Day 7 A hole in the ground

Well, it was always going to happen. I've been to my fair share of festivals and camping holidays, so washing in bowls of cold water I take in my stride. But here on the edge of Lake Kivu, with it's luxury lakeside hotels, my hopes for a flushing toilet ran high. I was to be disappointed. Porcelain lavatories exist in most middle class city homes and public places. They are often, unfortunately, padlocked. Requesting a key via 'the boy' can be time consuming, not to mention embarrassing, especially if you need a translator. Once you've achieved your goal, the toilets rarely flush and require a bowl of water to sloosh everything away.


Waking to the sounds of Rwanadan music at 4am this morning did not predispose me to like it. I do however, it makes me feel alive and it's impossible to ignore. In my snug room in Gisenyi Friends Guest House I did not get up and dance, but stayed in bed enjoying the warmth if the approaching day.


Next to our 'hole in the ground' flourishing the black volcanic soil flourishes a vegetable plot. Cabbages, squash and bananas grow with unseemly abandon. The children change the sound track. Songs from the Glee cast. I ask Sandrine who her favourite artists are."Rhianna, Beonyce, Justin Bieber". In the blink of an eye she is no longer Hutu, Tutsi or even Rwandan, but that inexplicable and very exclusive tribe of 14 year old girls the world over.

Land of a 1000 hills

There's a reason Rwanda is known as the Switzerland of Africa and this afternoon I discovered why.


Following the partly constructed road to Uganda five of us; three teenage boys, Antoine and myself, squashed bags into every corner and took the old salon car into the misty misty hills.


As we spluttered higher into the mountains, a patchwork of fields opened up. Squares of bananas, beans and sugar cane clung to the steep slopes, while avocado, papaya and mango trees lined the road side. Storks, cranes and ibis picked though pools at the bottom of waterfalls.  I said I'd never seen an avocado tree and one of the boys sniggered..


Children running along the side of the road benefitted from our trade as we bought bags of shelled peas for supper. And the sweetest of pineapples were chosen from underneath an umbrella as we stood inside a cloud. It's easy to see why one of the rarest of animals in the world, should make this it's home. We'd reached Muzane, where in the forest above the town, roam the Mountain Gorillas.


It was also the home of Antoine's wife, Annunica and their 4 children. For the first time that night I heard Antoine story. Every Rwandan has one. But Antoine is my friend, he is the same age and we have much in common, but I didn't flee Genocide with a 4 day old baby in my arms. 


Antoine's story will be published in a separate article.

Womens Rights?

A young female Vice Mayor introduced 'The President of the Parliament, 'Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo. Admist a heavily armed and blue clad police force, the new cabinet led the crowd in rousing patriotic singing.  I was squeezed in right beside the militia, an honorary man for the day.

The jovial president congratulated us on our tree planting and introduced us to some very young men and women senators. A true politician, he listed  the government plans for it's new term in office. "A campaign for women's rights is being promoted". I listened to the translation with eagerness, this being an issue close to my heart.

"Ït is not normal to beat a woman" he announced to gales of laughter,

  "The man is too aggressive and women are always kind, A woman is in the home with the children and a man has to protect her and take care of the woman. We can love the woman and everything with come. A man must be involved in women's rights".

My jaw draws open.....Women's Rights.......but not as we know them......

 

Day 5 Umuganda

David Cameron, eat your heart out.  Umuganda is Big Society on a scale you could only dream of.

Once a month on a Saturday morning the country stops for two hours. No buses run, no shops are open and everyone congregates to do compulsory community work.

The roads are swept of mud, rubbish is picked up and vegetation is kept in trim.  Sometimes  a building project is undertaken. It certainly keeps everywhere looking very neat. ":People like it" Baptiste, an English speaking, teacher told me.

I muddied my hands in an Umuganda which was a mass tree planting.  36,000 trees were planted on a hillside that morning, two of them were mine. PIck axes  randomly hacked at the ground to made holes.  The ground was unprepared and the trees were often close together. Noone could tell me what the trees were which were being planted. 


I'd heard on the television that similar plantings resulted in many trees dying from lack of water. In a new initiative the government has introduced a follow up scheme to replant where trees die.

Rwanda has been chosen as an environment beacon amongst African States to achieve widespread tree planting. Whether this method gets results it remains to be seen. 

Were the people happy in their work? The drumming and singing suggested a party atmosphere.  Putting on a brave face was a Belgian woman.  "Whose land is it?" I asked, "It belongs to us, the B'hais' she said.  "Did you have a choice about the planting?"  looking down at the ground she replied Ï don't think so".

