My Brain Hurts!

January 11th

We’ve fallen into a routine now, and feel very much at home in our protected little enclave. There’s a constant procession of volunteers coming and going who pop in to say hello (and get a free feed!)

Our Kinyarwanda language lessons are now very exhausting – two sessions of 90 minutes today; our brains are reeling. Also this afternoon we learnt how to set up our mosquito nets properly in our houses, and how to light our kerosene and charcoal stoves safely. Kerosene is smelly and charcoal is messy. We’ve all got a hurricane lamp for if (when) the electricity goes off. Tomorrow we’re into Kigali centre to the Chinese market to buy all our domestic stuff – pots and pans, buckets, mops, washing powder, matches, clothes pegs etc. We also had an intense session with an experienced volunteer who briefed us on the idiosyncrasies of the Rwandan education system. It’s a Kafkaesque maze of old fashioned formal curriculum, with exams so hard that most children fail. Secondary school is fee paying (£25 a term which is a lot in Rwanda) and it’s going to be a real challenge to find a way in to start tackling the local implications of the national muddle.

At the moment we’re all exhausted by the heat and the concentration of it all – there’s a huge volume of stuff we need to learn or get proficient at. Fortunately we all get along well and I know we’ll be meeting up at weekends in each others’ towns once we’re all settled in.

It’s turned dry and very hot from about 10-30 until about 5.30. The nights are quite chilly. Best time is the early morning. I get up at 6 to try to get an hour’s study done or sort my stuff out. It’s cool, the birds are singing and Africa feels great.

Now for the really good news. Got through to Tom, the church aid worker I’m to share a house with. Apparently we’ve got pretty reliable running water – hot water, even – and the electricity’s pretty constant. I don’t have to buy curtains either, and we’re cooking on a gas stove. He’s even got a fridge/freezer. Have I struck lucky or what!

High points of the day – everything, really; it’s all new and exciting and very, very real!
Low points – nothing in particular, just the sheer volume of stuff we have to cover.