ICT

Up until now, ICT has always meant something to do with computers – not any more! In VSO it is In Country Training.  We started very gently on Sunday with a session from a current volunteer who is staying with us as a mentor.  She has answered so many of our questions and been very patient.  We had a guided bus tour and walk of Kigali.  It’s a very sprawling city and seeing it on a Sunday meant that it was very quiet.  We had to get a public bus back to the guesthouse and saw a little of the bargaining that goes on.  And how many people they pack into a bus before it is deemed full.  After another meal of melange – potatoes, rice, plantain, sweet potatoes and some salads (e.g. tomato and onion) and veg (e.g. beans and carrots) – we had more free time, which most of us spent sitting around and talking.  Although a few headed out to the local bar (which is in a shipping container).

Today was our first full day.  I got up at 6 as I was meeting two other volunteers to see if we could manage a run.  We are at altitude and running is not really something you do here as a leisure activity.  So, we set out for a short lap of the nearby roads I had taken a look at the day before.  We drew plenty of stares, but nothing hostile and no one shouted any abuse at us.  On my third lap, some school children joined in for about a minute before one got bored/tired and started shouting at his friends to stop.  I did three laps, which came to the grand total of 1.8 miles.  Hmmmmm.  The most exciting part was finally being able to select “yes” in answer to my Garmin’s query of “have you travelled hundreds of miles since your last use?”  Ohhhhhhh YES!  After nearly three days of melange and fizzy drinks, I felt sluggish.  But it’s a start. As for the weather, well, it was gorgeous the first two days – really hot and sunny but not too humid.  However, it broke last night and it rained during the night – although there was absolutely no evidence of that this morning as the ground was bone dry!  As the day wore on, we got more rain.  It started quite gently.  We thought it was heavy so we had a discussion about what people do in the rains.  We were assured that this was only a gentle rain and when it gets really bad people would just seek shelter in the nearest place.  Apparently heavy rain is when you can no longer hear the conversation you are having with the person next to you.  And sure enough, this soon happened and we had to pause the training session!  It was amazing.  The thunder and lightning were quite loud too and we had another power cut (there have been about three since Saturday lunchtime!).  The start of lunch was delayed by the rain as we could not get to the other part of the guesthouse.  Eventually a member of staff in waterproofs arrived with a large umbrella to ferry a couple of us back at a time.  We got soaked.  There were torrents of water flowing across all of the surfaces.  It was amazing.  And then it stopped and it all suddenly dried up – incredible.

This evening we had a visit from the staff at the British High Commission.  The High Commissioner himself did not come as his wife was giving birth, but we got lots of information and you will all be pleased to know that the British High Commission take responsibility for all VSO volunteers regardless of nationality. So, if anything does happen, we have an evacuation plan!  It’s good to be organised!  We visited the local container bar after more melange (tonight the sweet potato was replaced by mash) – I am starting to worry that I will be the size of a house very soon.  And that’s nearly all there is to say really.  I am enjoying it all very much.  I had a good meeting with the VSO Education Programme Manager today all about my placement and I feel like I have a plan to be working with for my first few months.  I can’t wait to get going but am also really enjoying the group sessions we have for ICT – there are nearly 30 of us and everyone is totally lovely.    On top of all this, I am sleeping under a mosquito net every night and when I wake up in the mornings I feel a little bit like a princess.  How long will that last?