Thoughts about Rwanda

Its exactly 2 weeks now since we left Rwanda and already it seems like a world away,although a piece of my heart will always remain in Cyanika. If you have been reading the blog regularly you will know about the terrible poverty that is everywhere in rural Rwanda and especially in the area where we lived. Progress is being made in Rwanda but it seems to be concentrated on Kigali, places like Cyanika remain forgotten and yet the villagers work so hard - they have to to survive!

You will also know about the plight of students who must pay for ther education - the equivalent of £40 a term and yet most families could never raise that amount of money and so many many children never go on to secondary education and for those that do, the students i was teaching, its touch and go whether their parents will find the money for next term and often they never finish their education. My lovely headmaster, calixte tries his best to keep the students at school for as long as possible but if it comes to exam time and they havent paid, they cant sit the exam. They are bright intelligent young people, desperate to get on in life and they know that it all depends on them finding enough money (a large amount for them, nothing for us)to get through.
At the end of this term, my school ran out of money and the students had to go home a week early because there was no money to feed them.

I just want to tell you about one or two of the students who became particularly dear to me:

JOHN DAMASCENE 21 is an orphan who spent his early years in a refugee camp in the Congo. He has been in orphanages and boarding schools all over Rwanda. He wants to become a musician.

JOHN MARIE VIANNEY17 - his mother left him and his 2 younger siblings when they were babies, now his father is in prison (denounced for genocide crimes)and he is bringing up his younger sister; He receives just enough money from the red cross to pay his fees but not enough to buy school materials. Unless he finds a sponsor he wont be able to go to university and he is very intelligent and a talented musician.

VALENS M 24 supporting himself and younger sister, very proud that he has his provisional driving licence and wants to become a moto driver but needs £45 to join the moto drivers' union before he can do anything

VALENS N 23, another brilliant student who wants to become a journalist.

JOHN BOSCO 16 a lovely boy and one of the youngest in year 10 but very bright, has so many plans but no money

and then of course there are the absolutely destitute families living near us and their starving children!

I have worked out that if i could raise £5,000 a year I could make a significant difference to these peoples lives. I am looking into starting a charity but you need a minimum of £5,000 to do that.

If any schools who read this blog would like to sponsor a student - one of the above or a younger child, or if any individual would like to make a donation, I can assure you that the money will go immediately to where it should. Callixte is my contact in Cyanika and he is one the nicest and most honest people I have ever met.

Akagera and the gorillas

AKAGERA

At 5.30 in the morning,just as a beautiful dawn was breaking over Kigali, we set off for Akagera national park;its very small by african park standards and until 1994 was almost twice as big but it is still an amazing experience. It took us just over an hour and a half to get there in the massive land cruiser (with 2 petrol tanks) that picked us up;( the sort of vehicle that we had always sneered at because they cost a fortune and were always full of muzungus) but once in the park it really came inti its own as we went completely off road, only such a vehicle could have managed the terrain and we really felt we were on safari as we stood with our heads out of the roof looking at giraffe, buffalo,; many different types of antelope, baboons, wart hogs - you name it.Unfortunately the zebras were on holiday in Tanzania that day! There were so many different kinds of birds and a real highlight were the hippos basking in lake Muhazi; we actually got out of the vehicle to look at these creatures - how amazing and to think that that they live on grass, cant really swim but spend all day in the water only coming out at night to feed. Who thought that one up!! There are elephants too in the park and lions and many other animals but they are very elusive. Poaching is still a big problem in the park as traditionally rwandans have always hunted some of thes animas for food and skins; We saw a picture of a hippo trap in the national museum.

On the return to Kigali our pwerful vehicle broke down. A million people tried to get it going again but to no avail so we were eventually rescued by two lovely men with a lot of bananas. They gave all four of us a lift back to our hotel in Kigali, they told us that it is a rwandan belief that if you see someone in trouble and you dont help them, your daughters will never find husbands.

GORILLAS!

The climax of our stay in Rwanda was definitely our visit to the mountain gorillas last week. Although it is hideously expensive it really is a once in a lifetime experience.It involved another early start; we were picked up from the "hotel" by a 4 by 4 and driven to the volcanoes national park HQ where guides were waiting to put us into one of seven groups of eight people. We were given a short briefing by Ignace, our guide as to how we should behave in the presence of the gorillas; no pointing, no touching, no showing you are afraid as this can make them aggressive. After a 40 minute drive to the lower slopes of the Virungas we then had a 3 hour climb, very steep and slippery in places, through very difficult, thick jungle. Ignace was in constant touch with the trackers who were tracking the movements of our group of gorillas, the Amohoro ( peace) group, a family of 16. At last we reached the trackers and had to leave all bags and sticks behind and minutes later we were in the midst of the gorilla family, all of whom were enjoying their mid morning nap. They soon woke up and we were able to observe them eating, playing, climbing and occasionally insisting upon their right of way on the narrow jungle trails and ever so gently pushing us aside if we were in their way. We saw mothers with small babies, juveniles, and young adults and the highlight was right at the end of the visit when Ubumwe, the massive silver back and leader of the group moved off and the rest of the group had to follow him. It was a breathtaking experience and we felt we were greatly priviliged to be allowed to spend an hour in the company of these noble creatures.Back down the mountain in the pouring rain, slipping and sliding all the way but totally elated and then just time for a bite to eat and a well earned primus before getting the bus (filthy as we were) back to Kigali.