Kitty Bye Bye :(

Time to blow my cover.

I'm not actually in Rwanda anymore! I'm in the UK but had to keep it extremely hush-hush as I was returning to surprise my mam for her 60th birthday.

More on this soon, however I just wanted to make a quick tribute post to my beautiful babies: Ishuheri and Sula. As I was coming back for a month, I took the decision to re-home them with Sarah and Christiane, two volunteers living close to the VSO office. They both love cats and have a nice big garden where they can play. Being close to the office I can visit them when I get back and make sure they're settled in and happy.

I took them over by taxi on Sunday 12th July. There were tears in the taxi, but I felt fine by the time I left. Sarah and I sat in the spare room watching them and giving plenty of cuddles. Oddly, Sula was the best adjusted - she's a little honey. Shuey was a tad moody about it, but soon warmed up to the situation.

My wee babies. I've had them since they were kittens. One-and-a-half years. Memories of baby Mao, who threw himself under a car aged 10 months :o/

They're just over the road from my first house now, so they can pop in for a massage. (That's what they turned it into - a massage parlour!)

I finally managed to borrow Martine's camera, so took loads of photos of them before leaving. Thought I'd bore everyone to death with them now :)

You can also read about when I first brought them home and when we lost Mao and see older pics.

Sula Close Up

Ishuheri: lookin' smoooth

Sula: Egyptian Bast Pose

Playtime!

Sula: relaxing in the back yard

Chow Down!

Can we come with you mum?

We iz beautiful

And we're fine in our new home.

Final note, if anyone is ever looking for a vet in Kigali, call Justin Ngarukiye. He is absolutely wonderful. He came to give them their rabies boosters and they absolutely adored him for it. Seriously, I was expecting a real struggle but he has a magical ability with animals. Can't recommend him enough and he does house calls for FRW 2,000.

Gisozi Bombed Again

Yet another attack on Kigali Memorial Centre.

This is the third attack since April 08 and April 09.

Artefacts

I didn't take many pics from inside the house - it was in a bit of a state - but did take a couple of the stuff on my walls...

Paula bought me this the first Christmas we were here.

Ruairi brought me these back from Kampala.

Cathryn's boyfriend J painted this
and it's on loan in my front room.

[NB 2013: Without going into detail, J turned out to be a rather unsavory character, and it's probable that he didn't paint that picture. The painting was later destroyed and this may be the only picture of it.]

I bought this from the artist at Kasubi tombs in Kampala.
It's painted on Ugandan bark cloth; a virgin dance ceremony.

My nod of the head to Ryangombe and Nyabhingi, both cults in Rwanda. The statues are traditionally Rwandan, the central one is Congolese. On the right-hand-side you can just see a giant African land snail shell which is sacred to Nyabhingi. A guide in Ruhengeri explained that Karisimbi is Nyabhingi's home, where the spirits of people who die with honour go.

Home Ground

Finally managed to borrow Martine's camera and have taken a few pics of the not-so-new-anymore house that I moved into in March (for a reminder of what the old one looked like, click here)...

Front of House

Front Gate from Road

Road to left of gate leading to main road
(you can just see Mr. Rujugiro's mansion at the end)

To right of gate - goats, houses and...

A cow.

Straight ahead from gate leading down the
path D and I went for a walk down.

Front Garden

Front Yard

Above: views of Kigali from my porch.

 

Above: Back yard and Sula helping me pack the dish washer. Stratoni is my washing machine for clothes and dishes: put everything in a bucket with washing powder and a cloth et voila, next day it's clean.

Komera

The ‘Wedding Roundabout’ in Kigali where
everyone goes to have their wedding photos taken.

I had a lovely day today at Komera (‘be strong’), a little centre out in the hills near Kibuye to the West. It’s run by Father Murenzi and caters for Deaf, mentally disabled, and traumatised children.

