My Week

It's been a while since I last posted! The internet hotspot has been pretty terrible, so getting online has been a bit of a pain. In the past week, I have had a trip to Kigali, some Congolese music, lots of Congolese food, wine and a mysterious disappearing towel...

On Sunday, Libby and I went to Kigali to meet the Treasurer, Fundraising Officer and HIV Programme Director of RVCP, who are all currently on placement in Kigali at the University Hospital. So we got a bus at 7.30am, and journeyed for 2 hours through the beautiful landscape of Rwanda.

We arrived in Kigali about an hour early so decided to have a snack at a milk-house. I have decided that I actually really like the ikivoguto (sour milk/yoghurt) which is so popular here. At first I never thought I would be able to drink half a litre of the stuff (which is how you buy it - asking for any less is unheard of!) but at breakfast this morning I did. Turning into a proper Rwandan now!

We met Thomas, Theoneste and Richard at the hospital after an adrenaline filled moto taxi ride from the bus station. Kigali is pretty chaotic and there don't seem to be any rules on the road, but we made it in one piece. Our training session focused on Communication Tools, and aimed to recap the things that Emma and Eleri, the previous long-term BVDA volunteers, taught.

Richard, Libby and Theoneste deep in a GoogleDocs conversation

The training session, which lasted most of the day, was really successful. Thomas, Theoneste and Richard were engaging and remembered everything that Emma and Eleri had introduced. We had a really great discussion about how RVCP can be stronger and how each of their roles can contribute to this. It was also very interesting to talk about the Rwandan government's Vision 2020 strategy, to turn Rwanda into a middle-income economy and to reduce poverty, and how this kind of long-term strategy could be adopted by RVCP. Vision 2020 not only details a plan for Rwanda's development, but also shows the international community that Rwanda has strong leadership and a strategic governance, and this same idea could be applied to RVCP. A long-term strategy would not only provide aims and intents, but also make RVCP more attractive to international donors. It was inspiring to see how Thomas, Theoneste and Richard could identify this and to try and think of ways to make it work for RVCP.

Richard, Thomas, Theoneste and Libby

Me, Richard, Theoneste and Libby

We have also had some great food. Miri invited some Congolese friends over on Saturday evening, who cooked us some traditional Congolese food. This also involved listening to Congolese music and of course our favourite Rwandan music from The Urban Boyz...

The food was incredible. We had omelette, rice, dodo (leafy green vegetable), ubugali and a pea/vegetable casserole. 

On Sunday evening, we also made Mexican - guacamole, salsa, spicy cabbage and butter beans, chapattis and caramelised carrots. The power was out, so we sat cooking and drinking wine by candlelight.

As for the mysterious missing towels: Libby and I both had towels stolen (from our locked compound...) the other night. This is seriously frustrating, but at least the market sells second-hand beach towels, so my new project is to find the most hilarious beach towel possible....

Umuganda Day

In Rwanda, every last Saturday of the month is Umuganda day. It's a compulsory community volunteer scheme where every Rwanda citizen has to undertake community work such as helping to harvest vegetables, cultivating land or building infrastructure. We managed to persuade Hyacinthe and Paci from RVCP to take us along to a local community where we could take part, and this resulted in sunburn, possible jiggle worm infection and mud EVERYWHERE.

Using my long-forgotten netball skills to volley lumps of wet mud onto the 'scaffold'

Paci, Hyacinthe, Me, Miri

Paci and Miri

In true African style, I think we hindered rather than helped the work because everyone would just stop and watch us work. (Great example in the above photo). I think we definitely made everyone's day when we were carrying the bricks, I have genuinely never carried something so heavy in my life, and have never been laughed at so much in my life when trying to pick them up.

The community turn-out to help build this house was actually incredible. It was so inspiring to see people of all ages come out to lend a hand (and in some cases, feet) and use their individual expertise to contribute skills. The men actually constructing the house were local construction engineers and house designers, and so the whole project was well-thought out and we knew that the house was properly designed and built. People divided up their labour, which meant every member of the community could be involved. I was surprised at the amount of children who came to help, since Umuganda is only compulsory for those over the age of 18. However the community was really keen to get stuck in and throw some mud about for a few hours on a cloudy Saturday.

Speaking of a cloudy Saturday, I ended up getting quite sunburnt. I now have what is known as a Doxy Nose (super sunburnt nose as a result of photo-sensitivity caused by my malaria medication. Great).
I really am going to have to get rid of the fringe at some point if I want an evenly tanned face… As for the jiggle-worms, they're little parasites living in the mud which bury into the skin, which Libby is convinced she has after stomping in the mud. They have to be dug out of the foot which is gross, more updates on this later. 

