Monday
Despite having to work the weekend, Amy and I still managed a few brochettes washed down with beer on Friday night which I slightly regretted on hearing the alarm early Saturday morning. Still, it was a relaxed start to the day since not everyone arrived on time, reliant as they were with local travel connections. So, we rejigged the timetable and played lots of fun ‘getting to know you activities’ in the meantime. We ran the workshops at the resource centre in Kigeme. It was the first time I’d been there and I was quite impressed by the resources which will come in handy for later training/lessons but the room needs a clean desperately. We only realised this when poor Ruth, one of the trainers, started sweeping-we were a bit embarrassed!

The trainers, all teachers themselves, are lovely (pics) - Amy had met them before at the initial meeting in December but it was the first time I had. At the end of every day, we did the usual evaluation à la VSO and it was great to have some really positive feedback. It was nice of course to feel appreciated but more than that it was good to hear how much they’d enjoyed the weekend and learnt from it. Like everything though, it was a two-way thing and I’m so grateful to them. We’ve decided to work with two of them for each of the sessions in May but before that we’ll run one more workshop for them to coordinate the delivery of the trainings – we have to go cap in hand to World Vision again so fingers crossed.

Training weekend over, I arrived at my desk eager to catch up on emails and write up the evaluations but an over-zealous cleaner had managed to disconnect the internet and render the cable useless. Grrrrrr. I did actually attempt to fix the problem by pushing the wires back in but nothing. This was a job for ICE-T…Otherwise known as Jean de dieu, the ICT technician and he certainly is god’s gift when a computer needs fixing. Clutching the faulty cable I made my way to his office where he set to work. I told him that I had tried to fix it myself by threading the wires back in. He wasn’t too impressed. Apparently there’s an order to the wires which my amateur wiring skills hadn’t taken into account…

It was good chatting to Jean though. It seems he is my neighbour’s old flat-mate, they used to live in the house the other side of me before Agide (my neighbour) got married. Jean like many in the district office now lives in Kigali. Loads of people do this. They’re based here during the week but have their homes in the capital. I’m not really sure why, thought it would be the other way round. Anyway, he wondered what I did in the evening. He thought I’d surely get bored of staying in the house all evening. I explained that to be honest, I didn’t. The World Service and a good book is sadly pretty satisfying but I am missing being able to go for a run. Not that I can’t do it, I just don’t fancy playing the pied Piper every evening but will pluck up the courage soon. I’m sure they’ll get bored…eventually. At this point he mumbled something about joining him and some others for a ‘gin and tonic’ on Wednesday afternoons. My ears pricked up. That sounded great. Hold on though, wasn’t Wednesdays reserved as a sport’s afternoon? Oh hang on, he said ‘gym-tonic’- a kind of aerobic routine to music. I said it sounded great and would definitely be up for it next week. Fixed cable in hand I made my back up to the office.

Alas, despite this for the rest of the afternoon there were lots of problems with the internet which are still not resolved. Think there’s a problem with the phone lines too, damn.

Tuesday

World Vision are pleased with our report and we shouldn’t have any probs securing the next tranche of money which is good…

Other than writing a few letters to the sectors today, I’ve not done very much. After lunch, and as it was such a gorgeous day, we went back to mine for a cuppa and just listened to World Service in the garden, it was bliss. I want to get in a few more visits to schools next week so aim to call some tomorrow.

Thank god, I’ve got the project to do though because at the moment there is absolutely no direction from the district, there being officially no-one in the education department... Charlotte from VSO called today though and we’ve a meeting with the major on Thursday to try to sort out some kind of plan. I’m quite happy to get going with the model schools project but I just need to check this is the kind of thing they want…

Am really looking fwd to the weekend. We’re off to Gahini for a birthday. It’s on the east of the country and apparently the beach is gorgeous. Have decided to go up to Kigali early Friday after a school visit and stay with some friends until Saturday then all go up via Kayonza where Bridget is. I’m really looking forward to seeing some new places!

Wednesday

Oo I love Wednesdays. It’s market day so Anne-Marie buys all the veg and our weekly ration of meat. As we don’t have a fridge, she’ll cook it for tonight’s meal and have it for lunch tomorrow, great! I’m not sure if I’ve said before, I’m still not overly keen on rabbit. One of the reasons is it’s so tough, you really have to chew and it doesn’t exactly fall off the bone so eating requires you to put down your knife and fork and really, well, go for it. Not exactly refined dining…Anyway, after two weeks in a row, I’ve finally admitted to Anne-Marie that I’d prefer either beef or goat, you just don’t get as messy and eating feels less cannibalistic.

Walking in to work today I passed lots of people going to market. Most were carrying baskets on their heads laden with all sorts of fruit and veg. Others were holding chickens or leading goats. I was thinking how much I like the bustle of market day. Just then though, I noticed a goat hobbling along on three legs, its fourth being attached to a lead held by its owner.
I was immediately disgusted by the cruelty but then remembered what I’ll be eating tonight…and carried on.