Rwanda Week 5-8

Weeks 5-8

Well, I have left the village again heading back to Kigali with the hope that I can buy my motorbike as well as organise the water tanks and cement.
It was nice to be back in Kigali, and I must admit this city does grow on you.. I might get harassed to buy everything under the sun but its all in good humour and not once have I felt threatened.
Well, it is Friday night and I’m very excited as I am hitting the nightlife of Kigali tonight. It has been a whole month for me, which for those of you that know me is a long time for me not to have a dance and a drink or two.
I am going out with a friend I met at the bank, he is a teller there and I spend much of my day lining up to withdraw cash from the account. So, now I have become friends with the teller guy and he speaks fluent English, which these days an important criteria in becoming my friend! He is from Uganda originally, hence he speaks English fluently.
It was a fun night out and I met all his friends, who are also from Uganda and everyone speaks English fluently.. There was some interesting experiences, like the fact that think that some people were trying to be all friendly cause they think they can squeeze a drink out of me.. for those that know, I am the tightest person at the bar and a lightweight so they were really targeting the wrong muzungo.. (but I was the only muzungo male at the club so there weren’t many options for them)
It was a fun out dancing away, and I showed that even muzungos can bust a move or two! The following day, I caught up with some Belgium friends that I met through Silke (another volunteer) and we went to this great restaurant overlooking the city of Kigali….and all the bright lights (all 10 of them! Ha)
On Sunday, I visited the Genocide Memorial in Kigali. I knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience but I wasn’t quite expecting it to be as confronting. It made you ‘sick in the stomach’ as you read and listened to what people endured during these horrific 3 months and listening to people that lost loved ones. It still amazes me that nearly 1 million people were killed in the space of 3 months. It wasn’t just the murder, it was also the rape and pillage that took place. I was reading the known HIV infected males were raping Tutsi women to infect them, to stop the breading of the race. Another interesting aspect of the memorial, was the language they used to describe the events. The rest of the world does need to take some responsibility for what happened as we sat back and watch the slaughter unfold before our eyes without intervening.
An example of the feeling of betrayal is when they mention that if the UN peacekeepers that were involved in moving all the ex-pats from the country (4000 of them) were involved in helping then the genocide could have been avoided. (This according to experts is absolutely right).
I do suggest anyone that visits Rwanda, to come and visit the Memorial as it is unfortunately a key part of their history and the ramifications will be felt in this country for generations to come. As many of the signs in the country say, please let us ‘never experience another genocide’.(But of course the world said that after the Holocaust and we have experienced Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda etc.)
At the memorial, I met a Rwandese man who plays cricket in Kigali on Sundays. He was wearing his cricket shirt and I asked him where he plays and he asked me to come down and play. I got the distinct impression that they might think that a decent player due to where I am from… they might be greatly disappointed!!
On Monday, I managed to organise the cement to be picked up from the distributor but it was not without issues. Without wanting to get into too much detail, there is a shortage of cement here due to so much construction taking place in Kigali. So, you have to look hard to find cement at a reasonable price and the distributors know this so they treat you like your business doesn’t really matter. To put it briefly, I was told when I called up in the morning that I have to come now and pick up 100 bags of cement or I would lose it. This is after I have paid for it upfront and did so over a week ago. So, I had to quickly organise transport to come and pick it up to deliver it to the school. This was achieved, so even though I didn’t get my motorbike to me it was a successful day.
During the afternoon, I visited the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) who have a major office in Kigali. I was given a contact from a friend of mine and I arranged a visit to understand more of their operations and what there role is in Rwanda. I told my contact that I am from a logistics/supply chain background so I was keen to meet someone from this area. He put me on to the Operations Manager, who is an Ethiopian man that has worked for the WFP for 15 years all over the world. Unfortunately, he has only been with the Rwandan sector for a short period but was able to give me good rundown of their operations. It was nice to ‘talk shop’ and to understand their operational processes which start from the port in Dar as Salaam (Tanzania) to their distribution warehouses. Their major projects are looking after refugees, HIV people and by far the majority of foodstuff is used in the ‘Feed the Children’ Program. It does surprise me that in a country that is so self-sufficient in subsistence farming with such fertile land (and it never stops raining here!) there is a requirement to bring food into this country. Maybe, I can understand in the suburban areas but I am astonished that they transport food all the way into my school when all I see around me are varying crops being grown by families. The government have set a goal that by 2012 that Rwandan will be a self-sufficient country and no foodstuff will be imported into the country. (This won’t particularly please the American farmers who use WFP to sell their excess produce to the world)
I do wonder if the money involves in distributing and buying this food to areas like this should be given to the local community to buy food on behalf of the schoolchildren. This creates employment and wealth in the community and most of all it will still feed the hungry children at the school. Just a thought that I will follow up..
