1/22/2018 1 Comment Keeping busy in KigaliGood news is - we have been told we can have the house we wanted but we are still waiting for the 'procedures' to be completed so are still currently in Kigali. I have trainings with the rest of the volunteers for the remainder of the week but am hoping that by next week we will move into our new home in Nyamasheke. In the meantime we have been keeping busy in Kigali. It was lovely to have a visit from Peter who used to be our top waiter at Hotel Des Chutes but now is doing very well and in his final year at university in Karongi studying mechanical engineering. He is a great example of a hardworking, intelligent young Rwandan who has worked and saved so hard to get through university. On Saturday we went to the Amahoro stadium to meet the members of the Rwanda Rugby Federation who were having their AGM. It was an interesting moto ride to get there as most of the main roads had been closed so we took lots of dirt road back streets - good preparation if I ever take up rodeo. Great to see rugby developing so well in Rwanda. Check out their website www.rwandanrugby.com Then in the evening we met again with Samuel and Donatien from Resilience RFC. I had some boots that had been donated for the team to hand over. Big thanks to Helen Farmer from Abersychan. They loved them. The nighttime view (with lopsided moon) from the guesthouse of Kigali is stunning. Then this morning I went to visit Chameleon Resources. This is a business set up by Terry a former Early Childhood Education (ECE) VSO volunteer. The business makes nursery school resources using local people (carpenters, tailors. story tellers etc). I have bought lots of items over the years. John is one of my former students of ECE from TTC Mururu. With help from various groups I have been able to fund furniture and resources for John to set up a very successful nursery in his village (where there is no local school). Big thanks to my colleagues from the Comms team at Welsh Water for their leaving gift - now spent on resources for John's new nursery class (he has been able to expand and add a new classroom). The furniture for the classroom has been funded by the Hereford Rotary club. Last week John sent me this photo of the furniture he has has made by local carpenters. Here he is cleaning the new classroom ready for Nursery 2. With the help of the local church they have two rooms they can now use for two classes. . It was lovely to see John again and to see him receive training from Christian (from Chameleon) using the resources. ![]() Having learned how to use the resources it was time to try and carry them away. They fitted into a large rice sack (took a few attempts) And then it was time to negotiate with the moto driver! There is actually a moto driver in front of that large sack! This is just the beginning of the journey. Tomorrow John will take the sack of resources onto two buses and another moto and make the ten hour journey back to his school. I am really looking forward to visiting and seeing the children playing with all of these great toys. So a big thank you to all of you who have helped me with funding the nursery. More pictures to follow when I manage to visit. But in the meantime I am in Kigali staying at the lovely Hosanna guesthouse. Fish brochette is on the menu and it has become a standing joke - every night I ask if fish brochette is available. Every night I am told yes. Every night they come back and say sorry - they thought it was but actually it's not! Then tonight we received a What's App from Emmy, one of the waiters, that they had fish brochette tonight. And they did And it was yummy! Hopefully the next instalment will be from our new home.
Glyn will be moving to Rusizi from Wednesday so hopefully it won't be too long before I can also head to the western province and we can set up our home. Thanks for reading!
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People who know me would generally agree that patience is not one of my strongest virtues! We have been in Rwanda now for a week and a half and have been made very welcome. I have attended three days of induction and had a chance to meet and get to know my team of Rwandan volunteers who I will be working with over the coming year. On Saturday we evening we attended a welcome dinner where we were treated to some wonderful African dancing and even had a bit of dance training and had to perform as a team. (Sorry, no pictures of that I was too busy learning the moves!) On Sunday we travelled to Nyamasheke which is the district in Western Province where I will be working as a District Teaching Advisor and on Monday we attended the launch of the programme at an information sharing meeting attended by nearly 100 people - the Mayor, Vice Mayor, district education officers and most of the headteachers and other education officers from the 139 schools we will be working with. Very promising that there was so much interest. On Monday afternoon we went to look at a couple of houses. One of them was in a perfect location near to the district office where I will be working and near to the main road so Glyn will be able to get to his work. The house has stunning views over Lake Kivu. We are very keen to have this house but at the moment we are not sure if it will be available to us. So while they try and sort it we have returned to Kigali --to wait --to be patient! We won't return to Nyamasheke and start the job until the house is sorted. And so we wait! But it will be a house worth waiting for with a fantastic view of the lake. The hotel we stayed at in Nyamasheke also had a fabulous view over Lake Kivu and offered Reflexology and massage something that is becoming popular in Rwanda.
On January 6th we arrived in Kigali and were met at the airport by the very friendly Etienne a VSO driver who took us to the Hosanna Guesthouse in Kimihurura in Kigali which will be our home for the next 8 days. It is a lovely guesthouse with stunning views over the city and everyone here has been so friendly and helpful (no surprise there - we are in Rwanda after all!).
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December 2018
Preparing to go back to our second home
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