Mr and Mrs Lamborn come to Rwanda!

My parents arrived at Kigali airport on 2^nd January 2011 and I was so excited to see them! They had brought a very big stocking from Father Christmas with them, containing lots of goodies of things I can’t get in Rwanda very easily, like shampoo and proper chocolate, but the main reason for my excitement was because I hadn’t seen them for 4 months and I couldn’t wait to show them around the country I have been living in!

 Our first stop was my volunteer house and my mum and dad were very lucky because they visited on a day when there was both water and electricity (quite rare)! We stayed in Kibungo overnight, because the next morning I was going back to Akagera National Park so my parents could experience their first ever safari! This time, I saw even more giraffes and hippos than before and I had to eat my lunch very quickly so it wasn’t stolen by baboons!

Hippo shaped visitors!



Eyeing up my cheese sandwich...



The most exciting thing I had planned while my parents were visiting was a gorilla trek! Rwanda is famous for the gorillas living in the Volcano National Park in the north and on 7^th January, I had booked tickets for us to go and find them! We were put into a trekking group with a guide and warned about how to act when we found the gorillas – try not to look them directly in the eye and never run away if they come towards you, just crouch down. We were going to try and find a family of 8 gorillas called the Titus Group, which included a very large silverback male.

The silverback carefully inspecting his visitors.

Keeping a watchful eye on us whilst relaxing with his family.

After trekking up one of the six breath-taking volcanoes for two hours and then walking through very dense forest for another 30 minutes, we were rewarded with our first sighting of a gorilla – the huge silverback himself! At first he was hidden by bushes, but he very soon decided to check out who had come to visit! We had been told to stay 7 metres away from the gorillas, but clearly no one had told the gorillas this because as he came very close to us indeed. He soon realised that we were friendly though and went to sit in a clearing, where he was joined by members of his family.

We were able to stay and watch the gorillas for one hour and it is an experience that I will never forget. They are beautiful animals that we have so much in common with and I felt that I could almost draw speech bubbles coming out of their mouths, knowing exactly what they would say if we shared a language. It was incredible to visit them in their natural environment.

"What shall I have for lunch?"

After trekking back down the volcano, we travelled straight to a town called Gisenyi which is on the shores of one of Africa’s great lakes – Lake Kivu. Here we had a well deserved rest and enjoyed the beautiful location. There was Rwandan Intore Dancing around a fire in the evening and my parents really enjoyed meeting some of the local children, who were on their way to church when we went for a walk by the lake.

Before returning home, my parents wanted to visit a primary school, so they could get a better idea of my job out here. We went to a school called Kabare 1 Primary School, close to where I live. The Headteacher there, Suzanne, had been very kind to me since I arrived in Rwanda. The children were very excited to see not one, not even two, but three visitors, two of whom were brand new faces!

Having my parents in Rwanda and being able to share some of the experiences I am having here with them meant an awful lot to me. They knew how much I wanted to have an opportunity to do something like this and I feel so lucky that they are happy that I am having such a fantastic time working with schools here. I hope their visit also made them realise that as much as I want to share my ideas and offer up my skills to teachers and children while I am here, I am going to come home with so many new ideas and skills that the people of Rwanda have given me.

Christmas in Zanzibar

Christmas 2010 is certainly one I will always remember! While my friends and family at home were enjoying a snow filled white Christmas, I spent Christmas Day morning lying on a hammock under a palm tree on an island called Zanzibar! Thank you very much to everyone who left me Christmas messages on my blog, I was very happy to receive them and it was very kind of you to think of me. Thank you also for  my lovely Dorney Christmas card, which found its way to me here in Rwanda!

The journey to Zanzibar was not as glamorous as the beautiful island location with its white beaches and sparkling blue ocean... To get there I spent 31 hours sitting (and trying to sleep) on a very hot bus followed by 2 hours on a ferry! Zanzibar is an island which belongs to another county called Tanzania, which is next to Rwanda. I live in the east of Rwanda, only about an hour from the border with Tanzania, but Tanzania is a very big country and it took a long time to travel to the capital – Dar es Salaam – which is where you can get on the ferry to Zanzibar.