You also question, children are on holidays at the moment but they are still needing to be fed so where are the families getting the food from then?? It just seems to me that money could be better spent at a local level, instead of it being just handouts from the world’s largest NGO. (But saying that it has always been my dream to work for the WFP)
Yesterday, I came back to the village as it was payday for the 80 employees that I have on site. I had to get their ‘timesheets’ and submit this info into my spreadsheet and then give this to the site manager. Thankfully, everything matched up so it was a straightforward task.
I also started English classes in the late afternoons, so people that are working on site are able to attend. As I have stated before, it is nice to take classes for people that want to come along and learn English. We have so much fun in class, and I think my technique of focusing on the spoken word is going well and the class seems to enjoy it.
Today we are having a BBQ at the school to thank them for finishing the foundation phase of the building. We are killing 3 goats and have an abundance of sorghum beer for all the workers, as well as bananas of course! They are really looking forward to it and the mood on site has been extremely positive.
Well, we have had the BBQ and it was one of the most enjoyable afternoons that I’ve had since I arrived in this fascinating country. I arrived at the school during the late afternoon, and I could tell by all the smiles on everyone’s faces that they were looking forward to a drink and kebab of goat. The mood was similar to the last week of school before you break for the Christmas break, it probably wasn’t the most productive of afternoons but today they were excused as they have deserved the break.
My ‘brothers’ had done a wonderful job in organising everything. They set up a classroom with all the tables and of course in this society the head table was kept for the muzungos (I invited Silke and her two friends that were here on holiday) and management of the school. They were each given a cup each, which was duly filled with a cup of sorghum beer and they were given a kebab and some bananas. (It actually felt like it was prison as there were so patient waiting for their drinks and food).
I was asked to make a speech, which was translated to Kinyarwandan and they all clapped and smiled when I finished. Speeches were then made by the head of ADENYA, School Principal and the site manager. It was very enjoyable afternoon that was a success on all accounts. I took the truck back to my house and on the way home everyone in the back was singing and laughing as they really appreciated the sorghum beer. (Some may have had a couple of cups too much!)
Today, I went to site and I was keen to get more involved with the building process and to learn some new skills myself. A couple of the builders took me under their wing and they taught me the trade of bricklaying. There was a lot more to it than I ever imagined, and you have to be very accurate (lets hope the school doesn’t fall down on behalf!) and very patient. While I was doing it I was teaching them English and they all thought it was funny. The issue with me helping out is that it does lead to a lot of attention and distracts them from doing their job. I want to be actively involved in the project, but I have to make sure my enthusiasm doesn’t interrupt the progress of building works.
I took another English class in the afternoon and I had a record 20 people in attendance, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. I even had one person come up to me at the end and thank me for the class and told me how much he enjoys coming along. (It is comments like this that inspires you to keep going with it and it is unfortunate that my time here is brief as I think I could see real progress after a couple of months) Tonight, we had chicken for dinner and I know that the chicken is fresh because I saw Toto running around outside trying to catch it. Chicken here tastes a lot different to back home, as there are no cages here so they tend to be more like ‘roadrunner’.
Well, the raining season is well and truly with us here in Rwanda. Here I was expecting to escape the cold and wet English weather but it looks like it has followed me here (there goes that great tan I was hoping to get working here!). As we are in a tropical belt, when it rains here it doesn’t let up and then suddenly the sun is out. It is a pity we don’t get this amount of rain in parts of Australia. The rain has made life on site very difficult for the workers and I have been told there is another 6 weeks like this, so I do imagine that it is going to delay the construction to a certain degree.
I am very excited as this weekend, I am going to Nyungwe Rainforest situated on the west side of Rwanda and famous for their varieties of monkeys and chimpanzees and rainfalls. (Some of you may know that I do have quite an infinity for rainfalls..dont ask me why!)
Well, I left on Saturday morning to Muganza to get to Butare early in the morning to meet the Belgium contingent that were going as well. Once again, I experienced taxi trouble, so I was stuck on the side of the road as we waited for a replacement vehicle to be sent to pick us up and take us to Butare. I eventually arrived in Butare and met my fellow muzungos who were waiting patiently. We decided the easiest and fastest way to get to the Forest was to take our private taxi, especially as there were 5 of us.
