Catch up on my holidays

So here I am again, hopefully update you on the happenings of my life in the last two weeks. I only have 2 and a half weeks to go before I HAVE to go home again. The time really was far too short, 3 months felt ridiculously short last time, and this time 2 and a half months has again been far too short. Again this confirms to me that I can definitely live in Rwanda long term. Sure I miss my family, New Zealand and friends some  times but definitely not enough to make me want to go home. In fact In Dunedin I was always more homesick than I have ever been in Rwanda. 

So I left the very exciting (no doubt) story of my life on new years day! After I had lunch at my two friend’s houses I went with a whole bunch of my deaf friends to the lake Kivu to go swimming. It was very cold, but very fun and great bonding time. Usually at home we always go to the beach for new years day so it was nice to celebrate new years at ‘the beach’ again.. In that weekend(fri, sat, sun) (after new years) I received lots of visitors to my home. Rwandan culture spoils visitors so I try my hardest to meet my visitors expectations. My friend Dominic came around and we went to visit another friend Om from Noel orphanage. I was surprised to see in his house he only had a mattress and his clothes, no furniture or bed like all the other boys.

 I went with my friend Aleece to Serena Hotel to take a fanta and to swim at their ‘beach ‘ there. Serena hotel is for the richest of the rich, we calculated that one nights stay was the equivalent of food, rent and power for Aleece for 2 or 3 months. There were a lot of Mazungu (white people) and rich Rwandans there. I felt extremely uncomfortable as just moments before I was in the bustling, poor suburb of Bugangari where I live. I didn’t like it one bit. Again I felt a certain distaste about being white. I don’t know if I will ever return there, but give me a 300 frank fanta (about 40 cents) in a little shop in the middle of a busy road any time over a 1000 frank fanta next to a beautiful swimming pool with gentle music in the background.

 I went to visit the houses of ex Noel kids at Kanembgwe, which is a rural suburb outside Ggisenyi. Its ridiculously beautiful there, but very very poor. I saw my first ‘Unicef’ Child there, with extended belly and bones sticking out. It was the village I went to visit before where we ate food with Johan a recurring volunteer from Belgium. 20 ex Noel residents live there. It is like a mini orphanage. Because I came in the late afternoon there was no way of taking transport back to Gisenyi until the morning, I decided to stay the night. I went to visit the house of one of the children from Noel, Paduki who lived close. I was so shocked to see him. When I left Rwanda  he was 8, and now he  was 11 , and he hadn’t even grown one centimeter. Also he had one of those extended bellies common in the area. He had just been fetching firewood for the family he was living with (his aunt and uncle and their 6 young children). His clothes and shoes were raggedy. Inside the house was not much better. There was no furniture, the floor and walls were dirt. I only saw one mattress. I felt incredibly sad to see him in this situation. 

The rest of my visit at Kanembgwe was fantastic , I was treated like royalty, and everyone was very excited that I was staying the night. I stayed with Sandrine and she cooked delicious food for me.

Further that weekend I went to watch the Noel football team play their final match as a team. It had been a long time since they were all together, and many had come from far and wide to play. It was such a mission to get to the place where they were playing football. First caught a bus and then a moto, who twice tried to change the price we had agreed on. We ended up in the remote village Basasamana, who it was clear rarely saw white people. At the football game I saw Tara a volunteer I lived with at Noel a few years ago. We were literally surrounded by hundreds of kids and people who with mouths dropped open stared at us. Even when I spoke to them in Kinyarwanda they didn’t even respond. It was a very strange feeling. Eventually we got boring and I could look at the game. Tara, me and the coach of Noel team were the only fans for the Noel team in this remote village. Literally thousands of fans for the other team. I tried my hardest to be a good fan, even wearing the team shirt, but it is pretty hard when it’s you against a few thousands.  We lost also 2-1 which was gutting, because it was the first time the unbeatable Noel team had been beaten, and on their last ever game too.. 

With our heads held low we started walking from the football field. We took tea and food together and everyone started leaving on their separate ways. Most of the team took motos back to the village of Kaberi where they took the bus. A few boys decided to walk back to Kabari, I said I would go with them , so there we ventured a two hour journey. It was a beautiful walk, but by the time we reached Kabari I was exhausted. We didn’t catch a regular bus but instead took a private mini van who refused to drop us off at the bus station (near our houses) but instead in town so we had to walk another 50 minutes home. I slept well that night!!! Also I went to the deaf church again! It’s a real privilege  to worship there..

The week after new years 4- 10 jan we still had holidays. On Mon, Tues and Wed I had training with the other volunteers from UCC about inclusive education. On Tuesday I went after training with the deaf again to the beach to swim, where we tried to teach my friend Betty how to swim. After training on Wednesday we had a big staff wide party with all staff and volunteers of UCC. We ate food and listened to speeches (surprise, surprise) but then  we played ‘Kakawait’ which pretty much is like secret santa, at a meeting a few weeks before we were all given the name of a staff member we would buy a gift for. My person who  I bought a gift for was one of the teachers at the school, who had just moved here from Uganda to Rwanda so I  bought him a Rwanda wall hanging. I was so surprised  to see the reactions of everyone to their gifts. Someone would go up and make a small speech and then say my Kakawait is… and then music would play and the person whos gift it was would come up. Quite a few were so overcome with emotion with their gifts they couldn’t even talk. Even one woman (a cook from UCC) flung at the person who was her kakawait until they both fell on the floor , with her on top of him (and he has a physical disability with his legs so I hope he wasn’t hurt!). I don’t know If it was the emotion of the room , or if it was the fact that they were genuinely happy with their presents. It definitely made me appreciate the act of giving and receiving gifts more! When we do secret santa in New Zealand , there are a lot of forced smiles and hmmm ‘interesting’. We really have too much stuff in New Zealand..

Unfortunately this is all I have time to update you with for now, This week I have been working at UCC and loving every  minute of it!!!! I have been working with adults with disabilities , its been very challenging but really rewarding.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Keza