Answers on a postcard...

There has been a mystery addition to the Tremma household! And there are two prizes going if you can guess what it is! One for the correct answer (and being first to respond with it) and one for the most original comedy answer! He is called Da Changer Clive (everyone here has a Kinyrwanda name and an English name...and so does he!) There are only two rules for guessing 1) That you mustn't be a member of the Tatnall family who has already had prior information and 2) That you mustn't be Ian Dawson who has already had prior information, all-be-it incomprehensible in Tracy-Kinyrwanda! The competition is open to anyone else and to enter please use comment page on the blog or for those of you who prefer to remain incognito to the world, by emailing hummingmoose@googlemail.com

So get your imaginations out of their boxes, shake them, dress them and poke them until they are active enough to enter! Oh, and you only have two weeks to enter...after which time a full view picture will be revealed, along with the winners of each category - as judged jointly by me, Tracy and Pam! (You need a majority of two votes!) Good luck!

PICTURES!

My good friend Hannah has requested more pictures and less dissertations...so here you go Hannah, these are for you! This was a street we walked past today - it is very Rwandan. And this orchid was just by the side of the road! In fact we have had a wonderful day today - we walked a long way, and it was amazing to really experience the landscape in a way that you just don't in a car. We took Pam out for lunch because it is Mother's Day today (as you probably know!) - they don't really celebrate it here, but Pam has looked after us so well and is already well established as Nathan's second Mother so we wanted to thank her. She has certainly become my Rwanda mother while I have been ill - and I don't know if I have told you but someone in Kenya airways asked me if I was Pam's son...and now Nathan calls me his brother!!! In truth, I think it was a language problem...but nevertheless I'm glad my hair is growing!!

You should have seen us carrying this bunch of flowers from our house to Pam's - we got them all from our garden and as we were walking there were ants crawling down my arms...we called it Interflora Tremma! Anyway, I'm not meant to be rambling, just showing pictures (sorry Hannah!)

Me me me! (And did I mention me?)

Well, this morning I have taken the last of the blue and green pills that have brightened my life considerably over the last week! I should probably explain. You may remember that some weeks ago I had that awful bout of vomiting…well after three days on that disgusting oral rehydration salt solution I began to eat again properly…if for no other reason than to stop drinking that revolting stuff! Then I developed a cough, which wasn’t bothering me too much, but wasn’t too conducive to sleep. What bothered me more was that I COMPLETELY lost my voice!!! Even more so than that time before ‘The Gondoliers’ – I actually couldn’t speak at all! The men from York all breathed a sigh of relief…it turns out that I’m much easier to ignore on paper! Actually the one time that I really really wanted to speak was when Granny Margaret phoned from York to find out how I was, and I couldn’t answer the phone! Anyway, I shouldn’t complain – its always been one of my ambitions to lose my voice – and the ambition was certainly achieved – three-fold! Then the cough started to clear up, but I began to feel very tired. Those of you who know me will know that I had that glandular-fever illness this time two years ago…and a couple of weeks ago I started to feel exactly like when I had that…which worried me somewhat. Well, I put it down to post-viral exhaustion and slept a lot…once I’d been up for an hour or two, I was more than ready for another nap – and thankfully there are beds at all the places I have to be – Sonrise has dormitories full of beds, and T-house already has two beds in it, so I was sorted (If mildly frustrated…OK – that was the understatement of the year – who wants to be sleeping in a place like this?!) I should add at this point that everyone has been very supportive of me in my sickness – the York Seven could easily have written me off as a waste of space and yet they were genuinely concerned, and Pam, Nathan and Tracy have mothered, brothered and sistered me fantastically!

Eventually Mamma Pam decided that it was time I went to the Polyclinic in Kigali – this I had managed to object to successfully for two weeks, but as the exhaustion got worse so did my powers of persuasion! When we arrived in Kigali we went to the Hospital to visit a sick girl from the school, and at the suggestion that I see one of the doctor’s there I sat in the toilet seriously contemplating mounting an escape through the window, and disappearing over the nearest hill. But sadly, the window was too small, and I would never have had the energy to climb over a molehill, let alone a mountain! It was soon decided, to my great relief, that we would have to wait much longer to see a doctor in the hospital than if we went to the Polyclinic, so that was our next port-of-call. We were ushered into our own ‘musungu’ waiting room, which felt a bit weird, but was quite a relief as there were a LOT of people in the main one. To cut a long wait short (in fact it probably wasn’t that long, but I was so nervous by this point that it felt like a few weeks…if Pam hadn’t been there holding my hand I probably would have crawled away – I’m such a bad patient – I coped with hospital and clinic with no problem when it was Pam that was ill, but when there for myself…its another story entirely!) I saw the doctor and he said very little! He did send me for a blood test though, which all went without a hitch – and was even done with a sterile needle (and no sign of a catheter being used for a tourniquet!!!)