Still, I made it in one piece and I did have 7 of my VSO volunteer friends on the bus with me to chat to. We tried lots of things to entertain ourselves and pass the time, even telling ghost stories after the sun set!

We arrived in Zanzibar on 19^th December and I spent my first few nights staying in a beach villa with my friends just outside a place called Stone Town. We were determined to make the most of our exciting holiday and so the first few days were filled with activities. We went on a ‘spice tour’ around a spice farm on the island to see what the spices that I often put in curries look like when they are just growing naturally. This was followed by a ‘spice lunch’ where we got to eat lots of tasty spiced food!

We also visited an ancient Persian Bath and explored Mangapwani slave caves. These caves were used to hide illegal slaves after slavery was banned in the 19^th century. It was very dark and dreary down there, with not a lot of oxygen, making it hard to breathe. It is hard to imagine how horrible it must have been for the slaves held captive there. Mangapwani beach was a very different experience and I went for a much needed swim in the inviting warm sea once I climbed out of the cave.

Descending into Mangapwani slave caves.

The following day involved more exploring as I boarded a small rickety looking boat with my friends to travel for one hour across the ocean to nearby ‘Prison Island’. Prison Island was actually never used as a prison; instead it was where people who had a disease called yellow fever were sent so they didn’t pass on the disease to anyone else. The island also has a much happier name - Changu (tortoise) Island, which was the main reason I wanted to visit! It is the home to hundreds of giant tortoises, who were given to Zanzibar as a gift from some different islands called the Seychelles. Some of the tortoises on Prison Island were rescued from poachers and brought there to safety. I really enjoyed seeing them and couldn’t believe how big they were!

Giant Tortoise!

On our final morning staying near Stone Town, we decided to explore the town itself, with its interesting buildings and lots of winding cobbled streets. Being a girl, I also decided to do a spot of shopping and while I was looking at beautiful silk scarves in a cloth shop, I discovered two gorgeous kittens snuggling on top of the fabric!

Kittens in a cloth shop!

That afternoon, we travelled to the south east of the island to stay on a beach near a small village called Bwejuu. This is where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and it was a beautiful, relaxing location. On Christmas Eve we had a delicious Swahili dinner, with traditional food from Zanzibar and then sang Christmas carols around a bonfire on the beach.

Our Christmas Eve beach bonfire.

Singing Christmas carols on the beach with my volunteer friends.

On Christmas Day, we travelled to another beach to watch a performance of singing, drumming and dancing by the most famous singer in Zanzibar. Her name is Bi Kidude and the reason she is so famous is because people believe she is over 100 years old! She says she cannot remember how old she is and so estimates range from 92 years to 150 years old! By the time the sun set, everyone was happily dancing around as Bi Kidude sang and played her drum!

Bi Kidude - the most famous singer in Zanzibar.

Boxing Day was my last full day on the island and I spent this on yet another stunning beach called Jambiani. In terms of beaches, I think we had saved the best until last. I couldn’t believe the colour of the water when we arrived and I loved watching the dhows (boats) bobbing up and down on the light breeze.

A boat coming into Jambiani beach.

Although I had had a wonderful holiday (and I was not looking forward to another 31 hours on a bus back to Rwanda) I was very excited to be returning because my parents were coming to visit me in a few days time! There lies another story...

My First Rwandan Wedding

On Saturday 20^th November, I had been invited to the wedding of a local Headteacher (Leandre) that I have met several times since I arrived in Rwanda. I was very excited to have been invited and keen to experience all that a Rwandan wedding would have to offer; I certainly wasn’t disappointed!

I knew that Rwandan women wear a traditional dress called a mishanana to weddings and Leandre was keen for me to wear one too. I had found a shop in Kibungo on Wednesday that sold the special cloth and a tailor who had agreed to sew the skirt part for me. I found it reasonably tricky to walk in, as I am not used to wearing anything of floor length, but the local people seemed delighted that I was wearing a dress from their culture!

My mishanana!

