are distinctly green so not one bit edible!). We had a chat then I let them scuttle off and leave me to my coal stove. This was a massive challenge until I remembered the tip of putting a little kerosene on to get things started and bam! what do you know it is coming along nicely!

So here I am writing this as the sun is setting, contemplating supper and the application of insect repellent. I had better go and get on with all of that.

So Here I Am!

Laden with sunblock, mosquito repellent and much anticipation our transfer from Nairobi swept in over Kigali. The dramatic 90 degree angle offered a spectacular, if a little nerve-wracking, view of many of the thousand hills this country is famous for. Lush green interspersed with red tracks and houses dotted about the landscape, was a view like nothing else I have ever seen – this definitely ranks as one of my favourite landing spots so far!

And joy of joys we were greeted off the plane by a wave of beautifully warm air, a relief after the sleepless night on the freezing floor of Nairobi Airport – not cozy! We grabbed our bags that were ready and waiting for us, put them through the sixth but thankfully the last x-ray and were received on the other side by surprisingly large welcome party bearing roses for each of us. Bleary eyed from not having slept for over 24 hours I do not feel that we quite matched the welcome!

Ten days of training have passed in a flash of Kinyarwanda and suddenly I find myself safely installed in my house in Nyagatare, feeling very fortunate to have electricity and running water, but a little overwhelmed by the three bedroom house that I have been given. The first challenge on arrival was the demolition of numerous hornet nests which had grown up around the house. This was followed by rigorous cleaning of the house which had been left to go to ruin for the last month. With the help of Daniel – the fortunate passer-by we had it done by lunchtime and I have now spread my limited baggage about the place to make it feel full!

So I sit here a little lonely and sunburnt, but excited by the challenge that tomorrow holds, starting with the motorbike! Eek! Think of me rattling down these dusty roads without a clue in the world what I am doing…