Man of many hats

Say "cheese!"

Of the many hats I am wearing, I now find myself wearing one as an English teacher. Think a lot of people here assume I am a teacher as they shout out in the morning, as I walk to work, “Good morning teacher”. The staff in the guesthouse were very keen to learn to speak English, or improve the skills they have, so I have started to give them lessons each week.  At first, there were just a few who wanted to come along but now I have almost all of the 23 staff who want to learn, plus a few from outside, so having to do a few classes.

As is the rote learning culture here, the moment you write something on a blackboard, or in my case on a wonky flipchart, everyone frantically copies everything down. At the same time, I’m getting them to teach me Kinyarwandan which is slowly coming along – I told them that all English tourists always want to know where the toilet is so now I have the staff going around saying “Good morning, where is the toilet?” or in my case “Maramutse, umusarane urihe?” – ‘umusarane’ is the word for toilet, you never know it may come in useful one day.

Flipchart paper showing the workings of a Rwandese mind - and I wonder why I struggle!
(Apologies to the author but I love this)

The heavy rains are now becoming more frequent. As I sit here, writing this on the terrace, I can see the clouds building up over the DRC, on the other side of Lake Kivu, knowing the thunder and rain will be here this evening.  This is usually accompanied by power cuts – not easy when you are in the middle of a Skype video call or the rain on the tin roof is so loud I cannot hear what the person 4,000 miles away is saying.

The change of weather has also brought out many more insects.  The challenge for me now is getting into the house, in the evening, before the mosquitoes do and I now regularly check out around the house to see what insects are around and remembering to check inside the bed and also the inside of my shoes before I put them on.  Often in the evening I will be sitting there and see something, out of the corner of my eye, scurrying across the floor.

Useful parcel from home - thanks Charlotte!

And with the rain comes the mud and now getting sense of how hard it becomes when this thick, red mud just gets everywhere.  I still can’t work out how the Rwandans manage to keep their clothes looking so clean whilst my trousers get covered.

Have decided to spend a few nights each week at the guesthouse and use the house just for the weekends.  The journey back in the evening, now the rains are here, is getting increasingly difficult and I still struggle with the long dark nights on my own in the house so having some evenings at the guesthouse will give me some company and opportunity to watch some TV in the restaurant even if it only football – can see I will have to commandeer the remote!

Looking forward to the company of some muzungu visitors during the months of October and November - people I know from England so it will be good to share some conversations over dinner.  I’m finding now that as I am out here for longer communication from home becomes less. I know we all have busy lives and even here I am finding time is going quickly, October soon and then Christmas just around the corner.  Will be my first ever Christmas (can't believe I am taking about Christmas) away from England but looking forward to experiencing a Rwandan one – have volunteered myself to help them organise an English carol service with a nativity – what do they say about never work with children or animals?!  Anyway, watch this space.

Wash day

Modeste, one of the guards, is busy doing one of his mega cleans inside the house. Most of the furniture is outside on the terrace, my washing all over the grass and hanging up to dry getting ready to be ironed.

Can now hear the distant rumble of thunder so rain may be here earlier than expected – Modeste get that washing in!

Lunch with Harry Secombe

Harry, Madonna & Child!

A couple of Saturday’s ago Andre, one of my security guards, brought one of his children, Adorufe, to the house to keep watch over it (and me) whilst he went to the bank in town. I have to confess, I was unsure if Adorufe was a boy or a girl as they all have their hair cut short. Adorufe sat on a chair, on the lawn in front of the house, as I did a few chores and when I got my laptop out to check emails seated at the table, on the terrace, Adorufe came over and sat next to me to watch what I was doing. We then became the best of friends, I gave him/her a drink and a toasted cheese sandwich and then he/she had a long sleep on the terrace sofa – Andre ended up being away for most of the day so Adorufe, who speaks some English, told me about his/her family, writing all their names out for me and when Andre, finally, came back he invited me to visit his family.

On Sunday afternoon, I found myself sitting in their house staring at album covers of Harry Secombe on their wall after walking an hour and a half with Christian, the son of Leocardie who lives near to me, as a guide and translator. Arriving at Andre’s house, looking over Lake Kivu, I realised I had been there some years ago to visit him and his family. They live in a typical rural Rwandese house – timber frame, mud lined walls and tin roof. Small considering a family of 8 live there along with their cow and goat – not quite in their living room but almost.

