Ugh Wharraday...

Electric meter, like the one
on the side of my house

Holey mackerel Bat Boy. What a looooong day. Mondays suck anyway.

Had a really nice night last night. Had an impromptu phone call from volunteer Amanda saying she was supposed to be staying with someone but she's still in Goma, so can she crash? I wasn't feeling right up for it when she called, but bribery with deep-fried goods and crisps did the trick. We had a right good natter.

All went downhill after that, though.

Terrible night's sleep, and the PO had e-mailed to say that my long-running battle with Electrogaz would result in my water and electricity being cut off today if I didn't pay the bill.

As livid as I was about the whole issue, I didn't fancy a night without both of those little luxuries.

But, first, I had to go to MINALOC, the "Ministry of Local Government, Community Development and Social Affairs" who are responsible for registering NGOs. Rose and the Pastor are still having to wade through red tape and disinterest in order to get the final registration number for their single parents network. MINALOC keep telling them to turn up, then happen to be in a meeting at that time. I've written a formal complaint and tried my luck with the laughably named 'Head of Public Relations.' It's a mess in there. Each time we go, it costs us more money and wastes more time. Why I thought today would be any different, I have no idea. Predictably, they were in a meeting.

I got another moto back to the office, somewhat disgruntled but not at all surprised. What do you expect from an organisation who say on their website "Write to this address:" and then forget to put the address? *rolls eyes*

So, I'm sitting in the office, trying to carry on writing the English translation for the dictionary, when it becomes apparent that all of the signs are in the wrong order and I'm not typing-up the instructions for the right one.

I go to pull the printer cable out of my laptop, and as, in mid-air, I'm transferring it back to the main computer, I get an almighty electric shock up my right index finger. I scream and throw the power cable across the room, half expecting to see only three fingers left. Thankfully, it was still there, but it went bright red and it took a while to get it moving properly again. I was in total shock. It still hurts now :(

But, anyway, back to the Electrogaz story.

So, this has been going on for months and months and months. Been through four VSO staff, and three members of Electrogaz, and eventually VSO's profoundly deep and well considered opinion was: 'pay the money.'

Well, no! It's the principle. I have evidence to show that the bill dates back six months before I even arrived in Rwanda. Even that doesn't account for the high cost, which may have been caused by VSO not checking the plumbing and, as such, me being lumbered with a sub-standard water tank that didn't retain any water. Instead, it just clocked it up as it passed through.

Anyhoooooo. I'd just about got to the end of my tether. I was sick of repeating the story. So, I went to the bank (thanks Mum for the Western Union!! xxxx) and withdrew FRW 60,000, which took me almost an hour. Then I marched to Electrogaz and stood in another queue for a further 45 minutes to get to the front desk, to be told that the photocopy of the bill I had with me wasn't enough to pay the bill with! Then she scuttled away and came back with the piece of paper I did need. Meanwhile, I was sneered at by some male toss-pot over the other side of the room who basically said something like 'muzungu holding up the queue' in Kinya, and the whole room burst out laughing. I was right angsty by this point and, very uncoolly, glared at him and humphed 'ho ho' before turning back to face the booth.

I shell out over 59,000 for a water bill of around 18 months, knowing that it dates back so far it still can't be right, and knowing that the average bill on the record is between 1,500-2,500 per month. Numpties.

Then I go back to the office just in time for a meeting with a VSO Trustee who was visiting. Really nice guy called Cameron, who gave our President a dream catcher from his native Canada. That was sweet. We gave him a couple of sign language T-shirts for his kids. Didn't get home until about six though, and no room in the VSO van, so I had to walk in the dark and get a moto.

Got home to find an e-mail from PO saying they'd been through the landlady's bills and, low and behold, around 26,000 of the bill appears to be hers! Result :)

Bloomin' knew something wasn't right. And it's happened to another volunteer, who had been in her house one month when she received a water bill of 23,000!

So, finally, after six months, it's almost sorted.

However, I owe the money back to VSO, as they kept paying a guard salary into my account even though I had no guard. Would have thought that my guard, now working for the Country Director, would have been a bit of a giveaway - but apparently not.

It's just been a really long Monday.

I've been convinced by Amanda to get my hair braided with extensions, in the African style. You can go two months without having to wash it. That would be nice, as I'm getting sick of cold showers. I'm a bit nervous, but I think I'll give it a go and treat myself this weekend. Might even get the Deaf women to do it. They've been wanting to for a while.

Also, I was blown away by Amanda's Swahili last night. She's fluent, and it sounds SO much nicer than Kinyarwanda and also so much easier to pronounce. Got a contact for a language teacher, so going to try and arrange something. I like Kinyarwanda, but perhaps Swahili would be more useful just because it covers a huge expanse, including Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and parts of the Congo. Just don't want to muddle myself up too much, though.

Right. Hot chocolate.

To top it all off, I feel like I'm coming down with something.