It’s about a three-and-a-half hour drive from Kigali and Amanda, Goreth, Gerard and I set off at 8:30 in the morning with a driver and a VSO truck. It was absolutely lovely just to sit and watch the countryside go past: Rwanda at its very best, an extremely beautiful country.

The last twenty minutes of the journey was along an extremely bumpy dirt track up through the local village to the centre, where the car was suddenly surrounded by a mass of kids trying to climb on the back and looking through the windows. They were there to sit a test to see whether they were ready to take communion and join the congregation. Otherwise, the centre was deserted as it’s the middle of the holidays.

We were there to chat about a potential short-term volunteer placement next year and how RNUD and Komera could work more closely together. I was along as interpreter. Gerard made an extremely good suggestion regarding approval of Teachers for the Deaf. There was a bit of a mess-up recently in one of the prominent schools for the Deaf, where they hired a Teacher for the Deaf and then, months later, realised the guy couldn’t sign and knew nothing about how to teach Deaf children. He always had his back to them and was talking at the board. The kids couldn’t understand a thing.

Sadly, jobs here often come via who you know rather than what you know. A nod and a handshake overlooked the fact this guy had no qualifications or training. So, Gerard’s suggestion was that RNUD should run interviews for all people applying to be Teachers of the Deaf and will test their communication tactics, sign language, and general Deaf awareness. This helps put the schools at ease that they’re employing competent staff and helps to avoid the situation mentioned above.

it's a really good idea. So, that was productive. Father Murenzi is also hoping to turn the centre into a resource centre on inclusive education, so it would be good if we could stay involved and offer our expertise where Deaf children are concerned.

The meeting was later interrupted by an impromptu visit from a local Colonel of the army. He was dressed to the nines in traditional clothes and accompanied by a couple of extremely tall army men with very big guns. It was an honour to meet him but, like we said on the way home, where else in the world would you be having an informal meeting with the head of a disability centre and the local Colonel drops by to say ‘hello’.

We also got treated to a wonderful meal of ibitoke (banana), soma (cassava spinach), beans, rice, meat and sauce. Fed very well. I was so pleased to finally see where Antonia was working. It is in a stunningly beautiful setting, a shining example for the country of what can be achieved.

Random fact number 49, did you know that if McDonalds opens an outlet in your country, they pay labour, materials, and everything to set up a sensory centre for mentally disabled children? You know, one of those lights and bubbles places? We don’t have a McDonalds in the country. Either they’re not allowed, or they don’t think it’s profitable, but either way it’s exactly what’s needed – not McDonalds, the sensory centre. Lies told me this. Worth knowing.

Anyway, got back after dark and went for a drink at High Noon with Amanda, Cathryn and Sarah. It was nice to unwind and have a beer and a giggle. Good end to a really good day.

Panda Style

This is a most excellent song played at Tiga’s party. Cathryn and I have been giggling about it ever since. Only now, with MTN Rwanda's crap charges, I can’t watch it. With MTN’s deteriorating service I can now no longer call anyone either. Took me three attempts to send one text message yesterday. I was in a taxi trying to find someone's house and needed directions. I tried to call and had to get out of the car and walk 20 meters up the road to get a signal. Were we in a rural village? No, we were in the middle of Kisimenti!

I’ve had to check my modem SIM card six times in the past two days because I thought I’d run out of credit, but no – it’s MTN Rwanda’s shite and non-existent network. Checking my modem SIM, that’s the process that involves:

1) Unplugging modem
2) Taking SIM out of modem
3) Removing back of phone
4) Removing battery from phone
5) Removing SIM from phone
6) Inserting modem SIM in phone
7) Replacing battery
8) Replacing back of phone
9) Turning phone on
10) Waiting for phone to load
11) Dialling *110# to check credit
12) Seeing that I have credit
13) Feeling p!ssed off at MTN Rwanda for wasting my time
14) Turning phone off
15) Removing back of phone
16) Removing battery from phone
17) Removing modem SIM from phone
18) Replacing phone SIM
19) Replacing battery from phone
20) Replacing back of phone
21) Turning phone on
22) Replacing modem SIM in modem
23) Plugging in modem
24) Waiting for modem to load
25) Attempt to re-connect to the internet

About two out of five times, it also involves the additional aggravating steps of:

26) Wait for mobile to load
27) Go to ‘settings’
28) Go to ‘clock settings’
29) Reset time and date

And for all this hassle you get to pay them double what you used to pay.