I had been told by other volunteers that Rwandan weddings are very long (taking up the whole day) and you don’t get fed! This worried me greatly, so I got up early to eat a big breakfast before departure and snuck some sweets and a bottle of water into my bag. Cathy (my housemate who was also invited) did the same and by half past 7, we were very full and glad of the loose floaty cloth of our mishananas! Leandre had asked us to be ready by 7.40am (which ended up being 8.15am Rwandan time) and had insisted he would pick us up in a car. He had explained that we had to travel to his house first, then to the house of his bride-to-be and then to a place called ‘Kazo’, where the Dowry ceremony would take place.

Before long, we arrived at the home of Epiphanie – his fiancé and we were welcomed by the many women standing outside. As we were led into the living room and my eyes adjusted from the bright sunshine outside, I was greatly surprised to see many people sitting with huge bowls of Rwandan ‘melange’ on their laps, happily spooning rice, plantain and beans into their mouths. The moment I sat down, a steaming piled-high bowl was given to me too and I realised that my huge breakfast had been a huge mistake!

Once I had eaten as much as I possibly could and the other guests had polished off their platefuls, it was time to depart for the Dowry ceremony. This is where the family of the bride are given a cow as they are ‘giving away’ their daughter. Cathy and I clambered into our seats in the women’s mini-bus and were soon clapping away happily, taking our lead from all the women who were singing songs about marriage. All the women were so full of life and clearly had their favourite songs that they kept singing throughout the journey. Just as I was beginning to work out the sounds in some of the kinyarwandan words in the songs, we turned into what truly was a plantain jungle and began trundling slowly up a real dirt track. As we came around a corner, I could see a bamboo fence surrounding some kind of marquee. I asked Robert – Leandre’s brother, who was acting as our translator – if this was where the dowry was, to which he replied, “No, the dowry’s grazing over there” (gesturing to a nearby field with a cow in it!)

The dowry ceremony, as I should correctly call it, was fantastic to watch. Friends and family of the bride and groom were seated on separate sides of a marqueed ‘arena’ inside the bamboo fence. Leandre and his ‘best men’ were dressed in animal skin cloth, wearing long banana leaf shoes and carrying a special stick. They were all sitting at the back of the marquee and I was yet to see the bride! Much of the ceremony was taken up with debates between the two families about why Epiphanie would be a good wife and Leandre a good husband. Eventually there was some hustle and bustle and the dowry itself was brought in – a large Friesian cow, who seemed very happy chomping on the hay that it was given and took the huge fuss very much in its stride. Two women and a man in traditional dress walked up to the cow and began stroking it, blessing it and singing to it for a very long time. I was quite spellbound by the whole process and have never taken as many photos of a cow in my life!

When the cow was finally led away, Leandre and his ‘best men’ walked into the arena, presented Leandre’s father-in-law to be with a black cowboy hat and took their seats in the centre of the arena to wait for the bride. Her arrival was preceded by some fantastic Rwandan dancing and a procession of men with spears who gave Leandre a brown cloak that matched the dark brown outfit Epiphanie was wearing. As the couple sat together on wicker chairs, ladies in pink mishananas brought them milk and plates of food. Before I knew it, I was also presented with an aeroplane-style foil container containing, yes – more food! This time meat was on the menu, but the people sitting next to me were very happy to take it off my hands and I was happy with the plantain and peas, still full from the two enormous meals I had eaten earlier!

Soon after the meal, the ceremony came to a close and I stepped outside into the sweltering midday heat. There was no shade and a lot of people to organise before we could make our way to the church, but after trying my best to explain that I could not stand in the sun without burning, I was thankfully allowed to wait on the bus. As we set off for the church in Kibungo, the women once again began to sing songs of marriage, even more excitedly than before, banging on the side of the bus and raising their voices whenever we passed by houses. The difference on this journey was that I had a little girl called Angie on my lap, who then became my shadow for the rest of the day! Not to be outdone, her much younger sister had soon squeezed herself onto Cathy’s lap, making for rather a warm bus journey!

The big white wedding ceremony was held in a Catholic Church and lasted about two hours. Epiphanie and Leandre had changed into what we would think of as traditional wedding outfits. There was a fantastic choir, who began by singing what seemed to me to be quite serious songs, but became more joyful as the service went on. Straight after the service, we were told that there would be official photographs. I managed to take a couple of snap shots myself!

