Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.
Hi,
work has been good today and I am ready packed for my work shop tomorrow.
The weekend has been just trash. And therefore today I try to keep myself busy by exploring the settings on my camera. I have to use a very small 'image size' as the Internet is so slow.
If you have a good idea about a more creative setting....send it via e-mail or as a comment to this blogpost, as I just want to be more creative outside my work and hope to learn from you guys. I know Dinos, Mike and Sandy, you are quite good with this stuff. But also...anybody else.... it would be great to get some ideas. I have got a 18 - 55 mm and a 70 - 300 mm (1.4 - 5.6) normal /macro lens and the Camera itself can almost do anything.
Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.
Hi everybody,
I received the most amazing parcel yesterday. Austin did send a whole box full of presents with a little note on each of them.
He is such a good man!!! I opened the first present which said: ‘Open this when you need a cuddle’.
This is so exiting. I will keep them all wrapped for the right moment and it will probably take me 3 months until I will open them all.
Otherwise….today….is just another day in the life of a VSO Volunteer in this country. I, as usual, woke up by the sound of our guard sweeping the floor. That always means…that I can still sleep for about one more hour. Then it is time to have a freezing cold shower….when we have water. And….since I am back we have had water every single day…. I really do appreciate that. Afterwards I have a quick breakfast and then it is time to…..walk up the hill to the office or to walk to a school in Kibungo or to take a Motorbike into the middle of nowhere.
Today we had a meeting in our office with a representative from ‘UNICEF’ and two Project Managers from ‘ADRA’ (Adventist Development and Relief AgencyRwanda). We discussed about that at the moment there are 56 ‘Child Friendly Schools’ all over Rwanda. The future goal is that all primary schools all over Rwanda are ‘Child Friendly’.
The meeting was very interesting and I hope that together Rwanda will be able to achieve this goal in the future.
Straight afterwards I rushed to the meeting with all the Primary Head Teachers from our District, as I am going to deliver 5 workshops in the next 3 weeks and I wanted to inform the heads about dates, venues and timings. The meeting took place outside which was for the first time, as normally we are in a room.
It was pretty funny and my part took just 15 minutes but the other topics from the other facilitators took about 2 hours. By that time…..I had ants all over my pants….inside my shirt…and just everywhere. Huge ants…..I think it was quite funny, as I tried to get rid of them and not kind of disturb the meeting to much.
Well, quite a few of us kind of wiggled and giggled around. I think I was not the only one.
After the meeting I went to the market and it was funny how everybody greeted and wanted to tell his or her news of the last 6 weeks. Well….I did not understand a word but it was good fun. It seems to be a good time of the year, as I was able to buy nice peppers and even cucumbers. Cucumbers are very seldom over here and most teachers I do train do not even know what a cucumber is. Therefore I was really happy.
I went home with my goodies and made a huge salad and a sandwich with avocado in our amazing kitchen.....well the colour of the walls is amazing.
And the view from the kitchen is just.....stunning.It is good to be in Kibungo when it is market day as otherwise….there is no shopping for fruit or veggies. You need to wash the veggies quite well when you make a salad in this country.
Look at all the goodies I bought today!!!
After lunch I walked to one of my schools to talk to the teachers, as I want to teach along with them tomorrow and show them some child friendly active methodology. Therefore I needed to ask what content I need to prepare and at what time the lessons are.
This is the view from our living room window. The school I went to today and I will go to tomorrow is far behind the row of trees you see in the very back.
As usual I had a lot of small talks along the road, met a member of my Volleyball Team, got laughed at and so on. It was funny.
I came home after a long day with loads of different things going on.At home I filtered 5 litres of water and then Danny came along and we had a nice coffee. Epi came to my house at 5.30 and we cooked some ‘Chilli con Carne’ without beans and without meat….but it was still great, as we had rice, peppers, tomatoes and an onion and a pack of sauce from the UK. We watched a movie and had the most relaxing evening since ages. She is staying here overnight and it is great that she lives in Kibungo as well. We will try to cook together once a week and as we have different sport DVDs we want to start doing some sports together. I never did sport with a DVD but bought a Box-Aerobics action DVD to get that energy out of my body. Well…to be honest….I did walk in the heat for 2 hours today and we are living at quite an altitude….and therefore….I have done enough exercise for today. It needs some time to adjust again after having been in the Uk for a while.
I should probably try to sleep now as I need to teach and train teachers tomorrow. It has been a good day.
Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.
Hi all, I arrived back in Kibungo yesterday afternoon and today I had a very nice day back at work. I was quite lazy in the morning and decided to chill and have a coffee in bed and read a book until 9.00. Then I just could not face a cold shower on my first day back home. Therefore I boiled some water and had a hot bucket shower with some nice soap from the body shop…. That was a good start into the day. One of the best things I brought back from the UK are 4 Kilos of really nice Muesli. Therefore I had my first nice and healthy breakfast in Kibungo since September last year. It does sound stupid….but it really does make a difference. Around 10:30 I thought it was finally time to go to the office and I climbed up that steep hill…..oh…oh….oh….how do I hate that walk in the heat in the morning!!! But it stunning beautiful.
View from my way to work.
