There won't be snow in Rwanda this Christmas...

...but there will be sun, rain, hail and frost on the plants in the morning!
It's been another busy month, schools are on long holidays so I've been putting my efforts into other things, mainly painting classrooms (even though I'm not too good at it!) and doing some more primary teacher training in the schools where I know the student teachers will visit on internship in January. Lots of resources made, Fanta drunk, melange's eaten and laughs and smiles all round when I treat adults like primary children, to try to encourage them to run and touch the board as fast as they can or roar like lions!

I've been patiently awaiting a parcel from my mum containing things to make Rwanda feel a bit more Christmassy and had a phonecall to say it had arrived - only to be told, that was a different post office, somewhere else in Rwanda and a week later as I expectantly go to see the man who speaks no English in the "iposita" he shakes his head to tell me it's still not here. Nevermind, the expectation is sometimes better than the parcel (as I have found in other parts of the world) - unless it contains chocolate - then it rocks!

Sadly, it has also been a month of goodbyes :-(  Megan, Suzanne and Lisa all went back home to enjoy Christmas with their families, as have many volunteers for a short period. Unfortunately though, these lovely ladies will not be returning (unless on holiday). It's great to have met them and made memories together! Also, any excuse to got he the capital city and blow my volunteers allowance on amazing food and drink and have a hot shower (or not!) is greatly appreciated.

 Catherine loves the elephant I painted, soooo much!
Helping out with Save the Children ECE training at the Anglican guesthouse!

 Possibly the most expensive weekend I've had in Kigali for eating and drinking! I was even told I've got "fatter" on Monday - must have been the prawns, burgers, mashed potatoes, chips, wine, martinis, dessert and good company I had.

 Discussing with a moto driver 'Danny" about Christmas food, I explained that a bird is traditional but here I wouldn't know where to begin. He proceeded to tell me about where to get a live bird in the market, bring it home, chop the neck, put it in hot water and pluck the feathers before removing the insides. I said, if he was willing to do all that, I'd cook dinner and he could eat with us - he agreed - so this festive lunch could be interesting!

December 5th was International Volunteers Day, so the few of us who could make it from around Rwanda planted some trees, listened to speeches, testimonies, watched great gymnastic and Intore dancing performances and were thanked by a nice gentleman for volunteering in Rwanda - on behalf of the President and the whole country!

GOOD TIMES - Bring on Christmas with the crazy crew!

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

So I have a stinking cold and sore throat in the 20 degree Rwandan heat and I couldn't sleep on Thursday night, the contents of my head were then emptied onto a word document and are copied and pasted below for you to enjoy! Until next time campers...

