Jaz and Nell's Rwandan Project

Land of a Thousand Hills

2006-12-28T03:18:00.000-08:00

Ok so i have to start this blog with an apololgy- it is a little delayed! i blame it partly on the fact that i have been a bit busy trying to sort out my life move house, get a new visa etc and partly on the fact that "FastNet" is anything but!! but anyway, I'm guessing that all of you know that i'm here for another few months now, seeing as i wasant on the plane home and all, and i finally got my extended visa yesterday after a slightly scary interview- apparently there can be no possible reason why someone would want to stay in this country for longer than 3 months!! Any way I'm here now and thery wont be getting rid of me that easilyI'll try and keep you up to date on any interesting developments of annecdotes but i think the blog writting might be too much for just me, so anyway here is the last blog me and Jaz wrote together in Rwanda, little out of date but well worth the read I'm sure... Nell xxxx

So we suppose we should start this blog by mentioning a small change of plan… Nell’s not coming home!!! She has decided she’s not quite done with Rwanda and therefore has extended her stay for another 3 months! Jaz is very, very jealous and will have to be forcibly removed from the country on Tuesday but alas she has spent far to long away from a certain Mr Roberts and is in need of his…rather hairy chest to fall asleep on at night! So unfortunately for Jaz she has a 10 hour wait in Brussels ALONE without her beloved Umutesi to entertain her (queue violins). We have to admit that it will be very strange not spending pretty much 24/7 in each others company, and in fact, as a result of this intense time together we have kinda merged into one person and often wind up finishing each others sentences or saying things at the same time… much to the amusement of everyone else! At this point though we feel it is only fair to congratulate ourselves on getting on so well… we can count on one hand the number of lovers tiffs we’ve had (normally pmt induced) which we believe to be pretty good going…so well done us!

So onward to fill you in on the last 3 weeks of our rather splendid lives! Work has, as usual, been incredibly hectic with various big events requiring our artistic talents. It was Aids Awareness day a couple of weeks ago so we spent an afternoon painting messages on banners with car paint, as any other sort has proven impossible to find which is ideal with young children with only one set of clothes… mind you Jaz was the only person who actually managed to sit in it! On the day itself the whole centre marched to the national stadium and took part in a concert for the kids which included Karate displays, singing and of course dancing, all of which our boys took part in and did us proud.
Our friend Andrew has purchased another 20 cards for his work and the card making group have officially organised their association so only time will tell now how independent they really are of us… fingers crossed we’ve done our job!
Our latest Jaz and Nell Club involved making the longest paper chain in the world ever, which surprisingly the kids loved (we kinda looked at it as slave labour… ‘you will make Christmas decorations… we don’t care if you’re Muslim just keep sticking!’) We have also had a run of really brilliant English lessons, in fact Jaz’s introduction of blind date went down particularly well…. Perhaps a little two well! (Jaz- Finishing teaching will undoubtedly be the hardest thing about leaving and tomorrow is my last day at the centre so I have a feeling its going to be a messy one!) The centre also had an open day last week to inform the community of their progress and the work they do. This involved speeches (mainly in Kinyarwanda but we smiled and nodded all the same), a tour of the centre, singing, and dancing- both modern and traditional (during which Jaz was dragged on stage by one of her students and forced to humiliate herself by attempting to dance Rwandan style!). Also, Viv, the co-founder of the centre, arrived this week to stay for at least a couple of months, so all in all Marembo has had a pretty eventful couple of weeks.

Besides work at the centre we’ve spent a couple of days enjoying real coffee at The Novotel (Rwanda’s poshest hotel) firstly in celebration of Nell’s birthday and secondly because Jaz got projectile vomited on the last time we were at the orphanage and felt that justified a little self indulgency after having to travel home on the bus drenched and stinking of baby sick (you’d be amazed how much came up… he was only a little fella!) We also celebrated Nell’s birthday by getting our hair washed and styled at the salon which involved plastic rollers and those 1950s style hair dryers that cover your whole head… it was an interesting experience resulting in us both getting quite over heated and having hair resembling Dolly Parton. This was a slightly different day than originally planned but certainly a safer option. We had intended to be climbing a live volcano in The Congo on the day of Nell’s birthday, however a few days before we received enough signs to convince us it was not such a good plan. Firstly we heard there had been rebel fighting only 15 miles from the area we planned to visit, then Kine relayed some particularly worrying news of an acquaintance of hers being shot and killed that same week in the same town. And finally, as if that wasn’t enough, the volcano neighbouring the one we wanted to climb erupted twice only days before we were due to go.

