Work Begins :)

My Desk

[GMT +2 Rwandan time]

Lol weird day. Got a call at about quarter-to ten from Amanda, asking where I was. I’d been up since 6am and I was at home waiting to be picked up, whereas Léon, my supervisor, was at the VSO office. Miscommunication that, at home, would be devastating on a first day, but here seems no hassle. Lucky I live so close, though.

He took me on the bus to the office, which is about a 20 minute walk from my home. I will try that tomorrow. It’s in quite a quiet area. The office is pretty sparse, as they’ve only just set up, but I have a computer and a desk! Just me and Léon in the office. Should be connected to the internet next month, and we have a printer, so doing well.

On the way in, I met a young Deaf boy, Muhammad, who told me he was sixteen. I’m not sure I believe him, or am I just getting old! Anyway, he’s a star, and taught me so much sign language today: numbers, colours, family, time, and some animals. Lot to take in, especially as his other main language is Kinyarwanda. We used Léon to translate, but Muhammad knows some English too, and French. He's a talented lad.

Also met a Deaf woman called Meddy, who is lovely and helped out. Some things were pretty easy to understand, but a lot took work. We got there, though. I’ve been invited to the Catholic Church in town on Sunday, for the Deaf Bible Studies group where lots of people socialise. I’m up for going with Léon some time, but not sure my bible studies will progress any ;)

Really wasn’t much for me to do today except try and learn as much language as I could, and flick through the signs. They’re collecting loads from all around the country. I think they could do with looking at a dictionary that’s already compiled, like Uganda’s or Britain’s, as a template. They’re not sure how many signs they need, or how to lay it out. If anyone can send me one, I’d be really grateful. Link 3rd Edition, please. They’re taking their lead from Uganda, who are well and truly signed-up with a recognised Sign Language and real support. Kenya’s advanced too, apparently. Should pave the way for us to follow.

Léon walked me back home early and came in for a drink of juice. It was boiling outside. Then he discovered my Kinyarwanda/English dictionary and stayed to read it :op He’s absolutely dead set on learning English. Really likes the language. I’m going to help him draft a letter tomorrow to a Dutch university. He’s another law student, like Bosco, and wants to do his MA there in International Human Rights Law. His friend’s Deaf, so that’s how he got involved in the association. He deals with all the paperwork.

We were talking about cultures, and the whole religion and marriage thing got quite funny. Here, the Groom's family pay the Bride’s family a dowry, for instance, of cows. I was explaining that we don’t really do that in the UK – weddings are often so expensive, it takes both families to pay for it! 

Here, everyone gets married, rather than just living together. People don’t tend to separate. Although separation is legally allowed, it’s socially frowned on in a big way. He was pleased to hear I wasn’t married, but surprised to learn that I didn’t really dig the idea. We kind of wandered on to the religion topic too, but he wasn’t as easy-going as Bosco. The concept of not being Christian was pretty alien – how would I get to Heaven? ... hmmm. 

Re-incarnation was right off the scale lol But it became a very interesting conversation, and stayed light-hearted. I said that Britain is pretty multi-cultural, and we have a lot of Hindus and Buddhists who also believe things like re-incarnation. You don’t get a lot of that here, so I guess it would seem pretty strange. It's overridingly Christian here, with a small but significant Muslim community. I know a lot of volunteers in Rwanda find the religious thing quite oppressive. I don’t really mind. I don’t talk about it to everyone, but if someone asks me a direct question I don’t mind answering and seeing were that goes. It’s interesting.

Not much kicking off until next Monday, I don’t think. That’s when the Chair/Director of the organisation comes to give me a talk about what they’re doing and what my role might be. Although it’s been a short day, it’s felt really long. I’ve been up early, but also just the whole language thing going on – so much to take in. Between the signing and Kinyarwanda, I’m brain dad. Thankfully, as I was hoping, I don’t need to know Kinyarwanda to learn Amarenga y’Ikinyarwanda (AKR) – phew.

Also saw the boy who brought me the jerrycan on the way home. He smiled and we said 'hi,' but he didn’t ask me for any money ;)

Going to go heat up my fish dish (there was an eye in it yesterday!) and relax. I’m currently reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. It’s outstanding. Really enjoying it - thanks Mum! It’s also big enough to last me a while.

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Just had a visit from Peter, my guard-to-be. Damilain (current guard) wasn’t sure if I understood the instructions for the electricity meter last night in French, so Peter took me over to the shop to learn how to put money on the card. Really sweet. Peter also knows a few of the other volunteers and has been working for VSO for ages. He’s also offered his services as a domestic, which may come in really handy.