Andre's living room

As is the Rwandese custom, you can’t just go and visit a family without them extending hospitality in a form of a meal and a Fanta so a lunch of rice, pasta, vegetables and potatoes was quickly produced. It’s hard to sit there and not compare how they live to how we do in the U.K. – no comfortable furniture, carpets on the floor, plasma television, fitted kitchen but just some very basic wooden furniture, bricks on the floor, a kitchen that is no more than a fire on the floor and the ‘drop’ toilet or pit latrine. Andre had a cassette player, powered by large car-battery, playing some Rwandese music – when he’s at my house, he’s fascinated by my laptop playing music on iTunes or via the BBC website and he will often sit outside my window, on one of the terrace chairs and listen to what is being played.

On the walls are anything they can find, hence the pictures of Harry Secombe – tried to find out from Andre if he knew who Harry Secombe was, explaining he was a famous Welsh singer and a member of the Goons but he had no idea who he was – trying to explain who the Goons were wasn’t easy either.

As we ate lunch, the children were out at the back eating theirs and were then brought in to be introduced all sitting on a long bench in front of me. First born Olive (17), twins Dorothina & Adorufe (15), Doroteya (10), Olivye (7) and last born Fororonste (5). Rwandese names are quite confusing as they don’t seem to have the same family name - their first name is like our surname but they take different names and then their second name is like our Christian name that many take only when they are baptised.  Andre’s first name is MUVYEKKULE whilst his wife’s first name is MUKANTAGWABIRA and one of their child’s name is KYIMPAYE – when they introduce themselves, you get the long first name followed by the Christian name which comes out as one long word so sometimes hard to work out what their Christian name is.

The Muzungu visitor

Andre earns around £20.00 per month, an average wage for Rwanda, walks from his house to mine every day in sun and rain for night security duty. They have a big plot of land, outside their house, so grow staple crops that will feed their family and may also provide produce they can sell in the market or to neighbours.  I think I may have said this before but people here never complain about their lives or their circumstances even though in Andre’s house, the rain leaks through their roof and probably comes through the house under the doors, there is no electricity for lights and the house is very dark even in the day.

Back before the rain

After a false start last week, with the heavy rain, we went through a few days of hot and dry weather but the rain started again over the weekend and a loud clap of thunder meant we had to make a prompt departure, from Andre’s, for a quick walk to the nearest village to get a couple of MoTos (motor bike taxis) so we could get back before the rains came.  Driving past the lake you could see the rains coming across and managed to get back before the heavens opened.

Heavy rains change the landscape as vegetation slowly turn back to green and views across the lake become clearer opening up panoramas I’ve not seen before.  Still getting some spectacular sunsets and, after a day in the office, I enjoy a walk back to the house along the lake stopping to enjoy the wonderful views and stunning scenery.  After being here a while now, it’s very easy to take it all for granted so I make myself stop and just take it all in and try not to take too many photos.

Singing in the rain...

The heavy rains have started right on cue and I do mean heavy.  Deluge on Saturday night resulting in loss of electricity and water in house and now, on Monday, another deluge and this is just the start of it.

This morning's rain outside my office

I can see how the rains change the pattern of daily life as people just stop and wait until the rain has cleared. The next few months are going to be challenging but I know the conditions for many here get very tough so I feel blessed to be living in a good house free (I hope) from a leaking roof.

I realise how varied my weeks are becoming and how I’m amused (most of the time) with things I see walking around, the people I meet and the things that happen during the course of my day. Rather than ramble on, I thought I’d post a few photos to show what I mean - some of these have appeared on my Facebook page so apologies if you see them twice.  What I write and show on this blog isn’t to make fun of anyone or anything but just to show, at times, the lighter side of life here.

'Preacher Man is back on the road'

 With The Bishop in another rural church festooned with toilet paper!

Mamas & Papas launch their latest pram in Rwanda

Walking to work the other morning I came across these kids being pushed along in a wheelbarrow,

Spot the rogue Chinese man

On Saturday a local choir came to the guesthouse to take photos and record a video.  Look closely and you can see a Chinese man, staying at the guesthouse, got himself into the picture.

Bad hair day!

