Day 10 ~ Slowly, but Surely

Alright, We’ve hit Day 10. Things have been challenging but good. The ‘guest house’ we’ve been staying in is VERY basic. Isaac and I have been sleeping in single beds, and he crawls in with me every night so we’ve been sharing a single bed, under a small mosquito net... This means I am extremely sleep deprived.

Our Guest House

I wake up every morning at 5:10am, put a large pot of water on the little kitchenette stove to boil, then head to the bathroom to fill a large basin with tap water, then go back to bed for 12 minutes while I wait for the water to boil.

Once it’s boiling I waddle with the giant, hot pot to the bathroom, fill the basin of cold water up with the hot water. Then squat next to it and dump cupfulls of warm water over my head and attempt to do my normal shower routine, while not falling over or getting any of the water in my mouth or eyes.

I've actually gotten pretty good at it.

Once I'm dressed I get Isaac into his school uniform and get him fed and me caffeinated and we head out the door for our 2km walk down a red dirt road to the nearest taxi station.

Isaac in his Green Hills Academy Uniform

Now, when I say taxi station, I don't mean taxis. I mean men on motorbikes with blue vests and extra helmets. Every morning all three of us hop on the back of our own motorbike taxi (they have a law here, no more than two people on a bike at a time), pop on their greasy, disgusting, smelly extra helmet, and take the 20-minute ride into town to drop Isaac off at school. Isaac LOVES it.

Isaac’s 2nd Favourite Rwandese Activity

Although, starting Monday the school bus will be picking him up from our new address to take him to school. So he'll be much safer, and you can all start breathing normally again.

Our New Address!! Yes! We found a very nice 3-bedroom house in town. It has a lemon tree, three banana trees, a papaya tree and a mango tree. (But the mango tree is about the same height as Isaac, so I don't think we'll be getting any mangoes from it anytime soon). Also the house is about a 5-minute bus ride from the office so I can wake up at normal time starting Monday. We move in tonight.

And it couldn’t have been moment too soon, as last night our ‘guest house’ ran out of water AND gas. Oy. Africa.

Work has been interesting but kind of weird. Our first day of work was SFH’s annual ‘Sports Day’ when everyone that works for SFH from all over the country (janitors included) comes together at a beautiful hotel about 30kms out of town for a fun day.

SFH Sports Day

The morning was spent doing relay races (I impressed everyone with my speed), playing basketball, volleyball, swimming... Then we had lunch.

Afterward everyone from all departments of each of the districts introduced themselves. (There were about 60 people present).

Then the Executive Director asked everyone and anyone who had any ideas or questions to come forward and speak. It was amazing. Everyone’s ideas were heard (again, including the janitors), everyone was treated with respect and all ideas were equally considered. Can you imagine if North American companies did this? Wow.

All of the speeches and questions were in Kinyarwanda but a couple of the employees were kind enough to whisper interpretations to Jordan and me. We caught about 60% of it.

After that, of course, there was dancing.

Jordan, who is from Regina, (read: Very White) put on his backpack and ran away. I got in there and shook my booty. But man did I feel out of my depth! These people can DANCE! I mean, no new news there. But wow. Fun.

So Rwandese people are kind, gracious, regal, and a little reserved. The women I’m working with (who are always impeccably dressed and glowing with beauty) yammer away all day to each other in Kinyarwanda, laughing and carrying on – then when I ask them questions they get very serious. I guess it’ll take a while to break the Rwandan ice.

Kigali is absolutely beautiful. Green hills everywhere – it seems to be a city of maybe 8 hills? Possibly more – it’s hard to tell. But no matter where you are in the city you’re on a hill with a view of another hill. Gorgeous.

View of Kigali from the Guest House Compound

We went shopping yesterday afternoon for all the stuff we need for our house. It’s “furnished” but our landlord wasn’t willing to provide sheets, towels, pillows, plates…etc. So we went to the cheapest store in Kigali and bought a bunch of “cheap” things for our house. “Cheap” here in East Africa means about mid-price in Canada. No kidding. Things are VERY expensive here. I’m shocked every time we go food shopping. $8 for a can (not a jar, a can) of spaghetti sauce. $35 for a set of scratchy poly-cotton blend sheets. $6 for a teeny tiny container of butter.

I spent over $200 yesterday just on basic essentials for Isaac and myself. (sheets, pillows, plates…) All stuff we’ll be giving away in 3-months. Ugh. Oh well, what can one do? One needs sheets, pillows and plates.

Isaac. He LOVES his new school. He was a little scared on the first day, but that melted away very quickly when he started talking to a little girl in his class about her iPad. They became fast friends. He also has a whole gaggle of boy friends who gather on the playground and catch and kill bugs together (this would be his favourite Rwandese activity).

Isaac and his Bug-Squishing Buds

School runs from 7:30 – 12:00 then I’ve signed him up for afterschool camp.

Monday is Karate, Tuesday is arts and crafts, Wednesday school lets out at noon – don’t ask me why – Thursday is Traditional Rwandan Dance (boys only), and Friday is Football (Soccer).

I’ve yet to get a real handle on what it is I’ll be doing with SFH. I'll update you once I have some more information on this matter.

Here’s a photo of me today on my commute to work.

Not a bad way to start the day.