And so I lay in my bed with the lights flashing on and off as the electricity cuts out again and again, the thunder is rolling around the house and the rain is crashing down on the metal roof and I wonder how I am ever going to get to sleep. Volunteering in Rwanda can a times feel like an amazing dream, or an awful nightmare. Whilst moving around the countryside on my way to and from school on the back of a motorbike taxi I've seen some astounding natural beauty; sunsets, mist, birds, people going about their business all add a richness to the backdrop of the country I call my home for the time being. In the classroom, with the language barrier, cultural differences and work frustrations I can feel like getting on the first plane out of Kigali and being in a nice hot shower by tomorrow morning, but patience and prayer get me through. I came to volunteer in Africa with the hope to make a difference. Not in a Mother Teresa, Ghandi or Mandela kind of world renowned way, but more like a ripple on a large pond. I sometimes feel like a skimming stone, moving around, causing tiny ruptures in the surface of something larger. I believe that I am where I supposed to be, and when the right time comes, I will move on with my life as I always do. I was asked recently if it was difficult to come back to Rwanda after my trip home to the UK for a family wedding and found it was very difficult to answer. The truth is, it is always hard being away from home, everything is so much easier in the environment you grew up in, well at least in my family. I know the area, culture and systems so well and there is a lot of opportunity and variety which doesn't present itself in the same ways as I move around the world. I miss my family and their birthdays, christenings, weddings, anniversaries and other milestone events all the time. I am asked difficult questions which I struggle to answer without going into a long ramble or a humbling, stumbling reply, by people who I've never met before, such as; why are white people so much more intelligent than Africans????? and why do you have so much money in your country?? and how can I get to Europe??? At home, I am a face - in a crowd of many, and here I am treated like a celebrity with crowds of children yelling 'muzungu' and running to touch my skin, hold my hand and hug me. I've had to learn that cultural differences can make me seem like a horrible person, such as when I don't 'share' my water bottle with everyone else in the room and want to keep it to myself (I was told recently that this is seen as a sign of hatred between people) whereas in the UK you would never pick up someone else's water bottle and start drinking (unless it was your immediate family and you were desperate!). I have learnt to take the rough with the smooth here in Rwanda! I could complain about all the things I don't have here, the attitudes and negative feelings that come over me while I'm working or moving around but I would rather focus on all the things I have gained so far in my ten months of volunteering. Had I not volunteered in Rwanda, I would never have known how it feels to be an international superstar and actually understand why they get a little narky about the press and people constantly being in their faces and personal lives! I wouldn't know how to have a conversation in Rwandan Sign Language and see the delight in the children's faces, as they realise that someone outside of the School for the Deaf can communicate with them. I would not know how to make at least ten different resources with a rice sack - who knew they could be so versatile (to be honest - who even knew what one felt or looked like properly as that all goes on behind supermarket and warehouse doors in the UK). I couldn't imagine the giggle-provoking joy that a cow (or sheep, or goat) passing by your classroom window and clip-clopping up the school steps could bring to your day, never mind when you are on the back of a motorbike taxi and have to stop because a herd is passing by you on the road or a pig has escaped it's master who is frantically running behind it with a stick trying to re-gain control of the situation. Even after living on three different continents, I have never been so calmed and mesmerised by countryside scenery, sunrises and sunsets here in Rwanda. Nothing beats emerging up and out of a cloud of mist into bright sunlight or watching the sunset over lake Kivu illuminate the sky with violets, pinks, reds and oranges on a murky backdrop of navy blue clouds, mountains and islands. Walking out of the staffroom and seeing a flutter of sunbirds with bright blue, yellow or red chests flit around the flowers with their hummingbirdesque beaks diving in for as much nectar as they can grab. Having conversations with people who are desperately trying to learn how to speak English well, even though their mother-tongue is Kinyarwanda and they were brought up in a French-speaking school system until four years ago when the policies changed and now everything must be taught and learnt in the 'International Language' of English! Being surprised by very small children who normally greet me with 'Good Morning' whatever time of day it is, when one actually gets it right and adds something nice like 'Good afternoon, my friend'. There might be so much to complain about, but I can honestly say, after volunteering in Africa, I will never be the same person again. There is chat online that volunteers get more out of it than the country they volunteer in does, but I'm not convinced. The ripple effect works for me and has done since I've been a child. From the moment you are born, you interact with the world and people in it and wherever I am in the world, I take all the ripples that have hit me along the way, every life I interact with changes, not for them, but for me. Selfish, I know, but it is human nature to be, so, I feel that I act it out in the best possible way, paying it forward where I can and hoping not to leave damage in my skimming wake. If it can hit a few Rwandan stones and cause some small ripples, so be it. If not, I will continue on my way a stronger person. Do I recommend travelling to Africa - yes, it is one of the most diverse continents on this planet and you will grow as a person after visiting any of its 54 countries. Will it be easy - no, nothing worth doing ever is, and that is why I am still here volunteering. I'm truly blessed to be where and who I am today and I thank all of my family and friends for their continued contributions to my life.   Until I can pry myself away from life here again to write another blog, enjoy and keep the ripples flowing...

The length between my blogs seems to be increasing - much like the length between hot showers!

So it's been a busy couple of months here in Rwanda, working hard at the Teacher Training College (TTC) and assisting the school which is closest to it, having our annual partnership review. There is just one *official* week of college left, then the year three's will take their exams and all will be done until January! I however am training for the next few weeks and working on the model classroom I've started setting up in the TTC. The hope is that students from the local school and nursery will be invited to work in small groups with the student teachers here so they can get a bit more realistic micro-teaching experience before heading off to their 3 month internship in year three. 

I've also moved house, and now live with Simon - the Literacy and Numeracy Advisor at the TTC, so only a 2 minute walk in the morning for me, no noisy town around and hot lunches! 

