What you can do with 50 francs at the market

Mar 26th

Another day at the office. Still no more new census forms in, so spend the whole morning trying to analyse the figures I’ve already got. Certainly some interesting things are emerging, mainly in terms of the range between the highest and lowest figures for schools. I don’t want to bore you, but you might be interested to hear that the best equipped school only has 2.3 text books per child, while the worst has 0.7 per child (across all subjects). There is virtually not a single book in 26 schools about history, geography, religion, civics, agriculture, and physical education. And these 26 schools have 3400 “orphans” between them, though it may be the case that some of these orphans may be children in single-parent families, especially those born to mothers as young as 13 or 14 who have been forced by older boys and men.

Dined in style at lunchtime on home-made potato salad and tomato base; my economy drive is coming on well even though I spent more than I wanted to in Kigali yesterday.

Venantie had one of her sons with her in the office; he was getting bored and fidgety so I showed him some of the photos of Beaminster and some family pics from my laptop. Soon had half the office crowding round to see them. I must say, that by comparison with the local primary schools, Beaminster Comp looks extravagantly equipped. You should see the adult’s faces when I showed them pictures of the library and swimming pool. Venantie’s son was more impressed with the Southern National double decker in the bus park. Poor, misguided child….

In the afternoon we had a big power cut, so came home ahead of today’s thunderstorm and continued to work on data analysis. Nipped out to the market and continued my policy of only paying 50 francs for stuff, and not 100. Got some flak from some of the women, but I still think I did well and they’re beginning to realise I’m not going to be ripped off quite so much in future. Tried to buy peanut flour, but couldn’t find any – I’m determined to be a bit more adventurous with Tom away. Never mind, I know I can get it at Ndolies in Kigali on Friday. (Not quite sure what I’m going to do with it but let’s get it first and then find out)!

Phoned Chris at Kamonyi and finalised details for the Heads’ training tomorrow.

Cooked up a big pot of vegetable stew; I was trying to make soup but it didn’t work out right. So put in some cheese and it tasted great – warming and filling. And there’s enough left for some more tomorrow, too. Also tried mixing mashed potato with a little marge and a lot of peanut butter – unbelievably filling but not exactly a gourmet offering. I definitely should wear “L” plates in the kitchen!

Quiet evening listening to rain drumming on the roof!

Best thing about today – just doing my own thing at my own pace all day
And there’s nothing really grotty about the day either.