Week 9

Only four weeks to go next Tuesday, hard to believe.


The bus from Kigali was very rapid. Even though we had to stop at Remera bus station, in the outskirts of Kigali, and change buses we did the journey to Kabarore in record time about 1 hour 50 minutes. The driver drove like the wind, bat out of hell, …

I was less than pleased to find that the food I had left for breakfast on Friday was now gone. The spare mattress was in the bedroom off the lounge and my après razage moisturiser and athlete’s food powder were on a chair alongside the mattress. I made a mental note that I needed to lay down some ground rules on Tuesday with the domestique.

So given the speed of the bus driver and lack of breakfast materials, I was back home in time to drop off my luggage and still get to the weekly briefing in Kinyarwanda by 7.40. The meeting had only just begun. I remembered to take my notebook so that I could plan my next few days.

Unfortunately, I could not sit by anyone who could translate for me so I concentrated for now on my planning.

Denis, who works in Kibungo had called and texted me to finalise his visit to Kabarore. He had decided to stay with me which I welcomed as a chance to have decent conversation in English. He wanted to come and see what I have been doing in Gatsibo which is quite different from his work in Kibungo. He was coming with his Kinyarwanda mentor, Theo a young Rwandan, who would also be visiting relatives in the area.

At work I had ploughed on with the production of a spreadsheet to record the Fiche Individuelle of teachers. This is the record that tracks their changes in status and salary. It existed in a huge, now non-standard, size that was too large to photocopy. I volunteered to create an Excel version which has gone down very well.

I also had a request from another EMA (Education Management Adviser) for a register in electronic format. I didn’t have one but offered to create one. This now exists and she suggests should be part of the EMA toolkit.

On Thursday Denis arrived in the late afternoon. He was very dusty, but I had some hot water ready for him in a flask I’d prepared in the morning, it seemed very welcome.

On Friday he came into the office and talked with me and the DEO. He was very impressed with my DEO’s knowledge of proposals such as extending the 9YBE to 12YBE over the next three years.

I shared what I had been doing and we went off for lunch. Theo did not arrive back from his uncle’s in time to join us, but we walked down into the town and met him there. We looked around the Friday market, me buying provisions, and then they caught a mutate back to Kayonza where they would change.

I spent a quiet weekend catching up on chores and getting some rest. On Sunday I walked around the town and took a few photos, so that I might be able to offer them up to Google maps on return.