MTN Rwanda, you know it, but I’m going to say it again: You. Suck.

And now I can’t even listen to my Panda Style song to cheer me up.

But, what I can listen to are the neighbour's kids, who are all on holiday at the moment and have turned the house into Cadillac night club from around 9:30am – 9:00pm. The foundations actually shake.

Once upon a time I used to ask them to turn it down, but now I just don’t bother. I don’t know the mental process (or complete lack of it) that says ‘she’s annoyed by me playing this crap music at 50 decibels, but I’m sure if I do it again in five minutes time she’ll be fine with it.’

They’re also incapable of talking to each other, and communicate by shouting (over the music) throughout the house and garden. I have no idea how their grandma copes, she’s a really elderly lady who sometimes sits on the porch and says ‘hello’. Maybe they’ve got her locked up in a back room or something. Or maybe the adults have gone on holiday themselves and just thought ‘hell, let the neighbour deal with it, we’re outa here.’

So, between MTN, the neighbours, the water and power cuts… Though, to be fair, I’m coming to appreciate the power cuts because they also take out next door’s stereo system ;)

Oh for the days of council noise control, running hot water, broadband, and active parenting. Whereas it’s great to see a community where it’s so safe little kids can wander around at all hours of the night and day unaccompanied, it’s also great to see a society where parents realise that not every adult wants a six-year-old in their back garden or a gang of pre-pubescents chasing them down the street asking for money. Six and two threes, really.

I suppose the only answer to the problem is to get out of the house and go do some work, banking, dropping of stuff at people’s houses, then try and ease the headache at Bourbon with something caffeinated and iced, and an over-priced sandwich. Thrilling.

My final whinge for the day:

Thumbs-down of the week to Medair. I know they’re not the only ones to do this, but that doesn’t make it right.

They advertise some fantastic jobs, but they can’t seem to see through their prejudice into the land of ‘equal opportunities.’ Requirement for all applicants:

Committed Christians and strong adherence to Medair values

Are we to take it that Medair only values Christians? Are only Christians capable of being relief workers? Are only Christians capable of doing good in a development context? Do the people they help have to be Christian? Interesting that an international charitable organisation can’t cope with employing people from different faiths.

Please, Medair, place your bias at the very top of your job specs so I don’t have to waste my time scrolling down.

So much for ‘one world, one people.’

Right, think that’s about everything on my list to b!tch about. Definitely need that iced coffee now.

Love Actually, Ted

I watched another couple of horror films last night: 30 Days of Night, which I found highly disappointing. I mean c’mon, really, if you’re going to set up a snowed-in scenario where something horrible comes to kill everybody you will never, ever beat John Carpenter's The Thing. I’m afraid that had the genre well and truly pegged. After that comes The Shining. This – this didn’t even come close. Cheap-looking vampires and hammy acting, reminded me of a contemporary take on the disasters that were vampires in Salem’s Lot, adding a little House on Haunted Hill head shaking doesn't make it right.

The second one was distinctly better: Untraceable. Good, but predictable that she was in her own basement, he was in the back of the car, and that Griffin would cop it. Sorry, spoiler. What I really didn't guess though, was that Griffin was Tom Hanks' son! Only when you hit his IMDB page do you see the photos and realise it's unmistakable. But, on the whole, a good film and nice concept. A while back I also watched Cleaner – that was good too, but again predictable. I guess with The Broken and The Exorcism of Emily Rose that even if you knew what was going on, the gruesome factor: the ways in which people died, and the originality of some of the scenes just gave them an edge.

