Hard work

Last week I had to go for a workshop to Dar Es Salaam.

We (me and 3 colleagues) left Wednesday afternoon to fly via Nairobi to Dar. The 5 hour wait was filled with snacks, reading our papers and some (varying in level) discussions.

We arrived around 23.00 in Dar where the hotel shuttle was waiting. Compared with the 4 star hotel this was a 1 star taxi. It turned out that the 20 minutes ride took about 45 minutes, it was a small car where we (5 including the driver) and our luggage had to fit in. On top of this the man seemed nearly blind and in the process blinding the oncoming traffic.

It was not much warmer in Dar, but much more humid. So I turned the airco on and went to sleep. After a sweaty night I had to go and explain that I locked the safe without knowing the code. The safe had a key, so I assumed you didn't need a code. A nice man helped me out. After sitting the whole morning in a room without windows I checked my room, the airco was still fully on, but it was hotter inside then outside. So again to reception, they solved the problem: I got another room.

view from my room.

Lunchtime wasn't really long enough to enjoy sun or sea, but the food was good. Back to our over aircoed room, a nice man showed us how to regulate the airco, so the coming days it was not so bad. 18.00 the workshop was over for the day, unfortunately the sun was as good as gone as well, so I still didn't swim. A Kilimanjaro beer was very welcome in the boat shaped bar next to the sea. There were quite some guests who sat there, there was enough staff, but 'we are closed now' it took some convincing that it didn't matter that we sat there instead of in the restaurant ten meters away, so finally they made a waiter come over every now and then. Talking about business-sense.

It wasn't until the next morning that I noticed that I had a shower head, but no hose. I was becoming a regular at the desk. Again they did fix it satisfactorily, except I should have been 20 cm shorter to fit under it, but that must be my fault.

This time I did swim. The sea was nice and warm and rather salty, this made floating easier.

As every hotel this one had also a public toilet. As everyone know these can vary a great deal. This hotel decided to really make it nice and not smelling of piss. Unfortunately they overcompensated. As the photo shows in stead of one or two anti smell balls in the pissoir the filled it with balls. The smell of a chemical toilet was noticeable through walls. This must be a record.

Because our flight back did not connect, we had decided to stay the night in a Nairobi hotel. This hotel is the most shiny hotel in east Africa, it can probably be seen from space. It is situated in between the airport and the city. For those who know Nairobi, there is not much between the city and the airport except one road. This hotel has a ice skating rink, several shops, a hairdresser, a cinema (didn't seem to work), a coffee bar, a shooter bar and a nightclub. Trying not to show our age, but compromising a little we decided not to go to the nightclub, but we did go to the shooter bar. I had a vodka with something lemon flavoured in it.

It turned out this is a place where well-off locals like to come. So this wedding couple had their party. Great fun. You sit at the table, drink and eat and chat. Many cameras around, ignore the funny cousin who has the microphone. After a bit all the ladies took the tiny dance floor. A lot of them just in front of us. They did some sort of simultaneous dance, not really clear who had the lead. Funny them turning at the same time changing from seeing a lot of sides to a lot of, mostly big, bums.

Of course after this the men had to show their stuff. They had a slightly different approach, they made a circle and danced in turns, either voluntarily or pushed, all as bad though.

View from my room, the light is not the sun, but something reflecting, not as sharp in real life.

Even though the hotel is in the middle of nowhere, because there is a nightclub, it is noisy. I was lucky because I was at the ninth floor at the right side of the hotel, so it wasn't too bad.

Sunday morning I tried to shop, but all but one shop were closed. The shop was interesting. Amazing how you can fill a shop with things you really don't want, let alone need. All Chinese crap, not ordered, so impossible to find anything if you had a hope in finding something. I did find a foot scrubber for Hazel, that really was the best I could do.

So back to the airport, cup of Africaf coffee and of we went. Just in time at home to meet all the people Hazel had invited and eat some of the good stuff she made with Clarisse.

Back to work on Monday.

Rains

Last night the heavens opened and we had a big storm, and the first big rains for a while

this means that driving back from the embassy is more hazardous than usual as people cross roads like headless chickens in front of oncoming traffic

that we had a mini flood in the front room and roof above the guest bathroom leaked
(not unusual with the big rains)

strange sewer stuff burped up the shower stall in the downstairs loo

Come for lunch?

I decided it was time to invite a few friends and newbies round for a lunch together at the weekend, without realising that Lon would not return until halfway through lunch (I was sure he was flying back Saturday) we ended up being 19 including kids..

anyway, the weather was great and I managed pretty well without his assistance setting up, and really enjoyed myself, so will be doing it again soon..

I'm I brown yet?

