Creative Chaos

First and foremost, we want to say a huge thank you to Shae for the package and card you sent us- it's the first package we have recieved and the Jaffa cakes were a real treat! The sweets have been used as prizes for the kids in our art club and English classes and have been very much appreciated by all the kids so far!!

So, a few more observations as to why life here is just a little bit different and special:

The local bank is currently running a genuine ‘win a cow’ competition. Unfortunately you have to be a permanent resident of Rwanda to enter.
We recently went to a bar called Carwash, it is open 24 hours, and guess what folks…. By day they wash cars!
The concept of fast food quite literally doesn’t exist here. Not only are you guaranteed to wait at least an hour for anything you order, this is one of the few countries left in the world that McDonalds hasn’t penetrated.
However, you can fill up at a milk bar at 10p a pint! But despite the abundance of cows there is no local cheese or butter that is even remotely passable as edible.
A self proclaimed pop star who goes by the name 2-10 lives on our street and insists we must be in his new music video as ‘his white girls’… unfortunately we have been unable to oblige due to our incredibly busy schedule.
Last week Rwanda celebrated ‘tree planting day’. This was explained to us by the volunteers after a procession of over two hundred motos passed us on the street, and all of the shops were mysteriously closed. Apparently if you are seen to be going about your daily business you can get fined for not planting a tree.

So the rainy season is most definitely here which means that pineapples are out and mangos are in…. much to our excitement! What other news do we have on the food front… ah yes I, Jasmine, tried goat and shamefully quite enjoyed it! No nightmares entailing blood curdling bleats yet though so my conscience can’t be feeling that bad! We have been using jerry cans filled with rain water for washing and general house hold use which is great because its free. The other day we were debating how bad it would really be to drink the stuff… we would of course boil it first. However, on closer inspection we discovered an abundance of mosquito larvae swimming in the bottom of our pan, which may explain a few of our bouts of illness!

The last couple of weeks have been non-stop in relation to work and play. We’ve had various friends round for dinner, including an evening with all the volunteers from the centre which was a brilliant way to get to know them better and gave us a chance to show them how much we are in awe of their dedication and hard work. We have also been to Gahini a few more times which has involved more long distant swims and a big celebration of Lawrence’s 31st birthday. It turns out that Laurence is rather popular, with over 80 guests attending his party. However we still managed to prove to be the most hard core of all his friends by being the last on the dance floor. We spent the last hour dancing to Congolese music with the bar staff! Jaz had a very surreal moment while Kine and Nell were elsewhere, when three members of staff embraced her and each other in a rather bizarre head lock and proceeded to dance for an entire song in this position! We were even brought drinks by one bar maid who was particularly impressed with our moves! Our stamina was actually very strategically linked to our awareness that we were camping and therefore knew full well that we would have to be truly exhausted to survive a night on the cold hard ground.

Last week we witnessed Centre Marembo give Greenhills Academy (the most expensive private school in Rwanda) as ass whipping at football – the final score was 6/3 and although the referee is in Jaz’s English class we refused to believe this had anything to do with it. We also took the boys swimming which was another glorious day for the kids from Marembo. The boys Marembo houses attained some excellent exam results, many of them coming top of their class, such good behaviour was rightly met with much praise and encouragement. The volunteers provided them with a day we doubt they will ever forget. It was such an honour to be able to witness the delight on their faces and although the majority of them can’t actually swim, they still spent hours playing in the shallow end until their toes went wrinkly. They put great faith in Nicky as she tried to teach them how to float and we had huge amounts of fun challenging them to piggy back races across the pool. The day was also in celebration of Marembo’s first anniversary. It was fascinating hearing Nicky describe the way each boy had developed and the sorts of problems they’d encountered with them in the beginning. Nicky’s and the volunteer’s tolerance and patience with them has evidently paid off.

Another addition to our time table has been the “Nell and Jaz Art Club” this is pure creative chaos… and we love it!! With around 50 children attending, trying to keep track of sequins and glitter glue can be a real challenge, most of the kids end up going home with very sparkly faces! So far we’ve completed self portraits, by drawing around kids on wallpaper, and also face masks made from paper plates, most of them covered in sequins and feathers, some of them actually a bit scary looking! We gave out some lollies as prizes for the best 5, which we had a hard time choosing. We also had a hectic game of ‘Bring Me’ which included “bring me some water”, “bring me a stone” and “bring me a volunteer who works at Marembo”. Innocent and Espoire looked a little surprised to be suddenly dragged over to us with 15 children on each arm! We have some exciting future projects in the pipeline but unfortunately we only have a few lessons left, our time is running out far too fast! Neither of us has ever found a job so satisfying and rewarding and in truth, we are a little terrified of coming home as it means facing the reality of getting a ‘real’ job! But for now we are happy to embrace the moment and surround ourselves with children, feathers and glue.