Finally it is here...
Trip Start
Feb 13, 2009
1
9
19
Trip End
Dec 17, 2009
Kigali, Rwanda
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Anyway on to the more exciting stuff. We had three new volunteers arrive this weekend; Sandra 57 from the UK, Eric 23 from Canada and Ryan 33 also from Canada. Been interesting having more people in our house, especially considering we are all at different placements so nice to hear about what people have been doing with there time during the day. The weekend was therefore a bit of a write off - we went to the craft markets and chilled out in a very nice cafe hiding from the intense heat outside on Saturday. We also said goodbye to the lovely Drew who was heading back to the states after 6 weeks in Rwanda. It is never nice to say goodbye to people. Sunday was spent lazying around the house waiting for them to arrive, we were told they would be arriving in the morning but didn't in fact materialise until the afternoon. Was nice to have a bumming around day.
Tuesday, i hit the big 2-0. I woke up to a lovely surprise from Annie and Vanessa had got me some presents at my place on the table in the morning. How well they know me, the got me dried fruit, nuts, honey, fruit tea and juice. And you all know how happy that has made me! I was surprised again when i was at the nursery, at break time all 200 nursery kids started marching around the playground singing a variety of crazy voodooesque kinyarwandan songs when my teacher said happy birthday and handed me a huge bag of candy and thrusted me into the middle of them all and got them to sing happy birthday at me in 3 different languages. Definitely something i wont be forgetting. In the afternoon the kids at the orphanage also surprised me by singing happy birthday to me and making me loads of birthday cards which is something i will treasure forever. Went out for drinks last night but due to be over tired we are heading out to an Ethiopian restaurant on Sunday night for some injera.
Oh I almost completely forgot to tell you about last week. We went to Nyungwe national park in the south west of the country for a 4 hour hike up to a waterfall. It was a stunning little setting where we were surrounded by tea plantations, with Burundi one way across the hills and the Congo to the other side. We spent 4 hours trekking through stunning rainforest to reach a refreshing, but rather small, waterfall. We also saw monkeys when we arrived back at the ORTPN office. Our guide was very informative, slightly lacking when asked what type of rock Nyungwe was formed from, to which he replied 'black rock'. I will just have to use my imagination!
I will let you know what the next week has installed for me once I myself have actually experienced it all!
Love you lots
- A little add on as I forgot to bring this with me on Wednesday to post it! Thursday I went to EDD which is a rehabilitation centre for boys off the street. Was god to see something different and get more ideas f what Gisimba could do with that would benefit the kids there. It's very different but still seems to work. The boys who live there are helped to integrate back into society and then reunited with the families. The day consisted of teaching the older kids (which I found a lot more fun and learnt more kinyarwandan than in the nursery) and playing sports with them in the afternoon. The kids are a lot less confident there and have more issues with self-esteem so it is good to give them some one on one attention.
Saturday we went to a big football match at the Amahoro Stadium which is about a half hour walk from where I live. It was Rwanda’s army side playing the Congo. So a big game. Even more fun when we worked out we were sat on the Congo side. An incredible match with dancers and a close games; 1-0 to Rwanda with the goal in the last two minutes. Paul Kagame was there which we all got insanely excited about as he was only 11 seats over from us. All in all a very good week!
