Teachers' day and cow ceremonies!

Hi all,
Sorry for the delay in updating. Unfortunately, I can’t blame the power cut because we had power back the next morning. It has been a busy week. Saturday night, I went to the nearest “city” for a birthday party. I stayed with some friends. I was looking forward to being in a house with running water (since I don’t have any) but their water had been off for a couple of days so I was out of luck.
The party was great though. It was an “Italian feast”. The food was amazing! Since I don’t have an oven, I’m limited in what I can cook so it was a real treat to have things like lasagne and brownies. It is possible to buy most ingredients in Kigali (the capital city) but things that are imported are very expensive. For example a tin of tuna is about €4.00. It is much cheaper to buy fresh local produce.
Tuesday of this week was “Teachers’ Day”. I went to visit Gatumba (one of the sectors in the district of Ngororero) to join in the celebrations. First there was a football match between the primary school teachers and the secondary teachers. Then we were brought to the local secondary school for some speeches. I was lucky because I had someone translate for me. Then after we had lunch (chicken and chips!), there was a cow giving ceremony. The cow is very important in Rwandan culture. To give someone a cow is a sign of friendship. The school I was visiting were giving another school a cow. The cow will then provide milk for the pupils to drink. The ceremony was really good. The principal sang a song and did a dance with a stick. I videoed it so I can show it to you when I get home. Then the teachers did some Intore dancing. It is the traditional dancing of Rwanda. It’s great fun.
Today, I took a moto taxi (motorbike taxi) to a school and did some training with the teachers. After, I had the chance to watch some of the classes. I love the days I get to visit schools. The children are always very friendly. They love saying good morning (even if it’s the afternoon). Some of the children were fascinated by the colour of my skin. Some of the girls kept touching my arm. They haven’t seen many white people there!
Now, I’m back at my house. There is a big storm going on outside. At the moment it is the short rainy season. It usually rains for about an hour a day. While it rains, most people just stop and shelter until the storm stops. I think it’s a nice way to live. People have the time to just stop until the rain stops!
This weekend, I plan to go to Gitarama to collect my post (I have a postcard and letter waiting to be collected so I’m very happy!) and then I’ll go to Kigali. There is a festival this weekend. There will be live music and all you can eat and drink! A lot of my new volunteer friends are going so it’ll be nice to see how everyone is getting on.
Best wishes to all my friends and family all over the world. I’ve had visits to my blog from 7 countries on 3 continents!
I’ll update again soon,
Pauline