On Saturday afternoon, Miri moved house! Into the RVCP house! Much excitement and much walking with her stuff from one end of the town to ours. We never did catch the mouse but it did eat the poison (or at least some sort of rodent ate the poison) so either it got sick and died somewhere else or it's super resilient to rat poison. Judging by the size of it, it definitely could be the latter...

More information on Umuganda on the Rwanda Governance Board website: http://www.rgb.rw/main-menu/innovation/umuganda.html

A visit to the VIP latrines

Yesterday was a milk and RVCP project day. In the morning Miriam took us to Jose's Milk House, where we had half a litre of milk and some Mandazi - a sweet fried dough. 

The mandazi was delicious but there was no way I could managed a half-litre of milk, especially when it was so creamy. It's definitely something I'm going to get used to though!

In the afternoon, Miri and I went with Paci from RVCP to visit a project run under RVCP's Hygiene programme. RVCP work in Mpungwe village to build Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (VIP latrines) for families who do not have a clean and safe latrine. This programme was started in response to a government programme which seeks to move Rwandans from remote rural areas into villages, where they can concentrate infrastructure and house construction, thus ensuring that most people have access to electricity and water.

This is part of the Rwandan government's Vision 2020 initiative, which was launched by Kagame in 2000. In short, it seeks to transform Rwanda into a middle-income country, and this is to be achieved by reducing poverty, increasing and improving education, good governance, efficient agriculture, improving health systems and creating a united Rwanda. The housing initiative was first started to provide houses for widows of the genocide in 1994, and is continuing under Vision 2020. Therefore, villages such as Mpungwe are growing fast.

The houses built by the government however do not have latrines, since it is expected that the residents themselves will construct their own latrine. However, most people lack the resources and skills necessary to do this, and so have very unsafe and unhygienic latrines. RVCP seeks to improve the health and hygiene of the villagers by buying and building long-lasting and sustainable deep pit latrines.

RVCP build 4 latrines a year in Mpungwe, and the project started in 2005. The latrines built in 2005 are still in use, so the latrines are a long-term solution to provide improved hygiene in the village. RVCP provide materials, labour and money to buy expert labour to dig the pits (which are 8 metres deep). RVCP volunteers also provide education about how to keep the latrines clean and hygienic, the importance of clean water, how to practice good hygiene and how livestock near the house can spread diseases.

Out of around 156 families in the area, 97 families currently benefit from a VIP latrine and RVCP is currently researching where to construct the next four latrines. In the future RVCP hopes to be able to teach the villagers with the capacity to do so how to construct their own safe latrine.

The village of Mpungwe is spread over a hill above a valley, and the scenery is incredible. Again, photos don't do it justice, especially with that annoying speck on my camera lens which I only noticed until I was at home and uploading the pictures. I'm really keen to do some trekking in this area, so we're planning a walk to Mount Huye in a few weekends time which will be amazing.

Interesting information about Vision 2020 is at http://www.rwandachamber.org/rwanda+vision+2020

Projects, pigs and washable tan

Yesterday, we visited some RVCP projects. One was an agricultural cooperative ran under the Maternal Health initiative, and two others were incoming generating projects. Visiting these projects involved an adrenaline-filled motorbike ride, a lot of dust and even more pigs and rabbits....

The agricultural cooperative involves about 100 women, providing land, fertiliser and seeds for them to grow crops to sell at local markets. This falls under the Maternal Health initiative, and seeks to promote women's health and to provide them with an income to buy medicine and food for their babies. We spoke to some of the women and it was inspiring to hear that the money they earned through the cooperative was spent on improving the life and health of their children, and provided the women with a job that they would otherwise not have. With any development project, it is often difficult to fully understand how they work and whether they do actually have an impact upon the target community, which is why it is so important for me to visit these projects and speak directly to the people involved.

The photos don't quite do justice to how beautiful Rwanda is, it is by far the most incredible place I have ever been. It is also more hilly than Bristol (which is impressive). 

We then met with the project heads of Income Generation, and visited both the pig and rabbit projects. The pig project involves ten families, who each receive a pig. After a year, the pig will have piglets, and the family will be able to breed from them again, or sell them to make money. RVCP has two piglets from each family, which are then given to other families, and so the project is sustained once the initial ten pigs have been bought. We visited four of the ten families, who all told us how much the pig means to them and how it will help them make some money once it has piglets. 

We then visited the rabbit project, which I was a bit dubious about. But happily all the rabbits looked healthy and well-fed! The rabbit project involves a youth club, and in return for looking after the rabbits, the youth club can sell the rabbits and make an income from them.

I asked Benedict why the youth club have rabbits and what they can sell them for, and this was met with a incredulous 'But you don't eat rabbit in England then?' It turns out that rabbit is actually a popular meat in Rwanda and that hotels can sell rabbit for around 6000RFW (£6), so the youth club can get pretty good prices when selling the rabbits at market. I told Benedict that no, people don't really eat much rabbit in England, and anyway I don't at all because I don't eat any meat, and this was met with another incredulous exclamation of 'Oh no!' and a facepalm. Telling people I don't eat meat will never get old! 

