Today I have officially been here for 12 months :)
Kind of fitting that tomorrow I train the next bunch of vols.
So, what have I been up to in the past year?
Well... I left the UK.
Travelled around a bit: Nyanza, Cyangugu, Gitarama, Gisenyi, Gahini & Lake Muhazi, Akagera, the Virunga Mountains & Gorillas, Butare, Kibuye & Lake Kivu, Murambi...oh, and Kampala.
I've been to two film festivals: Rwanda and Uganda, and seen the presidents of both countries; got a lift from the British Ambassador; a guided tour by a Royal Prince and survived not one, not two, but three natural disasters.
I've eaten ibirhy, imboga, soma, matoke, chapattis, ugali, casava bread, brochettes, tilapia, sambaza, pilipili and drunk ikivuguto, waragi, amazi, marakuja juice, vast quantities of Fanta Citron... and chewed khat.
I've been clubbing at One Love, Cadillac, KBC, Jambo Beach and Silk.
Had a couple of boyfriends, had three cats - almost lost one, lost the other :(
Been to a secret wedding, worn national dress, learned some Kinyarwanda, Swahili, Luganda and French.
Set up an NGO: for single-parents, helped train and arts organisation and worked for with the Deaf community.
Made Rwandan, Ugandan, Burundian and South African friends.
Experienced the hot, hot dry season, and the wet, wet, wet season... and hail!
Seen impala, baboons, hippos, giraffes, gorillas, monkeys, hawks, ibex, black-and-white kingfishers, marabou stalks, lizards, zebra, inzoka (water snake), bats, giant millipedes, crested cranes, antelope, warthogs, buffalo, giant land snails, and ridden horses in Uganda.
All in all, I'd say it's been a pretty fun-packed 12 months :)
Here's to the next.
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