Day 24 (Monday)

A normal day at the office!  Grabbed some school statistics to process and spent the next few hours entering the data into a spreadsheet and subjecting it to various analyses.  The office has no photocopier so I took their only copy of the school results.  I promised that I would bring them back to the office before four p.m.  This was greeted with particular scepticism, but I met the deadline!  Found out that the second headteacher I will be working with will be coming to my first school to meet me tomorrow.  Maybe the work is starting to gather momentum at last.

Day 25 (Tuesday)

I go to the bus station at 7.30 to catch a bus to Kiramurutzi.  While I am waiting a big argument breaks out and two people start to fight.  This is very unusual behaviour as everyone is normally calm and public behaviour is very subdued.  In the end there are about 50 people involved and most are trying to make sure it does not turn really violent. Although I am not sure it seemed to me that it was about some sort of motorcycle taxi “turf war”.  From the bus I can see that the electricity supply follows the main north south highway and it is clear that the people living near the road are much better off than those who live away from it.  Travel east or west away from the road and the houses are much smaller and more basic with mud walls.  Those closer to the road are often made with mud/clay bricks covered in mortar.   Commerce thrives in the buildings that line the road in all of the villages because of the people who stop as they pass along it.  If you don’t venture off the highway, then you would have no idea of the real poverty that lies behind it.

Day 26 (Wednesday)

Another trip to Kiramurutzi.  Today is market day in the next village and it is the biggest market in the area.  This affects the bus service and makes my journey to and beyond the market much slower and more difficult.  As we approach the village there are people walking all over the road.  Some are leading goats on strings, others carry sacks or bowls of produce on their heads. Others are pushing bicycles laden with amazing amounts of produce.  There is not a single pack animal to be seen.  A beggar puts her hand through the bus window and tries to snatch something from me.  She is very dirty with shabby clothes and is shooed away from the bus by people waving sticks at her.

Day 27 (Thursday)

An interesting aspect to going to work some distance away every day is that the Rwandan’s do not eat and drink in public.  This actually means you can’t eat or drink in someone else’s company unless they are eating as well.  So I cannot have a quick slurp from my water bottle on the bus, or whilst walking to my school.  At lunchtime everyone goes home.  The school empties completely and is locked up!  If you live locally you can go home and eat. Otherwise you have to go to a bar or restaurant.  I decide it is best to do my work at school in the mornings and then go home on the bus (before I am too hungry and thirsty) and write up my reports in the afternoon after a private lunch in Kabarore!