On the way to Nyungwe Forest we stopped at Gikongoro for the Genocide Memorial. I really didn’t have any expectations of what was in store for me, especially after being to the one in Kigali. Well, it was probably one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. To give you a brief rundown, during the Genocide many people fled to churches and schools as they ‘believed’ it would be a safe sanctuary. Unfortunately, this was far from the truth and many of the worst atrocities occurred inside schools and churches. (Thanks in part to community leaders ‘selling’ out their people)
At this particular site, many people fled to this newly built school that was not yet opened, with the hope they could hide here until help arrived. This help never arrived and 30 000 people were killed in the most inhumane way known to man, with many buried alive and most attacked with machetes, picks, shovels anything that the local militia could lay their hands on. What makes this particular site, more confronting is that the bodies of the victims have been left behind and conserved in lime and their skeletons lay in all of the classrooms. The smell is intense and the eerie nature of this place will live with me forever. What saddens me the most were the amount of children that were killed here.. literally thousands and many too young to even know what the conflict was all about. The skulls of many of these children were cracked and many lay in the foetal position, next to an adult (seemingly their parents). The clothes of the victims also lay in a deserted classroom and you can just smell death in this place. This was a conflict that should never have occurred, as the international community knew for months if not for years of the threats of the local militia and the ethnic tensions that were rife in Rwanda. In part, we are to blame as a force (other than a peacekeeping mandate) of as little as a few thousands could have saved up to a million lives. (As I have mentioned before, if only Rwanda was oil rich) It will go down in history as the greatest failure of the UN, and showed just how inefficient and highly beaucratic this organisation is in reacting to a humanitarian crisis like the Rwandese experienced in 1994. (Although to be fair to the UN, they can only act with the authority of the Security Council and there was no resolution on the conflict- thanks mainly to the US and UK too worried about another Mogadishu)
This also inspires me to do something about helping in only just a little way as people here lost complete faith in the international community (and rightly so).
Anyway, it was worth the visit but I left just so frustrated that human life can be viewed so worthless sometimes. These people never had a chance to survive, especially the young children and women.
We arrived in Nyungwe in the afternoon and decided to go for a walk to the local tea plantations and I came across my first monkeys in the forest. This place really is a rainforest, as it never stops raining!
The next day, we did our waterfalls walk, which I was really looking forward to and in the morning the day looked like it was going to be sunny. So, a perfect day for a walk in the forest…. Well, as I should have guessed the weather here turns so quickly and before I knew it the rain came down with great force and I was soon drenched from head to toe. We trekked for about 2 hours before we finally reached the waterfall and it was amazing, absolutely loved it! Unfortunately, due to the rain and the spray from the waterfall I wasn’t able to get any decent photos. It was a great natural wonder and was definitely worth it, even though I was ‘cold to the bone’ due to the heavy rain. The shower back at the guesthouse never felt so good, as I literally burnt my skin to get feeling back into my body. We had a tasty bowl of soup and a toasted cheese sandwich- just what the doctor ordered. The weekend was all going to plan, until the taxi we were taking had broken down and he needed a spare part from neighbouring town. Well, we then had to wait for 4 hours for him to come back with the part for us to continue. This meant we didn’t arrive in Butare until the evening and therefore missing the taxi service to Kigali. He offered to drive us to Kigali (at a price of course) but by this stage I just wanted to get back.
I am pleased to report that I have finally managed to buy my motorbike, but it is now coming a week later as I decided to go with someone else. So, in just one week I will be the proud owner of a motorbike and I’m literally counting down the days until I have it… very exciting! (Although this is Africa, so a week could mean a month!)
The following day, I went back to my cottage but I missed the connecting service in Butare to Muganza so I had to catch the local government bus..well never again will I let myself experience that!!! It was another nightmare trip, as this time I was standing for nearly 4 hours wedged with fellow passengers on windy dirt roads. It was the longest afternoon of my life!! .Never again will I take that service.. I would rather walk! But it got worse, because of the torrential rain and the driver refused to go to Muganza and drop me off at a neighbouring village about 5 kms away. I wasn’t a happy camper and I soon had the whole neighbourhood around, staring at me. Thankfully, someone came and fetched me on their motorbike and by this time it was dark and still raining and the roads were in very poor condition. I was also annoyed as I had my first English class in the neighbouring village and 20 people came along for it, so I felt very guilty that I let them down.
Finally, I reached the nuns and they had a hot bowl of soup ready for me… they do spoil me!
My transport home wasn’t the only concern, the two water tanks that I bought were stuck in Muganza as the driver refused to take them to my cottage (about 8kms away). So he just unloaded them and went back to Kigali.. do you think I was wild! As, I have come to experience here many times, nothing is easy in this place especially in trying to get anything to my cottage. Sometimes they just love to make life difficult here for me, but it does keep you on your toes and you have to constantly think of solutions ‘out of the box’. We have managed to get them here, with a great deal of fuss and a few phone calls later. I have learnt very quickly that you need to be stern and blunt.
