Giraffes, Impala, Zebra and Elephants

Just got back from a fabulous two days at Akagera national park. you wouldn't believe the amount of wildlife! I spent about £150 for the two days including private car, accommodation, park entry, food and drink! Awesome scenery, the animals and birds were amazing, as was our driver and tour guide Damascen. It rained for a lot of the time on both days but he wasn't phased. We slid around in the mud and at some points were at a 45 degree angle to the road as we went off it. Also, spun at about the same angle across the plain when we were heading for our picnic spot and  he reversed very quickly when it looked like the elephant was going to charge. Loved the way we got out of the vehicle at a picnic spot on the first day and he casually told us how two cars had been pushed into the lake there by elephants, and as I turned around to check there were none behind us, a herd of Impala came jumping and running by! The food was great and we all had a good night playing cards and chatting after a few hours safari in Friday. We were up early on Saturday to get a head start driving right up through the park and hoped to see elephants. We were in luck, we saw fresh dung and smelt them within the first hour but couldn't see any until Damascen spotted one on the road ahead. So we drove up and the elephants moved to the side of the road, but the big one wasn't too impressed by our presence and began flapping its ears and getting ready to charge, so we reversed very quickly! However, the ele calmed down and we got some good shots and a bit of film before we moved on. The most impressive part of the second day was when we got to the plains and there were giraffe, impala, zebra, buffalo and topi all grazing with each other. Apparently they are going to reintroduce lions next year -
don't think they will be so lazy when there are some
predators around - can't wait to go back and see that!

Before the safari I was in work all week training and having a blast getting to know the tutors better. I think we will all have a much better working relationship after these two weeks of working intensely together. After the safari we headed to Yvonne and Olwen's place to have some home-made curry and play a new card game called Yaniv?! from Israel - we renamed it Yego! - as we are in Rwanda and that means 'yes' and had a few drinks while we worked out how to play! Good times with great people.

Bucket Baths, Beans and Blisters!

This past month has been hectic but blissful! I've settled in well now at the Teacher Training College and feel like I'm making progress. I'll be doing training with the tutors on student-centred teaching for two weeks over the Easter break, as well as a quick safari weekend in Akagera!

Some of the Asian volunteers in Rwanda have visited Byumba (where I live) frequently, and we have had lots of good fun playing dominoes, cards and various other games as well as eating lots of noodles!

The Annual Country review was held for all VSO volunteers (89 of us apparently) plus partners, staff and guests in a beautiful hotel next to lake which held us all for three days. I learnt a lot and got some time to socialise with the other volunteers at night.

I've got used to sleeping under my mosquito net now, although I do feel a bit like a princess and wish prince charming would wake me up with a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich most mornings! It reminds me of mum and dads four-poster bed and playing in the net curtains around it when I was a little girl.

I've learnt the easy way to cook (steam) pumpkin and I'm enjoying that, along with the carrots and beans I seem to eat every meal - still trying to get my 5-a-day in! We've been exploring the local restaurants too, although most of them are a 'Melange' which is a typical Rwandan buffet with lots of onion in it, so I usually end up eating rice, chips and spaghetti - they love their carbs here! The good news is, because I'm walking to college and back every day, I'm not putting on any weight and my body is fitting better into my clothes after all that over-eating I did in the UK before Ethiopia and at Christmas!

I've applied for my Masters In Education and am awaiting approval - apparently you can't do online courses in some countries - or they will charge me a much higher fee! Will let you know when I find out - can't wait to expand my learning again, particularly looking forward the 'Education in developing countries' module!
Myself and Lisa (another education volunteer) managed a 30km walk on the last Saturday of the month. It was beautiful but painful, as I developed three big blisters about 2 hours into our stroll! I still carried on for another 4 hours but my feet are not thanking me for it! Not long after they developed, we got overtaken by these three women, no shoes on and I thought; what am I complaining about in my head really! I did sit with my feet in the bowl and have a very hot bucket bath afterwards though, a privilege I doubt those women would have enjoyed when they reached their destination.

This week began with the national day of memorial for the Genocide against the Tutsi which happened in Rwanda in 1994. As a 20yrs commemoration there have been lots of events going on around the country and the next 100 days will continue to see more things happening to promote 'remember, unite, renew' in Rwanda. Over 800,000 people were killed and about 30,000 in my area. 1,000 gathered on a hill for refuge here and proceeded to be slaughtered. Our college will hold a memorial in May to remember the students who died in the unrest. They are erecting a monument to keep the memory of those lost alive. I am totally humbled and in awe of the survivors who work and live hand in hand with the perpetrators of the attacks.Thank goodness international aid agencies and government supporting agents within Rwanda have made countless efforts to counsel and improve life here in Rwanda since the atrocities happened. As I posted on facebook yesterday "Today is a bank holiday in Rwanda, so I have some time to catch up online. Not because it is a religious festival or Labour Day or some other long-held tradition, because twenty years ago a mass genocide of 800,000 Tutsi's happened here. My district has a mass grave of 30,000 people and today the emphasis is on remembrance, unification and renewing of peoples hope. I have had the privilege of living in many countries around the world and each time I move I find myself humbled by another aspect of life that never occurred to me growing up and living in the UK. In 1994 I was a carefree teenager with not concern or thought to what was going in Africa, let alone Rwanda. I don’t think I knew about the genocide until the film Hotel Rwanda was release ten years later. Today my thoughts and prayers are with the survivors here, as they continue to impress me with their resolve to move on from the tragedies that occurred 20 years ago. As the Gicumbi mayor said “From our history we should learn to live together in harmony, to respect and love each other and to work together for the development of our country,” take a moment to think about how blessed you are today."