25

 

Beautiful blue sky, one of the last before the rainy season kicked in. Tried my hand at making carrot cake for the first time. Then it called for icing sugar and I gave up on the topping, but the cake was good, if a little crumbly and burnt at the edges. It's very difficult to cook something evenly in a bucket oven. 

 

The blue sky was from my trip to the Irembo head office. I had to apply for a police clearance certificate to help out my friend. I'm now a founding member of the European Business Forum. Not sure what that means yet, as it's just getting underway, but happy to help out. Although, I did have to clarify that, as a Brit, I'd still be eligible to join after Brexit.

Irembo HQ have a very pretty view from their office. Picking up the police clearance was less entertaining. You get it from a very official government building. There's absolutely no signposts, and they've implemented a one-way system for traffic - and pedestrians. You can't go through the Exit gate, which is right next to the office you need to go to, so you walk all the way down the road, asking people where the entrance is, enter the Entrance gate, go do your thing (which takes a while, in a room packed to the walls with people waiting), then walk out, make it back to the gate you came in, only to be told you need to walk the other way. Again, no signposts, and of course the security guard isn't going to show you himself, so you end up standing under the beating sun in the middle of a car park, desperately wondering whether someone's going to find your remains in a couple of weeks. I still haven't been to pick up my new ID card because I just can't quite face the system. If the future of automation means you go in, press a button on a vending machine and get your papers dispensed, I'm all for it. People are great, but, in the grand scheme of things, we're pretty inefficient.

Although Harris and I were quite efficient one night, even after several beers, when we packaged up a load of mobile phones for his staff to take into the field next day. He's working on a project to help people identify and manage diabetes better in rural areas.  

More yummy treats through the post. My lovely cousin Tamsin and her partner Guido (from the Hague), posted me a birthday supply of Kokos Brood, which is absolutely delightful. As Guido said: basically, just sugar. But it's coconut flavoured sugar, so very nice.

Also, Harris's parents came to visit. They brought me a big box of Greek chocolates. It took me a while to figure out what the strange flavour was - chocolate covered chestnuts!

And my fabulous friend Inike also came, with a box of the most delightful biscuits I've ever had in my life, and a good helping of chocolate.

 

Sadly, just after Harris's parents went home, he came down with food poisoning. And I know you mustn't laugh, but a doctor needing to see a doctor... I really shouldn't have laughed, because I came down with food poisoning the very next day! Different source, I took a chance on some leftovers in the fridge and shouldn't have done. But, what a pair.

Got better in time to attend a pizza party at our friend Jo's house. She has a lovely view of the hills and Harris took this picture of the rain passing over.

Unfortunately, I came down with another bout of slight fever a couple of weeks later and have been pretty poorly since. The fever wasn't high and I think it was just food poisoning again, but it's wiped me out. No energy. Spent a lot of time in bed with Netflix. 

During this bout of sickness, one of my cats brought in a bird. I rescued it and nursed it for a couple of days, but sadly it didn't make it. It couldn't fly and I wasn't physically able to take it somewhere safe. There aren't any bird sanctuaries for this sort of thing in Kigali and none of the vets could help. If I'd released it, the cats would have got it again. Some might say that would have been better, but I couldn't do it. I do love my cats, but they kill everything.

In other wildlife news, found this green hawk moth at a guy's house whilst fixing his piano.

And ibex on my garden wall. Very noisy birds, but very impressive.

The rainy season has come on strong at the moment. It also marks the 25th anniversary of the Genocide Against the Tutsi. I was thirteen when I watched it on the news in my mum's front room, thirteen years later I moved to Rwanda as a VSO volunteer. A lot has changed since then. It's quite hard to comprehend just how far the country has come since 1994. A real testament to human resilience.

Kwibuka

The night before memorial starts, many people go to the bars and get a bit tipsy, because a lot of the bars close over memorial. Harris and I had been for a meal and were walking home late at night. We were a bit tipsy ourselves, as he introduced me to the joys of Hendrix gin with cucumber (honestly, try it). We met a group of men walking the other way and all stopped for an impromptu hug.

It is always a strange atmosphere. The city falls completely silent for a week. It's always a fairly quiet city, but I mean absolutely silent. You can sit out of an evening and not hear a car, not hear a note. 

In other noise-related news, the night club I had so much trouble with last year has been turned into a rather nice Lebanese café and guest house. Popped over for falafel and coffee the other day. Much nicer.

My house from their garden - you can see why the night club was a problem.

At present, all is well. Just trying to get better physically. I've had a lodger staying the past month and she's off home today, so I'll spend a few more days lying on the couch then try to get back to normal. I have a couple of pianos to tune and some English lessons to plan for a local company. Possibly some more editing for GIZ. Thankfully, it's been a quiet time whilst I've been sick so I've had plenty of rest.