What else… ah yes we had a rather surreal trip to the police station, as during our first week here we managed to ‘misplace’ £150 and needed to claim for it on our insurance. We were accompanied by Innocent (one of the volunteers) who brought our pre-prepared statement sandwiched between the pages of a children’s book entitled ‘The alphabet pals surprise’. We might like to add at this point that we had to tell a little white lie in our statement, and claim we got pick pocketed in order for the claim to go through, we were therefore a little anxious to appear serious. Whilst waiting anxiously to meet the constable we were joined by two evangelical Christians from Kenya… who were suspiciously jolly for a couple of guys who had just been robbed, and insisted on finding out everything they could about our ‘attack’. The policeman then made us wait two hours at the ‘station’ (a glorified shack) before he would actually sign the statement, at which point he asked to borrow a pen while he answered a call on his mobile which rang to the tune of ‘Santa Claus is coming to town’. We’d like to end this tale by noting that this all occurred at 7am on a Saturday morning after a heavy night of drinking… Tolerance and patience are virtues you cannot afford not to have here and being able to laugh in pretty much any circumstance is a great advantage! So, besides experiencing the joys of a Rwandan police station we have also been to two weddings. The first was a traditional Rwandan wedding with over 400 guests! We had great fun getting ready, trying to figure out our traditional outfits, lent to us by one of the volunteers… and without Nicky’s assistance we would have been truly lost. The wedding included traditional dancers, and a traditional power cut. We (well Nell) got the pleasure of trying goat intestine and altogether we felt culturally enriched! Our second experience was of a traditional Muslim wedding, which began with us helping a lot of big mamas prepare the food at 7am. Despite the early start and the many blisters we received from chopping a LOT of onions this was a brilliant experience and felt a little like we were allowed to go behind the scenes of a culture which ultimately, as a muzungu, is very difficult to penetrate. Our other attempt at being cultural involved a day trip to Butare, Rwanda’s second largest town in the south of the country. There we visited the national museum and university, which is situated on a really stunning campus.

Which pretty much brings us up to date. Which means its time to face the realisation that this is the last blog we will be writing here and in two days I (Jaz) will be flying on a jet plane never to return again…. Well, hopefully not ‘never’, but who knows what the future might hold. I can honestly say that I’ve had the most fantastic 3 months of my life and I really hope our blogs have conveyed that. Rwanda’s beauty and charm can never be captured in full by any amount of photographs and no matter how hard we try to relay various tales sometimes inevitably words fail us, my only hope is that my memory doesn’t and that every now and again a sight or a sound will bring me back to my home for 3 months, ‘the land of a thousand hills’.

Gorillas In The Mud

2006-11-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

We are now into the last three weeks of our time here, which is a very scary thought indeed, and also means our schedules are all of a sudden jam-packed! We have concocted a plan to steal our favourite babies from the orphanage which involve smuggling them in our rucksacks… not that we should really be admitting we have favourites! We have also begun a four week project working for a friend at The Prison Fellowship, which works with the families of prisoners, victims and ex-prisoners on a basis of reconciliation. The project that we’re involved in is basically the same as our card project at Centre Marembo but working with adult women instead. The idea is that after we leave Ashild (our friend) will be able to continue the project herself. On the subject of cards… the project at Marembo made huge progress last weekend. Nicky and a few of the volunteers attended a Christmas fete held at one of the big hotels in town and managed to sell 62 of the cards made by the boys at £1 each, which is big money in Rwanda! Not only that but Graeme La Saux was there and he brought 5 cards! Claim to fame! We will be holding a meeting next week to discuss the project’s future, in which the boys will be setting up an association in preparation for when we leave, allowing the project to continue longterm. The other piece of exciting news from the centre is that a film crew have arrived, well when we say crew, we mean two very dedicated volunteers by the names of David and Elspeth. This means that all of a sudden our English classes have doubled in size with keen faces wishing to appear on camera. We held a competition on Monday during the ‘Nell and Jaz club’ whereby the kids were meant to design a picture, which will be painted onto the library wall in February. The kids were so preoccupied by the possibility of being famous that most of them just about managed one snake under the heading ‘jungle’ or a lone sun under the heading ‘sky’. We are thinking a collage may be necessary!