Two scenes that particularly freaked me out: Broken: where Dad’s on the phone and his own face comes out of the darkness over his shoulder. Emily Rose: where her friend wakes up in the bed alone and sees her contorted on the floor. Both of those were, to me, defining shots in the films. Although, admittedly, in Broken the shower scene is the one I think most people are likely to remember.

Today, I finally got Definitely, Maybe running. My DVD player is a little selective about what it lets me watch and when. If it's not in the mood you can't push it. I think, after the run of bone-chillers, it was more than ready to play some light entertainment.

First thing I notice? That both Melissa George (30 Days of Night) and Isla Fisher (Definitely, Maybe) were both in Home and Away (sing it with me: hold me in your arms...). Now, I was always more of a Neighbours gal, but I did occasionally switch over afterwards, admittedly a bit later on when Gypsy and what’s-his-face were getting it on. A little after Angel’s time, but definitely still in Shannon's. The Australian invasion of LA begins ;)

Anyway, didn’t rate the film much. There were two main issues with it:

1. It tried to be too clever for a romantic comedy. Stick to the age old format that works: girl, boy, tears, joy; bada bing bada boom. It really didn’t do it for me, although I think Rachel Weisz rocks.
2. Never, EVER, pick a lead man that looks like Ted Bundy!!! What. Were. You. Thinking!? Seriously guys. Watch the film, then tell me Ryan Reynolds, especially with his flat cut, doesn’t look way too much like this mass murderer. Puts an entirely different meaning on the term ‘lady killer’.

The entire time I was watching the film, when I could stop myself anticipating the lead guy was going to bludgeon the lead girl to death with a kitchen stool, I just felt it was all a bit flat. Not enough aaaaah factor. But that’s okay because I re-watched Hors de prix (Priceless) last night and that has more than enough for several films worth.

I’m all out of films now! There are a handful of really, really good ones that I keep and lend to trusted friends on the strict proviso they come back, and the rest Rose keeps, or I donate to the office. But now I have nothing new to watch. I wonder what’s on at the cinema back in the UK now? If it came out since late 2007, I’ve never heard of it :o/

*Teeth Chattering*

In a break from the usual good-but-rather-depressing films I get sent, Dad just posted a consignment of horror films.

The past two evenings I’ve watched The Broken and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

As a result, I am now petrified of mirrors and 3am 8oO

The above picture is Anneliese Michel, the woman upon whom Emily Rose was based. Looks like me in the mornings.

In other, slightly bizarre, news: Teen pregnant after ‘swimming in pool’. Thanks for that one Cas.

In more mundane news, I’m getting really fed up with power cuts. Every day for about a week now the power goes off for hours during the day. My laptop runs out of power, so I have to stop working. Between the recent lack of water, internet, and power there’s not much you can do really. Times like this you wish you’d opted for the charcoal stove rather than the electric hotplate and kettle.

I’ve currently got some hideously painful stomach problem. I get this about every four or five months. Extremely sore tummy that comes in sharp, short-lived waves. Tends to sort itself out after a couple of days, so I will leave it alone as the other option is antibiotics, which I’ve had a lifetime’s supply of this year already.

Not much going on at the moment. Went for brochettes with Martine in Nyamirambo last night, was nice. Parted with FRW 10,000 to my head of umudugudu (village) the other evening for a genocide memorial event. Was nice to meet Dativa and Peter, the two representatives, really friendly people.

Not much else to report really, so I’ll go out on an interesting snippet from the Devex weekly round-up:

"I think what’s hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption or poor governance. That this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism. I’m not a believer in excuses.”

