Hi all,
It’s been a long time. I don’t know where the time is going here. It’s been a very busy couple of months! I apologise for the delay since my last entry but I’ll try to make up for it now by giving an account of the last couple of months.
I’ll start with St. Patrick’s Day. The day started with text messages from friends in Rwanda wishing me a good day. I was a little sad at being so far away from home on the big day but I was soon cheered up when some of my colleagues asked me to join them for a brochette after work. I spent the evening eating potatoes (Irish potatoes as they call them here) and drinking Guinness with my workmates and a man named Patrick. It was one of those moments that I wish I could record to show you all. Also on that day an article appeared in the Irish Independent about me and my plans to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Rwanda. This is the link in case you missed it. http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/its-amazing-that-kids-here-in-rwanda-ask-me-about-mary-robinson-2582929.html The Saturday after St. Patrick’s Day we had a big celebration in Gitarama. About 40 people came from all over Rwanda to celebrate with us. The Irish were well represented as I had found a few Trinity students the previous week in Kigali and invited them to the party. There was lots of Irish music and I led the ceilí dancing. The Siege of Ennis was a particular favourite. It was great craic of a night. The Monday after the party a lot of decorations arrived from a good friend in Ireland so another party was held the next Friday in my adopted village of Ngororero. All in all we made the most of St. Patrick’s Day!
Here the schools have a 3 week holiday in April. I decided to leave Rwanda for two weeks including Genocide Memorial week. I visited Ethiopia and Djibouti with 2 other volunteers. We had a brilliant time. My favourite place was Lalibella in Ethiopia. The rock-hewn churches are amazing. Apparently angels were involved in the construction and if anything was going to make you believe in angels this place would.
Another highlight was feeding hyenas in Harar. It was a bit scary but I figured how many chances do you get to feed wild hyenas. We ended the holiday with a couple of days in Djibouti by the Red Sea. It was nice to see the sea after spending so long in landlocked Rwanda.
Once I got back from my travels it was time to celebrate International World book day. Here is the article that I wrote that will be included in the district magazine.
World Book Day Celebrations at G.S. Ngurugunzu
On Tuesday, the 19th of April the pupils and teachers came to G.S. Ngurugunzu to celebrate World Book Day. Even though the celebration took place during the school holidays a large number of children came to school to celebrate this special day.
The celebrations began with a wonderful display of dancing, singing and drumming by the pupils. The children wore colourful costumes. The display of traditional Rwandan culture was especially appreciated my VSO volunteer, Pauline Quinn, who was also in attendance.
The principal of G.S. Ngurugunzu, Muhoza Alex, spoke to the children about the importance of reading. The children were then given books in Kinyarwanda to read. The books had been supplied by Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) in an attempt to encourage reading in Rwanda and celebrate World Book Day. The children really enjoyed reading and the books will be made available for the children to read at school in order to promote their interest in reading.
Work is going well and I’ve spent a lot of time visiting schools. Last week was the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) week. I did a project in a school with a very high dropout rate for girls. We asked the girls to draw pictures explaining why they don’t come to school. The most common answer was that they had to work. The girls work collecting water, selling at the market and looking after younger children. These are the main reasons that girls cannot come to school. It reminds us of how lucky we are in Ireland that all children have the opportunity to go to school. Another reason why children in Rwanda cannot come to school is because they don’t have shoes.
Another big event here was the royal wedding. The Rwandans were very interested in it. I spent my lunchtime in the local restaurant watching the ceremony with my Rwandan colleagues. It was a pretty surreal experience. That evening I was invited to a reception at the residence of the British High Commissioner to Rwanda to celebrate the day. As there is no Irish embassy here I am registered with the British one and this is why I was fortunate enough to receive an invite. When we arrived we our names were checked against the guest list and only then we were allowed enter. There were British flags everywhere. It was a lovely evening for a garden party and we all enjoyed the DJ’s choice of British music and the loop of highlights of the royal wedding on a big screen. There were lots of typical British foods including sticky toffee pudding (but not as good as Stephen’s I have to say!).
Ooops! You'll have to turn your screens sideways for this photo.
This week 2 rabbits became 7! They are the cutest rabbits ever. They are black and white like Rory. I’ll upload a photo as soon as possible. I have some visitors coming to stay this weekend so I will ask them to name them for me. My guard is really happy as he is the one who takes care of them.
That’s all for now!
I’ll try to keep my blog more up to date.
Slán,
Pauline
ps This was a boat trip that we took on Lake Kivu to Amahoro Island