One more short bus ride, including several laps of the roundabout in Kibungo with horns beeping in celebration, took us to the final location of the day. A reception was held in the hall of a local private primary school. Embarrassingly, Cathy and I were led to seats at the very front of the hall, even though we had tried our best to slip in and sit on the benches at the back. There were a huge number of people present and, once again, everyone was fed! This time my aeroplane style container held a boiled egg, a bread roll and a banana. I managed to eat the latter two with my shadow on my lap; a shadow who was very glad of a second boiled egg, especially one which had been peeled for her! There was more amazing dancing as we ate (unfortunately it was too dark by this time for my camera to catch it properly), speeches were made and the bride and groom were presented with some traditional gifts by the dancers (including a milk jug and a spear), before they were given gifts from the wedding guests.

After giving our gift, thanking Leandre and Epiphanie for a wonderful day and excusing ourselves from the party at the groom’s house that was to follow, Cathy and I began the short walk back to our house, hitching up our mishananas to try and keep them out of the dust as we walked! Our clothes meant that we caused even more interest and amusement than we usually do! But we walked purposefully as we were both looking forward to a shower (happily – the water was working!) and our beds after a long, but very enjoyable day.

Rusumo Falls

Out of my mishanana from the day before and into my combat trousers, I was feeling much more comfortable as I walked down the road from my house towards the bus park. I was meeting other volunteers at Rusumo Falls this morning (Sunday 21^st November), which lies on the border between Rwanda and Tanzania and is only about an hour from where I am currently living. I had heard it was a small waterfall, that was most impressive in the rainy season and so this was the best time to go.

There was no sign of rain today though as the sun glinted off the hillsides on the journey into Kirehe District. I had had to wait a very long time to get on a mini-bus and was feeling a little grumpy when I finally did set off in the right direction, but the views here have a wonderful effect on my mood! I couldn’t help but smile as we journeyed down valleys and up hillsides, alongside banana trees and lush rice paddies and with waving children around every corner.

When I arrived and met the others, I had to show the officials my passport and then I was allowed onto the bridge which is a sort of ‘no mans' land’ between Rwanda and Tanzania to watch the waterfall crashing onto the rocks below. I was very excited by the fact that one side of the bridge was officially Tanzania and the other was Rwanda! I was also delighted that the river I could see is linked to the River Nile!

Me, Rose and Cathy about to cross the bridge to see Rusumo falls.

A Week of Workshops

From 15^th – 19^th November, I was once again back on my moto in the early morning on my way to school. The children are all on holiday, but the teachers are still keen to learn and November is the month in which they are expected to attend training. There are 4 schools quite close to where I am living which had asked for help with creating ‘visual aids’ – posters and flashcards to put in the classroom to help children to learn. My housemate Cathy and I decided to plan a workshop to do with them.

We spent the weekend after we had moved house in scruffy clothes, kneeling on our living room floor, creating visual aids on rice sacks and card to use as models for the teachers and so we could discuss what helps children to learn in different subjects. We use rice sacks because they are cheap, they last well and they are more easily available than paper and card. After spending Sunday evening burning the edges of our creations (and occasionally our fingers too!) so the rice sacks wouldn’t fray, we were ready!

The four workshops were great fun to run, each one slightly different in its own way. After talking about why visual aids are important and what makes a good visual aid, the teachers were given the chance to plan and make their own visual aids. We had been told that Rwandan teachers might be nervous about drawing pictures, but we experienced no such thing! When it came to the ‘making’ part of the session, they had fantastic ideas and no worries whatsoever. (Thinking about it, they had probably realised that Miss Lamborn is no good at drawing anyway!) It was lovely to see the teachers having the chance (and having the necessary resources) to be creative and I learnt lots each day.

Another New Home!

On Wednesday 10^th November, I said a sad farewell to the lovely sofas in my first Rwandan house, packed up all of my belongings and got ready to move house. For a number of reasons Cathy and I had decided to move into the house that 2 other volunteers called Jeremy and Jason had been living in (about 20 minutes walk away) and that is where I am currently writing from.

