Rwandan Ramblings

I won't go into the tedious and ugly saga of getting rid of Lucie, the treacherous Domestique but suffice it to say that I had to part with a substantial amount of money in a hideous encounter with a Rwandan legal maze! Thanks to Renathe, my original Domestique I now have Josephine who seems very pleasant, willing, discreet, very hard working, a good cook and obsessively clean!! So fingers crossed!

Many volunteers have left, including Ruth who worked with the Deaf here and in Kigali. On her last Saturday the Deaf students from her school came to the Centre and put on a most impressive dance performance. We then took them to our favourite resto for the usual piled- high- plate- melange!  Last Sunday Maggie had a farewell lunch to which many of us went. Sad to think that we won't see all these sparky girls agaain - at least in Rwanda!

Everyone in he country has been occupied over the last two days in registering themselves. This may lead to new ID cards. This has meant that many activities planned for this weekend had to be postponed or cancelled. Karen and I were hoping to start our training for work with pre-school Deaf children but this has now had to be postponed until October.

 Meanwhile a friend of mine who knows someone who shows films has arranged for 100 of the children and teachers to go to see Mr Bean on Wednesday!

I have a new French teacher- he is fantastic - very lively and speaks all the time in French: we spend a lot of time trying to improve my ou pronunciation! 

that's just about brought affairs up to date- i'll try to be a bit more assiduous in my writing. 

I'm horrified to see how long it is since I last wrote anything and now have only a few minutes to write a quick resume as there are 4/5 of us in the house and no fresh food so I need to go to the market to buy food for tonight,: of course none of us has any money so eating out is not an option!!

Just now Jessica, who left almost exactly a year ago, is staying which is really great and it is as though she has never been away. She has brought us lots of treats and been spoiling us with extras and booze!!

After the end of last term I had Julie Gilstrap to stay, loosely attatched to the Tory party. She quickly established a good rapport with the Deaf students and became as fired up as I am about the need to improve the loos at the centre. I have parted with a substantial amount of money kindly donated by many of my friends and the younger boys now have proper loos that flush and some showers. I am hoping that more money may be forthcoming so that the building boys and the girls can also have improved washing facilities!

We then went to Rwamagana to help some short term volunteers run a two day workshop for Primary teachers. There were some amusing moments where teachers improvised their own songs: in particular " when Goddy says yessy nobody can say NO" And" I like a yellow colour and red and blue and green".

Then back to Kigali and off to Zanzibar.

This was just heavenly. We stayed in Mustafa's Nest - a kind of backpacker/ Rasta place but very welcoming and friendly with all that was needed, a bar , fire at night , comfy beds and mosquito nets. A variety of interesting and friendly people passed by and we slept, walked along the beach, swam and ate delicious fish, fruit and coconuts!!

Stone Town is a delight of lovely buildings, interesting things to buy and a marriage of colonial, Arab and African cultures. We went on a fascinating Spice Tour and bought lots of spices, clothes and pictures as well as eating lovely food and wandering along windy streets and looking at decorated doorways.

Back to Rwanda paying electogaz bills and being back at school but lovely to see the Deaf again and to catch up with friends. 

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Posted by: Antonia    in: My travelblog

Modified on September 3, 2007 at 5:27 PM