So the reason why we couldn’t attend the Christmas fete ourselves was because we had a very important date with a family of mountain gorillas!!!! (Jaz: thank you soooooo much to Mum and Mustie, you have given me a Christmas present I will never forget)
The trip started on Saturday with a bus journey up to the north of the country to a town called Ruhengeri. It’s quite a large town by Rwandan standards and the base from which the large majority of people go gorilla trekking. However, in true Rwandan style it is not in any way geared towards tourism. We ventured out of our guesthouse for a look around and discovered one gift shop stocking some badly made t-shirts and some extremely ugly wooden gorillas. Considering the number of rich foreigners passing through we couldn’t help thinking the town was missing out on an excellent opportunity to make some serious cashdollar!!
Sunday morning was an extremely early start, 5.10am, not what we’re used to but the incentive was great enough to get us out of our beds. We headed of to the ORTPN head quarters where the treks are organised. The drive towards the Volcanoes National Park was stunning, travelling through a banana plantation with an enormous volcano looming up in front of you is certainly enough to wake you up! We arrived at the head quarters and after a little hanging around, we had to decide on the group we wanted to see. There are 8 groups in total, some with a relatively easy hike to see them and others which are a little more challenging, the groups also range in size from about eight to nearly 40 gorillas. We wanted to get our moneys worth so we decided on seeing the biggest group, called the Susa group, which also has the most challenging hike, they warned us we could be on the mountain all day and if we were too exhausted to make it to where the gorillas were then ORTPN would not be held responsible! We had just enough faith in our fitness levels to rise to the challenge. We were then introduced to our 3 other trekking buddies and our guides, Cyprian and Emmanuel, who were very friendly and knowledgeable, and who both spoke perfect English.
So all raring to go we piled into a jeep, four on the back seat, two on the seats in the boot and set of to the park entrance that we assumed could only be a short drive away… an hour later, after bumping around on mud tracks we reached a stretch of road even a land cruiser couldn’t tackle so had to do the last bit of the walk to the park entrance on foot, even at this point we could feel the effects of the altitude and were short of breath before we’d even reached the foot of the mountain. At this point we thought maybe we hadn’t paid enough attention to the park warden’s warnings! At the entrance we were given a talk about gorilla etiquette, no pointing, no flash photography, try to maintain a distance of at minimum 3 meters and if they come towards you back away slowly, and if one of the males charges at you- Don’t Run! We were also told that there could be elephants and buffalo in the forest, which could be dangerous and for that reason we had a few armed guards with us… in fact with the guides included there were more of them than there were of us!
So at around 9 am we set off up the slopes of Mount Karisimbi, the highest of the 5 volcanoes that make up the park, with a peak at 4507m. Luckily we weren’t expecting the gorillas to be at the very top, and the guides informed us they anticipated the trek to be around two hours. The path up the mountain cuts through a dense bamboo forest, and what with it being the rainy season the path was far from dry. The mud only got worse as we headed up and the path also got extremely steep in places, we were very glad to have been provided with sticks to help us and frequently had to grab on to the bamboo at the edge of the path to stop us falling over or sliding backwards! The guides were in constant radio contact with the gorilla trackers and after about 40 minutes walking we were informed that the group had moved down the mountain, so we were at most an hour away from them. Big relief to the whole group as the mud and the altitude were beginning to take their toll. A little while later we heard some strange noises and rustling in the bamboo to our right, our guide stopped dead and we had thoughts of being charged by elephants or buffalo when from the bushes emerged an enormous male gorilla who strolled majestically across the path in front of us. His posture and size left no doubt in our minds of his pure strength and might. It’s impossible to describe the feelings of exhilaration and excitement that swept through us at that moment; we were on a pure adrenalin high.
We moved up the path and found the troop in a clearing, munching bamboo shoots, the head silver back in the centre. The group is made up of 37 individuals, and has 4 silver back males (males over the age of 12 yrs old). One of these silverbacks is in charge, and the others all know their place in the pecking order. There are also 2 black backs, (males aged between 8-12 yrs) numerous females, including Poppy the queen of the group at 35 yrs old, various adolescents, a few babies and a set of twins who were nearly 2yrs called Gift and Happiness. This group was one of the groups originally studied by the late Dian Fossey, (Sigoney Weavers character in 'Gorilla in the Mist' which was filmed on location in Rwanda). We spent around 45 minutes there, whilst more and more gorillas of all shapes and sizes emerged from the undergrowth and joined the rest of the group or just wandered past. It was extremely tempting to reach out and touch the nearest ones as the 3 meter rule went out the window and at times they were only an arms length away but we managed to resist. At one point a guard had to shoo one of the twins away because it was becoming too inquisitive and trying to touch us.. these creatures are not shy! Generally they all just sat around munching and eyeing us in a vaguely interested manner. On one occasion a black back of 10 yrs appeared and clearly wanted to show off to the visitors, he started by running through the clearing beating his chest and making a lot of noise, then snapped an entire bamboo plant in half and made a kind of nest from the branches, he was also seen to kick a couple of the smaller gorillas- typical surly teenager!! What was really incredible for us was the fact that we were so close meant that on many occasion it was possible to make eye contact with gorillas near us, we really felt like we were being studied as much as we were studying them.
At some point the chief silverback decided he was bored so got up, beat his chest and ordered the whole troop to follow him off up the path. They obediently trailed after him, sticking to the edge of the path to avoid the mud, which apparently they dislike. We followed close behind and found them in a very large clearing lying around and chomping on balls of rolled up goose grass. They were all making deep growling noises, which we are told means the food is good and they’re very happy. At this point the sun came out and they all looked extremely relaxed and contented, we could have stayed with them all day but unfortunately you are only allowed and hour and ours was up. Reluctantly we said goodbye, took one last look and set of down the mud river that was posing as a path. In certain places it was easier to ‘ski’ down than walk and on many an occasion our feet were completely enveloped in mud up to our ankles; our shoes and trousers will never be the same again!! By some miracle Jaz managed to stay upright the entire way down and Nell only fell over once, although if it wasn’t for clinging on for dear life to the bamboo, we have no doubt our rear ends would have suffered a lot more! We made it down to the bottom of the mountain by about 1.30pm and were very happy to be offered a lift right back to Kigali by our trekking partners.
Whilst the experience was a brief one it was also one of the most exhausting, exhilarating and rewarding of our lives. There are only 600 mountain gorillas left in the world, all of which exist in Rwanda or Uganda, and we feel incredibly privileged to have spent an hour in their company.

Creative Chaos

2006-11-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

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.

