This has been my general state over the last few months; it has been something of an unstoppable whirlwind sweeping up in its midst a variety of different towns, villages, beds, people, transport and events. All have been rich experiences in their own ways but somewhere in the confusion I have neglected to report back! This has been a terrible omission for which I must apologise. But here I am ready to bore you senseless with ‘Anti AIDS Clubs and other stories’.
We begin with the grand competitions! These were much anticipated events for all of the Anti AIDS Clubs in all
four Districts, only that in my District and Samira’s which have already been in the programme for over a year instead of having one big event we took judges to each of the schools to judge their theatre or song in situ. As ever this turned out to be three full days of much crazy driving over rough terrain, getting stuck in schools for two hours because of rain showers, eating in great little restaurants in rural areas and of course much singing and dancing. The schools were each given themes around sexual health and HIV to perform on in the category of either theatre or song, and then the winners in each category were invited to participate in the big event to be held in Ngoma (the new District in the East). The big event was a huge success despite the odd difficulty with buses (as ever) and lots of fun, with the two Nyagatare schools winning again!
No rest for the wicked, however, and it was straight on to planning our next big event which was a Sum
mer School for the two new Districts, and to which the two runners up in my district and Samira’s were invited. The twist in this tale is that Ellie, who was the Coordinator for Ngoma District, left before the event so yours truly found herself on the first day of the Summer School surrounded by over 200 young people packing them into 3 54-seater buses (yup it doesn’t add up!) to take the 6 hour journey across country to Kibeho where the Summer School was held. Despite the seeming chaos everything went according to plan and the young people enjoyed the 4 day Camp with training on HIV, how to work with their communities, how to make their clubs sustainable, and fighting stigma and discrimination. Despite being a logistical nightmare, as the village where 
we were based had little phone network, no electricity, little running water and situated an hour from the nearest town, it was incredibly fun and a huge success. In fact when it was all over the three Coordinators (Jane, Samira and I) slumped into our chairs, shattered but nonetheless shedding a few tears that it had all come to an end.
Amidst all this there have been the ‘other stories’ with two lots of visitors coming to experience the thousand hills with me. First up was Jon (for the second time), as ever he joined me on many work-related adventures and got stuck into Nyagatare life wish surprising relish! Then my Fantastic Fundraising Friends (Kathryn, Nicole and Georgie) arrived bringing with them all the cash that they had raised back home and we headed straight to Macmillan on their arrival to purchase hundreds of books for our Anti AIDS Clubs. So thank you to everyone who contributed to that massive effort which will be so very appreciated by all the schools involved in our programme.
And so the Rwandan tales are ending, with only 6 weeks to go in this wonderful country I am getting increasingly emotional at everything I am doing for the last time, and having finished the main activities for the project. The wind-down period is turning out to be the hardest with occasions like the last meeting with my team of facilitators and the last party in my lovely house bringing me back to the brink of tears, but I am trying to hold it in until I actually leave, after all six weeks as an emotional wreck will not be good for anyone…
We begin with the grand competitions! These were much anticipated events for all of the Anti AIDS Clubs in all
four Districts, only that in my District and Samira’s which have already been in the programme for over a year instead of having one big event we took judges to each of the schools to judge their theatre or song in situ. As ever this turned out to be three full days of much crazy driving over rough terrain, getting stuck in schools for two hours because of rain showers, eating in great little restaurants in rural areas and of course much singing and dancing. The schools were each given themes around sexual health and HIV to perform on in the category of either theatre or song, and then the winners in each category were invited to participate in the big event to be held in Ngoma (the new District in the East). The big event was a huge success despite the odd difficulty with buses (as ever) and lots of fun, with the two Nyagatare schools winning again!No rest for the wicked, however, and it was straight on to planning our next big event which was a Sum
mer School for the two new Districts, and to which the two runners up in my district and Samira’s were invited. The twist in this tale is that Ellie, who was the Coordinator for Ngoma District, left before the event so yours truly found herself on the first day of the Summer School surrounded by over 200 young people packing them into 3 54-seater buses (yup it doesn’t add up!) to take the 6 hour journey across country to Kibeho where the Summer School was held. Despite the seeming chaos everything went according to plan and the young people enjoyed the 4 day Camp with training on HIV, how to work with their communities, how to make their clubs sustainable, and fighting stigma and discrimination. Despite being a logistical nightmare, as the village where 
we were based had little phone network, no electricity, little running water and situated an hour from the nearest town, it was incredibly fun and a huge success. In fact when it was all over the three Coordinators (Jane, Samira and I) slumped into our chairs, shattered but nonetheless shedding a few tears that it had all come to an end.Amidst all this there have been the ‘other stories’ with two lots of visitors coming to experience the thousand hills with me. First up was Jon (for the second time), as ever he joined me on many work-related adventures and got stuck into Nyagatare life wish surprising relish! Then my Fantastic Fundraising Friends (Kathryn, Nicole and Georgie) arrived bringing with them all the cash that they had raised back home and we headed straight to Macmillan on their arrival to purchase hundreds of books for our Anti AIDS Clubs. So thank you to everyone who contributed to that massive effort which will be so very appreciated by all the schools involved in our programme.
And so the Rwandan tales are ending, with only 6 weeks to go in this wonderful country I am getting increasingly emotional at everything I am doing for the last time, and having finished the main activities for the project. The wind-down period is turning out to be the hardest with occasions like the last meeting with my team of facilitators and the last party in my lovely house bringing me back to the brink of tears, but I am trying to hold it in until I actually leave, after all six weeks as an emotional wreck will not be good for anyone…
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