Goodbye...

These next few posts are a little bit retrospective as I was so busy in the final few days, that I just did not have a chance to do my blog.  I have to say, that packing was an incredibly stressful experience.  I had a very long list of things I REALLY NEEDED to bring.  Only I could not fit them all in the case...I had to make some tough decisions and there are lots of things I left behind that I was sad about.  We’ll see how vital they really are!

I felt remarkably calm right up until the moment I had to say goodbye to Mum and Dad at the airport.  I was even calm when I handed over my debit card to pay the exorbitant amount of money that Ethiopian Airlines charged me to put my motorbike helmet in the hold.  Apparently it is a restricted item as it is considered a weapon.  I tried to haggle and play the charity card, but it was to no avail.  You can imagine how pleased I was to get through security to meet the other 10 or so volunteers who had been allowed to carry theirs as hand luggage.  I think the less we can say about the journey, the better.  But I shall aim to never fly with Ethiopian Airlines again.  There was a huge group of us travelling together and we had plenty of time for bonding.  At the end of our very long journey, we were greeted by the incredibly friendly and welcoming faces of VSO Rwanda – with flowers!  It was such a relief to have such a nice welcome to the country.  We were swiftly taken to the Amani Guesthouse – our home for the next two weeks.  It is very comfortable.  We were also given a brief welcome talk and handed our welcome packs and new Rwandan SIM cards.  How very organised!  After a couple of hours of unpacking/washing/snoozing we had another session and then dinner and then we went to an Italian restaurant as it was Ste’s (another volunteer) birthday.  It was a long walk and there was an unfortunate accident on a dark road with a hidden and very deep storm drain, but the restaurant was lovely with beautiful night time views of Kigali.  And the beer cost about a pound.