Language testing

Almost 2700 potential students applied to Orphans of Rwanda for scholarships. I spent a lot of the first week of June at the office inputting this data.
Becca with a small pile of the primary applications

From the primary applications 528 were selected for language testing in French and English, they then need to complete a secondary application with essay, which will then result in approx 100 being invited for face to face interviews, with 50-60 scholarships at the end of it.


Yesterday I was invigilating the language tests at one of the partner organizations in Kigali, SOS Kinderdorf(p). 120 students were split over 7 classrooms, which meant a lot of running round, and explaining over and over for myself and Sylvain. Despite clear instructions being given in French, English and Kinyarawandan to write their names on the answer papers at the beginning and end of the tests, there were still 6 papers I caught without names, and managed to get them to complete - probably more I missed - part of me feels sorry for the students who were stressed, the other part thinks if they are incapable of following the most simple of instructions, then they don't deserve to go to uni..


I arrived home footsore and shattered, and grateful that despite having to go through clearing, my university entrance was a far simpler matter.

Harvest

Some more harvest - this time prune de japon, japanese plum or tree tomatoes

A rather tart fruit which is OK in fruit salads, makes great fruit juice, and in turn the juice makes an excellent Kigali Cosmopolitan replacing cranberry.

I'm going to try making an apple and prune crumble - as I think it will be nice and tart like blackberries.

Schooltrip

This week we had the so called 'country team' visiting us. The countryteam is not some country and western band, but are some people from The Hague that look at Rwanda from there.

A colleague arrange a field visit, what we used to call school outing (schoolreisje). We went with our partner organisation IFDC to the North. There they showed us some fields that have been improved by using fertilizer. The farmers get the first year some fertilizer and training, the second year they have to pay half and the third they are on their own. The programme is called 'CATALIST' a long abbreviation for something but at the same time the word signifies what they want. The idea is to train some farmers and let them 'spread the news' as it were. It seems to work. The first farmers were very sceptical, they were promised a much higher yield without investment, they thought maybe they would lose their land. The farmers that use fertilizer see the benefit and will continue doing so, however to convince farmers they have to invest to get return remains difficult, so I wonder how it will go after the programme is finished. I sincerely hope more farmers will see the results and decide the benefits outweigh the risk.

Some farmers were asked to say something, the general message was clear, they increased production about 5 fold; even taking away the extra costs this means at least triple the income. We are not thinking big numbers though, the everage farmer still has an income of less then a dollar a day. However this means they might now for example be able to sent a kid to school. Also a farmer from the neighbourhood told he saw the benefits and wants to join now.



We drew a big crowd, mostly farmers from the area, some involved in the project, others not.

The fact that we had such a big crowd meant we didn't have the sceduled drink break. Which meant we didn't have anything to drink the whole morning, resulting in several people having headaches, I don't know why the organisation didn't drive a couple of km's to stop at the side of the road.

We had the traditional buffet lunch and split up in three groups. I opted for the ISAR lab. A research lab set up with Dutch support a while ago. The lab was clean and all machines seem to be in a good condition. However, we did wonder where the people were using these machines. Obviously they were not there today when we asked about this. The fact that the fridge was empty and some machines didn't have the right plugs did suggest it wasn't just that day.

Luckily the other part of the institute was working well. They 'clone' potatoes by testing a lot of potatoes until they have a nice disease free one, then they put some very small cuttings on jelly to grow. After some days they go outside in clean soil and two weeks later they are strong enough to be transported and multiplied by farmers.

Essential lab-kit especially the button.

Labman looks important, in fact he is making cuttings, precise but boring work.

I like the fact they needed white coats and the window was wide open. Hopefully the machine works, it is some sort of ventilator that runs clean air over the surface.

After the visit we stopped at another cornfield to see the difference between 'normal' corn and a hybrid race. The hybrid was much taller, but clearly the problem is that hybrids don't reproduce, so all the seedlings need to be created in a lab. Another unforseen problem is that the wind was more of a problem, strangely enough this could be solved by changing the space in between plants, something to do with the amount of soil and/or the amount of sunlight.

Here we could have a drink and hand some out to local kids. Bart Simpson here got my waterbottle. I liked the 'no problem', (hard to spot on the photo).

Stairway to heaven? Not for the people who have to carry there water up this hill!

Back in Kigali at six for a beer and some dinner. Tired and slightly more brown (red according to Hazel) then before. It was a sunny, interesting, tiring day.

...

But that was not all for this week. Thursday we visited IFC (International Finance Cooperation, part of the Worldbank) and the Banque Populair, which is being restructured by Rabobank. The Bank was interesting for me, but probably not for most of the readers of this blog.

To close the visit we had a lunch at the ambasadors on Friday. On top of this I was invited for a dinner of IFDC (see above) which I shouldn't refuse. Because IFDC had the american board visiting they invited all the partners and the obligitory dancing group. The buffet was good though and the company was not bad and I did need to show my face.

The weekend for ourselves !!!

It is not what it seems

This is not a mouse, it is a cuddly toy.

This is not a cushion cover Hazel is working on, it is a bed.

Today Neville was sniffing Hazels armpit, until I lifted the blanket she was leaning on and a lizard appeared. Neville was so excited he didn't even eat his lunch.

Charity trip

Wouter, my brother in law, has the strange habit of running, I do not know from what. Anyway, this hobby has proven profitable for a Rwandan home for handicapped children. Last year he raised over 3.000 Euro for them by running the Kigali marathon. This year he is doing the 'running 4 days', if I am not mistaken 100 km in 4 days. You can read all about it on his blog, and hopefully find some of my photos.

http://www.rouwhorst.blogspot.com/

The project is in between two 'highways' so the way there I took the road from the east and back I took the way west and back down to Kigali on the Uganda-Kigali road.

