On the road!

Hi all,
Sorry for the long delay between updates, it’s been a very busy time. I have visited all of the provinces in the last fortnight.
I spent the first week of November in Kigali for the second and final part of my in-country training. It was great to meet up with all of the other volunteers that I arrived with. We were given some more language training among other things. I’m afraid my Kinyarwanda isn’t as good as it could be but I’ve recently found a teacher so I’m hoping to make some progress soon. During the week we had the chance to do some Karaoke! The highlight was singing a Westlife song with the other Irish volunteers. On the same night we visited the Milles Collines hotel for a leaving drink with an Irish girl who was moving back to Ireland. It was a strange feeling being there, I kept thinking of the film.
The weekend after ICT2 we made the trip south to Butare. Our mission was to visit Kibeho, where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared from 1981 onwards (the Rwandan version of Knock if you like!). We arrived in Butare, dropped our bags off the hostel and decided to have a quick lunch before our bus. I ordered a salad as I thought this would be the quickest. Unfortunately, burgers and toasted sandwiches appeared first so 5 of us had to change our bus tickets. Next time, I’m ordering the burger! The trip was fabulous (and bumpy). After an hour we were greeted by the rest of our group and we made the short walk to the church. I will try to upload a photo of the church. As we went inside a thunderstorm started outside. From the sacristy a priest appeared and was hearing confession. I have been told of an Irish priest living in Rwanda so I was hopeful it was him. I decided since I had the chance it would be a good chance to make confession. The priest gave me the option of French or Polish so I figured it wasn’t the priest I was looking for. I hope to return to Kibeho on August 15th for the Feast of the Assumption. Apparently it’s supposed to be an amazing experience.
Last week started with some teacher training here in Ngororero. It was a lot of fun. The teachers were so enthusiastic. They are great to give up 4 days of their holidays voluntarily to do training. Two other volunteers came to help me so I had visitors on Sunday and Monday which was lovely. I love showing people around my Rwandan home. They both agreed it’s very beautiful here. I’m determined to get Ngororero into the guidebook. I think it should be branded “Ngororero-the gateway to Gisenyi”. I’ve had 4 visitors so far so I think I’m doing the Rwandan Tourist Board proud!
Tuesday, I travelled with one of the volunteers to Kigeme in the south of the country to help her to open a resource centre. It took us 4 buses to get there. We stopped on the way in Gitarama. We ordered food but unfortunately it didn’t come in time so we left some money and ran off down the road. Luckily, another kind volunteer got the food wrapped up and ran down the road after us. We had some strange looks from the fellow passengers as we tried to eat our lunch on the bus. The motorbike trip to the resource centre on Wednesday was really beautiful. I think that riding around on the back of motorbikes through the countryside of Rwanda is definitely one of my favourite things to do. The resource centre was lovely. The room had been painted and there were resource there for teachers from the local schools to borrow.
Thursday morning, I made the long trip to Ruhengheri to help another volunteer with more teacher training. I was really lucky because a kind boy flagged down a bus that brought me all the way to Kigali. I should have had to take at least 3 buses! I was so happy. The school where we were doing the training was up a hill with wonderful views of the volcanoes and the Congo! We had a wonderful day and I met some wonderful teachers.
Saturday,I had an early start. As I set me alarm for 3.45 on Friday evening I knew it would be a tiring day. 3 other volunteers and I set off for Akagera National Park in the east of Rwanda. It was a brilliant day. We spent the day driving around the park spotting the different animals. I think the giraffes were my favourite. I was amazed at how close we were allowed to get to the crocodiles and the hippos at “Hippo Beach”. There were lots of antelope, warthogs, buffalos and zebras to be seen. The drive took us along the Akagera River and we could see Tanzania. I think it’s amazing that on Friday I could see the DRC and the next day I was looking at Tanzania.
This is a very shortened version of the past couple of weeks but it past my bedtime and I’ve school in the morning! I hope you are all well and I look forward to being back in Ireland for a visit soon.
Slán,
Pauline