Both the cats have a weird habit of sitting on top of the stereo and sunbathing with the lamp


this means I could get a cool shot of Dobs and her shadow
and also one of her squint third eyelid problem - the antibiotic drops prescribed by the vet are helping, but Nev has the same problem too now and is nowhere near as compliant as his sister at being held and having the drops dripped and I have the scratches to prove it!

Thai cookery night

While Lon was away (I'll get him to post about that) I was invited to Gourmet club at my friend Hongs house

it was a great evening where we made dumplings and "boat noodles"




Hong in action with a rolling pin!

Stew beef asian style
beef stew 2-3 kgs
big bone
spring onion 15 pcs.
pickle garlic 10 heads
fresh garlic 5 heads
coriander root 10 pcs.
pepper 1 Tbsp.
sugar 1/2 c.
salt 2 Tbsp.
toast cinnamon 2 inches
toast star anise 10 pcs.
garlic pickle juice 1.5 c.
water 30 c.

put everything in the pot and cook for 6 hrs.


garlic pickle

sugar 1/4 c.
salt 2Tbsp.
vinegar 3 c.
garlic enough to fill jar

boil till all ingredients melt then put into the garlic peeled and leave it over night or more and more days.

How does your garden grow?

We have new lilies seen for the first time


oh and the frangipani is healthy this year and gorgeous

Watamu here we come

We decided after a busy vacation in Europe that it was perhaps time for a holiday, so have decided to spend a week on the beach in Kenya, specifically Watamu, and staying at the Marijani.

We’ll be busy snorkelling in Watamu Marine National Park, Kenya – or goggling as it apparently is known locally, there are other things to do also if we find the energy such as
Visiting Gede Ruins which are 12th Century Swahili, or visitng the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest which is one of the largest stretches of Brachystegia woodland on the eastern African coast.

Fire

Returning home from work we saw a great big fire in the valley.

I do miss instant internet news!

I have to wait tomorrow and maybe it is in the newspaper ;(

Results

You never do it right.

Today the NEC (National Election Commission) announced the results:
98% turn-up: 78% RPF about 13% PSP and 6% LP and a few % for the independent. Sorry I don't have the exact details at hand.

Now, in itself not surprising that RPF got the far majority. However rumors are that the percentage has been adjusted DOWNwards. Let me explain why they would do this.

According to the constitution one party can have no more then 50% of the seats, so it doesn't really matter if RPF has 50% or 99% of the votes. By rigging the votes they can show that Rwanda has become more democratic and PS as well as LP has reached the 5% limit.

It also proves possible that number are adjusted; votes are counted and well controlled, however the results are only given on district level, there are no results at lower levels, because observers only have some results of individual centres, it is never possible to have a full picture of a district.

The EU will have a press conference on Thursday sharing their findings; rumours are that none of the observers found a result less the 90% RPF, which would make a 78% result unlikely.

Now, what is the truth. I don't know. The system looked solid, which rules in favour of NEC. Are evil forces at work putting RPF in a black light...

All I can say is if RPF had got 97% of the votes, there would still be comments, as I said: whatever the result, they never would have done it right in some peoples eyes.

Elections - observations of an International Observer

So, yesterday I observed the Rwandan elections. Overall conclusion: It was better organized than the presidential elections in the USA four years ago.

The alarm went at 4.00 :( The DFID driver was there in time to pick me up and drive to Isabelle's house. Then we went to the first site to check the opening. At 4.30 it is rather dark, but there was a beautiful big moon. The rooms didn't have lights so they had to wait till close to 6.00 for the final preparations. It started by showing all the staff, dressed in white T shirts saying "polling staff", and swearing in. I don't know what they swore, probably loyalty to Rwanda. The coordinator (his T shirt said polling centre coordinator) explained a little, gave out some leaflets explaining the procedures and showed the empty ballots. A polling centre usually consist of 6 to 10 polling stations. A polling station has four staff; no. one lets people in one by one, no. two checks their ID and voter card and crosses the name of the list. Then the person goes behind a sheet to put his/her thumbprint next to the party of choice. Staff member no. three puts a stamp on the voter card ATOYE (voted) and puts some ink on the pinky, next to the nail.

Apart from the staff every party is allowed to send observers, the smaller parties can not afford many observers, but most stations have a RPF observer. Some organisations are also allowed to send observers, EU, Human Right Watch, Private Sector Federation, some Embassies ... to name a few.

