Witnessing Rwanda's Jehomos...

Well it's been a month since I have updated you so I feel I owe you all a very sincere apology!! It has been difficult to get online at the office due to freak weather issues and a general deadly mix of busy-ness and laziness on my part! So, again, my most humble apologies my darlings!

At least I know Suzi has blogged you up on the events from about two or three weeks ago? So I will try my best to update you on what's happened since then!

We now have two more volunteers - Sharona from Canada and Momy from India! Sharona will be here a total of one month and Momy just two weeks so they will still be leaving before me and Suz! They are both really sweet and are great members of the 'Big Sister House'!

Most recently we just got back from safari! We had a great time - saw giraffes, buffalo, hippos, warthogs, antelope of a few different kinds, babboons and elephants! The elephants were pretty far away across a lake, but we were told it is very rare to see them at all because there are so few of them, so we were chuffed! I found it reeeally surreal to be there with all those animals, so close and it was not like a zoo environment - to be around wild animals like that was really unforgettable. I have got lots of photos between us, so I'm looking forward to showing them off when I get back!

We are feeling so much more settled here now - things that really intimidated us in the beginning are now very comfortable; the motorbike rides, the taxi buses, bartering at the markets! We have so much fun at the markets now - just the other day we went to buy vegetables because we were cooking dinner for everyone in the house and it was great! We're like locals!

We are also so much more at home now in Gahanga. The community has really accepted us and it is so touching. We have even made a friend! Her name is Hope and she is the mother of two Gahanga II pupils Bonheur and Providence. She started out just talking to us and giving us hugs in the mornings when we were on our way to the school, then she gave us a letter in which she had written about herself for us and she included a photo of herself and her children. Then she asked if she could come back with us one day and so we invited her for lunch at our house - it was really nice to bring her and Bonheur home and introduce them to the other volunteers.

Earlier this week there was a huge downpour while we were working and it made walking back on the dirtroads of Gahanga TRES treacherous... When we made it a little down the road in our very unwise sandals, Hope was there waiting with two umbrellas for us! She and one of the teachers escorted us a safer way and the teacher from Gahanga insisted we stop at his house so he could get us water to wash our feet. There is no runniing water in Gahanga so he emptied out a big yellow container he would have had to pay for. We also found out while teaching the teachers this week that teachers earn about $3 a day and one of the teachers actually earns more as a motorbike rider on weekends and holidays - he is actually quitting at the end of term because of this - crazy. Sorry about the slight tangent there but it just puts into perspective what a kind gesture this was. We have such a special place in our hearts for Gahanga now, it means a lot to us.

A couple of weeks ago of course I had my birthday! At the weekend we had our first African club experience in CADILLAC, which was so much fun... we danced the night away to mostly reggae music, drank strawberry wine and got a bit steaming! Lovely stuff! We also went to the Chinese restaurant I think Suzi mentioned in her last blog, had a great birthday dinner!

Then on my actual birthday we went to Sole Luna - which I suppose is our regular now! Had great pizza with amazingly gorge olives! YUM! The girls gave me my presents then - a unique combination of Mao Mix, banana liquor and an inflatable swimming pool! Then when got back home they presented me with a plate of pastries with an actual huge wax candle sticking out of them! Hilarity ensued followed by Finding Neverland being on tv!!! What a birthday treat!!! (Since then, we have had cable tv installed so we now have more than one channel and wireless! YES!!!) In the evening they locked me in my room and set up a surprise party complete with homemade decorations and cake! Iwas so shocked and not surprisingly to those of you who know me at all, burst out crying - Suzi has a video... I am sure it is less than pretty! I had been really worried about having my birthday so far away from home, just trying to put it out of my mind, but Suzi and Martine made it a really special birthday to remember forever. Suzi has been like a sister to me now for a long time, but now more than ever! So I just want to give a special mention to them here - thank you both again so much! I love you!

Since last time I have also discovered the use of skype phoning! (courtesy of Suzanne!!) I have been having so many problems with my mail not arriving, my phone not sending messages, not receiving text messages from people... it's been driving me crazy, and as I mentioned have been feeling a bit isolated as a result. So now I have access to Miss McIlwain's skype phone and can use it from time to time to keep in touch! So if you have skype and want to talk to me, leave me a message and I'll try to make it happen!

Sorry this blog is not very chronological! It's so hard to try to think of everything (and I'm sure I've still forgotten looooads) but that's the main gist of things!

I will try to keep this bloggy bad boy a much more regular feature in my life in future!!!

Lots of love to all my family and friends and a special thank-you to everyone who sent birthday wishes! You're the best! MWAH!

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