It always amazes me what they carry on their heads.

Dancing Bishop

First time I’ve seen a dancing Bishop. Wonderful service at another rural church yesterday. 

New logo

This week I’ve been appointed  General Manager of the guesthouse.  First job was to authorise the purchase of 3 toilet seats.  On a more business like note, have also had a lovely new logo designed by a designer friend of mine in the UK and representing the start of good things to come for the guesthouse including a lot more guests!

Robbie

On a sadder note, I heard on Sunday night that my daughter’s dog, Robbie, a lovely West Highland Terrier suddenly collapsed and died at the weekend.  He was 13 and such a lovely dog who I looked after on many occasions ever since he was a puppy and who always made a fuss of me when I visited Jenny in London. I know we muzungus get very attached to our pets that live with us through the happy and sad times of our lives but remain faithful and constant companions.

The next (or new?) chapter

Home from home

Have now been back in Rwanda for almost two weeks, after my three weeks spent in the UK. Into my routine of working at the guest house, my daily walk up and down to the office, hearing the cries of ‘mzungu’ from the children and getting used again to the nights getting dark at 6.30pm.

Coming back to Rwanda has felt like the next chapter or possibly a new one?  I left, to come home, feeling tired after my initial three months but, on reflection, I came out tired after packing-up the house and all the things I needed to do before I came. Also, there was a lot of emotion to deal with – saying goodbye to family, friends and Jasper (my faithful four legged friend) who, I have to say, on seeing him when I came home seemed blissfully happy in his new home.

I did let the tiredness and frustration build up but the two-week mission-training course I did has helped hugely. It was great to be amongst other people who are doing similar crazy things with their lives too and going off to places including Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Spain, Malta, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and China. 

I feel I have come back with a different mind-set, more relaxed (I know it’s early days!) and, perhaps, more of a sense that I belong here or I can get to belong here. Connecting more with everyone I am working with and meeting and also being more ‘intentional’ in making a home here and developing deeper and more meaningful friendships.

There is a sense here of a change coming from the dry to the wet season. The land has been prepared with fields and plots dug over so everything, mainly due to the lack of rain, is looking very brown and dry and so different from other times of the year when the countryside is so very green and lush.  I suppose it feels like an English September, when we have an Indian summer, still very warm but with the evenings drawing in but knowing a change of seasons is underway. Everyone tells me that the rains that come are very heavy so I think I could be in for an interesting and muddy time.

Getting ready for the rains

The Diocese has started an English service at 8am on Sunday so it’s good to be able to go to church here and actually understand something. Spent yesterday morning in a three-hour meeting, with staff from Diocese, that was conducted, understandably, in Kinywarwandan with bits of it translated for me but I can see the need for language lessons being a number one priority.

Short-cut to the shops!

Been into town this morning, not my favorite of experiences, to do a bit of shopping taking the short-cut (coming down is even harder!) and managed to buy some amagi ga-antandatu (six eggs), using my limited Kinyarwandan. Did come away with six eggs but think I may have paid mzungu prices! I buy eggs from a place in town where they come to sell all the live chickens but not at the stage yet where I think I can buy one as used to them being oven ready!

Some for the pot

More musings next week.

P.S. Click on images to see them full size.

Bacon & Lemon Drizzle Cake

My thoughts are now turning to coming back to the UK on Sunday as well as for a Bill’s breakfast with bacon and lemon drizzle cake in Grange Gardens – anything really as long as it’s not an omelette or a banana!

Leave here on Friday for Kigali and then fly out to London, via Nairobi, on Sunday evening.  Heading up to Ware on Monday, after meeting daughter Jenny in London, for a two week ‘mission’ training course – timing couldn’t be better as will be good to talk though a number of issues that I’m having to deal with here, with people who have gone through similar experiences. Then back in Lewes on 5^th August for a week before heading back out here leaving UK on 12^th August.

Some local colour

Have included a few random photographs from my week – a shot of some rather colourful houses that are going up close to where I live, a lovely old chap who I didn’t realise was behind me watching me take the picture of the rather colourful houses. He almost knocked me out, with the wood he was carrying on his head, when I turned around but he was very happy to have his picture taken. And, some local wildlife – would like to say it was huge but it was quite small really.