Our new house is huge for 2 people and in a much better location than our last one, as it is closer to the market and to St Jo’s – a guesthouse/restaurant which has a mini-supermarket that sells the best bread in Kibungo! Other highlights include the fact that we have a sink in our kitchen with running water (when it’s on anyway) which makes cooking and washing up so much easier; another spectacular view (apparently I should be able to see all the way to Karisimbi – the tallest volcano in North Rwanda on a clear day) and our garden, with an avocado tree and a lettuce patch! (The downsides are the fact that we are located very close to a prison and next door to a nunnery, meaning that on weekdays we are woken by the prisoners drill at 5am – which involves drums - and on weekends we are woken by the nuns’ singing!)

The unpacking and cleaning took a fair amount of time once again, but now we are settled and I am very much hoping this is where I will spend the rest of my time living in Rwanda.

A quiet Sunday afternoon...

After a long day at Akagera on Saturday, I was looking forward to a quieter Sunday. The sun was shining and so I decided to go for a walk. For a while, I had wanted to venture down into the beautiful valley below my house and I had been told of a path that was not too tricky to walk down.

I went with my housemate Cathy and, as usual, we were greeted by many people as soon as we stepped outside the front gate. In Rwanda, people always greet you in the same way – by saying good morning/afternoon, asking how you are, asking where you have come from and asking where you are going. Trying to explain that you are just ‘going for a walk’ is very difficult because people in Rwanda are usually far too busy fetching water, planting crops, looking after children etc. to have time to just ‘go for a walk’!

As we turned off the main road and began to walk down into the valley below, it was suddenly peaceful. We left behind the trucks, motos, bikes and people and concentrated on making our way down the steep muddy path, stopping to look at the wonderful views. Since the rainy season has begun, it is incredible how lush and green the landscape has become. This moment of peace was not to last... as we turned a corner, we came across eight children who were happily playing in a foresty area. They were shoeless, covered in mud, all wearing their school uniforms (although it was Sunday, so this was probably because they don’t have another set of clothes) and were incredibly happy to see us! For the rest of our walk, we were joined by these eight children, two goats and a piglet. Unsurprisingly, we did not get very far. On the climb back up the hill, the children wanted to play and I ended up chasing many of them, who squealed in delight as they were able to run much faster than me!

Can we come for a walk too?

Catch me if you can!

When we finally reached the top of the valley, we said goodbye to our new friends and headed home. Looking at the sky, Cathy and I thought we had timed things just about perfectly as we could see that a storm was coming. Mist and dark clouds were descending as we quickened our pace and soon you could no longer see down into the valley because it was just a mass of swirling fog. We made it home just as some large drops began to fall. I jumped straight in the shower to have a much needed wash (I was hot and muddy from chasing the children) and listened to the rain pummelling on the roof and against the windows, safe in the knowledge that I was in my dry house... or so I thought! Just as I was dressing, (while thunder rumbled, lightning flashed and raindrops turned into huge hailstones outside) I heard Cathy shout from the living room, “WATER!” I ran in to see muddy water gushing under our front door, which leads straight into our living room! The drain outside had overflowed!

We grabbed the shoes we’d left by the door, pushed the sofas and tables as far back as possible and then looked at each other in shock as the water continued to rush in! I then shouted, “Rice sacks!” (which we have a store of for making posters for the classrooms in our schools) and we ran to grab them and tried to stuff them under the door. It helped a little, but not for long and soon the sacks were floating around the living room and the water was ankle deep! Suddenly, Dorney Rowing Club sprang into my mind! I remembered that when the boats get full of water at rowing club, the children use plastic milk bottles with the tops cut off as scoops for bailing out. So Cathy ran to get the large basins that we wash clothes in and I ran into the kitchen with my pen knife and sliced off the tops of litre bottles of water. I then pulled on my wellies (their first use in Rwanda was in my living room!) and we began to bail out. For much of the time, we were just keeping the water at ankle level, because the flood continued to pour under the door, but eight huge basins later, we started to win! After 6 or 7 basins, when most of the water had gone, we even had the humour left to take a photo of our flooded living room!

Bailing out muddy water, once the worst of the flood was over.
Thank goodness I packed my wellies!