Being a Muzungu

Well where to begin… so much can happen in a week when everywhere you turn there is something new to learn. We are beginning to familiarise our selves with the Rwandan culture but one cannot help but feel that no matter how long we stay here we will always be ‘muzungus’ (white people). It is hard to forget your skin colour when everywhere you go people call ‘white girl!’ after you, but strangely it isn’t as offensive as you may think! You just accept it as the way things are. In fact experiencing being a minority is such an important lesson... one I doubt we will ever forget. On a funnier note when the children do it, it can actually be quite endearing; when we first met our landlord’s children they couldn’t have been more excited, they jumped up and down squealing ‘muzungu, muzungu, muzungu’ before running full speed towards us and giving us a rugby tackle style hug… luckily they are only 3 and 5 years old! We’ve moved into our new house and are settling in nicely, there is a very lively church behind which can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the time in the morning they decide to start singing! We also have a resident bird whose tune is no more bearable than the seagulls of Brighton and likes to sit just outside our window… if we had a bb gun the temptation may be too great! However, we have also spotted an eagle circling the house and some rather stunning little yellow birds who sing a much sweeter tune, so its not all bad! We are still awaiting gas so for now fruit salad is a popular dinner, and with pineapples and bags of passion fruit costing 5p each it’s an appealing option. Eating out is also cheap with beer costing 40p a pint, and the local specialty of brochettes (goat or fish kebabs) and matoke (savoury banana) costing even less. (At this point I Jasmine Anthony would like those who know me best to recognise the significance of that last sentence… yes that’s right I have been eating banana!!!) You can also get a bottle of ‘Wuragi’ gin for a quid, we haven’t tried it yet but at that price there’s not much point in ordering a shot… dangerous!

We have taken a few trips into town, which is certainly an experience. The public transport here leaves a lot to be desired, the buses are our equivalent of minibuses but you’d be surprised as to how many people they can fit on these things, when you think the seat is full it means at least two more people will manage to fit on… it is nothing short of a miracle! However at 10p a ride you can’t really complain. The other option is a ‘moto’ which is 30p, a lot more comfortable, and quicker but the safety of these things is certainly debatable. Pot holes appear to be a goal rather than something you might think to avoid… and speed does not appear to be a consideration, so if either of us are to die out here it is more than likely to be from falling off the back of one or falling down one of the many, very deep and often unexpected, holes in the road… (Note to self: never walk home drunk in the dark!). Town itself is noisy, busy and a little stressful for someone who is alien to the hustle and bustle of an African city, but no doubt we will become familiar with its character. There are a couple of big shopping centres and buildings all of which look rather new and swanky, however most of them are actually near empty and completely over priced. The best way to shop is to go to the smaller more local shops but you are never quite sure whether you are getting the actual price or the ‘muzungu’ price.

We have taught our first couple of English lessons which have been really rewarding because the kids we are teaching are ones that cannot afford to go to school and the centre has yet to raise the funds to send them, so they are really keen to learn. We had one rather amusing task, which was to get the pupils to stand up and perform a little conversation in English in front of the class. One rather advanced pair performed the following:
‘Hello Mister, I saw you in town with a girl, who was she?’
‘Ah that was my sister’
‘She is very beautiful’
‘You can have her for two cows!!!’

Well, it made us laugh! xxx

Mwaramutse!

Well we finally made it… and as promised this entry will hopefully be a bit more exciting! We’ll start by saying a HUGE thank you to each and every one of you who donated to our justgiving site. The response we received was quite overwhelming and so far we have raised over £1000!!! The site will still be open while we are away and just from being here a few days it is quite apparent there are many, many areas within the centre which would really benefit from your donations, so feel free to donate if you haven’t already done so. Also we would like to say a big thank you to The Airbrush Company in Lancing for their contributions to our art equipment, which is sure to be put to good use.

So, with very little sleep Mustie kindly ‘volunteered’ to drive us to the air port at 4.30 in the morning! Our journey started with an interesting twist when we tried to check in our luggage… we had two large suitcases full of art equipment of which we had spent many hours trying to persuade the airline not to charge us for. We had been assured that this would be fine a couple of days before hand but when checking in there was no record of such a deal! One guy very reassuringly told us our extra luggage would cost £900!!! Far too stressful for that time of the morning. After fighting back a few tears we spoke to a slightly more helpful lady and eventually everything was sorted so off we trotted through very tight security. After a 10 hour flight we arrived a little sweaty but raring to go. After Nicky (cofounder of the centre) and Minani (a local pop star and politician!) picked us up we headed for our large fully furnished house… on arrival however we were surprised to find a rather sparse looking interior, to say the least (ie literately NOTHING except a sink and about 10 workmen painting around us!) what concerned us slightly more was the fact that our new land lady would say ‘money, money, money’ as we entered every room! Luckily we left without parting with any money or making any promises and for our first couple of nights we have been sleeping in a bunk bed in the centre that we work in. Yesterday with the help of one of the Rwandan volunteers, Eugene, we managed to find a beautiful house, which is cheaper and furnished and ready to move into. The owner and his familly have the ground floor whist we will have the top floor which has two balconies looking over Kigali, one of which is off one of the bedrooms… so there may be a battle over that one! The kitchen has a fridge, cooker and sink which is quite luxurious and it is £100 each a month, not including water and electricity…. however how often they will be available is another matter. Power cuts and water shortages are a daily occurrence guaranteed… in fact we haven’t had running water since we got here!

The centre itself is like a beehive, it swarms with people from morning til night. We have been introduced to so many faces its hard to keep up! There are 4 main Rwandan volunteers who deal with the day to day running of the centre. They are absolute legends as they do not get paid for the work they do. We have sat in on a choir practice and peeked our heads round the door of a mechanics class, which has given us a bit of an insight as to how things work. There is a small library, an office, two class rooms and a large back yard.
It is impossible to tell the ages of the children who come here as their size has no bearing on their age but we are told they are between 10-19. Sixteen of them are provided with accommodation, food and their school fees, but over 200 others visit the centre regularly. Today we will be teaching our first English lesson which is a little daunting as apparently we will be asked about complex grammar, of which we know nothing! And next week we will be starting our art classes.

Yesterday we had a very touching conversation with two of the boys, Freddie and Augustine, who have been with the centre since it began. Without any prompting they spoke of how centre Marembo had changed their lives and the lives of so many other street children, they told us how important it was that they were able to go to school and have access to learning. These boys were so perceptive and level headed, they gave us a bit of a reality check… each child here is an individual with individual ambitions… they are not ‘just’ street children.