---

Josephine and Innocent

I have to write a paeon of praise to this wonderful creature who looks after me and my visitors during the week and has such a lovely way of doing so. She shops, cooks like an angel, cleans the house and does my shopping and is so polite and willing I don't know how I shall be able to cope  without her when I return! She has 3 children of her own but seems always to be looking after others including her sister's! Unfortunately, her niece has just revealed that she is pregnant: the father of the baby is a hairdresser who is not in a position to marry her - family shame and worry! interstingly it was the sister who told me that Yes! Young people did get up to mischief but did it in secret! ALAS! A secret no longer! Mair brought out some old mobile phones when she came and I gave one to Josephine who absolutely loves it! I gave another to the ex guard at the school, who has charged me with buying special medication to increase his sperm count from Kigali!! Little did I ralise what a chore this would be as it has to be kept cold so I had to transport it on an ice block kindly lent by the pharmacy and recently involved Innocent, his name, calling me at two in the morning to arrange collection of the second dose - it had to sit in my fridge till used! 

However, I have to forgive all as he arrived the other  day with a bucket full of maize and beans from his field! Generosity shown by no-one else except for green fingered volunteers who arrive with vegetable offerings!

Other Deaf Centres

I've been to Ruhengeri and stayed with Elie again. The parents came with their children once more and Louis, the teacher in charge, had some very useful one to one sessions with the parents while the Deaf adults and I played games and tried to teach a few signs. I thin that many of those children and parents suffer from severe malnutrition. It is heartbreaking to see the hope in their eyes and how grateful they are for the little help that we are able to give them but it does at least give them a chance to meet and maybe they wil be able to start to form some kind of Association. Louis now has 17 pupils in his little class so is clearly fillinga need and helping some children.

I've also made two visits to a centre near Kibuye in the West which was set up by a most remarkable parish priest helped by various European charities. There are Deaf, mentally handicapped and traumatised children there but each group lives together in a family unit and are in separate classes. The Deaf are taught by Solange, a teacher who used to be in Butare. All the staff work together as a team and I was so impressed with the sense of purpose and dedication as well as the organisation of all the outreach and daily running of the Centre. As I was there on Labour day there was a dinner in the evening and everyone was there including spouses, the cooks and the guards. One of the cooks is a poet, in Kinyarwanda of course, but he told Father Murenzi "You took me from the crocodies and put me among the calabashes of cows milk"!

The centre is in, Ithink, the MOST beautiful place in Rwanda. Towering hills all round with a view of the lake in the West glinting and glimmering in the sun with little islands scattered around Kibuye which is hidden by yet more hills. I have given them some books and may find more stuff to donate before I leave a,s despite all the enthusiasm of the staff they have very few materials and not much idea of how to use the ones they have!!

Day to day at the Centre

As so often happens, after a very sluggish start the term is now roaring along with never a dull moment and lots of activity looming in June as well!

English teaching goes on apace and at least some of the children do seem to be getting the hang of it! There are a few teachers who have really improved a lot and I hope that some of them will continue to work at it.

The dressmaker comes four days a week to work with older girls and the sister Julienne, of my wonderful domestique, Josephine, comes twice a week to teach basket making - a skill she learnt in prison! All this paid for by the excellent fund to which many of you have subscribed! The loo news is good and bad. The boys are making full use of theirs but the girls' seem to be out of use and doors nailed up - I've yet to discover why!!

Sammy, who I thought was moving to Uganda is still helping with the drama - actually, at this moment in Japan with the play that came to London in November. The Deaf have really taken on the idea of a spectacle and are practising little scenes and dance routines every night! This is to a great extent now organised by Felix - the sort of head boy, trusty, teacher of building. It is great to see how they have all grown in confidence and how well organised it is! I do nothing except encourage and applaud! We are intending to put on a performance for all and sundry at the end of June when there will also be  an HIV/AIDS training day that 2 other volunteers are helping me run, and an English weekend workshop in Kigeme organised by Annemiek. Two university students are now coming twice a week todo some art with some classes so that we can run an exhibition of work at the same time as the show. So lots going on and more planned!

A journey and a trek.

Our journey lasted a day and a half and involved a taxi, a taxi bus , a very large crowded, smelly dirty bus a night in a very noisy hotel and an encounter with a very helpful vet who led us to the hotel and took us to a restaurant in the evening and introduced us to some of the delights of coffee drinking in Ethiopia.

The next day we caught another large smelly dirty bus and met another intersting man who showed me a picture of his 16 year old bride confinding that she had been a virgin and that for him also she was the first. One just loves these intimate revelations.

