We have now been in Rwanda for nine days. Each morning we are woken by crows who seem to dance on the tin roof and wake us up about 5am when the sun rises. Or if it is not the crows that wake us first it is the mosque down the road about the same time. The sing song sound of the Iman is actually quite pleasant – but definitely not at 5am!
As we are in the rainy season – again my BIG mistake – we are experiencing loads of rain. The sun comes out spasmodically and we wish that the heatwave from UK would waft over here. But the experience we are having far outweighs the lack of sun. When the sun does come out it is very hot for we are just 50 miles south of the equator.
I have given up having cold showers as the hand-held shower attachment, though a good pressure, is too much a shock to the system after a warm bed. Mike gets up first and uses the cold shower, and dresses to go into the kitchen to heat up some water on the floor level gas ring, in one of the cooking pots, which is then transferred to a bucket. I use a plastic mug to dose myself with lovely warm water, soap all over, and then rinse off with more, lovely, warm water. What is left in the bucket is used for washing our dirty clothes with some travel wash I brought with me. Then we peg it out on string that has been put up in the compound yard that surrounds the house. They do not use pegs here, just throw their clothes over the string, which I knew from my last visit, so I made sure I brought pegs with me –which I will leave behind. However, they are now using my pegs, but still thrown the clothes over the line – and then place a peg in the middle. I have given up explaining! They do things their way and I have to respect that. But if they hung it all out straight it would dry quicker and less creased. Oh well, when in Africa...............
But as soon as the washing is out, down comes the rain and it has to be brought in again and spread over a table in the spare room. We do not know how lucky we are to have drying machines and drying racks at home. They got the iron mended especially for us and I managed to get all the creased clothes from the case ironed on the dining room table, which they kindly covered with a bedspread and sheet from their own beds. In Rwanda they are very resourceful – they have to be.
In the fabrication yard we saw men sawing wood, making furniture, and even using used pilchard tins to make paraffin lamps. They use old metal to form spouts and handles. A metal funnel is used to fill the tin with paraffin and then they light the top spout. These, apparently, are for the poor people who cannot afford a manufactured kerosene lamp. In the villages, of course, there is no electricity, so they make do with kerosene and paraffin.
Here in the house we are lucky to have electricity – though it is not always on. Suddenly the lights and the tv go off. Last night it was off for an hour. The girls were busy preparing dinner and using a tiny torch. I gave them my good one and did a swap, but eventually mine ran out and then when I tried to open it up the bulb went. But we have a wind up torch/radio a friend gave me one Christmas so that was pressed into action. Eventually Venny, the mother, found their kerosene type lamp, but it was lit by batteries and they put that in the lounge for us whilst still struggling with a tiny torch in the kitchen. That is how kind they are. I took the lamp into the kitchen and did a swap, and we sat by the dim light of a small torch. All the town was in darkness. This happens frequently.
One day when we got back from walking round the town there was a man erecting a television aerial – and we are not sure if this is for our benefit or if they wanted it for themselves. As we gave them some money for our ‘keep’ perhaps that has helped to get the tv going and to mend the iron.
The plugs in the house do not all work and some are shorting. They gave us a large element on a plastic handle to heat water in a bucket for the morning – but it kept shorting out – and putting my finger in the water to see if it was heating up resulted in an electric shock running up my hand! Wiggling the adaptor around I discovered it was the adaptor that was at fault, one of the prongs was falling out. We changed to our own adaptor and that kind of worked, but it was a job to make sure all the connectors plugged together were stable. We did manage to heat up some water the day before yesterday which meant a lovely hot chuck over ‘shower’, and water for clothes washing, but it is such a faff we have abandoned that plan and now heat water over the stove. It’s like camping indoors!
The family continue to be very kind to us. Sometimes we eat out with Bright at a local ‘restaurant’, and if we order something off the menu they do not usually have in the house the next day it is presented to us on the table at tea. They are really trying to please us, which, with their limited resources , is kind of embarrassing but we are really appreciative of their efforts to make us welcome. We feel we are being treated like royalty.