After an hour and a half tarmac I hit the dirt road. Not too muddy, even though it rained hard last night. Some bit through me around a bit, but not to bad. Nearer my goal Ngarama there was a bit basically just stone, all the sand was gone, a bit scared of the sharp edges. Only the last km was good, I wonder who maintained this bit of road, as it is a bit pointless to have a good road, when you need to go for miles on a bad road to get there.

The project lady gave me a warm welcome, she seems to be doing well, but the future is far from secured, as there is no steady income. Read all about it on Wouters blog. Please do, it is also in English.

The way back was 'interesting'. I was glad I didn't have Hazel with me, or any other passengers for that matter. The road varied from rock, to hard sand with cracks, to mud and even a few straight bits where I can easily drive 40 km/hour. Thanks to my zigzagging and other driving skills or plain luck. The way back also to three hours, but more of it over bad road and it would have taken a lot longer if I had a passenger.

Innocent bystanders

Bridge. Yes I did notice the loose bit, but I am stupid enough to ignore it.

No matter how bad the road, the landscape is well worth it. The photos don't do it justice.

Signs of the times

We don't have a long drive to the embassy, but we pass these signs daily, twice.


































I hope you will understand what Shuga dadi means, the message is clear.

As well as the Bralirwa brewery we now also have a celebration of Primus being 50 years young. We like the GUMA GUMA. I asked my colleguea and he laughed. Guma guma is an encouragement typically shouted by women at for example weddings to make the men drink. It signifies being strong, manly and all other positive things linked to being able to drink beer. It is not the equivilant to 'cheers' and therefore not very helpful for day to day life - but we still like saying it.

out and about

Lon had Thursday and Friday off for Assumption day, so we decided to leave the big city and head out of town.

On Thursday we went to Nyanza, to see a reproduction of the Kings hut, and the last Kings last palace, and his new palace which has been turned into a modern art museum

as we didn't retain all the information our lovely guide passed on the details are here

http://www.museum.gov.rw/2_museums/nyanza/living_history/pages_html/page_1.htm
http://www.museum.gov.rw/2_museums/nyanza/old_palace/rukari_now_open.htm
http://www.museum.gov.rw/2_museums/nyanza/art_palace/page_art_1.htm

Reproduction of the last traditional Kings palace

internal walls

spectacular roof
Traditional milk storage vessels

shoes had to be taken off to visit the Kings residence, and thoughtfully provided sandals put on...

The modern art museum was in a beautiful setting (currently surrounded by scaffolding as they are repainting), but you can see better art at several of the local restaurants or galleries in Kigali - we felt a bit like parents at a school exhibition - its the little touches like the info about the paintings being printed out, cut out wonky and then glued to the wall the add to the experience - oh and the curator dogging our every step..

on Friday afternoon we took a long and meandering drive along a dirt road which follows a river just outside Kigali.


We passed through villages, some with specialities such as stones - there are people sitting with a pickaxe type tool smashing big rocks to make little stones, which are then picked up by trucks for the building trade


it was also sugarcane harvest time

it was interesting to see how the river changed size so often, sometimes a broad wide river, and at other times only a clear stream- the people who choose to make their livelihoods here are taking a gamble always that they don't get their entire crops flooded out (balanced against the land being fertile and easy to irrigate)





scary looking bridge which we made over succesfullythe road deteriorated somewhat, and it was after four....
so we had to turn round (and of course cross the same bridge)

I think its important that we regularly get out of town, and break the rhythm of our very comfortable lives where the fact that the shop has no plain yoghurt for the second week running constitutes a major annoyance. It's easy to forget the beauty and the poverty that are only a few kilometers away...

Flying visit

Last week (10-14 May) I went to The Netherlands for business, namely a computer course.

This meant I left Saturday afternoon to be there Sunday morning. The flight to Nairobi was uneventful. The waiting in Nairobi was worse then expected, but the coffee is nice there. The two hours they reserved for checking in was almost not sufficient, due to their speed, or lack of, and the size of the plane, a Boeing 747-400, the ones with stairs in it.

I sat next to a quiet lady and a sleeping child, this was not a bad spot. Still didn't sleep much as the flight is 8 hours. After taking off they serve dinner, this takes a long time, then some drinks, after that you can try to sleep. At least two hours before you land they start serving breakfast, so effectively I could have a theoratical 4 hours sleep.

The Dutch railway system is good, however not so much at Sunday mornings. Just missed the train to The Hague, so I get a magazine and wait for nearly an hour. A train arrives for The Hague HS and no one in sight to ask if this one has a connection to The Hague CS. Normally I would just get on the train, but not now with all this luggage. One of the next trains I ask a lady and she confirms I should have taken the train and can take the train some 40 later, just as well I am too tired to be grumpy.

So Sunday enough time to go to our, empty, house for a check and some fish at the sea side. The House looked OK, it does need some cleaning and a few minor repairs. After way too much fish from Simonis I head to the centre for a long awaited visit to the HEMA and Media markt. I did not get everything I need in one go, but enough to be satisfied and a reasonable amount to carry.

The next three days I had my course which was not too hard, but not too borring: a good balance. The time after the course I had to spent to hunt the missing things from our list. The Wednesday I spend a long time in the AH for a weird food list.

This summer we will definetely invest in a better suitcase, the wheels of this one feel of at an early stage on my way to the airport, 25 Kilos without wheels is not easy.

All in all a good outing, but not very relaxing. Sorry for all of you who would have liked to see me, but I think that would have been an overload and not very relaxing. Some other time.