A cup of tea

Like many English people, the thing I miss most when abroad is a cup of tea.

I'm late for my lift this morning.  My driver, who has other jobs to do, waits for me.  I find myself rushed into a 7am breakfast, which I know I don't want.  Dried bread rolls out of a packet and ícayayi cy 'amata - milky tea.  This drink is so far removed from a cup of English breakfast tea as it is possible to imagine.  Served in plastic mugs, the slightly brown boiled milk is poured out of a kettle and tastes rather like, well.. boiled milk.

After the obligatory hand washing, we queue in front of tureens of stewed bananas, spinach, peas, beans and meat, which may or may not be goat. The food is ladled high onto plastic plates topped with 'sauce'.  It's not difficult to get your five a day, but vast quantities are eaten to get enough protein.

Rwandan hospitality rarely includes being offered tea or any drink.  With the generous  meals we eat, both in homes and cafes, Coke and Fanta are offered as a standard alternative to milky tea. I drink the sugary caffine laden drink which my body craves. I hear the fizz of my teeth decaying with every meal.

Put the kettle on, I'll be home soon.

Day 4 The princess and the peas

Like a fairy tale princess I wake up under a mosquito net, which might have come from IKEA children's department.  I'm glad of it, the rainy season has returned and with the tropical storms come the mosquitos.

The climate has changed dramatically since the Genocide.  One  casuality of the war was the "desictaion of the the trees". Rwanda is a landlocked country, but the geography of the Great Lakes and surrounding volcancos provided a plentiful rain fall twice a year.  The fertile soil produced three or four high quality harvests of  'imboga' (vegetables).  In the last few years the unpredicatibility of the seasons has meant the planting of "Irish" potatoes, peas and beans has been delayed. Food is wasted or never grown.

"It's been the rainy season since July" (it's now November) I was told by a Rwandan Development Consultant "it's not good for the people".

It's not good for me either, although it's never cold by UK standards an umbrella is a must carry necessity.  Tourism is a growth industry and the unpredictability of the rains deter foreigners.  It's a serious economic issue for the country.  With the roaming habits of gorillas not obeying human border controls, the whims of the ecotourists they bring may take currency to a neighbouring country.

What ever the weather, I'm just happy to be in a country where there is no translation for the word 'postcard'. Just as long as I have my mosquito net.

Day 3 Water

Water from the sky and from the tap, oh yes...

Rain on the corrugated iron roof, singing and drumming from.. I'm not sure were, started the day earlier than the 5.30am rising I'd planned.

Rwandan custom is to rise early and dress well.  I  go native and wear high heels, a necklace and smart dress. Useless, of course, for negotiating the red mud or dodging raindrops.

With a power cut last night I had to finish writing my speech by torchlight. An arduous affair.

On the face of it Rwanda is a country changing rapidly, forging ahead with a programme of construction. Everywhere you look schools, offices and roads are being built ,but the water and electricity supply are far from reliable. "Our leaders are strong and they want the peope to change quickly" Julienne, a librarian, told me yesterday..  A sentiment I've heard frequently.

At the MTN mobile 'phone shops, the slogan  declares "shop here for electricity".  Water and other utilities can be bought by 'phone, as can internet time and satellite tv.  Every street corner has a vendor selling top 'pay as you go' cards. It's so easy, it makes Britain look like a country from another era. Sales of cell 'phones have exploded. They offer a cheap and easy way for people  to access the necessities of modern life at the punch of a button.

Rwanda buys most of its power from neighbouring Uganda.  Where, I'm told, regions of the country can go for a week at a time without power, while the Government sells it's electricity abroad. .

In Britain we take for granted hot and cold running water.  Light at the flick of a switch. Yet, we are at the mercy of an old fashioned utility system and stand helpless as our household bills soar.

Global connectedness, we all now  plainly understand,  affects each one of us.  A crisis in one part of the world will ripple through into our daily lives.  Rwanda is not backwater in the world economy.  It's post war reconstruction is showing us what a newly made 21st Century country might look like, albeit enforced by the military.

The Government wants to modernise and fast. But it doesn't do things the way they are done in the elsewhere in the world, it cannot afford to. Instead, it is educating its people in sustainable technologies,  Starting with a clean slate these bright young graduates are already starting to provide the intellect to succeed in the war of resources.  By 2020 the Rwandans aim to be specialists in sustainable energy.  Where will we be then? Writing by torchlight, turning on an empty tap or buying their knowledge?