After a day in the Rwandan sun (it's been seriously hot the past few days) I was looking pretty tanned. But sadly a dust tan is not permanent, and it all washed away in some very disgusting shower water. I also lost a fight with a mosquito and I am covered in more bites, one of which is on the sole of my foot which is the WORST place to have a bite. But apart from dust and vicious mosquitoes, Rwanda is a pretty amazing place to live, and visiting some RVCP projects has made me even more certain of this. 

A weekend of worship, sugary tea and Great Mutual Expectations.

This weekend involved a visit to LLCCM, an orphanage initiative supported by RVCP, a leg of the Tour de Rwanda (of which there are sadly no photos...), The Great Mutual Expectations Meeting, a three hour Church service, Primus, dodgy sun-burn, an insane amount of mosquito bites and a lot of HALLELUJAH! AMEN!

On Saturday, Libby and I joined Miriam and went to LLCCM, a community-based voluntary organisation to help children orphaned by HIV/AIDs or the genocide. The initiative aims to place children back with any family that remain, and the organisation acts as a centre to support the children and their families. Saturday is Children's Day, which includes Bible/worship sessions, games and lunch.

Since LLCCM is based in a village outside of Butare, the easiest and cheapest way to get there is by a cycle-taxi. Next time I promise I will take photos, it was absolutely hilarious. It's quite nice to sit on a cushion attached to the back of a bicycle and be pedalled along, but everyone does stare at you (because clearly seeing a white person on a bike is the FUNNIEST THING EVER).

The worship part of Children's Day at LLCCM was also an experience. All in Kinya-Rwandan, it involved a lot of singing, dancing and a call-and-response shout: 'HALLELUJAH!' 'AMEN!' x 3 (this randomly occurred throughout the morning). I felt slightly awkward not knowing what was going on, and the entire session lasted 2 hours so it was quite hard work to pay attention for all that time without understanding a single word (except the HALLELUJAH! AMEN! bits). Afterwards we played some games with the children and met the cows and goats that are kept there before having a lunch of extremely sugary tea, rice and beans which were the best beans I have had in Africa so far.

On our ride back to Butare, I sadly got a bit burnt, which was annoying cause I was wearing a necklace at the time so now I have a vaguely elephant-shaped tan line. This goes well with all the bites I have, my feet have never been so itchy. If anyone wants to send me a present, then send Aloe Vera gel because one tube is not going to be enough for 8 months.... My address is P.O Box 696, Butare, Rwanda by the way (Christmas is soon, right?!)

After returning to Butare, Miriam and I went to have ice-cream at Inzozi-Nziza, a non-profit organisation from a New York ice-cream company (which our housemate Lora works for) to empower women and provide them with jobs and income (as well as making amazing ice-cream available for Butare!)

Saturday evening was the evening of our Great Mutual Expectations Meeting. This was with the RVCP committee and aimed to do several things: explain who BVDA are and how we work, outline why BVDA have sent two long-term capacity builders to RVCP, and to discuss our expectations of each other while we are here. The meeting itself went really well; the RVCP members thought it was useful, interesting and the discussion about what we expect from each other was very productive. However, when we did the session evaluation at the end, all the members thought of the same problem: there wasn't enough sugar in the tea. This is a totally Rwandan thing - each cup of tea has to have about three large spoons of sugar in it before anyone will drink it. Which is 1) totally alien to me and 2) meant we got through about half a kilo of sugar in just one evening (and still this wasn't enough).

The Great Mutual Expectations Meeting

On Sunday morning, I met Peter and went to Church. I wanted to experience a Rwandan Church service, and thought that it would help me immerse myself into the community even more, because going to Church plays such a huge part in the Rwandan week. I chose to go to the Protestant service Peter attends because of the music and the dancing, and this definitely didn't disappoint! I was immediately made welcome, and someone appeared next to me who translated the entire service. There was a stage at the front with a band (electric guitars, keyboards, drum-kit - it was like being at a school concert) and a huge gospel choir. Everyone was standing up, dancing and singing, and I was given a child to look after more or less as soon as I arrived. My translator translated everything for me, which was great because I would have definitely fallen asleep during the guest speaker's hour long speech if I hadn't have been able to understand him. The service ended up being about three hours long (and we missed the first hour) which was way too long but we met Miriam and Hyacinthe afterwards and went to Shekina for lunch (more on Shekina another time. This blog post is way too long).

If you've read this far, you can be rewarded with a photo of us trying (and failing) to light our stove:

Interesting reading:

LLCCM: http://www.llccm-rwanda.org

Inzozi Nziza: http://www.bluemarbledreams.org/