Today, I finally had my first class in Muganza (neighbouring village) teaching English. Compared to my class in my village this one is predominately made up of school children. I had 20 in my first class but the co-ordinator believes that I will definitely have more in the future as word spreads among the village. I had a teacher in my class and he was asking what textbook I was following in teaching them English. That is a very good question!
Well, the preparations for our Christmas party are coming along really well. Thanks to the help of my ‘brothers’ we have complied a list of 150 names of poor children and their parents. The children and parents are very excited about the day, and all I need to do now is raise enough money to give these children a Christmas. (This is where my friends, family and anyone else can help!) I have already decided to give my Christmas and birthday money from my parents to the day as compared to these children I have everything material I need in this world. I am in a privileged position to give 150 children and their parents a Christmas, and I am determined to ensure the day proceeds even if I have to sell my body on the street!. 
Well, I had my second class of English in Muganza and I had an amazing 40 students who attended. It was great to have so many students in attendance, but it does make it difficult for me to teach especially as I am focussing on English conversation.
This weekend, I am leaving my cottage again and this time I am heading to Nyabimata to visit my muzungo friends who are volunteering with ADENYA and to have a meeting with the co-ordinator. (another NGO).
The progress of the school building is progressing ahead of schedule. We have finished the foundation of the two sites and now have finished the brick laying on the site with 5 classrooms. The progress has been helped with the amount of people that we have on site, currently we have 89 workers who I am employing. They all tend to work well together, and this construction has given these people much needed employment for the area. Although, after next month there will have to be a scaled down workforce as the construction budget can’t continue to allow us to pay 89 people every 2 weeks.
I am now back in Kigali as I needed to buy some cement and was hoping to have my hands on my motorbike. I did manage to buy 400 bags of cement but I wasn’t as successful with my motorbike, they tell me it is going to be another week now!
Well today I am a little tired as I went to the biggest ‘club’ in Kigali to experience the nightlife. It was a fun night out and quite strange as some of the local women that are there are prostitutes so as a muzungo they are constantly coming up to me and trying to get my attention. The place itself was very European, and I was surprised how many people I knew in there.. Rwanda sure is a small place sometimes..
I have another ‘Africanism’ for you, the other day when I was walking through Kigali I was wearing my thongs (flip flops) and everyone was staring at me… well more than usual anyway. I just couldn’t work it out.. well apparently it is banned (or not favoured) for males to wear these type of footwear around the city of Kigali. (because of hygiene and safety reasons) Bizarre.. I don’t think that law would pass in Australia!!

I am very pleased that we now have rainwater tanks at my cottage and Christine’s father’s house. We have been installing them over the last couple of weeks. So, we now have our own access to water and it saves the poor helper from walking up and down the hill to fetch water from the community source. It is very rare for a house to have access to a rainwater tank in my village, actually come to think of it I don’t think there is anyone that does..
Today, my ‘adopted Rwandan Mum’ went to the second-hand clothes market for all the clothes I need for my Christmas function. It was a big job for her to go and buy clothes for 150 children. (as I have previously mentioned I would do it myself but I would get charged a muzungo rate). The invitations are all finished and will be distributed as of tomorrow and I want to contact the print media about the day to get some more coverage for the southern province of Rwanda. I am also working on a presentation for the day and I will organise some local dancers to perform on the day. (fingers crossed everything goes to my plan..but of course Murphy’s law might have a strong influence on the day  haha)
Oh yeah, I have another ‘Africanism’ for you, apparently I have been told that if a woman drinks orange fanta she is a virgin. I’ve heard this through a friend of mine but just something to be mindful of if any of my female friends are thinking of coming to Rwanda!
Today, I have just come back from celebrating the International Volunteer Day in Kigali. There were street stalls from various organisations that have volunteers in Rwanda (namely UN Volunteers and VSO), so it was nice to meet some fellow volunteers and to find out more information on what NGOs operate in Rwanda. One of my self-imposed tasks while I’m here is to promote the work that ABANA are doing in Rwanda and to find out what other NGOs are doing in the southern region. It is important to form some links and networks with the major players in the industry, so ABANA are fully aware of the latest developments in the industry. (Also, if there are future ABANA volunteers it is nice to have links for them- because all of us have similar tales to tell!)
Well, I have now been here for nearly 2 months and it saddens me to think that in a couple of months I will be leaving this wonderful country. There is just so much that can be achieved here and everyone is very appreciative of your efforts.
Anyway, I hope everyone is well and wish me luck with my Christmas function on the 21st December. It will be a very busy next couple of weeks.
Have a Merry and safe Christmas everyone!
Cheers Troy