January

So I haven't blogged for so long. I'm very sorry about that. This blog was supposed to be something I could look back on as a kind of record of my travels in Africa, as well as keeping people back home up-to-date with what I'm getting up to. But it turned into a kind of chore for me, as recently I have been up against a few problems, both personally and with work. However, since it's nearly February, I thought I'd log back on and  post a little update from my little house in Butare...

Today, I went to LLCCM and helped them cook their famous (well famous to Miri, Libby and I) lunch. I wanted to know exactly how they cook their rice, beans and tea so I can try and recreate it at home. Sorry for the lack of photos (they are on Miri's camera and she is at dance class) but I will post them tomorrow! It was great to cook alongside Francois, one of the LLCCM members, and see exactly how Rwandans cook 3kg of beans and 2.5kg of rice on wood fires perfectly.

A couple of weeks ago, both my patience and my strength was tested when Miri and I had to take a 5-year old boy, Fabrice, to hospital with severe eye infections. Miri had called me in a panic asking what she should do for this child, who had turned up at LLCCM with swollen and bleeding eyes, unable to see. After a rapid journey by motorbike to LLCCM, we first took the child to the Rukira health-centre, where he was referred, after a long wait, to the District Hospital in Butare. Along with Francois and Fabrice's mother, we took bicycles to the hospital and commenced our wait...of six hours. On the coldest day in Rwanda. After much stress, unexplained payments and a queue that did not in any way resemble a queue, we managed to get some medicine. Luckily Hyacinthe was on hand at this point to explain to Fabrice's mother how to use the medicine.
Paying for someone else's medical care is a bit of a contentious issue. If Miri and I had not paid for every single step of the process, Fabrice would not have received a diagnosis or medicine, and he would have probably gone blind. However, in the small village that he lives in, everyone will now know of the two white girls who paid for his treatment, and may resent the fact that Fabrice received this attention, or resent the fact that we, truthfully, cannot help everyone.
In the wider scheme of things, Fabrice's situation really brings home grassroots development issues. Fabrice's mother and father both suffer from mental health-related problems. They cannot work and they cannot afford health insurance. So their right to good health-care and well-equipped hospitals cannot be realised. If their basic need, simply of an income, cannot be achieved, then top-down level policies cannot benefit them in the slightest. Relatively speaking, it is expensive to go to hospital if you cannot afford insurance. And therefore, children like Fabrice do not get opportunities to get treated for potentially life-changing illnesses.
Luckily Fabrice was much better within a week. He was a completely different child, running around, playing with us and generally acting like a 5-year boy again. After our extremely stressful day at the hospital, it was such a relief to see him happy and healthier.

This is such a lengthy post. Unfortunately I can't upload any photos as I can't find my camera lead... Tomorrow I will post some pictures, get back to my normal blogging pattern, and give you an update on the Strategy Development Day we held for RVCP last weekend!

ALSO: today I held a day old baby goat. Arguably the best thing that's happened in Rwanda so far!

Chickens, trees and buns.

This week has involved chickens, trees, strategy, dancing and a new personal trainer...

Here's a quick run-down of what I've been getting up to in Butare over the past few days. We have been focussing on developing RVCP's strategy - our Strategy Development Day has finally been confirmed for the 25th January which is pretty exciting! It's going to be such a vital step-forward for RVCP if we can develop a long-term strategy with them because it not only gives them a common goal that the whole organisation is aware of, it is a great way of securing funding from international partners. A strategy looks professional, shows that the charity has a vision and methods of achieving this vision. With the right planning, our Strategy Development Day could be a real success for RVCP and I'm looking forward to collaborating with the RVCP Committee in developing this document.

Getting people to complete and send over their handover documents is still proving to be a bit of a mission, especially as I'm not entirely sure everyone reads their emails....or their texts for that matter. I sent a total of 70 texts over 5 days to the RVCP Committee members, reminding them to check their mail, reminding them about the Strategy Development Day, reminding them to complete their handover documents...the list goes on. With a limited response (and the fact that my new* phone doesn't save sent messages) I'm not 100% sure people are even receiving the messages, but you can't say I haven't tried...!

*new phone: my phone was stolen on New Years Eve so I spent most of the last day of 2013 in Tigo and various phone shops trying to find the cheapest phone in Butare and to recover my old number, which happens to be my birthday. The result: a bright blue phone costing the princely sum of £8. (The guy in the shop: 'That's a boys phone, it's blue!' Me: 'Great, I'll have it then.' Cue strange looks - gender stereotypes are rarely questioned here!).

With work-related news out of the way, here's the chicken update! (This may become a weekly occurrence). Literally look how beautiful they are!

Claudine laid an egg! (Denise provided moral support and cheered her on)

Our evening invasion of chicken. Every evening.

Probably the best action shot ever!

