Plodding along

Hurricanes aside, things are ticking along here in Kibungo.  I am still visiting schools and working with teachers.  Most of the time is spent planning and teaching in partnership and we have also done some subject specific workshops.  The teachers are always open to trying new ideas - even when they are sceptical they will work.  In one case this week, I wanted to try a particular activity.  There was some discussion about whether P4 students would be able to cope as they are still getting used to being taught in English (P1, 2 and 3 are taught in Kinyarwanda).  So, we tried it but I had to declare the lesson a disaster by the end.  The teachers were really generous about this.  I was expecting to get some I told you sos, but what they actually said was “thank you for showing us that new method”.  They could see ways to apply it to other lessons.  It was very kind of them to be so gentle in their review of the lesson when we met to discuss afterwards.

Apart from working, I have been getting a few items of clothing made.  I love my trips to the local tailors.  They are so friendly and I am greeted with hugs and laughter and always depart with a feeling of well being and a warm happy glow.  It’s nice to have a place to go for a hug when you are far from home.  When I went to collect a couple of dresses last week, I took my camera as we had arranged that Epiphanie would bring her baby along so we could take some photos to send to a previous volunteer that we are still in touch with and the baby is named after.  Baby Christella is gorgeous.  I was a little concerned that she would take one look at me in all my whiteness and start screaming, but she didn’t.  I got lots of cuddling time and we had a good chat.  She is only eight months old but is very alert and is already saying Mama and Dada and chatting away to herself quite happily.  We took lots of pictures and I know I will really miss these ladies when I leave.   

This weekend just gone I celebrated my birthday.  I had a lovely weekend and got to celebrate by going camping to Akagera with some friends.  When we picked up the car on Friday evening we were surprised by an upgrade to a larger vehicle.  She was a beast and we named her Bertha.  Nothing was going to stop us.  We set off for the park very early on Saturday morning and took a breakfast of pineapple and bananas with us.  We enjoyed this once we arrived at the park and then set off to see what wildlife we could spot.  There were plenty of zebra and impala and water buck and buffalo.  Then we happened upon a tower of giraffes (yes!  I looked it up – that is what you call a collective of giraffes).  It started when Coral spotted just one, but then more poked out of the bushes until we could see at least 8 or 9 of them.  I love giraffes.  And I love that they are called a tower!

We continued to drive around the park in Bertha.  She served us well and we also had the music on and sang along to some top tunes – Bohemian Rhapsody, I need a hero, and plenty of other cheesy classics.  It was great fun.  The scenery was beautiful, and the road was very bumpy.  We arrived at the campsite in the early afternoon and set up our tent, got the fire going and then cracked open the box of wine and the precious box of olives.  It was so good.  The view was incredible from up on the hill of the campsite – you could see for miles over the park.  We continued our evening by cooking some food on the fire and then finished with smores.  Delicious.  And then we retired to bed.  Some of us slept better than others.  We were up early next morning and set off for the south of the park and to home.  It was such a nice way to celebrate a birthday and really quite special.

It’s back to work for the last few weeks of term – time is going fast.  Today I attended a planning meeting for some training that will be delivered to Sector Education Officers and Head Teachers.  At the end, my boss (the District Education Officer) made a speech in Kinyarwanda.  I got bits of it, but then she translated.  She was explaining that my time here is coming to an end and she was talking about all the work I had done.  I was very humbled by the thanks I received from her and the SEOs present.  It is so nice to be thanked, but also incredibly humbling...you start to wonder whether you deserve the praise you are getting.  She is a great lady to work for, and I realised as I sat in the meeting with the SEOs what a nice group of people they are.  They were engaged in the workshop and made plenty of contributions.  They suggested what they wanted to see in the training, when they wanted it to happen and where.  I think there is real potential for things to improve in the District and I hope the next volunteers start to see some real results from their efforts.

The hurricane

There must be some enormous low pressure weather system sitting over Rwanda just now, because the last 24 hours have been so incredibly stormy.  Yesterday morning was beautiful.  The sun was cracking the flags and leaving for work in the early morning, it was painful to have to put my raincoat on over my clothes to protect me from the clouds of dust we would drive through on the way to school.  The dust becomes troublesome during the dry season.  The roads are baked so dry by the sun, that the top layers turn to dust and blow away. 