I had a flying visit home to the UK for ten days in September to celebrate my cousins wedding and 2nd cousins christening - long may they be happy and blessed! It was good to catch up with everyone - if only for a night! and eat lovely food again, thanks to all those who made it special. I'm particularly impressed that my niece is in the Giraffes Class and that I got to drop her off in her first few weeks of school. My nephew is also now causing chaos at nursery two days a week - time flies when you are having fun!  

For now it's all rice sacks, bottle tops and homemade games for me and the students, and the teachers!

The masters is going well too, assignment no.1 in and I'm awaiting the results of the first academic essay I've written in 8 years! It's good to be reading at that higher level again, but I'd totally forgot the brain-work writing and referencing takes.
Anyway, bit of a boring blog, but I thought I'd better check in. For the record - No Ebola in Rwanda and I'm still a muzungu (rich person) to everyone I meet - except the children that live in the animal shed next door, they say "good morning my friend" every time I walk by - day or night! 

And can I just say, I hate the way this bloggin' tool organises my photographs, even being a techie I can't get them to go where I want! Grunt Grunt Give up!

The sound of running water and grey skies over head - must be wet season again!

My last few posts may have mentioned the lack of water in my house, so I am pleased to announce its timely return! It has been a month of lack of water but all that is over now - hopefully. Still it only comes for a few hours each morning and if you sleep in late, or go to work early, you might miss it, but nevertheless, water is back and there is no fear of ahh we have no water anywhere in the house happening again.
 The end of July was filled with SEN training, both in my TTC and another one about 8 hours away from me. I assisted Jo and we made lots of lovely resources with the teachers from local schools in the area. Then it was time for holidays! Lisa arrived - a day late - having been treated to an overnight stay in a swanky hotel in Istanbul courtesy of Turkish Airlines error, all sprayed with deet and ready to experience Rwanda and Uganda. So we went off to the closest lake and did a couple of hours of bird watching and Lisa got to see the mob effect of a white person in a rural village for the first time. Afterwards, we toured the Tea plantation and got to go into all the rooms where they make it. The orthodox fermenting room smelt amazing, like swimming in a tea cup (minus the milk) whereas the chopping room reminded me of cut grass! I loved the fact that they had a tea pot continuously pouring hot tea outside with "our cup of tea" signage.

Next day it was time to hit the memorials in Kigali, visiting churches in Nyamata and Ntarama where thousands of Tutsi's had gone to to seek refuge during the war here, only to be massacred in the pews. All of the victims clothes are arranged on the pews and a guuide showed us around and explained in detail, the bullet holes, grenade marks and impliments of torture that were used to punish and kill people in 1994. You can't take pictures instead any of the memorials here (unless you pay $20 in the main one in Kigali) - not that I would want to, but outside, it's ok to. One church even has an open mass grave where you go down amongst the coffins full of people. I declined that offer and said a quiet prayer for those lost instead. The first church we visited had a guide there immediately, however no.2 was silent with only a guard who sprinted off as soon as we arrived. We soon leanrt why, when another man (with very little English) told us to wait for the guide, however 30 minutes later, I asked Lisa if she wanted to stay as there was no-one in sight but a French Catholic Priest and a Belgian Tourist (riding his bike through Africa!) who were also waiting for the tour. Five minutes later we were made to feel really bad as a heavily pregnant lady waddled through the gate and slowly up the path to be our guide. I asked when she was due and was told, two days ago! Needless to say, we stayed for the tour and donated well. Our day was not over yet though as when we got to Nyabugogo bus station, all of the buses to Gicumbi was full until 7pm, so we got tickets and decided to be clever and eat food at a nearby restuarant whilst waiting.
At 6.45, half of our food came (for those of you in Rwanda, you know two hours is not long to wait for food), so we packed it for take away and ran for the bus! We need not have bothered, as they were running three buses late and we didn't alight until 8.00pm. Normally, this would mean 1.5 hours journey to home, but the day was not yet over and we endured hours of road works until finally reaching my place at 11pm!