Feeding my girl some porridge for breakfast <3

The chickens are probably the best thing that have happened here. They have become so happy and friendly! I get up at 6 every morning now to let them out and give them breakfast (on the mornings they don't just run straight over to the neighbour's house). They have been laying eggs, they join us on the chairs in the house in the evening for a goodnight hug and they keep us entertained when they're running around or dust-bathing in the sun. The neighbours and our housekeeper still think we're insane though...

The other day Libby and I went for a long long walk to the Ruhanda Arboretum at the University campus. It was absolutely beautiful, and we walked for hours under the trees.

When we reached campus and Butare again, we wanted to walk across the valley back home instead of following the road that snakes round the edge. So we found ourselves climbing over crops, scrambling up vertical banks and going through someone's garden before finding ourselves behind the Cathedral. This was all much to the amusement of the farmers in the valley (who were actually very helpful in pointing out when we were going the wrong way!)

The only other update I have is that Libby and I have found ourselves a personal trainer...in the form of this guy on YouTube:

Everyday we do 8 minute arms, abs, buns and legs (AKA 32 minutes of hell). Go team!

Climbing Mountains

We finally climbed Mount Huye!

  

 

On perhaps the hottest day in Rwanda so far... the hot, dry season has definitely begun! 

 We could see for miles over the mountains of the Huye district. 

Going down was a lot easier than climbing up...

Overall we were walking for about 8 hours and got some pretty good rucksack tan-lines...  When we got home we had a well-deserved soda and crashed out in front of a terrible film (Hiding if anyone's interested. Don't watch it).

In other news, the new university term has begun. RVCP members are back in Butare and we are hoping to work hard on developing RVCP's long-term strategy and improving their website and blog before the elections in February.

The only issue with this is organising when things are supposed to happen. It's all very well planning activities and events for RVCP committee members (for example our Strategy Development Day event) if they can attend. However, getting people to respond to emails and confirm when we can hold training sessions is not the easiest thing, especially when the students are back in lectures or in placements in hospital. And to top it all off, there are exams again over the next few weeks, so like back in December, these take priority over everything else (including RVCP activities). And it seems like even if not all students have exams, everything stops for everyone anyway...

It could be really easy to get frustrated about all of this. Our progress with RVCP isn't moving as quickly as we hoped, and many things that the previous capacity builders implemented are not being done anymore, which is both disappointing and frustrating. However, This Is Africa. Everything is done here at a much slower pace, people are more relaxed, and there is much less urgency. So when I feel like I am not achieving what I set out to do here, I take a step back, remember where I am, what I have already done and the incredible opportunities I have had for cultural exchange and personal development.

On a lighter note, here's the LLCCM goat looking adorable:

New Year Celebrations

So we brought 2014 in Rwandese style...

Miri, Richard, me, Paci, Libby and Celestin

Eating, drinking, partying and dancing!

We made pizza, brought the chickens out to dance, shouted an impromptu countdown at midnight at our favourite bar Grazia, danced until 4am, slept until 12pm and had to have a plate of carbs and sweet tea at Shekina to ease our hangovers. 

Probably one of the best New Years I have celebrated! Now for writing some New Years resolutions - and we are each writing a letter to one another to open this time next year so we can remember our African New Year. Happy 2014!

Christmas Festivities

The past week has been a whirlwind of festive spirit, dancing, beer and chasing chickens...

I woke up on Christmas morning to the greatest gift Libby could have possibly bought me: a chicken! We are now the proud owners of Uwamahoro Claudine and Kyogomishu Denise.

Meet Kyogomishu Denise and Uwamahoro Claudine

The chickens, although originally quite shy, now wreck havoc in the garden. They spend a lot of time next door, making a mess and eating the neighbour's food. However, we were paid back over the past couple of days by Claudine laying 2 eggs! (which were fried and put on a pizza for our New Years celebrations – more on that later!)

Our Christmas Day was quiet and filled with chocolate and gifts from each other and home. Miri bought me some flip-flops that all of the Rwandan girls wear so that I can become a better Rwandan.... I bought Miri a Catholic hymn book so we can sing along in Church and learn the responses, and I bought Libby a Rwandan football shirt and a Rwandan flag belt. (I originally wanted to get her an MTN or Tigo t-shirt, but after asking in every shop in Butare and even visiting the MTN and Tigo centres and getting both funny looks and outright laughter, I had to give up). The little girl next door (the family have just moved in) hung out with us and we gave her Welsh cakes and a Christmas hat. 

On Christmas Eve Miri cooked us Kartoffelpuffer – a typically German dish of potato pancakes with apple sauce and vegetable soup with mulled wine and Welsh cakes. We visited the Christmas Mass at the Cathedral which was the most wonderful service – the Cathedral was decorated and the choir sang Gloria in Excelsis Deo so we joined in for the choruses. I felt really Christmassy for the first time!

Tomorrow I promise to do a post on our New Years Celebrations!