Local character

Local wildlife

Still trying to deal with the daily challenges and frustrations – sometimes I deal with them well and sometimes I don’t. I’m trying to understand why I don’t and what it is that makes me get frustrated, impatient and sometimes annoyed. Have always thought of myself as an easy going short of chap with lots of patience and tolerance but I have to say at times here you do need patience in bucket loads to get through the day.

On the other hand, there are moments that make it worthwhile – yesterday I preached at a rural church that is still in the process of being built so we had a sort of open-air service with around 250/300 people.  I confess I am not a trained preacher but I seemed to hit the mark yesterday as had around 60 people come up afterwards to ask for prayer and there was joyful celebration in a way we don’t seem to have at home.  I also have to confess, my preaching did follow a very powerful testimony that moved me to tears and I was sitting there wondering how I was to follow it.

Here in Rwanda, the power of testimony is wonderful.  Since the 1994 genocide, people have been encouraged to share their stories, many as you can imagine horrific, but it is through this sharing that has allowed much healing, reconciliation and forgiveness. I have heard many testimonies over the years and it’s also good when we share too as it shows that us Westerners also have been through problems and difficulties and not so much the easy life many here may think we have.

I had one of the guest house security guards come into my office earlier to thank me as I had helped him sort out problems he was having with headaches and his eyes.  I was able to speak to a UK doctor, who is working here, and she was able to tell him he needed glasses and fortunately, the team who is here with her, was able to kit him out with some sun glasses and some prescription glasses they had brought out with them as well as a hat to keep the sun out of his eyes so he was a very happy man!

Last night going home, I shared a lift in a Land Cruiser, with eight pastors on the way to the house.  I was sitting next to a woman pastor who had a very young baby strapped to her back (as they do in Africa – no posh prams here!), her very young daughter falling asleep half on my lap and half on her's and me sitting there holding an inflated beach-ball (don’t ask!). The thing I’ve noticed here is that when you are being driven anywhere, you never go straight to where you are supposed to be going, you go off somewhere else and they never tell you where you are going.  Usually it’s to go and buy some airtime or drop someone off or pick something up but eventually you get to where you are going if a bit late but that’s all part of the experience of being here.

This will probably be my last post until I am back here on 13^th August.

Land of a Thousand Hills (& Emotions!)

Rwanda is commonly known as the ‘Land of a Thousand Hill’ or ‘Des Milles Collines’ - the name of the hotel in the film Hotel Rwanda.  Yesterday, driving to a very remote parish, Rasano, I felt I drove up and down most of them.  A four hour journey along bone-shaking roads although TB’s 4x4 Toyota, his very good driver and some stunning scenery made it somewhat bearable.

View from Rasano & some of the hills we drove over

Arriving in Rasano, high on a hill, we were met by a large crowd who had come to church as TB was confirming 47 young people and word had gone out a musungu preacher was also coming.  For many, I was the first musungu they had seen so attention was firmly on me rather than on TB. Walking into the church, I was aware that around 250 pairs of eyes were looking at me – quite an intimidating experience as you walked through the church overwhelmed by the heat (must have been around 85 degrees under the corrugated iron roof) and the aroma of having around 250 hot people in there!  I did wonder how I was going to cope with what was going to be at least a two-hour service and thankful that they brought us some water as I had forgotten mine.

All eyes on the musungu visitor

Interesting old face in the congregation

Another four hour drive back to Kamembe, two hours in the dark along unlit roads with lots of people walking - have no idea how they can see anything but guess their eyes are better adjusted to the dark than ours are.

I thought last week’s visit to Kanzu, another remote parish, was quite a challenging drive but yesterday’s certainly beat it. But, there is something wonderful going to these remote churches – the simple buildings with corrugated iron roofs, mud floors, young children crawling and walking around the make-shift platform as TB is in mid-flow and mothers breast feeding their children! It all feels very raw but worship is wonderful (despite yesterday’s loud speaker blaring out to a crowd outside the church) and the opportunity to hear a musungu speaker brings in a few extra people – think TB is going to take “my musungu” (as he affectionately calls me) to a few more churches to get the numbers up.

