I wrote a little poem today:
Ode To MTN Rwanda
MTN Rwanda
The peril of every phone
A connection that never happens
Dial-up to make you groan.
MTN Rwanda
Who never trained their staff
To do anything to help you:
To smile, to chat, to laugh.
MTN Rwanda
A name to make you cry
Whilst waiting in line for assistance
As the month, the years, go by.
MTN Rwanda
Who I pay twenty-thou a month
For internet that never connects
I must have been a dunce.
MTN Rwanda
The only point to sell,
At least for the World Wide Web
You’re better than Rwandatel.
But – MTN Rwanda
Remember this someday:
It only takes one decent rival
To take your business away.
And on that note, when does Tigo arrive? ;)
MTN's internet connection is slower than a snail on valium, and then some.
Here's an article you can't help but crack a smile at, recognising how dire Rwanda's customer care situation is: Rwanda: Better Customer Care to Increase GDP - Report
The study revealed that, more than a third of the report's respondents complained of not being helped and not being attended to while another third complained of slowness. Almost a fifth complained of rudeness.
Sounds familiar. Fingers crossed for an eventual change.
Thursday was an upstanding sort of night. Was invited round to Kieran's with Cathryn and got fed unbelievable food (chicken with vegetables and prunes + salad). Extremely yummy, then washed down with real imported Irish Guinness and Jameson's! Oh, my.
I can't take credit for the MTN acronym, that was actually his :op
The house was utterly amazing, very nice pad in Nyarutarama with a glass dining table, wrought iron staircase squiggles, and chairs that were positively intimidating. I've never been intimidated by furniture before, but the backs of these were almost taller than I am!
Lovely night.
Friday, I went back to the doc's. The foot is doing really well, but he prescribed an anti-biotic cream to help prevent infection. It's made it a bit mushy again, but it's itching which I guess means it's healing.
In the waiting room I met Martine, who was extremely run-down and suffering from a rash. The doc suspected some form of chickenpox but referred her to King Faisal, who didn't have an appointment until today, so we wandered to the pharmacy then the German Butcher's for cheese and ham baguettes to cheer ourselves up. We were both feeling pretty miserable and in pain. Shared out the pretty pink Ibuprofen pills.
Then she came back to mine and slept on my porch most of the afternoon whilst I did crazy amounts of work. Thursday and Friday I made two bids to AfID (Accounting for International Development) for volunteer accountants for RNAD and the Single Parents' Network, and two project proposals to the Charlotte Wilson Memorial Fund. It's difficult - whatever's good for RNAD is also usually good for the Parent's Network, which means doing everything twice. So, a lot of typing and about four hours waiting for MTN to build up the speed and stay connected long enough to send any of them.
Then, around five-thirty, we headed to a little restaurant in Mohima which I hadn't been to since January '08. Got there by moto seconds before the heavens opened. The sky had been very dramatic on the ride but unfortunately the moto driver was trying it on: "Do you have a husband?" "Do you have a boyfriend?" I refused to answer, so eventually, when we arrived: "You are very beautiful, you must be my girlfriend." Sadly, he was very handsome. If only they knew what effect that ridiculous line of conversation has on a Western woman. Don't call me, I'll call you *sigh*
Anyway, it was just me, Ruairí and Martine. Ruairi was off to Uganda the next morning with Eric and Amy - escaping for memorial week.
We had wonderful tilapia, then Martine headed home looking pretty tired and Ruairi and myself had a bit more of a drink and a waffle.
Today, I heard that Martine's appointment at King Faisal revealed a nasty blood infection. She's okay but really worn down and resting-up. Ruairí was also there after a nasty encounter with one of Kigali's open man holes just after we parted company! He had to get cleaned up and is now recovering, hoping to join Eric and Amy next week. Awful. Cathryn dislocated her finger doing that, and I ripped some trousers falling down one. We say you're not officially in Rwanda until you've fallen down a drain, but it's a very unpleasant experience.
Today I met with Cathryn, Isadora, and Lies at New Cactus for lunch. Wonderful meal involving Four Seasons Pizza where you could pick from all the other pizzas. Yummy, and free. It was Lies' 'thank you' for doing her dreads. I headed back to hers after to tidy them up.
Was a nice day.
Tomorrow, I'm off to meet a guy who's in town passing through: Ben Pollitt. He's the original founder of Kivu Writers in 2000. Should be interesting.
Right, more bumming around before bed. I love weekends :)
No comments:
Post a Comment