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…