Last week we did the program evaluation for Gahanga Primary School, with one of our fellow volunteers Natalie. The cumulative walk to work and bus ride took about 30 minutes, and surprisingly within that time we were transported into rural Rwanda. It happened to be a Wednesday as well, which is market day, where all the locals head to the market to buy their food for the week, clothing, and any other odds and ends. It was wonderful to see the hustle and bustle of a rural town, and the school was even more lovely. The standards of Gahanga Primary were a pleasant surprise, with all of the kids sitting at desks, pen and paper in hand, smiling and ready to learn. Unfortunately many of the teachers were outside texting and socializing with each other, while our friend Natalie was facing the 53 children in the classroom with a smile and an amazing positive attitude. She definitely has a gift for teaching, that was magnified by her ability to teach the kids plural and singular English, amid the complete language barrier. Another side note- instead of raising their hands quietly, the kids snap their fingers and throw their arms around, eagerly yelling "teacha, teacha" when asked a question. By western standards, the school was basic at best, but we were impressed by the number of teachers, classroom standards, and excitement of the kids to learn and answer questions.
Admittedly, Amy and I had a very lazy weekend. Friday night we went to a club called Cadillac where there are floor to ceiling mirrors on part of the dance floor where the best (or people who think they're the best) dancers watch themselves get down. Other eventful happenings that night; we carried a fork out in our bag (to ward off unwanted male attention on the dance floor) and were caught by the security woman at the entrance, Amy got charged for toilet paper in the bathroom when no one else did, we danced to "Who Let the Dogs Out" techno version, and by the end of the night my feet were eggplant purple from dancing on the purple carpeting. Saturday was spent napping on and off all day (it was pouring rain and thunderstorms- perfect napping weather!), followed by a movie Saturday night. After watching the food channel one night (Bobby Flay's throwdown; french toast) we had a lingering craving for french toast. We found some sweet raisin bread at the shop, eggs, milk, and our friends at the U.S. Embassy had cinnamon. To make it extra gourmet, we bought creme fraiche and strawberry jam to do a layered effect with the french toast. Wow...it was more than satisfying, although we did feel a little sick after 4 slices each, but it was well worth it to splurge. The only debacle we got into was when Amy shook the creme fraiche to mix it, and it exploded 360 degrees all over our friend Adriane, the walls, and the floor. Sunday we tried to have a day by the pool, but were rained out in a downpour that lasted all afternoon, so we watched the movie Due Date which replaced the tan we would have been getting with lots of laughs. In the evening, we went to Flamingo, a Chinese restaurant, where our waiter told us he drank 12 beers or 3 liters of wine to get a buzz and I paid 400 Rwandan Francs for a takeaway container. Thankfully the food was delicious; beef and broccoli, veggie spring rolls, duck in pineapple, and vegetable noodles mmm.
On Valentine's Day we met (for a second time) with our friend Emma from an organization called Pro Femmes, an umbrella organization for all NGO's working with women's empowerment, and were able to get the contact details for a long list of women's organizations. We'd love to connect the women at FVA with some training/education services, counselling (if desired) to cope with the violence at home, and micro-finance organizations to get small loans for their crafts and co-operative. When we happened to get back to town to look for a moto home, we were bombarded by the rush hour traffic of pedestrians, buses, cars, and motos; all full and all wanting to leave town. After finding two moto's (we're 99% sure they were unregistered, random people), we were both weaving in an out of traffic, and driving down the center line with cars whizzing by on both sides. Amy's driver even took out a few car mirrors and knicked a man crossing the street. Even though our Valentine's Day lacked flowers, sappy romance cards, and poems (although we did get promised some roses earlier in the day), we shared some Mint Crisp Cadbury chocolate in the spirit of the occasion.
We have also met with the women from the GBV Program again regarding health insurance, to make sure that their whole family is insured for the next year. Of course, like everything over here, things are moving slowly because of the processes involved in paying for the insurance. First the money must be deposited into the bank account of the specific health clinic which the woman goes to. This can take a while on it's own, considering there is sometimes a line of over 50 people outside the bank. After this you must take the receipt from the bank to the health center, along with a passport photo (which costs about as much as the insurance itself to print), and the information about the family members. Finally it takes one month to process and verify all the information. It is a long process, but we are will to continue until all the women and their families are insured for the next year. Thanks again to all the donors for allowing me to do this!
xo Cait
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