Next up was a visit to the western provence in hopes of seeing the chimpanzees in Nyungwe National Park - although I could not get hold of the person to book.We arrived in Kamembe and checked into the hotel after an 8 hour journey and Lisa could not believe she was sitting right next to the border of the DRC! We missed the chimpanzees due to full bookings so instead took a short walk to see some colobus monkeys. We couldn't find them, but we did find blue monkeys and grey-cheeked mangabeys before the colobus troop decided to show up close by. The kind guide lent me his lens so that I could take some close up and we stood for a long time watching them eat fruit from the trees, jump from tree to tree and the younger ones annoy their mothers!
After another long bus ride home, we relaxed in the bar with another volunteer and friend and Lisa ate the famous Rwandan brochette and chips yet again for dinner!

Next day was off to Uganda to visit another volunteer and see the source of the nile at Jinja. Great times in the boat and good food on the shore. Headed to Queen Elizabeth National Park the following day and managed to see impala, elephants, buffalo and deer before the car broke down and a long wait for transportation back to Kampala ensued.
I left Lisa at the bus station, in the capable hands to my volunteer friend and her dad and prepared yet again for the 10hr bus journey home to Rwanda.

A great break, but back to the grindstone the following day - bring on the next holiday!

A special month with lots of Jerry cans!

This month I have been mostly moving around special schools in Rwanda. I visited the west district and an amazing little school which caters for a variety of children with Special Educational needs. I'm slowly picking up Rwandan Sign Language and have my own "sign name" which represents me as the one with tied back curly hair! I got the chance to be in class with the children, teach them and helped to train the staff there (alongside fellow volunteer Jo) in resource making, which was ace! I'm due to go back there in a couple of weeks to assist again with resource making skills for SNE which I'm really looking forward too. I also visited it's a school it feeds an watched two qualified teachers in each class deliver the curriculum to both hearing and deaf children. One supporting the other with RSL. I am amazed by all of these teachers (some who have no teaching qualification) at the level of professionalism and willingness to learn when they earn roughly £30 a month and work double shifts with a different group of children in the morning and afternoon.
This week I visited a school for the deaf in the north east of Rwanda to help them with their website. It started off with a long journey from Byumba - about 5 hours - then a 40 minute moto (pillion motorbike taxi) ride which I was thoroughly enjoying, as the landscape is very different from where I live in Rwanda, however... The last 2 minutes of the journey involved crossing a small wooden bridge over a rainwater ditch, which has obviously been dry for months (more on that later) which my young driver completely misjudged and made the moto rear up like a horse, sending me flying off the back, onto my back! Luckily I had my bag on my back, with laptop and lots of clothes which cushioned my fall. Miraculously, my laptop emerged from bag uninjured, which is more than I can say about my bruised legs and bottom and sore neck and back! I lived to tell the tale and have jumped on at least six motos since - a must in Rwanda unfortunately. After that rather brutish end to my journey, I entered a small school with about 100 children who are either totally or partially deaf. They all board and and use RSL as their mode of communication. The school is great, with six primary classes plus working carpentry, handicraft and tailoring rooms for when the students complete their primary education and cannot continue to secondary school. they have cows which have been donated from people overseas and I'm told will soon be getting chickens. I was treated to 'fresh from the cow' milk which made a delicious cup of African tea (minus the spices because we had none) and Isobel (another volunteer) made a lovely fresh herb salad and fried some chips for dinner. I spent the whole day on Wednesday taking photographs, updating the website and discussing plans with the director and deputy head, promptly finishing the day with a coke in the nearest town of Rukomo. I was ready to head back to Kigali and Byumba on the 6am bus the next day, but was informed the children were being taken home for their 3 week holidays at 4.30am, so I jumped on that bus instead - missing out yet another dodgy moto ride over that bridge! I slept a lot and enjoyed the different landscapes and scenery as my mind wandered whilst listening to 90's britpop and American hiphop on my ipod. We did stop to drop children off all the way to Kigali and on one of those stops were greeting by two interesting characters. One who was completely drunk, proceeded to open my window and tell me that he wanted to talk to me because he loves me, to which I promptly replied - "you don't know me" and closed and locked my window! The other guy didn't speak to me, but, the director of the school who was seated behind me, was asked if "all of these children are deaf" and, when told yes, asked if they were being taken to the hospital for foolish people. So for the next little while I was plunged into thought over whether the children actually enjoy going home for their holidays, to villages where they are seen as "foolish" because they do not communicate in the same way as everyone else and their communities have not learnt sign language to communicate with them. I wondered if they were more excited about the journey home in the holidays, or the one back to school in three weeks time, where they seem very loved and cared for by each other and the staff. I reached Byumba around 1pm and after working until 5pm, was completely done in! Me and my housemate Angela did take a little time to watch a silly American movie and laugh at the crazy behaviour of university students there.

