Being 'in' with the president

Well well well, so much has happened since my last blog.. Today I helped 6 of my boys ; mohammed, ive, ivan , moise, david and moses to make a paper chain which we strung all around the orphanage. That was fun except when it got to stringing all the boys individual paper chains together and then the fighting began :) oops! The weekend, well saturday was so much fun!!! Me Joy , Lara , Paddy and August went after work on friday by bus to Ruhengeri (Musanze) where we had booked a hotel, so we arrived around 8.30 and then me and lara and joy went to find dinner, we eventually found another hotel which had a restaurant but we couldn't decide what to order and then when we finally did order we were told that the kitchen had closed ten minutes before. So we trudged back to our own hotel and then went to the restaurant there, why we didn't go there in the first place don't ask me but anyhow we finally ordered dinner and by the time we left it was nearly 12 pm , so I went to my bed and the next morning after a very bad nights sleep (this party animal usually goes to bed around 9 in rwanda) ,I treated myself to my first full pressure, stand up ,HOT shower in two months! We were running late to the Kwita Izina, which apparently started at 8 , but our two beauties held us up by straightening their hair. When we finally got on the bus to Kinigi (the town where the ceremony would be taking place) , it was about ten thirty. So we finally arrive in the town and the locals who were also going to the free ceremony led us over a short cut which involved going through a forest with soldiers hiding behind the trees, it reminded me of a World War two war movie minus the snow , and then past little mud huts and children screaming Muzungu , Muzungu .When we finally came to the location of the ceremony our hearts sunk , not only did it look like we were the very last people to arrive but there were 30,000 rwandens present. So when we got through security we started to push our way to the front of the crowd, but we were the only white people in the crowd and the crowd fell silent and stared as we tried to make our way through the crowd. The crowd seperated like I imagine the sea seperated when Moses lead the people of Israel through the sea. When we got to the front of the crowd we were dismayed because we saw that the area where the 30,000 strong crowd was fenced off from the area which held the main stage and the covered section which had all foreign press, some tourists, important Rwanden officials , and the president and his entourage . Security was guarding the partition , so cautiously we edged our way to them and asked if we could go through . They said No, do you have invitations? So we said Where can you get invitations? and started walking away. They called us back and said do you have a phone. And we said Yes, and they said you aren't allowed to come in here with a phone , so we said Yes we did have a phone but we left it at home but could we take pictures instead? They must of thought we were foreign press , and we were waved through . And what perfect timing! We walked through just as the first lot of 'gorillas' (or rather people dressed as and acting like gorillas!) and the intore dancers , and the 'parents' who would be naming the gorillas , arrived in a huge procession. So we stood next to the journalists with their scary looking cameras while I snapped away with my very scratched and cheap digital camera. So after the procession had gone away we started to sit down on the grass area reserved for the press such as Rueters etc, and then all of a sudden the organizer waved us into the seats in the very front row, on the same row as the president his wife, and all the ministers from parliament. There also happened to be exactly 5 seats, so the entire ceremony we were all super excited that we had been the last ones to come and had managed to move up from the back of a huge crowd to the very best seats in the whole place. Apparently we were mistaken for the crew of an actor Don Chidle who would be naming a gorilla in the ceremony as partly through the ceremony an organiser approached Lara 'Is Don Coming?' they asked Lara had heard he was so she said Yes! and then they asked 'Do you know if hes ready yet we are ready for him now?' and Lara said 'ummm.. I'm not actually sure?' so the Lady said 'You're not Don's assistants??' 'ummmmm Nooooo', whoops I guess that place had been reserved for them , the ceremony was great with the president making a speech, the gorillas being named, Intore traditional dancing and drumming and musical numbers. The whole time we had a large camera only half a metre away pointing at us until I made a point to deliberately pull a face so that it would retract its rude stare. So when the ceremony finished everyone stood up for the national anthum and to cheer for the president (and man don't the Rwandens love their president!) , the president stopped to shake hands with the people who had named the gorillas then walked a little further by me and I waved and he stuck out his hand and SHOOK MY HAND!!!!!!!!! And then he preceded to shake all the other volunteers hands, then he kept on walking and did not shake anyone elses hands! We were all so excited and two of the other volunteers shook hands with the actor as well! So we left before the huge mob of people could and took the same short cut and made our way back to the bus. Anyway the bus couldn't leave because traffic was cut off as the president would be driving past, however he must have been delayed because after an hour of sitting on a bus that wasn't moving the driver suddenly remembered there was the backroads, he could take. So we went on the craziest road ever , through a real Rwanden country side. The people on the side of the road were so excited because not only did they never see bus's go down their road but there were also Muzungus on the bus! So the whole bus ride me and Paddy and Lara hung out of the window screaming Muraho and waving to extremely excited Men , women and children. Then when we finally got back To Muzanze we were just having a quick cofee (or for mea Fanta Fiesta) at the hotel when all of a sudden we heard screaming and cheering from the street at the back of the hotel so Me , Lara and Joy ran out to the street and there's nobody else but the president driving his own little car down the road very slowly and he is jumping out and greeting the crowd so he jumps back in and his body guards follow and he drives his car a little further and stops exactly in front of us . We are there being squashed by the people cheering and Lara who is quite tall manages to grasp his attention,she says Hello Again! And he looks at us and recognizes us and gives us the nod and the wave! And then he was off again, it was so exciting!! So then we caught the bus and went back home on complete highs. Its crazy how many times I have seen the president , I have seen him giving a speech at the Genocide memorial , I have seen him at the finale of the Kagame cup in fact we sat really near him that time and we thought THAT was exiting, twice I have seen his car go past when traffic is stopped and then last saturday I saw him on two different occasions again. Oh Yes and then I got texts and phone calls and the other volunteers too that we were on Rwanda Tv and no it wasn't just a glimpse of us , we were practically the main item ! Apparently every ten seconds they would zoom in on our faces to show our reactions and if we were clapping etc,like we were celebritys or something... I never expected to become 'famous' and to greet the president in Rwanda, but I am not complaining it was definitely a day I won't ever forget!!!
Anyway I have some great news about Theogen the 16 year old Boy I snuck lunch too, well hes been given a home at the house of the mother, well in the hut of the house boy , and has a permanent job as field worker , and if the mother can sort out the paper work and find out if he is really orphan status then he can go to live at the orphanage, right now I am speaking to the mother about the possibility if I could sponser him to go to school!!!
I hope you all have a great week , and this week I was also extremely excited by the birth of my little cousin Naomi who I am going to be looking after part time in Holland!!
ijoro geeza!(that means Good night)