Happy Independence Day

Well, today is the first of two public holidays: the 4th is Liberation Day, but that's a weekend anyway so it doesn't count.

On a quirky date thing, did you know that:

• At five minutes and six seconds after 4 am on the 8th of July this year, the time and date will be 04:05:06 07/08/09
• Around breakfast time on 7th August it will be 07:08:09 07/08/09 and a couple of hours later, at coffee time, we will have a palindrome 09:08:07 07/08/09.

But as a friend said, it's 12:12:12 12/12/12 we need to worry about ;)

Aaanyway. Couple of pictures from Berthe and Alain's farewell dinner last Friday (see last post), including the one up top which is me and Sandra. This is the table (Martine and Sarah at this end) and Sarah being eaten alive by the crazy vines at SoleLuna:

Now some from Tiga's leaving do in Butare (thanks again Ruairi!):

The Lawn

The Roast Sheep
(Andy & Tom looking all hunter-gatherer....)

The coolest li'le girl in the world!

Cathryn entertaining the crowds

Cathryn entertaining South African John

Three different versions of what just happened

BAM, BAM BAM BAM - it's the eye of the tiger...inni'

Cathryn! Stay away from the light!!!

So, as evidence proves, a good time was had by all :op

I'm just spending the day in bed lounging and trying to finish up writing a Foundation Sign Language Curriculum. We're going to put it to the test with a group of VSOs and if it works we'll start rolling it out. I'm quite proud of myself actually. I think it's coming along nicely. Still no word from Kenya on a consultant, so I might as well crack on.

I've continued with the cooking, too. I forgot how wonderful home-cooked grub is. I made peanut butter risotto last night with a packet of Thai spices someone gave me, plus aubergine, butternut squash, sugar snaps and onion. Really nice, and plenty left for today.

Things feel a little on the up at the moment, but I don't want to jinx them by saying that. I finally managed to impress someone with my CV after about ten applications. They said they were "very interested!" (note the exclamation mark! Huzah :)) It's well paid, interesting work, but I've still got a long way to go as the closing date isn't until 15th and I think I was probably one of the first to submit, so there'll probably be loads of competition by then. Still, at least it was some positive feedback for once - that in itself was worth it.

One of the big problems with jobs seems to be that they are advertising positions because they have to, but have already got someone lined up for it. In development, people in-country tend to have an advantage because they're well known, but due to equal ops the position has to be put out there. I appreciate equal ops, but it's a waste of my time applying for positions already filled.

The second issue is that a lot of jobs (I've learned from talking to people here) are being advertised before funding has been secured. As funding takes so long to come through, it can be months between advertising the job and calling successful applicants. Oh, well. But I'm happy - at least I know my CV impressed someone :)

The other up is that I got a call from Rose yesterday. We submitted a funding proposal to the American Embassy Self-Help Fund months back and they called her in for a chat! Apparently she says it went really well and they were impressed by the number of members we were helping with the health insurance. They're going to let us know the result next month. It would be most excellent if we got it as it would allow us to install a sewing machine in each of our parent networks in Kigali, provide them with start-up material and training. Then a percentage of profit will get fed into a pot to help set up other initiatives.

I'm feeling quite proud of myself as that's the third funding application I've written that's got a foot in the door. Two successful for RNAD (even if we can't find a consultant) and hopefully this one for Tabara. So, at least I know I've still got the skills. Just need a job now :op  

[NB 2013: Sarah went on to become Disability Programme Manager after I left the country. She's still out there now :) ]