26th of February , 2018.
I do not want to talk to much about me experience at the schools in Musanze. It is just that… it bothers me. To make it shorter: I went to three and everything it was about bureaucracy to be an volunteer; it has to be for at least one month; they do not have a place where I could stay and get the food in exchange for my help.
If it could had happened different if I had gone to some village school? Maybe. I do not know. But that is the thing here: you never know what is a village, or something else. Plus, at Excel school, together with the school director, we went to some kind of Education District where its director told us that you have to make a registration at the Education Ministry and some present documents to be able to do be a volunteer even in the small schools in the villages.
So, my first week in Musanze it started with me going to Excel School and talk to the headmaster, Alexander. A very polite and empathic man. Always laughing. Unfortunately they could not having me as a volunteer for all the reasons mentioned above. They actually had one, Ken: a nice retired teacher, who is doing volunteer work in countries of Africa. The difference it is not just his experience but he has a place to stay for good, he is maintaining himself and he was first staying for one whole month and now trying to extend for more three months.
My first afternoon it was about using the wi-fi to find a solution. I might not have a place to stay but I did not wanted to leave Rwanda just after one week.
I send a email to Elias because he said I could had staid with him back in Gisenyi. What should be a simple stay for a few days it became something complicated: first, he was in Kigali for more three days. I though OK, let’s make camping for three days and then I go over there. He had agreed and even told me I could come earlier and stay in his brother house, just by myself, because he would be out of town. But since it took me one day and a half to answer him about it, his brother left town and took the key with him.
But back in my first day, I had also a great time with the kids in the school. Alexandre just suggest for me to go outside and in a few minutes I made some good friends. They were all so smart and communicative, they knew about what was going on around them (like in Congo), they had some good taste for music (as Bob Marley) and they all looked really nice kids. They told me some personal things like about their parents getting divorced, their favorite stuffs and they even offer me to stay with them. I really enjoyed my time with them in a way I could not had imagined before. Because of that, I decided I want to put their names in my book, so I passed a list where they supposed to put their names on it. Following, it is the whole list, with a few observations about it, including someone who had wrote but then scratch out (?):
– Buko Silver (he likes Bob Marley)
– Bizima King
– Ganza Aslan (“Will Smith Jr” – I thought he just looked like him)
– Ishimwe Pacifique (knows about richness in Dem. Rep. of Congo)
– Ishimwe Franken Simon (oldest sun)
– Ganza Nard Gustave
– Shenza Patrick
– Kenny Kevin Murenzi
– Gitangaza Emmy
– Nzabanita Sammuel (for some reason, he scratched his name out of the list)
– Shema Joseph
– Cyubahiro Brian
– Munanira Stephen Keith
– Jancy Hilwa (smart and curious)
– Mufasha Joseph Salomon
– Herve Kabera
– Arnold Manzi
– Ineza Mary Belize
– Mugorenejo Ketia
– Niyigaha David
– Iranzi
When I was almost leaving, Alexandre told me to go and talk with the director. After a quickly pep-talk with Nataniel, he told me to come back next morning at ten and we were going to a school in a village he knew.
For some reasons, instead of just buying some vegetables and bread, I decide to look for a cheap meal restaurant (like the one I ate in Kibuye, something around 1000 Franc for a buffet meal) and I had some spots where I would try to make my camping.
Just a little after I hit the main road, two kids approach me. At the beginning I was apprehensive but then I just forgot it about it and star to talk real nice with them.
John and Ben became a big great surprise to me. They are smart and kind, and of course curious about me. But mostly they are happy in having that short time with me. They guide me to a restaurant and even talk with the owner to not charge me more that he supposed to just because I am a white person.
We exchange email contacts and because John wanted to give me a present, we make an appointment to night o’clock next morning, in front of Dian Fossey’s Fund, which I was planning to visit.
I am sitting at the table, taking my time until get very hungry and then I could eat more, when two men pass by me and as usual I greet them in Kinyarwanda. For them, my attitude it is so interesting that they decide to approach me after dinner to talk. It is when my good friendship with Sayid and Celestine started.
Again, at the beginning I was a little suspicious but after a while I realize they are good people, the top one. We have a good conversation.
The food it is simple but good and I could eat as much as I handle for just one thousand. I have rice, Irish potatoes, beans, French fries, vegetable and cassava. At the end, Sayid offer me to stay with him, in his house. His sister it would be in Uganda for one month, so I could stay in her room. I accept with joy. Celestine insist on paying for my dinner before we leave.
It is a quite walk but of course with the backpack everything it looks worse than actually is. At the end, the house is pretty nice and I am happy to have a nice big bed, with mosquito net, to sleep.