New house

I’m all moved in to my new home and it’s gorgeous! Really can’t believe how big it is, am sort of just living in a couple of rooms for the moment, haven’t got enough furniture to spread myself about…Am really regretting not packing more throws. When I arrived the landlord was here and a bit concerned that I didn’t want a day guard but I’ve now agreed to keep the guard, Latislas, who comes with the house for day and night. To be honest I’m not confident in his surveillance skills but he’s a great gardener and the rhubarb’s coming on nicely. I really am trying with the kinyarwanda but it’s tricky. Have now put it on the MP3 player so should be fluent very soon :0)



Have been made to feel very welcome by Andy and Amy (two vols who live here). We’ve been out for lunch and they’ve cooked which has been lovely. Amy is a primary methodology trainer based in nearby Kigeme so we’ll be working on a few projects together and Andy, who shares my office, is working on an Aids/HIV awareness project for VSO. The kerosene stove was fun at first but not sure I’ll have the patience to cook on it. I think I’ll be asking Anne-Marie for a few lessons!

Anne- Marie has agreed to be my domestique. I really hate the whole negotiating thing but in the end we agreed that she’ll work 4 days a week and have one of the rooms here. I wasn’t sure at first but the house is so huge and it will be nice knowing someone else is in. She also speaks excellent French and will be able to bridge the language gap between me and Latislas.

Had a great day yesterday. Finally met up with the director of education, Innocent (!) He seems really nice, if extremely busy. It seems that he is also the director of sports and culture which he was keen to underline when we met so I think I’ll be making it up as I go along. The good thing is that Amy who’s been here since September has already got some projects planned for us to do that sound really good. I had my first visit to a primary school yesterday. I was taken by Cecile, the head who introduced me to all the teachers and presented me to each and every classroom. The children were very well behaved and despite limited resources the classrooms had some key visuals on the walls which made the very basic rooms look a little brighter. Following the tour, all the teachers were called into a room where I was asked to give a speech…Arggh! I keep meaning to prepare something for times like this but in the end it was fine and despite my rusty French I think I blagged it ok. At the end, I asked if they had any questions for me since they may well be one of the schools with whom I’ll be working quite closely. Some were interested in what life is like for teachers in England and what status they hold. For teachers here, the job is very hard. Many are demotivated and feel undervalued in society. There have also been many changes in the system recently but teachers just aren’t consulted which again makes them feel powerless. So, despite me feeling a little nervous about the speech thing, in the end the discussion proved really useful. If I’m to make any impact at all, I need to know how the teachers feel about the job and to gain their trust. By the end, I felt I knew a little bit more about them and vice versa especially after they had ascertained my age and marital status which are very often the first questions asked here…

Am just back from Amy’s and off to a birthday party tonight for someone from last year’s group. It’s in Butare, which means I’ll be able to do some emailing tomorrow as there’s a good internet café there. I’m still undecided about getting a dongle to use internet at home. A few of my friends have them but it does seem a luxury on a limited budget. We shall see…For now I’m looking forward to my first hairwash of the week!