Feedback and Clarification

2006-11-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

This entry is just to say thank you for all the feed back we have received about the blog, we really appreciate your comments, and value your opinions about our style of writing. Due to a couple of recent concerns raised we feel it is necessary to clarify a few things about our intentions behind writing each entry. Firstly our aim has never been to follow the generic codes of an Oxfam advert. While Rwanda is clearly a ‘developing country’, desperately poor and in need of resources, it is also doing an amazing job of progressing and we believe it shouldn’t be portrayed purely on a basis of its suffering.

The pace of life here is no longer based on emergency, and development work is not as simple as seeing a problem and finding a solution to it. Our job at Centre Marembo is our number one priority to us and the also thing that brings us the most happiness while here. However, like any job, we have a routine that is repeated weekly, therefore we feel that solely focusing on the ins and outs of our work would make a bit of a dull read. Our motto while here is to ‘work hard, play hard’ and naturally we want to get the most out of being here so we pack as much into our free time as possible. We believe for example that to sit and dwell on how difficult a morning at the orphanage has been simply wouldn’t be productive. The aim of writing this blog is not a declaration of the suffering we witness here. While we could go into detailed descriptions of shoeless or skin diseased children, this would paint them purely as victims and ignore their independence and unique personalities. To focus the blog on suffering would do the people of Rwanda a great injustice and to be quite frank would be incredibly patronising.

As for those of you who very generously donated to our fund before we left we would like to make it very clear how essential your donations have been to the centre and how much we appreciate them. We can assure you that on a weekly basis your money is put to good use, an abundance of art equipment has been purchased, along with daily expenses such as photocopying of English work sheets and the card we use during our art lessons. We have also recently purchased £150 worth of furniture that the centre was in desperate need of. We have also been able to contribute towards taking the boys swimming to celebrate some excellent exam results and Marembo’s first anniversary of being officially open.

If you would like a breakdown of our expenditure feel free to email us but be sure that the purpose for your contributions are being fulfilled, and know that we would never abuse your good will to fund an ‘extended holiday’. Many of you will know that we both worked long hours to be able to finance this trip ourselves in terms of our flights, accommodation, food etc and have made a conscious effort to keep the fund and our own personal finances separate.

Our love for this country is quite immeasurable and although we have witnessed real hardship, we have also witnessed real happiness. The children at the centre have nothing in the way of money or possessions yet they are rich in friendships and personality. To focus on their neediness would in no way reflect our experience of meeting them. Our main intention for this blog is simply to note the funny little everyday differences between here and the UK and a few quirky anecdotes of the things that make living and working here so unique. To paint a picture of a quintessential African country based on poverty and arid landscapes simply wouldn’t represent reality. We hope this has clarified any concerns you may have had about our representation of our time here. No doubt we will have many conversations with those of you that are close to us about what we have found difficult and troubling while here but for now we will continue to write in a style that we hope will make you smile.

Going loco down in Nyabugogo... if u stay too long

2006-11-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Just finished another day at the centre. Its funny although we can relay various anecdotes of what we’ve been up to here through our blogs, it’s the little everyday experiences of just living and working here that make being here so enjoyable. Our card making classes are really progressing and some of the students are actually producing cards that are of a professional quality! Its really exciting because one boy called Eric Thomas was one of the boys who really struggled to use a ruler at the beginning, in all honesty we’d completely ruled out him having any artistic potential what so ever but to our great surprise he’s now one of the best! As clichéd as it sounds one of the most rewarding parts of working here is watching our students develop their skills. They’ve all got so much potential, its just many of them have never been given the chance to express it before.

So besides work we have been keeping ourselves very busy. Last week we met our friend Kina for a drink at ‘Sky Hotel’ a new bar we’d never been to before. Our choice in venue proved to be an interesting one. It was a karaoke bar like no other! Basically the Rwandan version of karaoke is to mime into microphones that aren’t on while a record plays over the top…. I might like to add that the lyrics were in English and therefore 99% of the acts didn’t actually know the words! They did however certainly compensate with their costumes! One guy wore what can only be described as a 80s bodysuit with a significant amount of stuffing around his belly and bum which resembled a very heavily pregnant woman…. Combined with a white beard and a pair of little round 1920s glasses… confused? We were!!! He then proceeded to gyrate around a pole at an alarming rate of thrusts per minute! What made the situation even more surreal was that we had been ushered (by a very insistent lady) to the middle of the front row and therefore his thrusts were very much directed at us! It also meant that Kine had the unfortunate experience of being dragged on stage and sung at in Kinyarwanda. We were the only muzungus in the place, which also didn’t help matters, and when a guy in his late 60s brought us all drinks and incessantly talked over the show we felt it was time to make our exit. We also had another eventful night out at Cadillac where we were inundated with declarations of love; Nell in particular had a classic which went as follows…

“I’m not looking for love, I’ve got a girlfriend, but you should give me your number because even your parents had to meet for the first time somehow!”

“Somehow” Nell managed to resist the desire to give him our number. At 6 we caught a taxi home and were well and truly shamed as dirty stop outs as we passed a group of about 15 guys out for their early morning jog, and could hear our landlords family having breakfast just as we crawled into bed!