We then jumped into a truck driven by an enterprising man who brought us to our rendez-vous with the guide and other trekkers (2 Canadians  - mother and son and lovely Deepeka from India), just in time to go and have lunch!

A walk to our first night on the edge of the escarpment - stunning position overlooking blanket folded hills below and sharp cliffs all round. Rondavels equipped with comfy beds and a communal bar/eating room. Bucket showers and a very eco-friendly loo with a glorious view - if somewhat perilous! None of these dites were positioned with the unsteady in mind. One false step and the rocks would have reverberated with the screams of the tumbling tripper!

 The next day was wet, cold and misty. Apart from when I needed to warm up I sat on the back of a small but sure footed pony with an umbrella over my head. Not much to see and the last few hundred yards, on foot, were quite challenging - over loose stones and down the side of what seemed like a precipice! A fire was lit to dry us and our clothes and we thankfully downed a few whiskeys!

The third day was clear and we were able to appreciate fully the marvellous vistas and country through wihich we were passing. I'll never again pay any attention to Welsh farmers complaining about the terrrain. The Ethiopian farmer ploughs with oxen on the side of a vertical hill in terrain largely composed of rocks and boulders. How anything grows I can't imagine! Once again I travelled on horse back which gave better views that the footsloggers! We visited a woman in her simple but beautifully organised house - shelves in the walls for pots and pans, admired her baskets and elegant pots for collecting water, storing food and brewing cioffee. The people here are so slender and graceful although they don't seem to go in so much for carrying things on their heads as the Rwandans. We were lucky to see a large troupe of geleda baboons - very hairy with an exta -ordinary red mark on their chests.

One last night in which we lay shivering in our beds while the wind whistled through the walls, the thunder rolled and the rain and hail lashed! Happily all clear by the morning so we were able to set out to meet the minibus which was to take us to Lalibela.

Ethiopian Exploration - Churches, manuscripts and castles

A visit to Ethiopia has been one of the Cultural highlights of the last few years. It was very exciting to visit a country so full of tangible history, where the religion is still a very living part of every day life and where the people still follow traditional customs and practise hospitality with a natural ease and graciousness.

Alas! In two weeks one can only visit a small part of the country which is huge. We decided to do the historical tour of the North which involved a flight to Bahar Dar on the shores of Lake Tana. Here we strolled along the lakeside looking at pelicans and joining the locals who were sitting watching the sun go down and chatting over a drink or cup of coffee and dined under the stars in the restaurant of our hotel which was built around an enormous baobab tree.  The next day we took a boat and visited 2 monasteries -both in very peaceful sites with beautiful trees growing round them and colourful birds flitting around. One monastery had some lovely ancient manuscripts and the other some wonderful paintings depicting Ethiopian Saints- some rather obscure and quirky, including a cannibal who was allowed into Heaven because he once gave a beggar a drink of water! There's hope for all of us!  Every church has a copy of the Ark of the Covenant kept in the inner part where only the priest can go.

We went on to Gondar by local taxi bus and stayed in a friendly and clean back packer guest house. Here we visited another wonderful church - surrounded by a wall and pepper pot sentry boxes (made of stone) although legend has it that a swarm of bees protected the church from being desecrated by infidels! More wonderful bright paintings here including a ceiling entirely covered by angels, splendid medieval portrayals of hell and Mohammed riding a camel! On our way back from the Church we took shelter from the rain under the overhanging roof of a house and were invited in by a charming old lady who then gave us a cup of tea. the house was very simple with an earth floor and minimal possessions. We spent a happy hour talking to her delightful grandson who spoke good English and  showed us the way back to our hotel.

Gondar is Africa's Camelot and we spent the next morning being guided round several wonderful castles. The main one built by King Fasildas in the 16th century and incorporating elements of Arab, Indian and Portuguese architecture. I was especially taken with the ebony floors and an impressive saddle shaped roof. We were given detailed descriptions of the preparation of the mortar/lime mix used to construct all these magnificent buildings and the fact that they are still in fairly good condition bears witness to its effacacy!

Fasildas also built a VAST swimming pool with a mini castle in it just outside the town where he would go to chill out when affairs of state become too much. this was a beautiful spot surrounded by lovely trees and more pepper pot guard houses or sentry boxes set in the encircling wall. That night both annemiek and I were rather sick which somewhat delayed our departure in the general direction of Filakit - a very remote town, of which no-one had heard, quite near Lalibela, which was to be the start of our eco-trek.

 

Next page >>