Dear All The only
thing of note that I have done recently, apart from working my socks off in the
schools of course, is visiting the gorilla naming ceremony. I got two free invitations to the event from
Greg of Amahoro Tours (the only tour operator in Musanze) who I give a lot of
business to when people come to stay to see the gorillas! The event was held in Kinigi near the foot of
the volcanoes.
The day started with a rather cold moto ride to the
event. Motos in skirts and flip flops
definitely not to be recommended! The
road was lined with banana trees specially planted along the way with flowers
draped around them (as Paul Kagame was supposed to be attending)
We arrived at the field which was packed with people already
at 10am. There were 4 huge marquees in
the area and a full blown stage with speaker systems etc.
There was dancing and drumming to begin with
and some of the pupils from primary schools had dressed up in gorialla
suits.
There was a well-known singer
from Burundi who wowed the crowd with some good African music.
Then we were given an A4 sheet with pictures
of all the baby gorillas that had been born this year and were waiting
names. Then lots of different people got
up on stage and talked about the gorillas and named them formally. This year there were two twin gorillas born
too which were really cute! Several
people from the District office were there including my landlord so that was
nice.
After all the speeches there was a free drink and some food
in the huge marquees which were all laid out like a wedding. Here’s where the fun started. No formal queueing in Rwanda! It was loads of men pushing and shoving their
way to the food and piling food on their plates literally crushing people in
their wake! Quite frightening really and
surprising for such a dignified ceremony!
Made me wonder what it would be like to be in a crowd of starving people
when a delivery of food aid arrived!
Luckily for us one of the waiters kindly withdrew us from the crowd and
helped us to get some food! The food was
very good and went down well with a complimentary glass of wine.
There were portaloos at the grounds which were lovely and
clean with paper and water and soap to wash our hands with afterwards (a real
bonus)
Unfortunately Margarets flip flop broke during the ceremony
so had more flop than flip! We had to
try to tie her shoe onto her foot with her glasses string until we reached the
town to buy a new shoe!
On the way out
we also managed to sneak a visit to the Kinigi cultural centre where we looked
at the reed roundel houses that they have constructed to show how traditional
housing might have looked. They were
lovely and smelled good too. The walls
are all constructed of woven bamboo and had patterns on. Lovely inside and much quieter with a reed
roof than a tin one in the rain I imagine!
Not much else to report.
There is a census going on in Rwanda in the next two months so we have
been told that there is no point in organising any training as lots of the SEO’s
head teachers and teachers are participating in the census so won’t be able to
attend. So I am not sure what I will be
doing in August! May do some travelling
instead of twiddling my thumbs!
On the work front. I
am spending £100 that two people from England gave me to help out here on some
shelving to start a library at Nyarubuye school (up in the mountains). I am taking the money up to give them towards
building the shelves on 3rd July.
I have also been successful in securing a bid for funding for a library
at another school (Kiryi) (£600)so start that project after the holidays in September
too – so lots to look forward to there.
Also I understand that Bingley Rotary is going to support a project out
here too possibly next year which will be great and Haworth Primary School are
also raising funds hopefully to support a library project in another
school. So a big thank you to everyone
for your generosity – it really does make a big big difference out here and
every pound is much appreciated and well spent.
The orphanage project is now finished and the nuns were delighted at
being able to buy clothes, mattresses, bowls and spoons, wheelchairs, and
walking aids for the children.
Next weekend we are having a leaving do for Jo, Sarah,
Margaret and Kemi. Four of the
volunteers who are leaving us from our intake.
It will be a bit sad really to see them go and next year will be very
different as several more are due to leave during August including Dave and
Gloria and Karen.
Oh well…….. all I can say is Rwanda will be worse off without them and that I
will miss them all.