We’ve also attended a Hip Hop festival, which our friend was staring in, and another club called KBC…we are officially Rwandan socialites! We’ve also been on two stunning weekends away. The first was to a town called Kibuye which was amazing… once we actually got there. However, in true Rwandan style after driving for only 10 minutes the front of our bus filled with smoke and we proceeded to be stuck at the side of the road for an hour and a half in a part of Kigali called Nyabugogo. Feeling very hung over and uncomfortable we were then infuriated to find that when they eventually fixed the bus we drove no more than 100 metres and were told to swap buses! What was their logic I hear you ask?… there was none. Kibuye itself is situated in the west of Rwanda and nestles at the edge of lake Kivu. We spent the weekend with Kine, Andrew and a couple of his colleges, Keith and Steph. Keith was certainly a character and after a few beers he proceeded to tell us in great detail the meaning of life. According to Keith we are all wheels with many spokes, each spoke is a life and we live out all our spokes simultaneously. Apparently we also choose our parents before we are born and make a contract with them… at this point I (Jasmine) made it perfectly clear that in my case I felt that was unlikely! Never the less he certainly made an interesting conversationalist! But after such deep and meaningful philosophy a cheeky skinny dip was definitely in order. The rest of the weekend was mainly spent relaxing, although Kine and Jaz exerted themselves by swimming home across the lake instead of walking.

We spent the following weekend in the popular town of Gisenyi which is also situated on the shores of Lake Kivu. It might be worth mentioning at this point that Lake Kivu is the size of a small country! It stretches over 60 miles long and marks the border with The Congo. In fact if you didn’t know that Rwanda is landlocked it would be easy to mistake it for the sea as its so large it even has waves and beaches. This area encompasses some of the most spectacular scenery in all of Africa. It is surrounded by a lush mountainous region with peaks at an altitude of nearly 5000 feet. The drive alone was a feast for the eyes with each hairpin bend revealing a patchwork quilt of fields ascending the mountain slopes. The air was filled with the intoxicating scent of eucalyptus and the shores of the lake were dotted with a profusion of dainty flowers of a variety of colours. Gisenyi itself is a bizarre little town. It was incredibly popular during the colonial times and therefore still hosts a large tree lined avenue with a selection of magnificent old houses, however the area hasn’t really been maintained and most of the houses are now deserted and run down. It was one of the areas worst affected by the genocide and although the population has grown again it feels a little like a ghost town. However, we managed to find the most perfect guesthouse in the whole of Rwanda… if not the world! It was called Paradis and it quite literately was. It was a 15 minute drive outside of town and set right on the bank of the lake. We sat and ate lunch watching a kingfisher sit happily on a rock and at night we fell asleep to the sound of the water lapping at the shore. We spent the evening sat around a small bonfire with our waiter, Fidele, mulling over life and the following day he served us a feast of a breakfast. We then decided to swim to a near by island formed from molten lava rock, we estimated that it would only take us about 15 minutes but after about 40 we realised we were a little off in our predictions. In truth we both thought we were going to die! It wasn’t until we had swum back and were safely on dry land that we admitted to each other our various fears of being eaten, drowning or just never making it! Never the less it was incredibly rewarding and when we stood in the middle of the Island (in front of a rather confused looking fisherman!) we really did feel like we’d conquered something. We then faced an hour and a half long walk back to Gisenyi but with the stunning views and small gaggle of children that accompanied us we certainly weren’t complaining. Walking in rural Africa really is the only way to fully appreciate its beauty and charm.

How to keep an illegal cow in the city.

2006-10-27T06:38:00.000-07:00

Our neighbourhood is a strange but beautiful one. We supposedly walk home right through the middle of the red light district but the only real indication of this is a few lively bars with the odd red lantern. Our next-door neighbours are stowing an illegal cow, or at least we think they are. Apparently there are strict guidelines to do with space and keeping live stock in the middle of a capital city… ones which we feel might be being overlooked. Also slightly suspiciously there is a milk bar just down the road…. So when they say ‘fresh’ they mean fresh! Everything here is a bit of a misfit, which makes our area a bizarre combination of being quaint and urban Our street is no more than a dirt track patterned with potholes but our house and the three that surround it would fit in nicely in a middle class American suburb. Peoples dress sense here tends to mirror this randomness, with pink shellsuit bottoms and a traditional African patterned top being the latest fashion. Another observation that cannot go unmissed is the attractiveness of the bigger woman… the bigger the better! Many of the street children carry around scales to weigh yourself for a very low price, what they fail to realise is that very few muzungu women are likely to what to take them up on their offer. We have had to educate the boys at the centre that telling us that we are big would not be a wise move. Eric, One of the older boys, introduced us to his girlfriend the other day who happened to be a fairly voluptuous girl. After telling us her name he proudly pointed out her large cheeks and while vigorously moving his hands in the shape of an hour glass said ‘she’s biiiggg no?’