Come to see the musungu in church

Earlier in the week, I went up to Kigali for a night.  Opportunity to have my first bath in about five weeks (don’t worry I have been taking showers!) and a look in a decent mirror, in decent light to see a much slimmer Jonathan with a mop of wild hair.  Managed to find a hair salon in hotel next door to got a hair cut, much to amusement of Rwandese ladies who were all having their hair done. Without my glasses it was difficult to see what was coming off and tried not to worry about the large chunks of hair on the gown but came out with a not too bad hair-cut and looking a bit more respectable.

My emotions, like the hills, have been up and down this week.  Think a combination of tiredness, had to meet a team from the UK who arrived at midnight on Monday in Kigali and didn’t get to bed until 2am and then early start and six hour drive back to Kamembe on Tuesday, combined with the challenges of being here has kicked-in.  Have to admit there has been some tears (for the first time I’ve been here) this week as well as feelings of frustration, impatience and, at times, anger. However, next moment I can find myself laughing and also humbled by the people here.

I returned late to the house the other evening after getting caught up in a situation at the clinic, where two doctors from the UK are working for a few weeks, when we got into a long discussion with local nurses about the condition of a very sick baby and whether it should stay in the clinic, which has limited hospital facilities, or be taken to the local hospital in town where it could be properly treated.  In the end, we managed to persuade the local nurses to call an ambulance to take the baby to hospital, as the UK doctors were worried that the baby may not last the night.

Getting back to the house, I was desperate just to get in and go to bed when I noticed in the shadows, on the terrace, there were two people waiting for me who turned out to be Christian and Jimmy, two sons of Leocadie (who I mentioned in an earlier post). They had brought me six fresh eggs from their chicken – a thoughtful and generous gift, as I know they need eggs for their family. Had a nice long chat with confident Christian who speaks very good English whilst his brother, Jimmy, sat there rather shyly but it was a lovely end to a trying day.

That was until I discovered a huge spider in the shower tray. Tried to capture it in an empty Blue Band tub but it wasn’t having any of that so, sorry spider lovers, turned the shower on and flushed it down the plug-hole.

I’ve still got a lot to understand here.  Why the Rwandese do things in the way they do and why they don’t do things at all!  Once I’ve understood this, I think things will get easier as I am finding it hard at the moment to progress anything – so many things just get forgotten so I’m trying to introduce a bit more accountability and some musungu ways of doing things. We’ll see!

P.S. The baby taken to the hospital is fine but the two doctors sadly had to tell a mother that her very sick baby, who she had brought to the clinic today, was going to die so high emotions all round. 

Football, Banks, Retreat & Ice

You can see from the heading, I’ve had quite a varied week!  Started off, last Sunday, with a football match (watching, not playing and the first since seeing Arsenal v Fulham in the old Highbury stadium) between the Diocese Youth Team and the Rusizi District Team.

I was told kick-off was at 3pm but being Rwanda I knew it would start later so arrived around 3.30pm when they were still discussing tactics, warming up and the match started just before 4pm.  I forgot that ‘youth’ in Rwanda is anything from 14yrs to 34yrs so couldn’t quite understand why the teams were made up of very large chaps. I asked someone what happens when the youth get to 35 – are they young men or middle aged?  No, old. Made me feel positively ancient.

It was a good match and just when it looked as if it was going to end in a no score draw when the youngest and smallest player from the Rusizi District Team scored in the last minute – think he was so small that no one saw him sneak up and kick the ball into the goal.

Winning team photo

I should be getting used to this by now as after the match, I thought I could just sneak off but I was asked to go and have a Fanta with the players.  They had played for 90 minutes with no water and I was treated as the guest of honour, given a drink before all the others and was asked, as is the Rwandese custom, to make a speech. There wasn’t a Biblical passage about football that came to mind but a few mentions of Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal got them happy and then I remembered the “it’s not the winning but taking part that counts” quotation so ended on that but not sure how it came out in translation.

In the week, I needed to go and get some money exchanged in Kamembe Town. There has been a huge growth in banks in the town and across Rwanda and people are being encouraged to join ‘Savings & Credit’ programmes to teach them to become more self-reliant. They set-up small community savings groups and, each member in the group has to save some money each week – we are talking, in many cases, amounts of RWF100 (10 pence) which may be 10% of their weekly income (you can work this out to get an idea of their income) – and then they bank the collective savings of the group.  This gets them into the habit of saving and also gives them confidence to go into a bank and pay money into the account.  Small banks are opening up in the rural villages and there are even mobile banking services. 

