Well, I finally get to Kabarore, two weeks after getting here in Rwanda, as Bosco from the VSO programme office delivered me to the house. The journey was quite spectacular with rolling countryside with much of it given over to agriculture; I saw sugar cane, rice fields, maize, pineapples, …), as well as some patches of rain forest mainly on the tops of the mountains (c2000m). The route took us past Lake Muhazi which has 12 arms and even one of these seemed very expansive.
The house is quite large with four bedrooms, a room with a shower tray but no running water in the house. There is an open plan lounge / dining room with the dining room serving as the kitchen. The lounge has a coffee table and four chairs. In the kitchen I have two tables, one for preparation and the other has four dining chairs. I have a free-standing 2-ring hotplate run on electricity, a water filter and a kettle. It is amazing what can be done with these. My first task after making the bed was to set about cleaning the water filter “candles”, fitting a new one after boiling it for 15 minutes. I was left three jerry-cans, two filled with water provenance unknown. I boiled up the contents off one jerry-can in batches leaving one to cool overnight and then on Wednesday morning filtered this and another batch. I now have plenty of filtered water to complement the three 5 litre bottles I brought with me.
VSO had organised for the employment of a guard, called Bizmus, who is on-site from dusk to dawn. He keeps guard from the covered area at the front of the house and patrols every so often. When it rains or gets cold (<20C) he uses an outhouse in the garden to shelter. VSO organised for a domestic, Florence who I think is the guard’s daughter, to attend two days each week. I have these organised on the two market days so that she can buy food for me whilst I am at work. It has the benefit of also ensuring that the correct sum is paid and the “muzungu” is not ripped off! Flo came on Wednesday this week to clean the house of the dust that has accumulated whilst it has stood empty.
I have been setting up home by cleaning and sorting the various items left by my predecessors. Much of it is very useful. I now have an organised bedroom, though I need to find some arrangement to hang clothes. I have a floor-standing cupboard with a shelf that allows me to store small items of clothing. The bed is comfortable and has a newish mosquito net. I need some plugs and screws so that I can fit the hanging rack on the wall in this and the other bedroom that has another mattress though no bed frame!
I have now organised to keep a flask off water after I have boiled it for 15 minutes. This I use in the morning for washing, such bliss after using cold water! I use the remainder to wash up after breakfast.
There were only a few units of electricity left and these ended on Wednesday a.m. just after cooking my porridge. I did find two places in the village to buy electricity, but not for my provider “Cashpower”. So I need to go elsewhere to buy this, might try Rwamagana on Thursday. It should be possible to get one’s mobile phone set up to buy electricity 24/7 so I will explore that in Kigali on Friday p.m. Just about everywhere someone sells scratch cards with credit for your mobile phone this is then used to pay for the electricity. You enter the 11-digit account number which is shown on your meter, select purchase and you then receive an SMS with a code to enter on the meter to authorise it to receive your units.
Late Wednesday morning I found the District Education Office and met Frederic the DEO. We have agreed that we will meet up on Friday a.m. to plan the next week’s work programme.
We discovered that we were both watching the Shalke v Man U game in the New London Bar. Along one side there are three TV screens and there are rows of seat set up like a stand! You just cannot believe the response to the goals, has to be seen to be believed.
I went to Rwamagana and found an MTN centre where two very helpful young staff managed to get my phone registered for “MobileMoney”. This allows me to buy electricity by putting money on the phone. There is a MTN menu within the Services menu on my phone where you make a purchase. You then receive an SMS to enter into the meter and power is restored!
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