So it looked pretty organized and everyone was queuing properly, no-one was campaigning, no unauthorised persons present.... Only most ballot boxes were not sealed, obviously something missing from the training. We did not think this was on purpose, nor was it a big problem, there were always people present, making it impossible to get to the ballot boxes without anyone noticing. But still. We went to the next one, still very urban, a slightly different atmosphere, different the time of day, more presence of police, schoolchildren, we felt more watched. Talking to people, we understand there is no real pressure, never threats, but people still go to vote because the 'feel' pressured, or as they put it: "better vote, just in case people check if you voted". This is something you can never report, it can't be proven, and sometimes it is just a feeling of people, not based on anything. After the third urban polling centre we told our driver to go as rural as possible within the Kigali province. It turned out you can drive quite far without leaving Kigali. We liked this much better, most people didn't speak french, so our driver could show his use as interpreter. The 'tent' was purpose built with sticks and plastic sheets, quite well built actually. Typically it took several people and phone calls to see if I could make a picture. When confirmed though they were very open. These however were the only two photos I took.For our last polling centre we chose one close to home and the district office. The stations closed at 15.00 and were told to wait until 16.00 to start the counting, in case there are queues. Anybody in the queue at 15.00 could still vote. However most Rwandans vote early, so they can do whatever they want after. It also was announced an official day off, just the weekend before, so some people knew it, some not.

The counting went well, every paper showed and shouted out, ticked on a big list. They first dubious vote was shown and they asked us if it was valid, to their surprise we didn't want to give our opinion, a bit like when a girl asks "is the red dress better than the blue". I think they made the right decision. In the end there were just 6 invalid votes on a total 500. Then we had to wait for the counting to be finished in all the stations of that site. After a while we asked for the official form, they couldn't show it. Then we asked when the consolidation of the whole centre was done, no clear answer, not in any of the languages English, French, Kinyarwanda or Kiswahili. Sometime later we were told that the consolidation was secret. Even later we were told it was already done, in all openness, it was 20.30 by then. We find a the most senior person, he tried to explain in perfect English that the consolidation was done in all openness and the papers are locked in a room to be sent the next day. So we had been waiting for a couple of hours for nothing. We tried to explain that we were there all the time and didn't see any reconciliation, let alone in the open. This conversation went in circles; he was afraid for a bad report, and we confirmed we had to put a note in the report.

So after a busy day I went to bed early, an experience richer.

EU Observer

Monday 15 September are the elections for the lower chamber of Rwanda, E-day in jargon.

Last Wednesday there was a briefing for the EU observers, amongst which me with two colleagues. It seemed a small crowd of people who do this kind of thing more often, and there is even some jargon. A bit strange, we are not used to such big meetings with just Mzungu's. There is a core team, basically management. Then there are LTO's (Long Term Observers), simply put the region manager. The there are STO's (Short Term Observers). And of course some special people, us, we are LSTO's (Local STO's), we are not paid at all and just there for E-day. Just for an idea of scale, the core team is 4 people, the LTO's about 12 adn the STO's about 70.

The job of the core team is overall management and also the politics, for example what is behind the refusal of the visa for the french. The core team are EU officials with knowledge of the country, they are here far before and after the elections, they are also the ones dealing with the press. The LTO's are here for about a month, they have to see where the poling stations are, what the roads are like, what the local laws permit, how the voting system works... The LTO's are paid a normal salary, as it is a proper job. The STO's are a mix of people who can afford the time of. Retired people, students. They are selected by EU, often with the help of ministries. The Netherlands ministry has a list of people, these people are notified at short. An STO comes to Rwanda for two weeks, mostly before the elections, they get a briefing here and get geared up with a mobile phone, notebook, fact book, T shirt, polo, bag, cap, jumper, ID badge. They then are send in teams throughout the country, a team has their own car, a driver, translator and satellite phone. The driver gets a petrol card and the driver and translator get for local standards a nice fee. A STO gets the flight, hotel, a per Diem in local currency and a fee in Euros.

So the teams have a few days to get to know the area they are in and observe on election day. After that they return to Kigali for debriefing. Soon after that they fly back home.

Me, I just had to be at the briefing and will be observing the entire election day, when I say entire, I mean close to 24 hours. The poling stations open at 6, so we have to be there at 5.30. Observe the opening. Then go to about 6 poling stations, via a checklist check if there are no irregularities. We stay at last one, the stations close at 15.00 the people in the queue can still vote and the counting starts at 16.00. Then we have to follow the votes to the region office for consolidation and after that to the district office. At the district office the LTO will be there and can take it from there. Luckily we will observe in Kigali, a.o. Remera and Kimihurura, just five minutes away.

To make sure people know who we are we wear EU shirts and a badge, we also got given a letter stating our mission. We have strict orders just to observe, if there are irregularities we just report them. When I say we I mean me and a lady from DFID, the UK development aid organisation. We will use their driver, who can also translate. Hereby the photo of me in my shirt. It says in Kinyarwanda something like 'EU observer elections 2008'. Small on the front, big on the back.

