Shake it all about

So, yes, I have experienced my first earthquake and to be honest if was all quite exciting (if a little unnerving) at the time, until later in the day when we realised how many people had been killed or injured in the tremor which had destroyed hundreds of homes in the South of the country close to the border with the DRC. As for me I was staying at Jane’s house in a place called Kibeho (famous for a vision of the Virgin Mary) with Samira and Hannah B. We had all only recently risen from deep slumber and were gradually getting ourselves together when the tin roof began to shake. At first I though it was just a very large crow (we get a lot of their antics – dancing around on the tin roofs) but then the whole house was shaking…

We all stood looking at eachother for a while, gradually realising that it was in fact an earthquake and desperately recalling those geography lessons which talked of door frames and underneath tables as safe places. Eventually we just ran outside and rode the wave! It felt as though it went on for quite a while, although it was probably only a minute or two and was a very strange sensation, leaving me feeling slightly motion-sick. But the house was still standing as were all the others around us, and their contents! So until our return to Kigali in the evening when Hannah’s parents informed us what had happened, we had no idea of the extent of the earthquake we had experienced. All in all my first earthquake was a reasonably understated affair and we must be grateful that the damage all around was minimal.

But what else has been happening? Well we had a fantastic training in Kibungo a couple of weeks ago, managing to coordinate 120 people with reasonable success and no huge nightmares! Best of all was that everyone seemed to enjoy it and there were no major upsets, which makes for a couple of happy coordinators!

And there are some new Muzungus in town, yes we are almost over-run by them now (6 in total including me!). They are with the Salvation Army Emergency Services and are here to coordinate the building of house for returned refugees from Tanzania. They are great neighbours (staying in the guest house next door) and have already visited me for tea and supper, bringing Tesco’s cappuccino sachets, along with oranges and apples (which I haven’t been able to afford since arriving here) so it was most welcome!

The weekend at Jane’s was great; she is one of the most rural placements with no running water, a pit latrine and limited electricity from a generator. However, we amused ourselves with a great deal of eating and creating costumes for ourselves out of teaching aids and household goods. Some may think from the pictures that I have regressed since coming out here, I fear that in fact I never grew up!

Work continues to have its challenges, the current one revolving around unexpected budget constraints that hamper my efforts at every turn but encourage increasing creativity, which can only be a good thing. On the plus side I love the schools and the students so spend a lots of time out and about on the bike which is great.

I thought I would just finish off this entry with a few things that I have learnt from Rwanda and about Rwanda:

From Rwanda…
1) Pineapples grow on the ground
2) Peanuts grow underground
3) You can have a shower with a bucket of water that would fill a toilet sistern (half a sistern if you aren’t washing your hair!)
4) Tea plantations are beautiful
5) When buying a chicken from the market carry it home upside down and then kill it immediately while it is sedated!
6) Gekko poos are long and black with white tips!

About Rwanda…
1) Rwanda is the most expensive country for importing and exporting, as it is landlocked
2) Rwanda is the country with the highest number of female MPs – the law states that there should always be one third female MPs
3) Rwanda has the biggest mountain forest in Africa
4) Rwanda is the source of the Nile?!?!?!?
5) Rwandans love milk and they love goats but goat’s milk – hell no! A wise people indeed!
6) Rwanda has the best chips in the world (Fatty Mc Chip Chip here!)