My new home...

It’s now three weeks since I said my goodbyes and left Zaza, rather conspicuously on a big lorry because the police had impounded all of VSO’s vehicles! And three weeks on still have – 17 signatures and new number plates are required before they will release them, which in the bureaucratic, job creation, African time world of Rwanda is going to take forever! Mixed emotions about leaving Zaza – sad and relieved that I was leaving, apprehensive and excited about what lay ahead. VSO kindly put me up in a lovely guest house in Kigali where I enjoyed overdoses of meat, fish and cheese which I hadn’t eaten for weeks and CNN broken record programming, while trying to find a new job and home!

The view from my new home

The kitchen

After leaving Zaza I visited two schools in the south-west near Butare, my first visit to the region. The region is so distinct from eastern Rwanda, so less harsh – it’s more mountainous and scenic, there is relatively less overt poverty, the roads have tarmac, the atmosphere is more relaxed and accepting when you’re wandering around town - I wasn’t muzungu-ed or harassed once - and Butare is lovely. The two schools were very different, one being a church school run by Catholic nuns, the other being a new school for children with disabilities. Unfortunately the latter could only offer me 6hrs of teaching plus the English club which made it slightly unviable! So I am moving from a school run by priests to a school run by an order of nuns! The school is lovely, I have been made to feel very welcome and I have a very interesting and diverse role teaching English language, business English, ICT (computers) and sport.

My new school!

So, a week after leaving Zaza I moved to Save, my new home. My new house is very compact but only a couple of years old and complete with incredible luxuries like a flush sit down toilet, running water and electricity! And I’ve found somewhere for Bristley, the lad who worked for me in Zaza to live so now without any persuasion he’s upped sticks and moved from one side of the country to the other! We’ve just spent the evening having French lessons with my new French tutor and discussing his career plans, something quite remarkable for a Rwandan (harsh but fair), and options for vocational training I’m keen to help make happen for him.

I had a week in Save before the theoretical start of my teaching commitments so that I could settle in, sort out the house, paint the house, hang up the hammocks, visit the other volunteers in the region, find the market, find a home for chickens – the usual house move stuff! The house is really coming together and I feel very settled here. The locals still haven’t adjusted to having a white person invade their little sheltered corner of the world and even the neighbours have been turning up at my door and back gate asking outright for money or food without even a pretence of polite introductions or a facade! But the kids are good fun, everyone in the village including a fully habited nun has learnt to play aerobie, the cattle which stroll across my front garden munching the plants are friendly, the view is great, the region is beautiful and the utilities are working remarkably well!

After two weeks I still don’t have a timetable. Well, I have a timetable of sorts which I made while I was waiting for the school to provide the official one, and so I am essentially teaching part time. Lots of clashes, kids turning up at my house for sports lessons on my day off, scenarios like that…Maybe next week…! The students I have taught are excellent and I’m enjoying myself and looking forward to the time I have here!