So, we are here! In Rwamagana! More about that later.
The UK component of Green Bananas arrived in Rwanda on the night of the 5th January, at roughly 8 o'clock in the evening, having got up at some ungodly time that morning. Nearly everyone was extremely tired, but the excitement of landing in Kigali helped to rub away the sleep. It was, after the plane, almost stiflingly hot. Kigali, we would later find out, is rather humid; Rwamagana, away to the east with cloud cover and a friendly breeze, is quite a lot less moist, even if the heat is still several degrees (to put it mildly) north of standard UK temperatures.
The sunset over Kigali. The sun sets absurdly fast in Rwanda; it happens in a matter of minutes, and if you turn your back for a moment it'll be dark by the time you turn round again
Having been declared free from ebola, and having navigated Kigali border control, we made our way to the baggage collection, where there was an incongruous Christmas tree looking as though it knew that it shouldn't be there. We found our bags, and travelled to the Moucecore guesthouse, which would be our lodgings until Friday. Thus began the formidably named In-Country Orientation, replete with complex lessons in the basics of the Kinyarwanda language. Here's a smattering of our knowledge (i.e.., everything we know):
Muraho- Hello. Of limited use, because every Rwandan knows how to say 'hello', and says it before we get a chance to display our linguistic skills.
Amakuru- How are you. Good vocab.
Nitwa- My name is… Pronounced 'nyet-qua'.
Angarhe- How much does this cost. I learnt it for one sketch during Orientation, and so far have not found a use for it. I shall endeavour to wrangle it into a conversation at some point.
Simbizi- I don't know. Absolutely invaluable.
We quickly learnt to put great store by Rwandan food. Miniature bananas (a good deal sweeter than normal), chapati (everyone's favourite food), and, last but very far from least, the legendary African Tea, a spicy medley of hot milky goodness. The last team left us a note describing it as 'a taste like clouds and pillowcases', which, if anything, somewhat undersells it. That, of course, is not to mention the fruit, of which there is an overflowing abundance (the vast majority of which is green), including huge amounts of sweet pineapple and the passion fruit (marakuja), which is a tricky thing to eat.
A cluster of miniature bananas
The Orientation passed by quickly, in a blur of new information and new faces. One thing that stood out, however, was the Wednesday trip to the National Genocide Memorial. It was -it is a cliched term, but the truest we can think of- a truly humbling experience, and one which opened our eyes to what Rwanda has suffered. It also, though, made even more apparent the enormous distance that the country has come, in such an incredibly short space of time: the Rwanda at the end of the conflict was barely a country at all (two-thirds of the population (!) had been displaced, and effective government on any reasonable scale was a dream), and it is now a united nation on a steady upward trajectory.
The Flame of Hope at the Memorial, which is lit from April 7th to July 4th, in memory of the time in which the Genocide took place
Another, more pleasant, event came with the introduction of the In-Country Volunteers on the second day of the Orientation, completing the Rwamagana Green Bananas. Here's a photo of the full team:
So from left to right, we have Jordon (with an O), Lucy (the team leader, who was also here for the last cycle), Cynthia, Anaise, Ingrid (the principal opposition to the idea of a team pet), Sam, Patrick, and Jade.
We came to Rwamagana at 10 o'clock on Friday morning. Theoretically. One of the things we realised very quickly is that African time differs wildly from European time in a way totally unrelated to time-zones: 10 o'clock, for instance, actually means about 11:30, and 'the bus will collect us at nine' could also, by a Rwandan, be translated as 'I'll swing by around 10:15'.
Anyway, the drive was beautiful. Rwandan countryside has a green lushness enough to make the UK turn green with envy, if it wasn't for the fact that the lack of sun makes it very difficult for anything to be a genuine shade of green. Trees here are a blaze of verdant chlorophyll, and this brightness, coupled with the fact that 'The Land of the Thousand Hills' is well-named, made for some very satisfactory scene-watching.
A photo from the drive to Rwamagana, from Kigali: this patch of countryside is slightly less verdant than normal
To resume, we came to Rwamagana at 11:30, and were introduced to our house (very good; always cool), to Cristophe, who cooks for us (a legend among men), and to Innocent, who guards the house and is apparently both a good singer and excellent traditional dancer, although he is rather bashful and we haven't seen this yet. Rwamagana is a friendly and rural town of about 20,000 people, an hour east of Kigali, and not far from the Akagera National Park. To familiarise ourselves with the town, we had a game of photo-hunt organised by Lucy, finding such local landmarks as the enigmatic Yellow Shop (in a town in which at least 90% of all buildings are painted yellow), and the 'Jesus is the Head of this Household' Shop.
The House in Rwamagana, Home of the Green Banana Team
One of the two Rwamagana monkeys on the wall of the house; its introduction to the team as mascot or pet was comprehensively vetoed by Ingrid, a self-professed hater of all animals (with the sole exception of the dove)
On Sunday morning we went to English service at the Restoration Church; even though we more than doubled the tiny congregation, the choir on the stage were still producing enough decibels to make a sizeable jet develop self-esteem issues. In the afternoon, to get a flavour of the different churches in the town, we went to the international service at the local ADEPR church.
Then on Monday we got down to business. We visited the AEE Rwamagana headquarters, the offices of the partner charity with which all our work is going to be done, and were told extensively by the various heads of projects the details of what their work entails. AEE does a fantastic amount of work, with huge results. The two primary areas in which we shall be working alongside them, however, shall be in coordinating with the Self-Help Groups, and in working at the Centre for Champions.
The Self-Help Groups consist of people -usually women- in difficult circumstances, and AEE guides them through a number of steps. First, the women (around 15-20 in each group) are encouraged to put aside a little money (approximately ten pence a month, in UK terms) and accumulate it in a communal pot. After a while, the money is invested in a profit-turning enterprise; this may consist of buying a communal pig, or buying goods to sell at the market. Groups of SHGs form Cluster Level Associations, which organise beneficial activities for the whole collection of SHGs, including nurseries -allowing children to be looked after during the day, making their mothers more free- and healthcare. The Cluster Level Associations then form a Federation, which allows better representation of the conglomerate.
The scheme has been incredibly successful: the lives of those who once struggled to buy a pig between them have been transformed, in very few years, to the extent that they now have access to medicines, a cow and pig each, kitchen gardens, and access to schooling for their children. The schooling sector is the second area in which we shall be assisting AEE. The charity runs a school of over four hundred pupils (divided into approximately three hundred vocational students, and about 120 catch-up students), providing children between the ages of 12 and 17 who have previously not had access to schooling with the chance to gain an education. Because of the lateness of the hour for many students, the course, which would normally take place over seven years, is here condensed to just three.
The view of the valley from the Centre for Champions, with the school pitch in the foreground (the pitch, incidentally, on which the locally based First Division football team practise- they have a loyal following in the town. Sunrise's following, however, is dwarfed when compared to the number of Rwandan fans of foreign teams, with Barcelona and Arsenal coming foremost)
After the schooling, pupils are given the chance to learn a vocation -such as welding, tailoring, or hairdressing- allowing them to set up their own business in the town and earn money. The school has been doing absolutely fantastic work -life-changing- and it will be a joy to slot in and provide whatever we can (in all probability, English lessons and one-off sessions on health and sanitation).
Well, that was a very long blog post for the first one. Once we've got the hang of this, I'm sure it'll be a lot snappier. Any prayers are, of course, greatly appreciated.
-The Green Bananas (ICS Rwamagana) Team
No comments:
Post a Comment