Nyungwe, visas and roast chicken

Nearly the end of February. My time here is going far too quickly. Here's a quick run down of what's happened recently and some photos of a trip I took to Nyungwe National Park.

1) I have a visa which means, for the first time in 2 months, I am actually legally allowed to be in Rwanda. However, my visa is only until the end of March (I applied for a visa til July. The immigration office hated me and my complicated application. As a result I have to leave in a month). I want to stay in Rwanda in April and travel to Malawi in May, so I'm going to try and extend my visa by saying I got malaria and so I was sick and couldn't do anything for a whole month, so pretty please let me stay for April.

2) Wamahoro Claudine was eaten by our neighbours. Because clearly a fat chicken = free meal in Africa. Very sad indeed. Kyogumishu Denise was very upset and lonely so we went to the chicken market (best/worst place) and rescued her new friend, Kwizera Eveline:

3) Miri, Lora and I spent an awesome day/night in Kigali to watch the Superbowl. Go Seahawks! We had an awesome time wandering round Kigali and partying with Peter and Richard beforehand. After staying up all night and whiling away a couple of hours at a 24 hour cafe at the bus station, Miri and I went to immigration to learn the status of my application. We got on the correct bus...and promptly fell asleep, missed our stop, and ended up on the other side of the city. After nearly freezing to death on a moto, we arrived at immigration only for me to be told my application had failed, I was wasting their time and they were sick of my application. Cue vast quantities of angry tears from me. (The following week I returned, in a slightly better state of mind, and managed to convince the immigration officials to give me til the end of March. Will update on the progress of getting an extension!)

4) At the beginning of February, Libby, her father, Lora and I hired a car and went to hike in Nygunwe National Park, an ancient rainforest with a huge biodiversity (photos courtesy of Libs!).

'Look at its nose! Look at its nose!!'

Congolese refugee camp at Kigeme, Nyamagabe

 The past month has been busy with trips to Kigali and finalising the RVCP strategy. Time is absolutely flying past, which is scary because I guess someday I'm going to have to go back to the UK. I have been trying to plan my life but even though I applied for a Masters, my tutor STILL hasn't sent a reference for me and he hasn't answered any of the emails I keep sending him, and I am freaking out that I won't get a place. So I have also been looking at jobs related to the work I am doing here (but paid) and I either need a million years of experience or a Masters (which I may or may not get depending on whether my tutor will provide a reference for me) so maybe when I get back home I will go back to temping at the coffee factory...

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!

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!