Est-Fest weekend

This weekend began when Judy arrived at Kibungo bus-park on Friday evening.  We walked back to the house and caught up on news and then decided that rather than go to an aerobics class, we would go for a beer and some food.  So off we went to St Joseph’s to sit in the garden, outside the aerobics class, and eat and drink.  After this we returned to the house to do some final preparation on our costumes for the next day.  This was aided greatly by the bottle of wine Judy had brought with her and soon we were knee deep in rice sacks and markers and Judy was beginning to turn herself the nice shade of smurf blue that she would nurture for the weekend.

The next morning we got up early to go for a run.  We began running along a track at the back of some of the houses, getting much encouragement and bewildered stares as we went.  We then decided to head down into one of the valleys north of the town.  So off we went, plunging down a very steep and narrow, but well-worn track.  After a few minutes we bumped into the inevitable crowd of children.  They joined us, of course and were screeching with laughter.  They were all barefoot and sure footed.  We ran for 5 minutes or so and they seemed like they were going to stay with us.  I wanted to double-check we would be able to cross the valley floor and come up on the other side, so we asked the kids, and they confirmed there was a road at the other side.  It appeared they were coming with us.  So, on we ran.  They began some kind of chant as we ran – the answer to which was “yay!”.  Judy and I did, of course, join in.  The children were all quite young, and probably none of them was older than 11 or 12.  The leader of the pack had a pair of sunglasses.  A lens was missing but he carried on.

There was one very small boy running near me.  He was maybe 5 years old.  He seemed to be the scape goat and kept on getting shoved into hedges and whacked in the face by the others in their efforts to pass him.  He was incredibly determined and each time he picked himself up and carried on running.  As we ran we continued to be encouraged by people working on the fields in the valley.  It was also possible to hear their laughter echoing around the valley.  We came to a point in our run where there was a narrow ditch to cross.  The agile children all did this with ease, but the small boy was last and he just missed the opposite bank and slid down into a load of mud, dropping precious coins from his pocket.  He picked up the money but looked quite forlorn and as though he may eventually give in to some tears of frustration.  Seeing this, our group leader came over and took him by the hand and ran along with him.  At the next ditch, he took off his sunglasses and put them on a clump of grass.  He sat the other boy down and began to wash his legs and feet to get the dirt off.  And then we were off.  A minimum of fuss, but really caring!

Heading back up the other side of the valley was very hard work (for me) and I had to beg for mercy and walk for a while.  We continued uphill for quite some time and every so often we would run a bit and then walk a bit.  We came to a junction at one point and our group of runners turned and said goodbye and went off in another direction, waving as they went.  It was so nice to run with them and they seemed to enjoy it but they really made our day!

Once we managed to get home and had a wash we went to the market for shopping.  This was the usual fun of chatting to people and doing a little haggling.  We were quite weighed down with bags on our return and I had bought a large cooking pot.  About 5mins from my house we met a group of three girls.  They said good morning and then one opened her arms wide and hugged each of us.  Her two friends followed.  Before I knew it, she had taken the pot from my arms and it was on her head and she insisted on carrying it for me.  I told her she didn’t have to, but given the two other bags I had on my shoulders, I was quite pleased.  I spent some time trying to talk to them about where they were going.  They had a fairly long walk home ahead of them, so when we reached my house we thanked them very much, wished them a safe journey and sent them off with some bananas we had got at the market.  

Playing "melange" in front of the snake slaying
lady with my nice outfit on!

As for the rest of the day...it was a whirl of food preparation and final touches for the Est-Fest party that Jen and I were hosting.  Several helpers arrived to help with food prep and we made a lovely Thai curry and some snacks such as salsa and humus to have with chapattis.  By about 6pm we had many party-goers in the house and everyone had been great sports and had made a rice sack outfit.  We all looked ridiculous, but it felt quite normal at the time.  I managed to wear my bridal outfit all night, although I did lose my veil at some point.  It looked like it had snowed in the house due to the amount of rice sack bits on the floor and this has taken some cleaning up.  In fact, I think I will be finding bits of rice sack until the day I leave.  We had dancing and eating and drinking and game playing and lots of laughter and merriment.  There was also a local artist there who had brought some of his paintings with him, so a few of us bought some of his work, knowing the money was going to a very good cause and the orphans KB worked with would benefit.  It was a really nice evening and a great way to say goodbye to Jen, who will sadly be leaving in a month.