The morning continued in a similar hot fashion but by lunchtime the clouds had started to gather.  When you looked out at the sky, there was layer, upon layer of grey cloud.  It looked gloomy and very foreboding.  When it was time to leave, I got ready by putting on my scarf and my raincoat and some leggings to protect my legs from the dust and socks to try and keep my feet clean and warm.  Off we set.  It looked like the heavens could open any minute but it continued to hold off.  We arrived at the very steep hill that leads into the back of Kibungo and as we pootled up the hill, the rain began to drop.  Huge big drops.  It then started coming down so fast that I could really feel it sting my skin.  The moto driver pulled over to a row of shops which were all shut up.  A small crowd had already huddled under the porch.  We joined them and then the rain really got going.  It was coming down in sheets – you could see them sweeping in across the road and dumping their rain .  The shelter was not adequate and the rain lashed at my back as I stood facing away from it in the hope I may be able to keep my front slightly drier and warmer.  My feet were soaked.  I looked across the valley to see if there was any sign of it stopping.  The valley was obscured – we could be here for some time.

The rain continued to lash down and the thunder cracked over-head.  The lightning flashed around us in sheets (to match the rain, maybe?).  It felt cold – a rarity here and I had to put my helmet back on because I could not manage to hold it in a way that kept it dry.  The streets were empty but I could see people in the houses on the far side of the street popping in and out of their house as they changed the pots and cans they had placed under the gutter overflow to collect water.  Rivers formed across the stretch of dirt road, gouging out new gullies up to a metre wide.  I watched the road being washed away before my eyes.  The wind was whipping around us.  Now, I know you will understand that I am not prone to exaggeration, so believe me when I say that I think this may actually have been a mini hurricane.  We waited in our shelter for an hour and eventually the storm began to subside.  The rain had eased off enough that one of the school children who had taken shelter with us skipped off, dodging the crater puddles on her way to school.  We got back on the moto to complete the journey.  It was hard going for the driver.  Rivers of water were still washing down the roads and we had to find appropriate points to ford them.  The new gullies made it tricky to pass in some places.  Small holes had been widened into craters and they too were filled with water.  The mud that coats the road in some places was like a bog and the tires of the motorbike slipped and slid beneath us.  Large branches of trees lay scattered across the roads and smaller twigs and the bark from some trees was strewn all over.  There would be quite a job for the men and women who sweep the streets clean each day.  We eventually made it to the house just as it was about to start again.  I was glad to run inside and heat a kettle of water to have a wash and then put on warm clothes.  It rained all evening. 

The new day dawned in murky fashion.  It looked ominous.  I dressed in full waterproofs and braced myself for an uncomfortable journey.  Until recently, I was so familiar with the roads, that I was able to anticipate what was coming up.  I knew when I needed to hold on to the bike for the bumpy bits.  But, in recent weeks, each new rain storm has caused more and more damage and each day I have to learn to read the road again.  We had to weave in and out of pot holes and skirted around rocks which were protruding out of the road now that the mud which used to cushion them had been washed away.  We hit so many bumps that I felt rattled.  We drove above the clouds and as I breathed a mist built up on the inside of my visor – testament to the much cooler conditions we were experiencing on this morning.  We got closer to school and discovered the road was closed for water pipe laying.  We had to take a back track and slid around all over the place as we travelled along the narrow track.   The only bonus was that I arrived at school without my usual thick coating of orange dust.

It rained again during my time at school and the road was even worse on the way home.  How we stayed upright, I have no idea, but I have to pay tribute to Safari’s excellent driving.  We managed to get through the worst of it and make it to the less slippery road.  We eventually managed to get home and once again the heavens opened.  It has eased off again now, so maybe there will be a break for a couple of days to give the atmosphere time to boil up more rain.  It’s a tough one – the warm weather is lovely, but the place does start to look parched very quickly so I know cultivators are keen for the rain to come.  However, it falls with such ferocity, that you have to worry it will wash away crops and even homes.  The rain is vital for life, yet it can also be such a threat.