Crispy Times

During lockdown, I have mostly been loving Kigali Farmers' and Artisans' Market. I had a bit of a panic when I went on to my usual food delivery service and found they had no bread, butter or some of the veg they usually have. The shelves are looking a bit sparse, but I did discover the farmer's market brown bread is delicious.

It's a bit awkward making an update as I haven't been anywhere or done anything. Conversations are getting a bit dull. There's been some good news. We seem to be keeping the COVID rate low compared to many other countries. 110 cases so far and no deaths. Everyone's abiding by the lockdown. The government are feeding the most affected families and top government officials have opted to forego their salaries for April in solidarity with those who have lost their income. I've also contributed part of mine to the effort and many of my friends and neighbours are organising food drives.

Another set of heroes are those working for the national crisp manufacturer, Winnaz. They have a special crisp delivery van and everybody's been stocking up. £15 for a pack of 30. I stocked up on paprika and salt 'n' vinegar. Though I should probably have thought to take them out of the box. Y'know, boxes.... cats...

Howl, Keeper of the Crisps

Otherwise, life is just ticking along. Work is a bit off. Nobody's quite sure what's happening. Most of our community work is on hold and half the donors we'd usually apply to have either suspended their grants or support things nobody can really do any more. Development is all about getting people together to work in teams and participate in stuff, like sports, workshops, conferences...

Kwibuka 26 (the 26th anniversary of the genocide) began on Tuesday. That's also compounding the situation somewhat as the organisation I work for tends to provide a lot of group counselling, and of course we can't do that right now, so we're trying to switch everything over to phone counselling. This brings its own challenges.

But it's a great team and we're working together to find a way forward. This is an appeal on behalf of a genocide survivors organisation:

Hello friends. Times are particularly difficult at the moment as we enter the memorial period for the 26th anniversary of the genocide. Due to COVID-19, memorial sites have been closed and communal events are on hold. This also means that our group counselling support sessions are unable to meet. AVEGA has many vulnerable members and we are trying to assist them in two key ways:

1) Delivering food and basic supplies to those who are particularly vulnerable, which include elderly and disabled widows with no surviving family and those who already have compromised immunity, such as those living with HIV/AIDS. It's particularly important that these groups do not leave their homes and risk infection.

2) Providing airtime packages to community counsellors in each district of the country so that they can regularly call up counselling clients to make sure they're okay during this time. We're also hoping to expand our national helpline, but it's important that those in counselling for trauma and depression are not alone at this time of year.

I know that there have already been a lot of appeals for help around the world, so I'm not going to push it. Everyone in the AVEGA office has already given what they can. If you would like to make a donation you can do so directly to our MTN mobile money (momo) account: Agahozo Avega 0788 520 122. You can also donate to that number using PayPal or a credit card through HeptaPay or WorldRemit or you can donate to Survivors Fund (SURF) in the UK who will pass on the funds.

All money will go either to airtime for counsellors or to food packages for vulnerable survivors.

Murakoze cyane/Thank you very much.