We went for lunch – and I was amazed at being able to collect the results of the blood test within 45mins! In England when I was ill and trying to get blood tests, it would take at least a week to get an appointment with a doctor, and then probably another week to get a blood test and then at least a week before the results came through…and here I was in the heart of Africa, getting them back in under an hour! The doctor once again was a man of little words, but told me I had a “bacterial infection” – a phrase which out here seems to cover a multitude of illnesses – you’ll remember that was what Pam suffered from some time ago! He prescribed me anti-biotics, some fantastically bright pink pep pills (brufen!) and VALIUM!!!!!!!!! Now this was the biggest surprise, and amused me greatly! The whole day cost us a fortune, but the valium was the cheapest bit of it (The equivalent of £40 later I’m thinking the NHS has got a lot going for it!) What amused me was the fact that I told him I was having absolutely no trouble sleeping – in fact quite the opposite and here he was prescribing me a sedative – and no small amount either. After consultation with my nurse Grandma I discovered that 10mg was the strongest you could be prescribed in England, and usually people are given 2mg or 5mg, and that if I took it, it would probably knock me out…so I decided against it.

However, I have been threatened with it on many occasions since – particularly now I’ve started feeling better – Tracy regularly threatens to administer it to me just to shut me up! I’m thinking I’ll save it in case we need it on the trek…when a lion is charging at me I’ll just throw it with astonishing aim right into its gullet whereupon it will lie down quietly for a sleep in my lap…you know those pink pills…I think they’re having an effect on my imagination – it’s probably a good thing that today I’m coming off them, but I’m a bit concerned about the withdrawal symptoms.

Well, anyway I am well on the way to recovery, and I think that is probably enough about me!!!!! For those of you who know Tracy and are reading this to find out what she’s up to…I’m sorry to disappoint! For the benefit of Tracy’s sister in particular, her considered highlight out of the last three weeks has been “the peace and quiet provided by Emma’s long term illness”. Well, thanks for that Trace!

I promise that the next blog entry will be far more about Rwanda and less about me me me! Though it could have been worse – just be glad that I haven’t filled you in on the workings of my defacatory organs…

Help Required!

In order for my Tubakunde website to begin to be recognised by google, it needs to be linked to from as many websites as possible, and also to be looked at by as many people as possible. So I would really appreciate it if any of my readers could go and have a quick glance at it – you might even enjoy it! It can be found at http://tubakunde.wordpress.com/ and if anyone has a website that they can put a link to it on, that would be absolutely brilliant! Murakose Cyane!

Awards Ceremony!

Well, we’ve heard this morning the magnificent seven have arrived home safely and we’ve certainly nearly recovered from the experience of having them at this end. They’ve left a lasting impression on the house and its inhabitants – Justine, the cook, didn’t stop crying all morning on their last day! And they were given a fantastic send off with prayer, song and dancing from all the workers on the last morning. The house is looking fantastic, and is a lot closer to being finished than it was two weeks ago. As our final tribute, Tracy and I have composed an award system, and each of the men has received one as a result of their work here…and this has nothing to do with the fact that when I completely lost my voice and couldn’t defend myself, I threatened to reek my revenge in the silent but deadly medium of blogging!!

So here they are, in no particular order:

The ‘Did I mention I fixed the door?’ award for excellence in the field of door fixing goes to Mike.
The Most Reverent-Looking Reverend award goes to Pastor Ron with special mention in the area of impromptu prayer.
The Virgin-Atlantic long-distance business-managing award goes to Nick.
The award for best all-round car singing goes to Pastor David with a special mention in the area of howling.
The Charlie Dimmock award for most enthusiastically green fingers goes to Paul.
The Doris Day award for most moving rendition of ‘Move Over Darling’ goes to Tiler Ron.
And finally, the ‘Wobbly Head’ award for fastest learner goes to Peter.

Congratulations to all those who received an award, and if you didn’t, take heart in the fact that the impression you made was about as lasting as an ice cream in the hand of a small child on the hottest day of the year. But perhaps equally as enjoyable!

The Magnificent Seven!

Well - here are the magnificent seven in all their glory! They are a group of miscreants, sorry I meant men, from the UK collected from various churches in Clifton Parish. And who could possibly confuse them with the seven dwarfs?! They have come to work on T-house for two weeks, and have been absolutely amazing from day one! They are tiling, painting, glass fitting, gardening; you name it, they can do it! They have a rigorous schedule which they have been avidly following with every enthusiasm...and we even gave them a day off on Sunday, and dragged them out to Lake Burare. When this picture was taken, none of them knew ust how wet they were about to get. Only moments later a mad dash was made for the car! Thankfully the rain stopped again just long enough for us to stop in one more place for a photo opportunity,

before five minutes later another mad dash was made for the car. Not to be beaten by the weather, we headed for Uganda...well it might have been dry there! It was quite exciting stepping across the barrier...our driver convinced us we could do it without being shot by the guard...and it turned out he was right!

