Wednesday 8th October

Got up and c aught the bus into Kigali for the meeting with Mike and Charlotte. Popped into the Lebanese supermarket for some lunch first and was actually amazed to find a meat counter of some kind which you would actually dare buy meat from. Not that we can cook anything yet because we are still stuck in the motel but worth remembering for future reference. They actually had things in there i had not seen before including olives!. Not much use anyway as its a two hour drive to Kigali and we are not there often enough to use the meat counter – probably couldn’t afford it either!

The meeting with Mike and Charlotte went well. Mike is quite new to the job but he clearly listens to what is being said and we came up with several solutions. They are going to try to get a meeting with the mayor of the district to see if they are really committed to having the volunteers there. I really don’t think the district is really geared up to having the both of us still but we will see.

Called in at the travel agents before catching the bus back home to get my ticket home for Christmas. Ha ha !! thats funny i have my ticket home although i haven’t even started work yet.

The bus ride is a long two hours twisting and turning and up and down hills, but the scenery is beautiful along the way. The traffic police were out in force both ways – we saw at least 10 on the way up to Kigali and about 6 on the way back. It doesn’t seem to stop the bus drivers driving like loonies though. They drive at ferocious speeds even though the road winds backwards and forwards all the way, and they swing round curves so fast that your feet lift off the floor! Anyway got back safe and sound but not feeling any more positive.

Thursday 9th October

Had a very vivid dream about my friend Ann and woke up feeling quite lucid. Realised that I was in a position which was a long way from what i intended when i first came out here. I wanted to work in a rural village and live in the community and here i was being asked to live in a town and do motor cycle training so that i could get in and out to work each day. So I e mailed Programme Office and told them I didn’t really think Gisagara is going to work for me on that basis. I know that I work better in a community situation where you really get to know everyone and not in isolation in an office or a place on my own.

Met an interesting guy while I was having my dinner at the Ineze. He was called John and was a Ugandan who was working at the National University of Rwanda doing some auditing he said - he gave me his card and it turns out he is actually the chief internal auditor so quite an important person in the university in fact. He spoke very good English and although he is Ugandan he asked the usual questions about family and so on. He was amazed when I said that most people in England do not go to church and just said “Why” quite incredulously. Nice guy though and very interesting to talk to. I’ve met so many nice people while i have been here which is a good thing at least.

Friday 10th October
Actually felt quite down and miserable about the whole situation today. Although Mike and Charlotte have a meeting today with the mayor it just feels like we have been hanging around ages and there is not really any prospect of anything happening either.I have sent a few messages to other people working in education in Rwanda nd hope to go and work with them before i come home for Christmas. But the schools are now on shut down mode for the end of the year – all children do exams at this time of year. Certain years do national exams and the rest do internal exams – if they fail they have to do the year again so you can end up with teenagers still in primary school! But there is little chance of me getting my teeth into a job now until January really.
Its actually quite hot today and I could have gone for a swim if I had got organised. I went for a walk around the block instead.
After calling at the cybercafé and updating my blog we went straight to the Faucon for a beer and we ended up sitting there for about five hours just watching the world go by. Had a nice meal there of some sort of meat escalope and sauté potatoes – have to treat ourselves now and again to keep sane. But unfortunately something I ate did not agree with me rather violently and I woke up with severe stomach pains and diarrhoea – I was up and down to the loo all night. It is going to be an inevitable part of living here I think.
However we did get news from VSO that the Mayor has found a house for us to look at in Gisagara on Monday. I am not holding my breath though until i have seen it.

Saturday 11th October
I was planning to go for a walk today with Jane from Giterama up into a lake in the mountains but i really daren’t go after my stomach upset from the previous night. Also it was raining heavily and I don’t really have the waterproofs and my trainers are up at Gisagara so decided to stay here. Eli, the young man who works at the hotel came and kept me company looking at my photos and listening to my music on the computer. Ruairi has gone as planned so now on my own for the weekend but am perfectly ok with that. Got some good books to read and if its sunny tomorrow i will go for the swim I have been promising myself for ages.

Decided to go to the party after all – and am glad I did. Met loads of other volunteers who are working in Rwanda – it was a really busy party. Got talking to loads of people but the most positive so far was talking to Michael who is working in Shongwye and has visted 10 schools all of whom are crying out for teacher training in methodology. Seems a bit crazy that I cannot start work when all the teachers are asking him everywhere he goes.

Hayley – whose house the party is at has bought a puppy!!!! It is very partial to biting and bites my leg and draws blood. Spend the rest of the evening wondering what the symptoms of rabies are. So far I have not developed an irrational fear of water which i think is one of the main symptoms.