Goodbye to our colleague

Tuesday was the last working day of my colleague, the second man. He has fulfilled many roles in our embassy, amongst with replacing the ambassador on many occasions. He will be going to the Netherlands for a few months just before retirement. He has been working for the ministry as long as written history. Most of this time in Africa.

There was a reception for people to say goodbye to him, unfortunately it is election time so many rwandans could not come. As staff we found that we had to do something, so the secretary arranged that a chauffeur would pick him up from the hotel to bring him to the reception. He was staying in the hotel, because his successor already moved in to his house. Because the hotel is only 200 meters away it might have sounded a bit weird to him. That night he found out why. We arranged all to meet up at the embassy and pick him up with ALL our cars, the ambassadors Mercedes in front.


For those interested in the route:
We drove to Novotel, to the american embassy, round the roundabout, back past the embassy, to the huge (1 km round) roundabout, two rounds, back to the 'wedding roundabout' two rounds disturbing the traffic considerably and pressing our horns. We felt like doing something back for the times we have stood there waiting on a wedding to pass by.

He was very impressed, so the plan had worked.

We enjoyed the reception with a.o. locally made bitterballen and samosas and went home at a reasonable time; the day after I had a briefing about the elections, see next blog.

A Rwandan success story

A colleague of mine took me to see a project he wanted me to see.

The lady who runs the project gave us a warm welcome. She is a Rwandan, lived for a while in the USA and came up with a good plan. As a mother she noticed how hard it can be raising kids and making ends meet. Instead of sitting in a corner crying she decided to do something, not just for her, but for the women in Rwanda. Three years ago she created Gahaya Links. What she does is brilliant. Apart from the export products Tea and Coffee Rwanda is rightly proud of their traditional baskets. There are many people making baskets and also a reasonable amount trying to sell them. She decided to bring this to the next level. She combined supply and demand and made sure they meet. She set up training for women to make baskets and at the same time made some good deals with some USA based stores. She delivers to a.o. Macy’s and Starbucks who uses some big displays to sell their Rwandan coffee.

She makes contact with village elders and communities to make sure she selects the right women to train. She is looking for women who need help and are ready and willing to invest in their self and their community. These women (up to 60 at a time) come to Kigali where they spend three weeks training, by professionals. They get a meals and a bed, not much more, but come away skilled. They then return to the village to teach others. They then make baskets and can supply Gahaya Links, earning a reasonable living; so much that even some men became interested!



Because Madame Joy is not just a business lady but also an idealist, she trains the women also on not unimportant issues as hygiene, HIV and finance.

In order not to flood the market with just baskets she is also always thinking of new products, next year she will be providing bead bracelets and tablecloths and matching napkins etc.

She asked us if we knew ways to promote her products in The Netherlands. I was slightly surprised “is the US not big enough” she explained that it is not just the product she is selling, she wants to show the world what Rwanda is about, not just the genocide.

The raw materials are grass from Rwanda, raffia from Uganda and beads from Kenya and Japan. She does try to get good deals, she really is a businesswoman. Before the products go out they are thoroughly checked, a basket in the USA costs 50 USD, so they do expect consistent quality. Products are ready labelled, even with a barcode, so all they need to do is take it out of the box. To minimize costs they are sent by sea-container.

I was genuinely impressed by what this lady managed to set up. Even her business card is well thought out. Simple, yet says it all:
Gahaya Links
Export, Promotion & Marketing rural woman handcraft
Joy NDUNGUTSE
Founder/designer

King of the jungle

since our tigers have been released to the garden they have been quite successful at hunting, we have had

2 gekkos
1 lizard
1 dragonfly
1 huge iridescent insect

brought into the house to be played with and then eaten bit by bit

Dobby is also very partial to bluebottles. We have an electrified tennis racket thing for swatting insects, and she seems to think it indicates snack time

Feeling hot hot hot

the dry season is continuing, and the once green Rwanda is now a dusty red

our water supply is also being affected which means that it comes out brown and full of occasionally - not my idea of getting cleaner...we are of course privileged to have water on tap -
as I was reminded yesterday which I spent out and about visiting farmers again, and came home completely drained from being our in the sun most of the day, some have to walk 40 mins each way to get water still..

Highlights lately have been the opening of a new 24 hr Kenyan supermarket which is all shiny and bright and filled with stuff (mostly not needed stuff like glasses and toasters) but all the same a shock to the system. We are delighted to find they have drinkable Chilean wines for 10000 Rwf for 1.5 litres (£10 / 12 Euro)


We also visited the annual Expo last weekend, where an empty field gets turned into a promotional event - lots of East African tat, and promo for the gas company, the phone company etc (as if we have a choice - they're monopolies!)