Spin, Spin Sugar

Well, before I catch up I'm going to shamelessly pinch a whole load of pics from Ruairi's blog.

As I don't have a camera I rely on other people's pics and he's taken some lovely ones :)

Here goes :-

Ishuheri, my li'le boy cat, sitting on the steps of my current house. Bit bigger than when he was a kitten! In the second one you can see a sliver of blue soap which comes in long blocks. You cut it off to wash clothes, dishes, floors.. .multi-purpose.

Some general wildlife including geckos, which you regularly get in your home and which help to control the insect population; a black-and-white crow which we have in abundance and make loads of noise croaking away and dancing on your roof; and, at the bottom, a Black Hawk which is also a common sight circling over the skies of Rwanda.

Some plants: a cactus tree (think that one's in Butare), bananas in their natural habitat, and pretty little 'firework' flowers as I call them. Not sure what they really are, but they look like little firework splatters :)

Some of the local scenery. The first one is Rwandan cows which are highly prized here and given at weddings. We often refer to female Intore dancing as 'cow dancing' as they raise their arms to mimic the horns. On the way back from Butare today, I passed about five trucks of them going in the opposite direction. They refer to Fregian cows as 'exotic cows'. :)

Below that is a traditional rural mud hut. You find them in the poorer parts of Kigali, too. Then some general pics of the countryside, motos and taxi buses (most common forms of public transport), one of Butare High Street, and a couple of sunsets in Butare, which are very pretty and look like the pink sunset I saw over Kabarondo playing field

Typical example of mélange (mix/buffet) a standard Rwandan meal in cafés and at events. All the usual are on this one: kidney beans, green beans, carrot (there usually isn't much choice of veg - either carrots or peas), rice, noodles, imboga/soma (looks like spinach - made from pounded cassava leaves) and what appears to be potatoes, but is usually cassava. Only thing missing are chips - it's a carbohydrate fest :)  Often there's also meat (goat/beef) or fish, plus meat sauce. This looks like my usual lunch at work.

Finally, some of Gisozi memorial centre in Kigali, including the mass graves which remind me a bit of Belson.

Ruairi also has some lovely pictures of Nyanza Mwami (King's) Palace and the artwork at Ivuka Arts. His blog is an extremely good read - GSOH.

Right, photos over, catch up commence...

Little miffed at the moment regarding some funding. Managed to secure support from the Charlotte Wilson Memorial Fund to fly in a Sign Language Curriculum Consultant from Kenya to help us develop one of our own. We're appealing to Kenya because they're the nearest country that have been through the process.

We were recommended two people as potential candidates. They'= would get a salary, return flight, food and accommodation allowance. But neither have even replied. It's extremely disheartening. My Programme Manager suggested going through VSO Kenya to see if they can help us make contact, so we're trying that route.

My biggest fear is that we won't find anybody willing to come, and that we'll have to give the money back. That's the worse case scenario, however there's potentially another volunteer coming in the next intake who has SL curriculum experience and might be able to help complete the process. It just seems a shame, in this day and age of non-existent funding, to finally secure some and then not be able to deliver on the project.

Still, won't throw in the towel just yet. Things may still come around.

Friday was a nice night: two volunteers were leaving, one from the Disability sector and the other from Education. Quite a few of us turned up at SoleLuna to bid them farewell and eat pizza. Cathryn also came along. She and me had Lock In Part III, where we were the only two left in the establishment, so all the staff went home and left us to it... again. Wasn't that late this time though, and I got home around 1am.

When I did get home, my driveway was blocked by a police pick-up and a whole load of neighbours. I watched for a while but wasn't sure what was going on. When I eventually went into the yard, Stratoni, my guard, was also peering over the fence. I looked at him and shrugged towards the gate. He just waved a hand and said 'nta kibazo', meaning 'don't worry', but that wasn't good enough for me! I sort of gestured again and he mimed a moto. I tried to gesture 'dead?' thinking it might have been fatal, but didn't get my meaning across.

Stratoni speaks no English at all and my Kinya is shamefully bad considering how long I've been here. As such, he and I communicate through our neighbour who translates if it's something important. I always feel a bit bad about that, so I went inside and found my Kinya dictionary, looked up 'igisida' = 'accident' and he nodded. So then I turned to 'pfuye' = 'dead' and he shook his head and pointed to the other page: 'konona'/'kwangiza' = 'damaged' and said 'oya pfuye, kwangiza' ('not dead, damaged'). I said I was sorry to hear that and took him out a cup of coffee and a sandwich.

