We had an early leaving party last night just at the house. It was so much fun just listening to African music and learning how to dance (something that I am very bad at), and just reminiscing about the good times so far.

Another project we’ve been doing recently is at a self-help group on the outskirts of Kigali. It’s the most rural place we are working and a beautiful place, set amongst the many hills, although through it’s very difficult to get there due to the awful roads. Whilst there we do whatever is asking of us, from basic gardening to making pathways.

Cows are very important in Rwanda, and they are considered something of great value. At weddings traditionally the groom gives the bride’s parents a number of cows to show that he can support the family. At funerals a cow may be presented to a member of the family as a form of condolence. Even traditional Rwandan dance is based around the movements of a cow.
Of course these customs are only carried out today for tradition, but a cow can still change someone’s life.
We recently went to see 60 beneficiaries receive their cow from AEE. It was a very important ceremony as these people are in absolute poverty so many people dressed up for the event.

I can’t believe it, my placement is nearly over. 9 weeks have gone by so quickly and now we’ve just got a few days left before flying back to cold, rainy England. It’ll feel weird getting off the plane from Rwanda, where it is so green and warm, to England where everything is so different. But now is not the time to think about that, now is the time to make the absolute most out of what I have left.

Rwandan singer Meddy has become a bit of an icon in our team, and his song ‘holy spirit’ is definitely our anthem. It’s an awful song, really terrible, but it seems to be on wherever we go; on the radio, in a bakery, even on the bus. So now we’ve embraced it as our own and blast it out of the minibus with the windows down, laughing and singing.

This morning David and I were treated to a Rwandan workout by Arnold, a student from compassion (which is a school we visit on Wednesday afternoons to hold debates and do public speaking). This meant getting up at 5, running down and out of the city past farms towards Rwamagana, then all the way back up again (a climb only Arnold managed to complete, although we blame yesterday’s activities for our failure). The workout finishes in the 30000-seater Amahoro National Stadium, which is opened for the public on weekend mornings to make use of the running track. There we just did some stretching and core exercises to cool down. Roasting pumpkins means working out, and I certainly roasted many pumpkins today, although next week I might just take the extra 3 hours in bed.

After spending the morning teaching we had the afternoon free so we decided to climb Mount Kigali, which unsurprisingly overlooks Kigali. It was very hard work as it is very steep and covered in forest, making walking very difficult. The effort was certainly worth it though, as the forest itself was beautiful, and, as it was a clear day, the views over Kigali and the surrounding countryside were stunning.

Working at schools has required me to swot up on my English skills, and it’s made me realise that there’s a lot I don’t know. Grammar that seems obvious to me as an English speaker must be explained using all of the correct terms. I never realised there were so many different  types of word, or that tenses don’t just consist of past, present and future. Another difficult aspect of teaching English as a foreign language is that, as soon as you manage to get a class to understand a topic, an exception is always found, and students never accept the answer “it just is”. It is a lot of fun though, and seeing people progress is a brilliant feeling.

If you visit Rwanda expect to hear “muzungu” a lot, and I mean A LOT. It originates from Kiswahili, where “zungu” is the word for spinning round not knowing where to go. Kinyarwanda borrows from many languages and Muzungu refers to someone wandering aimlessly, or dizzy and lost.  Muzungu is used light heartedly, mainly by children (who also like to shake hands or wave whilst shouting it), although adults do sometimes use it too (for example as a joke, or at a market so everyone knows to double the price!) It’s just a cultural thing, you have to embrace it and laugh along.

First thing today we visited Kimihurura farm and finally started the irrigation project, it’s slow work as the terrain is difficult and we had a few technical difficulties but over the next week we’ll hopefully get it sorted.
In the afternoon we were supposed to be teaching. Unfortunately there was a thunder storm with by far the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen and very strong winds; the trees were bent double and the corrugated iron roof began to peel off on one building which was very unnerving. This meant that the session started very late and many students didn’t arrive due to the weather (an excuse I doubt Mr Billings would accept) but it was enjoyable to get to know the students and what they need.