 All the children (and staff) showing their sign names on the last day of school!

Almost at the end of a nice rambling blog now!
This month has also been a month of Jerry Cans. I found out (on my moto rides) that the big yellow 20l Jerry Cans we use originally contain paint, but are washed out and resold for the bargain price of about £2 for people to reuse as they wish. Since we have moved into "Dry Season", the Jerry Cans are mainly used to carry much needed water. We have 3 at home in Byumba, and after 10 days with no water coming through the taps, they were all sent off on a bicycle to be filled and brought back for cooking and washing. So in the last 2 weeks, we've got the grand total of half a bucket from our own tap and most of Rwanda is the same. I thought it was confined to Byumba where hoards of people can be seen flocking to the tap near the Catholic Church to fill up their Jerry cans and make the long walk home with twenty litres balanced perfectly on their heads. However, since I've been moving around, I see jerry cans everywhere. I was most surprised to find people (probably around 30) filling a group of them in a dirty little muddy water stream near the bus station in the Capital City yesterday! It's seems the water shortage has hit home everywhere and I have never been more conscious of how much I use. I have worked out that it takes me about 2l of water to bathe and about 10l to do a weeks worth of hand washing - oh how I am going to enjoy turning a tap on that actually produces water and being able to drink it safely when I get home! I talked to my Principal about the water situation and he says it will be like this until September when the season changes again. That 36p spent on getting the bicycle to fetch 60l of water is well worth it until then!
To end on a light note, there have been lots of parties this month; leaving, birthday and hen and I am off to KigaliUp! this weekend, the music festival in the city, so I'm sure my next blog will have a more musical theme! I also visited a couple of Art galleries in the city and especially like the little people paintings!

Long time - no blog!

It's been a while since I last had the chance to blog about life in Rwanda. I've been very busy with work and socialising!
Started last month with the memorial at school commemorating staff and students who were lost during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. A beautiful monument now sits in the school grounds to remind us of their untimely end.
Next came John the Baptist's day with celebrations at our school and our sister school. The Student vs. Tutor football match was hilarious, especially as you can't see one corner of the pitch because of the dip in the ground! On our celebration day the students did all sorts of performances, dancing, singing, acrobatics, poetry etc. and a good time was had by all. Quite tough for us, as the whole proceedings from 10am Mass to 4pm closing speeches were all in Kinyarwanda - I got about 30 words I think. Good job the rest of it was very active otherwise they may have found me having a Saturday afternoon nap in my chair. My kinyarwanda is improving, but not that much. I did get a couple of learning tools to help me for my birthday, so hope fully I'll get better soon! 

Since then I've been doing lots of training with the tutors and teaching the student teachers in the Teachers Resource Centre at college. I also went to visit the nursery and plan to do more work with them in the coming year.

Me and Simon also organised a big presentation about inclusive education with all the students at the TTC and followed it up with a workshop yesterday. In preparation for that we moved around half of Rwanda finding information out and filming in Special Schools and at the Rwandan National Union of the Deaf (RNUD). 

Outside of work there have been a few things going on. Mary, another volunteer doing the same thing as me in Matimba, left after her two year contract was finished. So, she came up to stay in Byumba for the day and then we partied in Kigali the following Saturday night. The bar/restaurant had a big sheet against the tree and projected music videos all night, so I danced until 1am from a 3pm start! I'm making new friends in the capital city (only 1 1/2 hours away) all the time and an ex-VSO-volunteer, Amy, who now lives and works there and myself went to cheer on England in a bar for their game against Italy. I don't think the Rwandan fans knew what to make of our singing na,na,na, three lions, and chanting throughout the match but we and about ten others had a laugh! Shame we didn't win!
In all of my travels around, I've been noticing all the amazing t-shirts people wear here. Most of the stuff that gets donated is sold for a cheap cheap price on the market and so people walk around in all sorts of great gear - and they rock it. From old guys in hello kitty hats, to youngsters in domino's pizza shirts - it all makes for entertaining people watching art the bus station.
Oh, also went to watch Rwanda play Libya in African tournament football. Until next time, enjoy the pics!