Kitty Bye Bye :(

Time to blow my cover.

I'm not actually in Rwanda anymore! I'm in the UK but had to keep it extremely hush-hush as I was returning to surprise my mam for her 60th birthday.

More on this soon, however I just wanted to make a quick tribute post to my beautiful babies: Ishuheri and Sula. As I was coming back for a month, I took the decision to re-home them with Sarah and Christiane, two volunteers living close to the VSO office. They both love cats and have a nice big garden where they can play. Being close to the office I can visit them when I get back and make sure they're settled in and happy.

I took them over by taxi on Sunday 12th July. There were tears in the taxi, but I felt fine by the time I left. Sarah and I sat in the spare room watching them and giving plenty of cuddles. Oddly, Sula was the best adjusted - she's a little honey. Shuey was a tad moody about it, but soon warmed up to the situation.

My wee babies. I've had them since they were kittens. One-and-a-half years. Memories of baby Mao, who threw himself under a car aged 10 months :o/

They're just over the road from my first house now, so they can pop in for a massage. (That's what they turned it into - a massage parlour!)

I finally managed to borrow Martine's camera, so took loads of photos of them before leaving. Thought I'd bore everyone to death with them now :)

You can also read about when I first brought them home and when we lost Mao and see older pics.

Sula Close Up

Ishuheri: lookin' smoooth

Sula: Egyptian Bast Pose

Playtime!

Sula: relaxing in the back yard

Chow Down!

Can we come with you mum?

We iz beautiful

And we're fine in our new home.

Final note, if anyone is ever looking for a vet in Kigali, call Justin Ngarukiye. He is absolutely wonderful. He came to give them their rabies boosters and they absolutely adored him for it. Seriously, I was expecting a real struggle but he has a magical ability with animals. Can't recommend him enough and he does house calls for FRW 2,000.

Artefacts

I didn't take many pics from inside the house - it was in a bit of a state - but did take a couple of the stuff on my walls...

Paula bought me this the first Christmas we were here.

Ruairi brought me these back from Kampala.

Cathryn's boyfriend J painted this
and it's on loan in my front room.

[NB 2013: Without going into detail, J turned out to be a rather unsavory character, and it's probable that he didn't paint that picture. The painting was later destroyed and this may be the only picture of it.]

I bought this from the artist at Kasubi tombs in Kampala.
It's painted on Ugandan bark cloth; a virgin dance ceremony.

My nod of the head to Ryangombe and Nyabhingi, both cults in Rwanda. The statues are traditionally Rwandan, the central one is Congolese. On the right-hand-side you can just see a giant African land snail shell which is sacred to Nyabhingi. A guide in Ruhengeri explained that Karisimbi is Nyabhingi's home, where the spirits of people who die with honour go.

Home Ground

Finally managed to borrow Martine's camera and have taken a few pics of the not-so-new-anymore house that I moved into in March (for a reminder of what the old one looked like, click here)...

Front of House

Front Gate from Road

Road to left of gate leading to main road
(you can just see Mr. Rujugiro's mansion at the end)

To right of gate - goats, houses and...

A cow.

Straight ahead from gate leading down the
path D and I went for a walk down.

Front Garden

Front Yard

Above: views of Kigali from my porch.

 

Above: Back yard and Sula helping me pack the dish washer. Stratoni is my washing machine for clothes and dishes: put everything in a bucket with washing powder and a cloth et voila, next day it's clean.