-- US President Barack Obama ahead of his first official trip to a country in Sub-Saharan Africa, arguing that the United States and Western nations can’t be blamed for “disastrous policies” in some African countries or for the economic collapse in Zimbabwe in the past 15 to 20 years. The remarks came in a July 2 interview with AllAfrica.com, released by the White House before Obama’s departure for Ghana on July 10. He said African leaders should take responsibility for a lack of economic progress, adding that “excuses” about neo-colonialism had hindered progress on the world’s poorest continent. More African leaders should commit to democracy and respect for the rule of law as a way of boosting investment in the continent, Obama said, citing Ghana as a good example. The president said that while there has been progress toward democracy and good governance in Africa, there have also been incidents of “backsliding,” such as in Kenya, his late father’s homeland. “It’s very important for African leadership to take responsibility and be held accountable,” Obama said.

Other Blogs

[NB 2013: Where links appear in bold without hypertext, they are no longer active.]

Just thought I’d take a moment to point out the other blogs on my site. You may have noticed down the right-hand side that, underneath the blog archive and charity links, there’s some links to other people’s blogs. I wanted to explain briefly who these are in case anyone wants to check them out :)

In no particular order: Mike in Ethiopia/Namibia and Eddie Doyle in Ghana were both on pre-departure training with me at Harborne Hall a couple of years back. These are the blogs from their placements, although they’re on the VSO blogspace and not Google Blogs, hence no snippets of their activities display and they’re always at the bottom of the list.

Ruth Baker was my predecessor at the National Deaf Association, so this is a blog of her life after VSO, and Ruairi is one of my close friends here in Rwanda. He tends to make more jokes and less rants than I do ;)

Morgan in Africa is a blog that was extremely popular even before I got here and is well acclaimed. I know a lot of Rwandans and other ex-pats follow it on a regular basis. GayUganda is a friend I made whilst writing an article on being gay in East Africa, and his blog is constantly enlightening. He’s a wonderful activist and advocate for gay rights in an extremely homophobic environment.

To Withdraw Myself from Myself is a blog belonging to a friend who was involved in SignPagan when I was back in Cardiff, and The Head Girl’s Boudoir is another good friend that’s got a distinctly quirky twist to it. Rose Kelly’s Gin Bottle is a little nod to the esoteric side of life – hell, this is Heathen Lass’ blog after all, we need to keep some standards ;)

[NB 2013: the original URL for this blog was heathenblogging.blogspot]

Finally, you may have noticed the little ‘Followers’ box that’s appeared in place of the ‘Subscribe’ feed on the right. If you like this blog and have a Google account, simply click the ‘Follow’ button and a little picture representing you should appear. It makes me feel wanted :)

Holy Jah Doves

OMG! Can't believe these are on YouTube! :o)

Best band in the whole of Rwanda! These guys rock.

That's Kassim when they're dancing outside the Mwami (King's) Palace at Nyanza (front, also playing guitar later - short dreads).

The singer is Kayaga - extremely talented guy. They sang this at Lies and Kassim's wedding - it's an excellent song :)

If you like it, join their FaceBook fan page!

[NB 2013: The lyrics to Maguru can be found here. Translated at the bottom.]

Cats Ho!

New Cactus

It is my absolute pleasure to announce that I have just met the most wonderful vet ever. Justin Ngarukiye. He was recommended to me by Lies, and I’d like to recommend him to anybody who needs a vet in Kigali. The man has a real ability with animals. He gave Sula and Inshuheri their rabies jabs and they absolutely adored him for it! Unbelievable. I was expecting a real struggle, but he was wonderful with them and it makes such a difference that he can do house calls. So please do spread the word.

I’ve also just de-wormed them for the first time: crushed down a tablet each in a little bowl of milk. That went smoothly, although Sula didn’t finish all of hers. Rewarding them with proper tinned cat food from the MTN centre: lamb in meat gravy. They more than deserve it for being so good. He also removed a tic from Sula’s ear – first one she’s ever had! It’s all excitement in the de Kittypuss household. :)

For my part, I got slightly more sun than I needed for the first time in ages. Not proper burn, but a little red, which is aggravating this weird skin rash I’ve got. It feels like heat rash, but isn’t. Think it’s just the thick layers of dust caking themselves to me from the dry season. I don’t usually use face products but I’ve started using a mild cleanser someone left in the resource room. Every night the cotton turns brown.

