3/3/2018 0 Comments An experience with the policeOn Monday 26th February I went along with Glyn who was doing a training at Ntendezi Primary school with the teachers. This is one of the schools that I will be working with so it was a good opportunity for me to meet the Headteacher and teachers and as this school has a special class for children with additional needs (a first for the district of Nyamasheke) I was keen to see how this works and meet the special needs teacher. We had great fun as usual with the training session with 15 teachers and the headteacher. The training ended at 12 and after the rain stopped we got ready to leave. Glyn gave a lift to one of his RwandaAid colleagues, Jean Nipo, to the main road and I started to walk. Glyn came back for me and I jumped on the back of the moto and we went back home (about 30mins)
When we got home I realised I had lost my phone. With the benefit of technology (and Glyn!) we tracked the phone and worked out it was where I got on the bike, just down the road from the school and it was still there. So, back on the bike! We got there but no sign of the phone but according to the 'Find my phone' app it was near. We were right next to the District Police Headquarters so i wandered in and after speaking (lots of sign language) to several very helpful policemen I found one who spoke good English and explained the situation. When they realised the phone could be tracked this caused great interest. Several policemen gathered around Glyn's phone and decided it wasn't far away. They had no transport available so one very burly policeman jumped on the back of Glyn's moto and left with Glyn's phone in his hand. He directed Glyn for over an hour and they went all over the place and even reached the edge of the rainforest. They always seemed to be close. At one point they enlisted another moto. The policeman jumped on the back of the moto and the moto's passenger joined Glyn. Sadly no photos - we didn't think it would be appropriate. In the meantime I was sitting in the grounds of the police station. They wouldn't let me sit in a covered area that had benches (I think it may have been some sort of holding area) but brought me a chair to sit on. I had dozens of 'conversations' with various policemen and locals all very interested in hearing about my 'problem'. Eventually Glyn and Frodoire the burly policeman returned. Despite best efforts they hadn't been able to locate the phone. I didn't realise it but I had been chatting to the Director of the police for the district. (He wasn't in uniform). He came and introduced himself to Glyn and was so determined that he would find the phone. He gave us his contact details and asked to call in with further details about it the following day as they were not going to give up. When we finally got home we had another look to see where the phone was but the battery had died so the signal had stopped. But looking at the last recorded location it was still near the school and the police HQ. It hadn't moved. The 'Find my phone' app showed where my lost phone is and also the location of Glyn's phone. We realised that the police were actually following Glyn's phone which is why they were always so close. My phone had not moved! So I rang the headteacher at the school and asked if she could mention it to the children in the school and also ask around the neighbourhood as it was there somewhere. I know what you are thinking - no chance! But remember this is Rwanda. The following day we had a call from the school. The grandmother of one of the children had picked up the phone. It was in her house. She brought the phone to the school and gave it back to Glyn. She is very poor and didn't have a phone. We had an old simple phone that we gave her as a reward for returning my phone. So a huge thank you to the police for all their time and effort, the school for helping us to locate the phone and most of all to the lady for handing it back. And also to Glyn for the technical stuff and for 'agreeing' to take the large burly copper on a wild phone chase! (And sorry you missed your meeting) And for me - I am very happy to get my phone back and will not be putting it in my back pocket when on the moto again. Yet another heart warming story from the land of a thousand hills.
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Preparing to go back to our second home
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