Moldy Asparagus

Banking in Rwanda is like pulling a tooth. Slow and very painful.

My love affair with FinaBank has come to an end. After opening the Deaf Association NGO account with them we wanted to do the same for the Single Parents Network. It's a really good scheme which allows free withdrawals, receipt of international transfers, free cheque books and administration. Saves NGOs a fortune.

Only the Committee were having some problems with the form, which was in English. Knowing FinaBank have a Kinyarwanda version I popped in today to get a couple.

After the woman at Customer Services looked at me like I was there to waste her time, she glanced through the files and said:

"We only have English left. Or you could open a business account."

"No, I really want an NGO account please."

"But you speak English."

"But the people who have to fill it out don't."

"Well, we've run out."

"When will you have some more?"

"Oh, soon."

"When?"

"I don't know but I'm sure it will be soon."

"Okay, are there any other branches in Kigali that might have some?"

"There's one in Remera."

"Great, could you please call them and see if they have any NGO forms in Kinya?"

"They won't."

"Why?"

"Well, if we've run out they will too."

"Well, could you phone them and check?"

"I know they won't."

"How?"

....long pause....

Thankfully another chap working on Customer Services came over and the whole conversation began again. Only this time when we got to:

"I think they will not have any."

and I suggested:

"Could you call them to check?"

He actually did. Then made me sit in an office with two other members of staff for twenty minutes whilst he called around. Surely there must be a direct number to Customer Services in Remera?

I was totally fed up by this point. He eventually came back and explained that actually nobody had the Kinyarwanda forms because the translation had been very poor and they were all withdrawn.

"When will you have the new ones?"

"I don't know. I could ask upstairs."

"Well, could I leave my number and you phone me when they come in?"

It was like watching paint dry. An enquiry that should take a couple of minutes draged on for half an hour. You'd think, after two years, I'd be used to it, but unfortunately some days it still gets right on yer t!ts.

So, then I went and sat in BCR (my bank) for another half-hour. Then I went to the joy that is Nakumatt, to buy overpriced food. I found a packet of about a dozen asparagus tips for GBP 1.20 - I assume the mold was free. I couldn't believe it was on the shelf. They were selling two fillets of smoked mackerel for nine quid! So I settled for sugarcane, but it's dried out and sour. I put it in the bin. Sat in the Blues Cafe waiting for the rain to end, though I'm glad it's finally arrived.

Whilst sitting there, I get a text explaining that the landlord of our office has just closed the place down for non-payment of rent. I phoned our accountant and she reckons there's over three-hundred quid from dictionary sales. So, now I'm trying to track down our president to ask why he isn't using that money to pay the rent? That's the whole point - generate an income to sustain the office and the organisation.

Two steps forward, twenty back.

But, on the up-side, last Wednesday we had a very productive workshop led by African Decade. Rwanda has been chosen out of the whole of Africa to be an Ambassador Country for people with disabilities. Should mean some funding for projects and strengthening of infrastructure. All good stuff. Sarah was leading the workshop and she did an outstanding job. Really achieved a lot in terms of strategic planning and project development. They'd also booked Betty to interpret, so I got to participate.

The sign language courses are going well. People are really enthusiastic and Goreth is doing a sterling job, though we had a bit of a methodology conflict to begin with. She was adamant that she would teach signs word-for-word with English, like Signed Supported English, and it's taken until now to change her mind and get her to teach the way Deaf people would sign. She felt it was easier to teach that way and then the Deaf way later, but it was confusing the students a lot. It's ironed out though, and people are learning really well. We've got conversations going on and everything :)

Last Friday was a lovely night. Went to Lalibela Ethiopian restaurant, which I hadn't been to in ages. Me, Cathryn, Giudi, Maxime and Anja. Had a wonderful time, good food, plenty to drink and good company.

I've started prepping myself for my departure next month. Totally blitzed the house, thrown out loads of junk, donated it to the VSO freebie box or given it to Rose to sell. Haven't seen the place this clean since I moved in, so going to mess it up again by cooking later. Haven't done that in ages. Going to make chilli. Now the wet season is here it should last for a couple of days. I started using the make-shift fridge method we learned in pre-departure training: if you put everything in a bowl of water then tuck a tea towel over the top with the edges in the water, as the water evaporates from the tea towel it drops the temperature of the food underneath. Basic, but quite nifty.