Otherwise, it’s been fairly quiet. Spent Friday night in Nyamirambo visiting Martine, which was totally lovely. We had brochettes and shandy (Primus and Fanta Citron) at Panorama. Then I met up with Cathryn at High Noon in my old stomping ground of Kisimenti. We chatted away until it closed around 1am, then headed to Stella (surprise, surprise!) until that closed around 3am. Actually, it didn’t quite close, we were sooo tired by then we couldn’t finish our beers!

Saturday was a lovely lazy day in bed. I popped over to Rose's to drop some things off with her, then headed to New Cactus for dinner with Lies, which was excellent. I had a mince and spinach lasagne, then ice-cream with hot chocolate sauce for pudding! Her and Kassim are off for a month in Belgium at the end of the month, so that’ll be their belated honeymoon.

Sunday, Cathryn and I met up at lunchtime at Simba to meet Tiga, who is in town to deliver some training. Thought we’d have lunch there, but Tiga's bus from Butare was heavily delayed so she was really tired by the time she got in. We had a cold drink then she went off to her friend’s, where she’s staying, and Cathryn and I decided to go find food.

We walked around for a while looking for the new Indian, Handee, but when we finally found it, it was closed. We walked all the way up the road to Republika – closed. So we continued aaall the way up the hill to New Cactus, which was just about to open, so we had a drink and waited for food. Was another lovely evening, but felt disgustingly decadent eating in such a posh place two nights on the trot. Was a bit jammy as Lies paid the lion’s share of the bill in a 'thank you' for doing her hair, and Cathryn did the same as she owed me some money anyway, heehee. Felt a bit spoiled.

Work has been pretty quiet. Meeting up with Goreth tomorrow to discuss setting up the trial run of the Foundation Sign Language Curriculum. Going to use VSOs as paying guineapigs ;)

Heard back from Kenya. The guy we were hoping to get involved came back with "it’s not enough money – go get more and come back." I just snorted my disapproval by politely explaining – in case he hadn’t been able to work it out from the project outline – that this is a charity organisation, not a business venture.

I'm going to see if I can re-work the funding so that we can set up training for tutors on the curriculum we’re developing ourselves. It’s a shame, but I’m sure we’ll survive.

MTN’s crap-arse new charging system also now means that our office is without internet most of the time. The money we budgeted for it now doesn’t come close to what we need. It’s really sad, poor Peace sits there all day with nothing to do, just keeping the office open, and now she can’t even brows the web. None of our Deaf volunteers can either. Don’t think MTN had the blindest consideration for NGOs when they made that decision. However, the one e-mail my boss was able to send me today was hugely complimentary and so kind. I think they’re getting all sentimental already and I’ve still got a couple of months to go. Best get my references drafted whilst they’re all in such a good mood ;)

I swung past the Post Office today to pick up a parcel, and post a friend in America some tea which I’ve been promising him. I learned an interesting fact. My parcel cost over FRW 8,000 (GBP 9) to send a box of tea that cost FRW 700 (GBP 0.80p) because I had already sealed it before asking for the stamps. If I had packed the parcel in front of the woman at the desk, it would only have cost around FRW 3,500 (GBP 4)! As it was, the woman was extremely kind to me and let me have the cheaper price without having to open the parcel again, but she told me to bring it open next time. Worth knowing.

Oh, and the annoying guys outside the Post Office are still there. As I walked past, one just shouted ‘You are white.’ I felt like replying ‘Yes. And you’re a moron.’ Blah.

But now I have chocolate and I ate so much I made myself feel sick :o/

But importantly: yay for cats. Cats are cool :)

PS: between writing this and posting it I just watched The Notebook and am now blubbing my eyes out! Warra film!