So on to what we have been up to… Well a few weeks ago we finally made it out of Kigali. We managed to experience some of Rwanda’s finest countryside by visiting our new friend Laurence, who lives, quite frankly, in the middle of nowhere…also known as Gahini. He took us on a two hour bike ride which to be perfectly honest nearly KILLED us (we blame it on the altitude)! But never the less we managed to see some spectacular scenery. The landscape was very much the quintessential rural African setting with little mud huts placed sporadically, fields of luscious green palm trees contrasting with the deep red of the soil. We also passed acres of paddy fields, the scene complete with workers and a setting sun. Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills which made the ride breathtaking in every sense of the word! We had a few near collisions with young children, goats, chickens… and each other! Being a muzungu in the city is difficult… being a muzungu in the country is near impossible. When we stopped for a breather we discovered how it must feel to be a zoo animal… a very rare zoo animal. Everybody who was walking passed stopped to point. People only a few metres away stood open mouthed out rightly staring. At this point it was very temping to stick our tongues out to see their reaction but we feared we might get poked with a stick and thought better of it. We completed the ride with a swim in Gahini’s very large and picturesque lake. Andrew then joined us, and Laurence very hospitably cooked us fish from the lake for dinner. The rest of the evening is a little hazy as much red wine, wuragi and Ugandan cherry was consumed. We do however remember thinking it would be an excellent idea to go swimming at around 3am during which time Nell managed to lose her top. Sunday was spent recovering by the lake and luckily we managed to scrounge a lift home, as being rammed into a taxi bus may not have agreed with us.

Last week we managed to fit in a trip to see the boy’s accommodation. It is a small but adequate house with a little out door kitchen and a couple of long drops. Each room hosts a surprising amount of bunkbed’s given their size and the boys have decorated their walls with a number of cuttings from newspapers… some more random than others! One wall had a selection of people taken from what appeared to be a Littlewoods catalogue, modelling clothes ranging from baby grows to walking boots! Another boy had decided to cover his entire room in newspaper including his ceiling, which looked like some kind of crazy modern art. Still we remember the days when pictures from Bliss and Just 17 stared back at us from all angles of our bedrooms… including the classic one of Leo De Caprio or such like placed prominently on our ceilings above our beds! We also got the chance to take part in an Eid celebration, which required us to eat a lot of food! Nicky’s friend Supertall (not like the opposite to Little John – he really is massive) is a Muslim and invited us to his cousins house for lunch and then his own house for dinner, with about an hour separating the two! The food was delicious and it was really nice to be invited into a Rwandan family home. Other than that illness has once more taken its toll on both of us. On Friday Jaz spent the entire day projectile vomiting into a very sorry looking basin. (I probably shouldn’t be admitting this, as you may all question my sanity but whilst alone, desperately board and fed up I wound up drawing a face on my belly; with my belly button acting as the mouth I then filled it full of water and made it mimic me throwing up… its amazing the things you can find entertaining when you spend 24 hours on the same sofa).

The Gisozi Genocide Memorial

2006-10-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is a blog we have admittedly been avoiding for a little while now, because to be totally honest it’s very hard to know what to say. The Gisozi Genocide Memorial was incredibly informative but undeniably heart wrenching. Although we are both very familiar with the history of the genocide, bearing witness to its devastating effect on so many individual’s lives was quite different to anything we have ever read in a textbook. Seeing real propaganda that had been taken direct from national newspapers with various openly xenophobic cartoons was disturbing to say the least. There were various haunting images that are quite impossible to translate with the full impact they had on us, but a few that should not go unmentioned. We’re describing these images not for shock value but to try to convey their impact on us. One room is dedicated to ID cards and personal photographs that were either found with the deceased or at deserted houses some time later. What is quite notable is the fact that these photos are colour photos and many are of a quality that might make you assume they were taken yesterday. When you consider genocide or other wide scale atrocities it is easy to imagine a few old sepia images declaring that, as tragic as the event was, it has been relegated to a distant past. In this room the notion of ‘the past’ had no bearing on the faces that stared back at us. A second room contained the bones and clothes of just a few of the victims which was quite an explicit testimony to the brutality of the murders, as many of the skulls had large holes clearly evident in them. However the most disturbing and difficult room to face was one dedicated to children. The display covers the stories of various children that were murdered, provided by loved ones who survived, the stories include a large photo of each child, their age, their favourite activity, food, best friend, and, how they died. Looking into the eyes of these beautiful, innocent children knowing that they were brutally murdered was almost too much to bare.

When away from the memorial there are very few reminders, as an outsider to Rwanda, of the Genocide. However there are a couple that are impossible not to dwell on. There are a lot of people with missing limbs, far too many to all be related to birth defects. However, it’s a strange concept but it’s actually certain places that reside in our minds as a marker of the genocide more than people. The people we have met, undoubtedly, have their own personal memories and accounts of that time but when you meet them you are meeting them in the present, and unless they mention it, you do not dwell on their past. Certain places however do impinge a sense of questioning in us. The church we pass on the way to the orphanage is one that hundreds of people went to seek refuge in during April 1994, but were betrayed by their religious leaders and as a consequence were all murdered inside the church.

