Muzungu!

[GMT +2 Rwandan time]

Some crazy rain today. It's sometimes so hard that we can’t hear anyone in the room speaking over it. Having another power-cut now.

Occasionally you hear singing and clapping from the church next door or, as last night, a strong male voice ringing out across the town from a local mosque.

So far, two people have been ill – one with an intestinal infection and the other not sure yet – neither serious, though. First one has antibiotics and looks well again. VSO have a car and driver on stand-by for anyone who needs to go to the clinic, which is good.

I feel fine, though I’m a lot more tired than yesterday and the training involves more long discussions – hard to stay awake. Just bought some jewelry to send home, and hand-made cards, that another VSO person is selling. The jewelry is made from paper beads – really amazing. They are made by disabled people in a centre at Gahini.

Just had lunch. I really like plantain, a type of savoury banana like potato. High carb diet, and no such thing as milk unless you live near a dairy or supermarket. It's all powdered milk, but tastes okay.

Had a long Kinyerwanda lesson this morning, which wasn’t so much fun. A lot of vocabulary that I don’t have a book for yet.

Did learn some very useful phrases though, like:

Ntabwo nitwa umuzungu! Mfite izina.
“I am not called muzungu! I have a name.”

This is because people tend to follow white people around calling ‘muzungu’ all the time. Apparently it can get a little bit too much some days.

We also put to rest the controversy over whether you pronounce it Ki-gali or Chi-gali. Apparently, people from the North of Rwanda have a slight Ugandan accent and pronounce it Chi-gali, but the majority say Kigali. In Kigali itself you’ll hear both pronunciations because so many people live here.

We then had a talk on the education system. In the evening the head of police for the GBV (Gender Based Violence) and Violence Against Children unit came to talk to us about the high rate of attacks on children, sexual abuse, illegal abortions and infanticide in the country. He showed some very graphic pictures. We all left a little dazed. He was a really nice guy though, and it was interesting stuff. All abortion is illegal here. The age of consent is 18, but you can’t get married until you’re 21. The only exception for abortion was just after the genocide, when women who and been raped were given the option. Now there is a special medical unit only for rape victims. Abortion is illegal but, in those circumstances... well.

Another interesting take on the matter is that the government does not recognise homosexuality, or injecting drug addicts. Technically they don’t exist, so support or rehabilitation don’t exist either. An interesting quirk.

I have just spoken to Mum and Dad – my phone works! Yay. All good, but absolutely shattered. Jet lag has caught up with me in a huge way. I need sleep :(