It was a real bonding moment in our relationship. When we first met I don't think we really hit it off. I think the thing is, he's very literate in Kinyarwanda, he has no problems reading Kinya, and when I first arrived he would talk to me very fast in Kinya and if I didn't understand he'd call the neighbour. I think, just a gut feeling, he was trying to prove something to me: that I was the one who needed to buck up and learn some Kinya. But then things started to relax and we'd gesture to each other and he'd slow down and use gestures when speaking to me, if I didn't understand. That helped masses, especially with the water crisis. He's been brilliant, asking me if I need more water and anticipating when I'm going to run out. I especially felt bad the other week when I came home around 3am. It was utterly freezing on the moto. I found him still awake, sleeping across my doorway (as he's taken to doing). He must have been so cold, even under his coat. So I went and got the blankets and pillow from the spare room and now they're out back and he can use them whenever he likes. He smiles at me now, so I think we've finally broken the ice. He's a really nice guy and I think he has a wife and kid, just trying to scrape by on an extremely small amount of money.

Anyway. Cathryn and I were in town around 2pm yesterday to catch the bus down to Butare for Tiga's leaving do. It was absolutely fantastic. The best ever. Loads of people went: Paula, Eric, Ruairi, South African John, B, Els - loads of us. There was so much food you wouldn't believe, they'd been cooking the whole day: tuna pasta salad, green salad, potato salad, guacamole - and the pieste de résistance: a whole roast sheep! Honey glazed!! For pudding: a divine fruit salad including banana, pineapple and tree tomatoes (also called Chinese Plumbs locally) and the most staggering chocolate and banana cake with coco pops on it :op

The guys at Matar made it (follow that link, it's a good one :) ). There was also wine and beer and fruit punch free-flowing. We all ate and drank ourselves into a stupor. Also, the neighbours were all off at a 24-hour church service (common pastime around here) so we turned the stereo up right loud in the garden and covered the place in candles, then danced like lunatics. Lots of old complete cheese: Spin, Spin Sugar, Renegade Master, Superstar DJ, Panda Style, Thriller, and Billie Jean - of course - Guns 'n' Roses, Green Day, even a little bit of Wham and Chesney Hawkes! As much as I love Bob Marley, it made a really refreshing change to hear something other than reggae or Ugandan pop. I must have danced for about six hours solid. No kidding - I didn't sit down 'til I fell down. Cathryn and I were staying at the Ineza Guesthouse up the road, but it was a looong way up the road and 'road' is somewhat of a misnomer... sort of 'rutted dirt path' is more accurate. Thank gods she brought a torch!

Got up this morning and ordered a bucket of hot water to wash in. That was delightful. Scraped about three months' worth of dirt off my skin. Last time I had a hot water rub-down was also at Ineza, with Martine, last month. Since then breakfast is off the menu as health and safety shut down the kitchen. So, we breakfasted at Hotel Ibis which is generally considered to be the biggest waste of money in the whole of Butare. The food's pretty dismal, but they do have a nice terrace to sit on. Can't have everything, I guess.

Cathryn was headed to Nyanza, so I caught the bus back to Kigali around 11:30. It was a really nice ride on one of the big, spacious Volcano expresses. Got in, did some shopping at Nakumatt, and hopped a moto home.

Freaky thing: on the bus, for some strange reason, I started having cravings for sugarcane. I'd only ever had it in Uganda as, although it exists in Kigali, it's hard to buy. In Kampala people walk around selling it pre-cut in bags, but there isn't a street food culture in Rwanda so you can't generally find it. Anyway, there I am, standing in the refrigerated section of Nakumatt, and what do I see? Sugarcane! Chilled sugarcane! I bought a bag and stuffed my face with it when I got home. It's sooo nice cold on a hot day.

Tiga's party also inspired me to cook. I haven't done that since I lived in the old house and D was around, so I've made mince with extremely expensive Nakumatt vegetables. It was delicious and I've saved some for Stratoni if he's working tonight :)

All is good with the world. Work again tomorrow. So much going on, but I will save that for another post. Don't think about work on a Sunday evening ;)

[NB 2013: Photos from Tiga's leaving do here.]