As you leave the memorial there is one last room for you to visit, it displays information on another 10 or so genocides that have occurred throughout history in various parts of the world, an essential reminder that unless we are tolerant of difference, under the right conditions such horrific events can occur anywhere in the world, at any time. We left with a feeling, which can only be described as emptiness. It is essential to not be consumed by this feeling, but it is also necessary to reflect on it. If we don’t, it is easy to forget what intolerance and ignorance of others can result in.

Excesses and consequences

2006-10-16T15:46:00.000-07:00

Yet again it feels like a life times worth of memories have been made since we last wrote…. Some good, some bad, and some ‘ugly’. The art classes are slowly progressing, although some kids are certainly easier to teach than others, as it turns out that some of them hadn’t even used a ruler before…. Kinda difficult when you’re trying to teach them the precisions of card making, but hey we’re getting there. A good sign is that they are guaranteed to ask for ten more minutes at the end of every lesson. Also we always have a group of onlookers, desperate to try out all the materials, today the little deaf boy, Petite, was highly entertained by pritsticking a paper mask to his face, which remained there for the rest of the day- we’re just glad we didn’t have superglue lying around!! As for English, that’s got slightly more scary as we have wound up separating to cover both the intermediate and the beginners classes…we’re not sure what’s more challenging: trying to teach a class that want to learn grammatical rules that we didn’t even know existed and asking questions like ‘so what’s the third party past tense of that word then?’ or trying to teach a group of kids that quite clearly do not understand a single instruction you give, still Jaz has landed herself with the intermediates while Nell is tackling the beginners. Hopefully we are doing something right as they are still guaranteed to all be there, pens at the ready every lesson.

Last week we took a trip to the local market, which could certainly be described as an experience! We were with Santiana, one of the local volunteers but this didn’t seem to make to difference to the amount of attention we got. We had a little gang of boys traipsing around after us asking us for jobs, money… anything! The women at the market didn’t seem terribly impressed by the fact that Santi was trying to barter for us and kept telling us if we were being charged a muzungu price or not. Still it was fascinating to see the hubbub of people and the mountains of fruit, veg, flour, beans ect… it was quite an impressive sight. We managed to come back with a weeks worth of fruit and veg for £2.50 which is pretty damn remarkable although we’re not entirely sure we’ll be able to cope with that much attention every week.

Last weekend was an eventful one. We had kinda gate crashed a friend of Nicky’s birthday party the previous weekend and managed to make a few contacts there which was handy. Friday night we cooked dinner for Nicky, Kine and Alison (two girls we’ve met though work) which went down nicely with a few cocktails. Nell however was feeling a little worse for wear so she did not accompany us out clubbing later that night. The rest of us however went on to Cadillac the biggest club in Kigali, where we joined a few of the VSO’s we’d met previously. I (Jaz) was really quite impressed with the real ‘clubbness’ of the place…. I had in mind a bit of a shack with loud music coming from a few dodgy speakers but it was just like going clubbing at home… well almost! There were a few notable differences, mainly in the way of dancing. One group of Russians had a Carlton from the Fresh Prince kinda style going down which was very difficult to take your eyes off! But a lot of wuragi (local gin) was consumed and before long I was busting out my own bad ass moves! The following night Nell was feeling better so we went for drinks with the volunteers from the centre to get to know them better, which again turned out to be a really great night…. They have assured us they will be coming with us the next time we go clubbing and teaching us Congolese dancing, which we’re told involves a lot of butt wiggling and not much else! The same night just as we were about to go to bed we got a text from Laurence (a VSO) who invited us to an expat. party! Given the fact that we are both hard core party animals we of course said yes and got a taxi there (kept having reality checks of…. Oh my god we are going out two nights in a row…. We are more sprightly than we thought!) The music collection was varied to say the least, but our new friend Lawrence managed to dance to almost all of it- we were particularly impressed with his shaking to Shakira and his initiation of a conga line to Kyle’s Locomotion. We followed this up the next day with an all you can eat breakfast with Nicky at a very expensive hotel, it was hugely extravagant but totally worth it. Following this we went to a genocide memorial but we will be dedicating an entire blog to this as we feel it was too significant just to mention in passing.

After the weekend Jaz was quite ill and until today (Friday) has been unable to shift the bug which has left her at home, slightly stir crazy for most of the week:
In regards to the description of my illness let me brief but honest. Developing chronic diarrhoea over night in a house that’s entire water supply simultaneously runs out is an experience I would not wish upon even my most loathed of enemies. It is a memory and a smell that I fear will haunt me for some time…

Never underestimate the technology of the flush.
Never underestimate the significance of water.

Greetings from Umutesi and Umutoni!

2006-10-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Before we forget for those of you who would like to send us huge amounts of gifts and letters through the post our address is:

Nell or Jaz c/o rYico
BP 5255
Kigali
Rwanda
And also just a quick word of thanks to everyone who have been leaving us comments, they're always intersting to read!!