I went into a bank, as have got to know a couple of staff there, who are keen I open up a bank account with them (which I need to do). A new airport style security check has been installed at the entrance but, most people walk around the gap next to it or, when you do walk through it, as I did and it bleeps, no one bothers to check you!  I was shown into the office, of one of the staff I had met, and although there was another customer in there, they just sat me down and talked to me and completely ignored the other person!  It’s things like this that make me smile as you just wouldn’t see this at home. The office was air-conditioned, the first I had come across in my time here, so I could have spent the afternoon there.  Did have a very interesting chat about banking in Rwanda – some good interest rates on deposits here!

On Thursday, I had a day-away with The Bishop (TB).  He wanted to go on a ‘retreat’ for a day so we escaped and drove to a five star lodge hotel located in a tea forest on the edge of the Nyungwe National Park – hope none of the staff from the Diocese are reading this as we could be in trouble! TB said he wanted a day with no phones, email or work stuff but when I arrived at his house, with my swimming trunks, sun tan lotion and sun glasses, he had packed-up his briefcase full of papers, phone and his iPad ready to go. I just smiled!

Passed this wedding procession on way to lodge

The NYP is acclaimed for its biodiversity and for being one of the most endemic species-rich areas in all of Africa and is one of the most important conservation sites.  It covers 1020km2 and boasts a diverse ecosystem from rainforest, bamboo, grassland, and swamps.  It protects one of the region’s largest and oldest remaining patches of montane rainforest and is home to 300 species of birds, 13 primates and location for one of the sources of both the Nile and Congo rivers. Takes almost two hours to drive through the forest to get from Kigali – Kamembe but it is spectacular.

The lodge is set in a tea plantation with the forest as an amazing backdrop and very peaceful – there were even some monkeys up in the trees and on the roof of one of the bedrooms. Temperatures in the park are cooler than those in Kamembe and we experienced the first rain in seven weeks.  So, no swimming but just a relaxing day, chatting with TB, trying to get him off his phone and stop checking his email and enjoying the beautiful surroundings and being transported into a world of luxury although a stark reminder of the rich and poor divide that is developing here. Even the men’s urinals, in the gents, were filled with large pieces of ice – never seen this before!  The contrast between this and a pit latrine couldn’t be more different.

The Lodge in tea plantation & forest behind

Then it was back, I suppose, to the real world of Kamembe where they’ve been painting the town red.  Must have had a consignment of red paint delivered as suddenly the buildings are turning red– not quite the Farrow & Ball shades I’ve been used to in Lewes High Street but it kind of works here! 

Painting the town red!

Tomorrow I’m going, with TB, to Kanzu - one of the remotest of the Diocese of Cyangugu’s 15 parishes and have just been told it takes four hours to drive there. TB has asked me to preach and also to preach in two more remote parishes on the next two Sundays. Many of the churches are in very remote places and difficult to access so if some pastors need to come to Kamembe, for a meeting, it can take them seven hours to get here! One thing I notice about being here is that people don’t complain – despite the hardships, challenges, distances they just get on with it.  Not like me, as I often moan to myself about the heat, the hills, the dust, and the potholes so I have much to learn from these resilient people.

I think TB wants to turn me into a ‘Preacher Man’. I’m also now known as ‘Musungu Man’ by some of the children I pass each day walking to and from the guest house – meaning ‘White Man Man’ – bit like ‘White Man Van’ but without the van!

Just back from town, where I managed to leave my printed sermon, that I just had just walked all the way down to the guest house to print out, in Alimentation OK where I buy groceries (and now Mars Bars!) but one of the shop assistants ran after me up the high street. Being the only musungu don’t think he had a problem finding me and I was much relieved as couldn’t have faced going back to the guest house although it would have given me something to moan about.

Walking up the hill, to the house, about 50 soldiers with rifles passed me in single file. I think each one of them ‘eye-balled’ me but didn’t respond to my friendly ‘wiriwe’ (good afternoon) or a smile.  They were Rwandan military so at least we haven’t been invaded.

Off to Kigali on Monday, to meet a group coming over from the UK who are working here for three-weeks. Hoping to have time to get to one of the city’s new coffee shops for a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant or two!