On my way to work. A lot of people do wear traditional clothes over here.Once I arrived, it was really nice to be back in the office and talk to the colleagues and also to see some of the head teachers. Everybody had a good word to say and they were very sweet. I did my workshop plan for the next 2 weeks and wrote a letter to all the heads. I just love that I can create my job myself and then discuss it with my boss in the hope he will one day create these ideas himself. Afterwards I phoned Suzanne and we went for lunch at restaurant 'Moderne'. Food here means Omelette, goat, chips or Melanche....that is it. So we went for Melanche and.....wouw...they did actually have nice vegetables (green beans and carrots) and fresh salad with .... Vitamins!!!! That was great as the amount of Carbohydrates - and just only Carbs - you normally get is horrible and I was just happy to have had the opportunity to get some vitamins into my body.
This afternoon I went to a school and it felt like coming home and it was just great to meet all the teachers and children. They were so welcoming. It was really cool.
Outside the school.
Playground during lessonDuring breaktime.
BreaktimeOn the way home I came past a little house that sold 9 tomatoes, 5 onions and 20 plantains (probably that was everything that was growing in their garden). So I bought 3 of each and am happy that I have something to make a fresh salad tomorrow.
In the evening I met some friends at a bar. Suzanne brought another parcel from the UK with more books for Primary Schools. Thanks to everyone who has send books so far. If your are interested in taking part of the book project, you are welcome to send books. I will give you more information on how to do that on my blog in the near future.
These books arrived so far and will be used to create libraries in different schools.
After having some good Primus (rwandan beer) I walked home through the absolute dark night. The stars and the sounds were amazing and it felt really peaceful. I felt like going for a really long nightwalk and I think I will do that soon with a friend. Kibungo can be absolutely boring ....well...more than boring!!!!.....but it is so much nicer than Kigali and people do really care for each other. This is a nice place to be even though buying food and preparing water…and….and…and can be difficult, tiring and time consuming at times. But the people here are just nice and caring and the nature is absolutely stunning beautiful. Altogether this was a really good day and just what I needed: a good start over here. I hope you are all well, take care, xxx Tina
a Please note that VSO is in no way connected with or responsible for the content, comments and observations in this blog: these are solely my own in a personal capacity.
Hi all, it has been a while since my last entrance. I will try to put quite a few pictures on this one, as the Internet connection at home is so much faster and at least you get a nice impression about 'what' I am going back to.
It is my last evening in London and .... tomorrow I will head to the airport and then back to Rwanda.
From the plane I will wave a last 'good bye' to my very cute 'God Child' Noah who is already the coolest man in this world!!!! No discussion!!!! Well the last weeks have been very different ... from my life in Kibungo and I am kind of looking forward to get back.....
to the Rwandan way of life in the rural areas....
to the view from our backyard......
to my little blue room ....
to the hills ....
....to the children .... ....to the teacher training..... and all my work in the schools ... I wonder how Suzanne and her two boys are.
I wonder if our mouse is still in the house. Hopefully she did not nibble through all my stuff....this funny little creature.
I hope the flees did not come back, as I poisoned the sofas earlier this year.... I wonder how everybody is and who is still there and who left. I am looking forward to see Tom, I hope he is still in the house. I cannot believe he is going to move out soon as we lived in one house and he is such a fun guy.
It will be so nice to see Epi and all the other people from Kibungo again. It will be smelly to inhale Kerosine fumes again. Well this is all about attitude and you need to be positive....therefore...the Kerosine stove is absolutely loooooovvvvveeeelllllllyyyyy! Our kitchen is a great place with an overcrowded table, two washing up bowls and a water filter. But it all works out well and it was more weird to have a real kitchen with running water, a sink, a fridge, and appliances back in Europe after all this time in Rwanda. Sometimes I just wonder: 'Why are there all these weird holes in the wall?' Actually....maybe I do not want to know!!!I am looking forward to see all the VSOs. But also... the new Volunteers will arrive end of the month and it is going to be nice to meet them as well. So Thursday morning will be another 'Good Bye' to Austin as we won't see each other for probably the next 4-7 months.
But ....Austin.....now that you finished your MSc and now that you are on a job hunt..... Well we need somebody who can help the school to harvest the 'Coffee Beans'. And...when you send us your CV I think....we would consider you as being appropriate for the job. Especially because you are a very strong person: But...if you do not want to work for us......well.... we could just have another Christmas together in Africa!!!
But until then .... there is a lot of work to do and
... a lot of weekend travelling in overcrowded buses. ... camping in Akagera Park.... ... and searching for the zebras... ... the giraffes.... and the buffalos...after tenting in the middle of nowhere and having an open fire under the brightest stars you can imagine....I wonder what the Gorilla Baby is doing..... and am looking forward to many more adventures...as I guess that is what life is all about. We probably should all always remember that!!!! I will go to the Sailing Club on Wednesday evening for a last drink with some of the nicest people I do know...
But for now ... I should start to think about what to take home. Well....I just need my computer..... therefore no big plane is required.
Take care guys..... ....and see you sometime soon in the future.
Hi all, I am living in Kibungo and am volunteering as a Primary Methodology Trainer in the Ngoma District in the East of Rwanda. I hope to use this blog to keep in touch with everyone at home and share some of my experiences!!! Thanks for your support guys!!!
Have a good week,