Its crazy to think we’ve only been here two weeks, already sooo much has happened and yet life feel strangely normal, the culture shock has subsided and although there is still much for us to learn we are settling in nicely, with our home proving to be a definite safehaven for when the centre gets a bit too much. We are also gradually getting to know many of the children much better, there is Winnie who is very outgoing and incredibly welcoming, John – our keenest English student, who is guaranteed to sit at the front of the class EVERY lesson, his hand held high in the air. And the little boy with no name – he has no name because he is deaf and therefore cannot speak either which means nobody can actually ask him his name, he is one of the youngest children and a real character…. He may not be able to speak but he certainly makes a lot of noise! It is so nice to be able to get to know many of them individually, when we first arrived there were so many faces that the idea of even just remembering their names seemed far to daunting! We have also been given Rwandan names by the kids which apparently is quite an honour! Nell is now Umutesi which translates to ‘loved by the parents’ and Jasmines is Umutoni which translates to ‘most responsible child’ (I was kinda hoping for ‘wild one’ or ‘the cool kid’ but I guess it’s still a complement!)
Our timetable has certainly filled up as well. We now have two art classes and an English class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, all of which require lesson plans so we are kept very busy. We have also decided to volunteer at an orphanage every Tuesday. There are between 40-50 babies in one room, the smell and the heat make it quite an intense experience but certainly a rewarding one. The babies range from a few weeks old to around 2 years old. Our job is basically to feed them, change them and give them a cuddle. We work along side a few local women and a few nuns who run the orphanage all of whom work incredible hard. Through working there we have met a few other international volunteers who we are gradually getting to know better, one of which is coming for dinner on Friday… our first guest… lets hope we don’t give her food poisoning!

Before we left the UK many of the questions that often cropped up when discussing our trip with people were related to the genocide. As an outsider from day to day there is virtually no sign that such a horrific act ever took place here. However occasionally we are reminded of this aspect of Rwanda’s history. A few days ago we saw a truck full of prisoners pass by wearing pink, this is to identify them as those accused of participation in the genocide. It was a very stark reminder that this only happened 12 years ago and everyone is still living with the consequences. While this generated a moment of uncomfortable reflection it is worth noting the country’s significant effort to overcome its damaged reputation of brutality and blood shed. One aspect of society which is most admirable is ‘umuganda’ this happens every last Saturday of the month. Basically every citizen is required to take part in community service of some kind, all the shops close and it is taken very seriously if you don’t take part…. Can you ever imagine that happening in England!

There are a few cultural differences that simply can’t go unmissed, one of which being the surprising amount of affection boys seem to show one another here! Every journey we make we are guaranteed to see at least one pair of boys walking down the street holding hands. We gather that this is not done in the Brightonian style of… ‘Gay and Proud!’ as the concept of homosexuality is socially so completely unheard of that it doesn’t even cross their minds! I guess its more of a brotherly love thing but still it’s not something you’d be likely to see on the streets of the UK everyday! The weather however is surprisingly familiar with its unpredictability, only just a little more extreme. They don’t call it the rainy season for nothing, I can tell ya! The rain is heavier and louder than anything we’ve ever experienced, yet very comforting when we’re falling off to sleep, however we’ve still managed to get sun burnt today! One of the upsides is that often when the electricity goes we have our very own light display to watch, as our balcony has a rather spectacular view of the whole of Kigali with its rolling hills marking our horizon. Often there are lightening storms, which illuminate vast areas of the sky creating a cacophony of colours.

We have a mango tree in our front garden of which we’ve had an eye on and generally our diet contains a lot of fruit so no need for the vitamin pills just yet! One last thing that has to be mentioned before we head home for dinner is the impressive amount of stuff people can carry on their heads….. seriously this is a talent that can’t go unnoticed! The quintessential African woman carrying a basket of fruit on her head does not do this skill justice, we have witnessed towels piled a couple of feet high, hats, bags of charcoal, piles of bulrushes and just about anything else you can imagine! It appears that in order to acquire this talent you must start young; the other day we came across a girl, no older that two years of age putting all her concentration into balancing a bag of sweets on her head, she was doing so well until the two muzungus walked passed and alas her concentration wavered!

Being a Muzungu

2006-09-27T03:40:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-09-24T08:58:00.001-07:00

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.

In the beggining there was the word, and the word was Planning!!

2006-08-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

While this entry won't have the same exotic flavour of our future entries, we still thought it would be worth while letting you know the planning processes behind the project.
One of our first moves, in the way of fundraising, has been to write a letter to various arts suppliers within Brighton, trying to strike a cord with them in the hope of recieving sponsorship. Its only when you sit down in front of the computer and try to ask for funding that you realise how difficult it can be. Finding the appropriate words has been a challenge and we are waiting for the companies replies to see if we found them or not!
Our second, and by far the most important, attempt to fundraise has been to set up a Justgiving page. The overwhelming support and generosity of our friends and family has blown us away and we will probably never be able to express just how grateful we both are!!
We are in the process of making a rough plan for our first weeks activities and have been quizzing Viv ( one of rYicos founders) about how to interest a large group of rowdy Rwandan teenage boys in art and crafts!!!
The challange of the next three months is really starting to set in and the prospect of living in a foriegn country and culture for 3 months is daunting yet exciting. It would be easy to be niave at the prospect of this adventure, but we are fully aware of the intense and difficult situations we are likely to face.

So thats it for now- its begun!! Thanks again to everyone who is supporting us, and who knows what may have happened by the next installment!
lots of love Jaz and Nell xxx