Noele nziza!

Nkombo Island Children's Feeding Programme

Having spent the last few days in Kigali, on yet another failed mission to Immigration to get my visa/work permit, yesterday I found myself on Nkombo Island to attend a special Christmas lunch for 320 malnourished children. Nkombo is one of the poorest parts, in this corner of Rwanda and the children are part of a Feeding Clinic Programme, run by the Diocese, where they receive a weekly cup of nutritional porridge.

Today they brought all the children together; normally they divide them into groups of around 60, as Josephine, the wife of the Archbishop of Rwanda, The Most Rev.Onesphore Rwaje, had come to visit.  All the children were ready and seated at 9am and we arrived at 12 noon having driven from Kamembe and then taken a boat across Lake Kivu to the island.  A bit of challenge for Josephine and Esther, wife of Bishop Nathan, to get in and out of the wooden boats - there were moments when I thought one of them might topple into the water.

Don't rock the boat as the wives of the Archbishop & Bishop might go overboard!

The children were given a hearty lunch of meat, rice, vegetables and a bottle of orange squash. They sat patiently through songs and speeches before getting fed – all very organised, with no grabbing hands and the children made sure that others around them also got their plate of food as easy to miss one or two. Altogether there must have been around 500 children adults gathered today on what was a very hot day but a wonderful thing to be part of.

Dishing out the start of over 300 lunches

The Archbishop is here for a few days to officially open some new churches. There was a delightful moment this morning when we were sitting in the living room of his room, waiting for his wife to arrive on the flight from Kigali.  Hearing the plane land, the airport is a short distance from the guest house, he said “I better go and make my bed before my wife comes” and wouldn’t accept the offer of a member of staff making his bed for him.

So, I came back from Kigali still without visa and passport.  Yes, the saga continues after what I think is six visits to Immigration in Kigali, six visits to Immigration in Kamembe and countless letters, documents, copies of this and copies of that.  Don’t really understand what’s going on but am sure learning a lot about patience and perseverance – much more than I thought I had.  Now I have to wait for a phone call in the next few days – not sure what they are going to say, yes I have it, no I don’t, come to Kigali for an interview or a request for further documents.  If I do get it on Monday or Tuesday, it would be a great Christmas present. 

Arriving into Kigali last Tuesday huge black storm clouds had gathered over the city and the surrounding hills – was this an omen, I thought?  Arriving at the bus station the heavens opened and a deluge of water came down and through the coach park, trapping me and other people in the coach office where we were stuck for an hour watching the waters getting higher. A taxi had come to meet me but was unable to get to me because of the level of the waters but eventually he managed to reverse the car and, I was able to clamber in hoping that I wasn’t going to topple in the water with everyone watching the muzungu make a complete ass of himself.

The start of the rains & flooding

Leaving the coach park, we realised we were not going to get anywhere fast as the rains had brought the city to a standstill.  I had decided, this time, to stay with Rwandan friends, Charles and Juliette and a normal journey time of 20 minutes took me 3 hours!  I’ve since seen in the national press that 6 people were washed away and drowned, because of the amount of rain that came down - 5 of these where children, 60 houses where destroyed and also many plantations were damaged with crops lost.

Staying with Charles and Juliette, in what they call their “elastic” house, was very enjoyable – I still get confused with the number of family/friends who live there as every time we sit down for a meal I’m sure there’s an extra person I haven’t met before – in addition to their own children, they also have adopted children living there and at one stage Charles said there were 21 people in the house.  At the last count, I made it 12 but this number seems to be going up and down as they see to have an open house policy where neighbours and children also come in – it’s a great example of Rwandese hospitality and they always seem to produce enough food for everyone.

I enjoy taking myself off and just walking along the streets observing all the street traders and looking at the shops and what they are selling.  I was tempted to buy myself a new suit but, unfortunately, they did not have it in my size.  The models reminded me a bit of Posh and Becks!

Suits you sir!

Getting back to Kamembe, on Friday, was a bit of a challenge as all the buses were fully booked because of the start of the Christmas holidays and people returning home.  Charles managed to find me a seat with one of the bus companies so another 6 hour, bottom numbing, stomach churning drive back.  Thankfully, nobody was sick although quite a few were feeling queasy as we came through the forest. Not the most relaxing of journey’s with the radio on full blast (on the way to Kigali we had Celine Dion, Abba, Dolly Parton and a few Rwandese songs that had some of the passengers singing and clapping – sadly, I did sing along to Abba!), people talking and shouting endlessly on their mobile phones - no signal as you go through the forest so an hour and half respite!

Today is the 22^nd December and any signs of Christmas here are still non-existent. It does feel a bit bizarre as I sit here looking out over the garden, with flowers blooming and the sun beginning to go down after another warm day.  This afternoon I was invited to attend a confirmation celebration and was sitting under a marquee thinking back in the UK it will shortly be getting dark, fires will be lit, Christmas tree lights will be on.  Am I missing it?  If I was honest, a little bit. 

The celebration followed a three-hour church service this morning complete with confirmations, communion and an hour’s sermon from the Archbishop – a lovely, humble man who preached not from the front but wandered around the church addressing members of the congregation. Not sure if this was to keep them awake as it was getting very hot under the tin roof!  The service was followed by a lunch for the Archbishop and his wife and then it was off to the confirmation celebration that included yet another lunch.

It’s interesting to observe the customs here. The celebration had us all seated in rows of chairs, introductory speeches, food, the customary bottle of Fanta, more speeches, not a lot of talking amongst guests and then we leave.  A different kind of social event to what we do in the UK – standing around, talking, drinking, more drinking. 

New Year is the more important event here when they celebrate in a much bigger way so it is going to be interesting to experience my first ever Christmas away from home and in a place so far away from the UK. I will try and get into the spirit of Christmas by listening to some carols, putting up some tinsel (thanks Charlotte for sending this to me!), lighting some candles and maybe picking some fresh flowers from the garden as long as Modeste, the guard, doesn’t see me as he looks after it so well.

So, this is my final blog post for 2013 after what is nearly 8 months spent here in Rwanda.

Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful 2014.

P.S. I mentioned in my last post a young women with a sick baby. She was referred to a hospital in Kigali where they they have said the baby has/had meningitis. They have prescribed some medicine and she will have to go back in a month for a follow-up appointment.