The day before yesterday we went on a minibus to the Agricultural and Animal Husbandry department of the state university in Busogo, half an hour by minibus from Musanze where we are staying. We crowded in with the Rwandans, who do not know the meaning of deodorant, and had a fairly comfy ride. The trip cost 30p each way per person. Arriving at the gate we had a half mile walk up to the right building where we were met by Violet the director’s secretary. We talked over what I was to teach the next day
Yesterday we returned to the university for me to teach what I had prepared the previous evening on my netbook. I am sooooo glad I brought it with me. It is so useful for email, facebook, my blog and to keep in touch with family and friends at home as well as people here in Rwanda who I arrange to meet up with. They do not have telephones at home, mostly public telephones placed on a table in the street. There is a good mobile network here and you just buy a card to load your phone. The same is true of internet access via a dongle, though they call it a modem.
We got a minibus to the university and I was jammed between a pastor and a hospital worker. When I got off I noticed by mobile phone was on the floor. I grabbed it and descended. Then as I was walking up the lane there was music coming from my handbag. Puzzled I looked and it was ‘my’ phone – and not the usual tune. I realised that the phone I picked up was NOT mine. It was exactly the same, but not my own at all. I answered the phone and a man said ‘hello’. I said ‘I have your phone, I am very sorry’. He said he was coming right away. He had to get off the bus and walk back. I apologised profusely in French as he was a Francophone as they say here, and showed him my identical phone. He said that his had fallen out of his jacket pocket and realised it was an honest mistake and we parted as friends, phew! I am glad he didn’t think I was trying to steal his phone. He had to then go back to the road side to wait for the next bus.
At the university I taught a class of 50 agricultural students the names of animals, different names for the sire and the dam, and the babies, and the names of animal ‘homes’ e.g. a byre, a sty, kennel etc. The students are all very shy, which is normal for Rwandans, and softly spoken, so they were hesitant to shout out the answers. The teacher also wanted me to emphasise the pronunciation of the new words as African English pronunciation is different to English pronunciation and many African teachers do not know how to pronounce the words. For instance the word ‘ewe’ they would pronounce eeeweee as that is the way the way they have read it. I did the lesson on a powerpoint and they plugged in a projector to screen it on the classroom wall. The lesson took just over 2 hours and we had to abandon a planned discussion as we ran out of time. But the director and teacher were very pleased with how it went and I really enjoyed teaching them.
On the way back to Musanze the police stopped the mini-bus. They checked the papers of the driver and the conductor who takes the money off you, but does not give you a ticket. I wonder how much of this money gets back to the bus company. Apparently I learnt later that if the bus has more than 18 people in it they get fined.
Another interesting fact is that the government has dictated that all Rwandans have to wear shoes, and the cheapest are the plastic ones in the market. As the villagers are used to going barefoot they put their shoes in a basket on their heads, and when they get near to town they put them on to save being fined.
Another fact- the government has decided that mud huts are no more and people have to live in ‘houses’ however small with corrugated tin roofs. This is ensure the ‘image’ of the country is one of a developing nation, and not backward, though the tin roofs rust and let the rain in, whist the traditional round mud hut would have the roof repaired with more grass when needed. Progress is not always a good thing!
However, we are still enjoying our adventure in Rwanda, the people are lovely and helpful and the culture so different to our own. We have tried new foods including ‘dodo’ a sort of spinach, and a sort of maize pudding the girls make in the house. We tried sorghum porridge yesterday but decided to stick to our own porridge oats. We have yet to eat goat kebabs, but are working up our courage to try them!
I WAS AWAKE FOR MY OPERATION!
(Sun 04/03)
Me and Sir Jimmy Savile
(Thu 03/11)
What not to wear!!!
(Wed 15/06)
Rwandan adventure Our sponsored child
(Mon 06/06)
Rwandan Adventure - Lunch Was Alive!
(Mon 23/05)
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