Today the men have been into a local village with sugar and soap in the same way we went in our first week...I was meant to be going with them but have had food poisoning or something for the last three days so am still recovering. I still don't really know what caused it, because the only dodgy thing I can remember eating was an apple that I didn't wash, and which tasted a bit strange...and I don't see how one little apple can cause so much trouble (I think Eve probably thought something very similar...except I have to be specific&point out that it wasn't necessarily an apple in her case!) On Tuesday morning I was sick ten times between 1am and 10am, every half an hour in the early hours of the morning!!! What fun it was! I am very very glad to be on the mend...and was even more glad to stop being sick after the doctor threatened me with a drip if I didn't keep drinking. They've had me on this disgusting oral rehydration salt stuff...eugh...I cannot describe how horrid it is....but it has all the electrolytes and so on that you need if your insides are on their way out in as many ways as mine were! I've tried to eat today just so that I can stop drinking that revolting stuff! Anyway, since I am feeling a bit better at the moment, I'm going to go and peel some potatoes...whether or not I'll be able to stomach them when they're made into shepherd's pie is another matter entirely! Though Pam does make a fantastic shepherd's pie...

GISENYI

I cannot believe it is the end of February and I still haven’t told you about February the 18th! What do you mean, you didn’t know it was Pam’s birthday?! I’ve been planning it since the second week we got here…well the coffee ice cream bit at least. As it turned out, the coffee ice cream was the only bit of the day that remained a surprise…the rest leaked out little by little, through necessity and excitement! Well, 18th Feb was a Sunday, so we had to go to church first, but this turned out to be a good thing, because we had written to the headteacher of Sonrise School to ask if we could take Munana and Justus – two of the pupils that Pam is closest to – with us on the trip we were planning, but he had refused his permission. The only circumstances he would allow them out of school, even on a Sunday, was for a burial, and since that definitely wasn’t part of the birthday plan, it turned out to be a non-starter! So, because they had been so disappointed that we couldn’t get them out of school, we promised to sit and have cake with them after the service before we left for Gisenyi. We have also promised to take another trip there during their school holidays, so that we can take them with us. Hopefully we won’t have hit the rainy season by then!

Anyway, so we set off – a motley crew by all accounts – the random people that we had managed to collect together included Tracy and myself, Sue, Pastor Justin and of course the birthday girl herself. We had asked so many people that we were expecting to take two car loads, but one by one they fell through, until we didn’t even have enough to fill one car! Nathan had a short notice function to attend for the Bishop, so he didn’t come and neither could any of the rest of his family…apart from the ones that were already living in Gisenyi. Sue and PJ went and picked up Nelson (Nathan’s oldest brother) and Solange (Nelson’s wife) and Mercy and Melissa (the two-year old and baby) while Pam, Tracy and I put down a rug on the beach by the lake and started to unpack the picnic. It was a gorgeously sunny day by this point, so Pam and I went down to the lake to paddle…meanwhile poor Tracy was mobbed by locals all interested in helping themselves to our picnic and at one point Pam’s handbag…at which point Tracy apparently screamed and they backed off. Pam and I continued to paddle oblivious! We weren’t very long, but when we got back we had to pack things up and shoo the crowds away with a big stick…it was awful – they were all just standing staring at us, because we were Musungus. The children weren’t so bad, but the full grown adults who just stood and stared – it was disconcerting. Some of them moved away if you stared straight back, some of them moved when I turned my camera on them…and some had to be shooed! When the others finally arrived, and we had some Rwandans among our number, we decided it was best to move, and went through the hotel next door and onto their private beach, buying their drinks for the privilege. It was the best move we had made all day! We had a lovely picnic, and then Pam and I took Mercy down to the water – we had such fun playing with her! We also talked about bringing our children on trips to Gisenyi when Tubakunde is up and running…it really would be amazing to be here…I’m not sure I’m going to resist the urge to return…

Anyway, the time had arrived for a swim…those of you who know me, will know that there was no way I was going to stay out of that Lake! (By the way, for anyone geographically interested, it is Lake Kivu.) In retrospect I possibly shouldn’t have changed into my costume in front of the Pastor…but I thought that I would be alright doing it all under a towel!! I didn’t notice but apparently he didn’t know where to look! Pam and Tracy both swam too – it was really warm actually. And we found half a grapefruit floating past that passed for a tennis ball, and smelt a lot nicer! We had great fun…and weren’t eaten by a single piranha or leech (for which Tracy was very grateful I think!) In fact at one point I accidentally gulped a whole mouthful of water and had no ill effects.

Well, all good things must come to an end, and we departed Gisenyi and returned along the bumpy road back to Ruhengeri to arrive when it was still light and in good time for coffee ice cream at Sue’s house – made in her ice cream maker (which we were introduced to in our second week, at which point Pam mentioned coffee ice cream and I took notes ready for 18th Feb!!)

So despite Nathan’s sudden commitment and people dropping out left, right and centre, the day was a great success and a good time was had by all. We’re off to Gisenyi again on Sunday with the Magnificent Seven…see next entry!

A whole hole!

Thought it was about time I got a picture of my hole on this site...its only taken me a couple of months...African time....hope you're impressed. Gosh, it seems like a long time ago that I dug this...and there is now nothing to show it was ever there! It ended up being over 2meters deep if I remember rightly.