Kibuye, Kigali and a Football Tournament

Apologies up front for writing an epic!  So much is happening; it is difficult to keep the blog up to date.  One of the reasons that things have been so busy is because Kat, who volunteered at FCYF for 10 months last year when the primary school first opened, arrived in Musanze for a 2 week visit.  In addition to catching up with the children, former colleagues and her many friends in town, Kat very kindly offered to show Becky and me some of her favourite places in town and was also keen for some company on a weekend trip away to Kibuye, a beautiful town on the edge of Lake Kivu, which separates Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).   I’ve been very lucky having both Becky and Kat around for my first few weeks and also that everyone I’ve met in Musanze has been warm and friendly.  Am feeling very settled in my temporary home.  So much so, that I’ve already decided that 2 months is not going to be long enough and have extended my trip so that I now head back to London in mid November.

Kibuye was completely breath taking.  It was a bit of a trip to get there as although it is south of Musanze, we had to get a 2 hour bus ride to the capital, Kigali, then take another 3 hour bus ride.  But it was worth it – we arrived about 5pm so had an hour of daylight to take in the panoramic view of the lake from our guesthouse.   In addition to being a beautiful place, Kibuye has a darker history – during the genocide, the prefecture of Kibuye experienced the most comprehensive slaughter of Tutsis anywhere in Rwanda, with 9 out of 10 being killed and whole communities being annihilated.  Over 11,000 people were killed at the church on the hillside next to our guesthouse.  Today, the physical damage has been repaired and the church has a simple beauty, together with a memorial built just outside. 

Despite being the start of the rainy season, we had amazing sunny weather for our weekend, which meant dining al-fresco and a great little boat trip out to one of the islands on the lake (there are 52 islands total in Lake Kivu).  Amahoro Island was very pretty, with a tiny restaurant, swimming off the stony beach and a short circular walk.   We could easily have stayed there all day, but headed back to the mainland to watch the sunset and grab a couple of drinks in a local bar. 

I returned to Kigali this weekend to explore.  The main genocide memorial in Rwanda is in Kigali, and is a very serene, moving place.  Outside, in addition to mass graves of over 250,000 people (many of whom have not been identified), there are several beautifully tended gardens, including a children’s garden surrounded by fruit trees; rose gardens, to symbolize the individuality of everyone who died; a “flower of life” garden for all Rwandan women, past, present and future; three gardens to commemorate Rwanda before, during and after the genocide (gardens of unity, division and reconciliation) and a cacti garden, the garden of self-protection.   The exhibits inside the centre, tell the story of what happened together with rooms containing skulls and bones of victims.  The idea behind showing these  (which is consistent with other memorials, including the memorial church at Kibuye) is to prevent anyone ever from claiming that there was not a genocide in Rwanda.   There is also a children’s room, showing pictures of individual child victims together with a simple plaque for each showing their name and information about them such as what their favourite sport was (swimming, football) and their favourite food, together with how they died.   A very poignant reminder of young wasted lives.

In addition to touring the city, I was also able to catch the England / Argentina rugby match.  Of course, the electricity went out part way thru, and we joked that when it came on again, England would have got a try – and voila, it was true!  Phew…

Life at FCYF has also been very busy.  I have been working with the accountants at the primary and nursery schools to implement some changes to how the accounting records are maintained, which will hopefully make their lives a bit easier.   The nursery school pupils are absolutely adorable and on nursery school days I try to get there for 7.30am to watch them sing songs and play games before classes start.   On Friday, they did a little baby “rap” song, where different children would come up individually and sing a few lines to a song, while the teacher played a drum to accompany them.  Soooo cute!   There was the scarier moment also where Kat, Becky and I got asked to teach them all (over 100 children) a new song – thankfully, my friend Cheryl had suggested Wheels on the Bus, which went down very well as the little ones liked the actions and all knew what a bus was (thanks, Cheryl – owe you one!!). 

We also organized a football tournament for the Primary School to play the Deaf School.  We bussed the deaf children to a playing field in town and walked around 600 primary school children, crocodile fashion, to the field, which was a sight to behold (and probably a health and safety nightmare but thankfully with all the teachers at the school plus Kat and I watching closely, all got there with no issue!)  The children had lots of fun although the matches were taken very seriously – consistent with pretty much every football loving nation on the planet, the players were very focused on winning.   The primary school boys beat the deaf school boys (who had won last time) and the deaf school girls beat the primary girls.  On the sidelines, there were lots of games and the frisbees I brought with me from England went down very well.  It was great to see the primary school children and deaf children play together – I was told they have come a long way from the first time the children all met last year, where the primary school children did not know what to make of the deaf children.   These days, some of the deaf children attend the primary school as part of our integration project – a big step to removing the stigma that deaf children are not capable just because they cannot hear.    A great afternoon was had by all.

The CHH children have also been on great form.  Thanks to all of you who donated blankets, clothes etc.  Together with some other donations, the centre had enough items for each of the CHH to choose a couple of items for themselves / their families.   Numbers were picked randomly by each child, and they could then choose two things, like a plastic bowl and a T-shirt or blanket.  It brought tears to my eyes watching them choose then giggle at their friends about items they had chosen, like a T-shirt with a funny logo on it.  They have so much responsibility and not enough things, that it always nice to see them have a chance to behave like the children they are.  My Mum & Dad had donated a cellular blanket that had been used for me and my sister when we were babies, and when I saw one of the girls choose it for her family and then clutch it with such care, it was such a lovely moment to know it was going to a great home.

Anyway, will wrap up for now.  I have a busy week ahead – we’re starting to build new management reporting this week, and I’m also doing some excel training.   Plus am trying to improve my sign language (which is coming along at a faster rate than my Kinyarwanda which has sort of stalled at basic greetings!)…hope everyone has a good week.