Hole in the Heart

Waved goodbye to my couchsurfer John on Monday night. He'd stayed with me for a week, then headed up to Gisenyi to complete his photographs, and came back for a couple of nights before jetting off to family in South Africa. Lovely to have met him and been a part of his project.

He took this picture of me on a moto, heading off to talk to RRA about tax returns... on a public holiday. As I discovered when I got there and everything was closed.

My street, strangely deserted.

Ho hum.

My house has been like a hotel the past week. The night John left, my friend Christiane arrived for a couple of nights. She's married to a Rwandan and has been here for six years. She sat her nationality test last year and yesterday was the ceremony. I joined her and her witnesses for drinks at Classic Hotel afterwards and it was a wonderful night.

Christiane used to be a singer and did a few turns, most notably to Tracy Chapman's Sorry.

The band was absolutely kicking. At one point we joined their table and we were dancing like lunatics. The guitarist used to be a member of Holy Jah Doves, who were one of the best bands in Rwanda when I left. We knew a lot of the same people. Fabulous night. So glad I could be there to share in this historic moment with C and her husband.

Then today happened.

Very sad.

Was witness to an horrifically homophobic psychological attack on a very good friend of mine. It's an extremely long story, and I can't repeat any of it, because I promised not to, but it was absolutely dreadful. Instigated by a figure in Rwandan society who should bloody well know better. Especially here, where everybody understands where you end up when you start persecuting minority groups. Has watching Uganda's economy dive taught no lessons? Disgusted to the core. Promised to be the model of decorum about it, when all I'd really like to do is punch someone in the face.

There is, however, a little financial manoeuvre I can undertake which will leave the perpetrators shafted for a while. So there's some small satisfaction in that, but it doesn't solve my friend's situation. My heart aches, it really does. So unfair, so unjust.

There are other ways to get even though. I've tagged onto a rights campaign group and I'm building them a website. Meanwhile I'm hoping to write an academic paper on the subject of LGBT discrimination that hits at the heart of international policy. Put in the bid today and should know in a few weeks. Something has to change. Equality can't just be empty words.

Meh. 

Anyway. Finally got the house back to myself, but I will be moving at the end of the month. Not sure where yet, but don't really mind. I've enjoyed living here, but it's definitely time to move on. The sad part is nobody really knows what will happen to Damascene when I go, and he's been such a lovely guy, with a wife and child to support.

Life here can be really hard. It's just such a shame when it's made unnecessarily so by bigots with no love in their hearts.