I can’t believe I landed in Rwanda only two weeks ago and so much has happened! I hope you are all settling back into your new classes at school, I’m sure you have all been very busy too. Thank you to everyone who has left comments on my blog. My school email account has been closed now that I don’t work at Dorney School anymore, so this will be the best way to get in touch with me.
When I finally arrived in the capital of Rwanda, Kigali (after my plane took a detour and stopped in Uganda for an hour!), I was greeted by people from VSO Rwanda who gave me a flower and the warmest welcome. I was very pleased that all of my luggage and my motorbike helmet (which I had filled with chocolate!) had arrived safely too. I was taken, with 18 other new volunteers, to a guesthouse for some training about my new job. I spent ten days learning about the country of Rwanda, learning more of the local language and learning practical things like how to set up a water filter and light a kerosene stove! This is because all the water here has to be boiled and filtered before you can drink it and there is often no electricity to turn on a stove or oven to cook your tea. I was also taught lots of other important things about the way people act in Rwanda and how important it is to respect these differences. For example, you must NEVER eat or drink in public here, yawning means you’re hungry and you greet people by touching heads three times!
Towards the end of my training, I was treated to a ‘family meal’, where all the old and new VSO volunteers get together (there are about 50 in Rwanda at the moment) and have dinner together. There was also traditional Rwandan dancing, which I later had to try for myself!
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| Traditional Rwandan dancing |
On Tuesday evening, I arrived in my new home in a town called Kibungo, which is two hours away from the capital city. I was very happy when I opened the door because the house is much bigger and much cosier than I expected. I will take some photos soon and post them on here so you can see for yourselves! The house has three bedrooms and at the moment I am sharing with another lovely volunteer called Cathy. In my bedroom I have a huge mosquito net hanging over my bed to protect me from any nasty biting bugs at night! There has not been much electricity or water since I have arrived, so we have been cooking on the kerosene stove and washing using buckets of water that we have stored up from the outside tap when the water has come on. The best thing about my new home is the view! If I peep over the fence at the back of my house, I can see for miles down into the valley below. You can also see loads of banana and plantain (green bananas) trees everywhere you go.
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| The view from my house |
I start my job of working with teachers in the different schools in my area tomorrow, but I did visit a school on Friday to begin to see what schools here are like. I took my first motorbike ride to get to the school, which was great fun! The children were very excited when I arrived. Many of them have never met somebody from England before and have also not seen somebody with my colour skin and hair! Lots of handshaking went on and there were huge smiles all round! The classes are much bigger than at home – about 50 children in a class, but they are very well behaved and really keen to learn. The visit has made me really look forward to starting my job and working with the people here.
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| Kindergarten at Gahurire School |
