In the afternoon we went with Pam's business partner to see the island that he has bought. He will be setting up as a camp-site / hotel place on the island eventually as well as having a bar and grill on the mainland. I have concerns that it is going to be very difficult to encourage tourists to go such a long way off the beaten track. There are lots of lovely hotels in Ruhengeri which is easily accessible from Kigali and they never seem to have many people staying there. Anyway, what was very exciting about this lakeside place was the incredible birds of prey swooping around - I have some great pictures of eagles - which I can't share with you now because I'm in Dubai airport but eventually I will! (and here they are now)
So after we got back from the lake...much later than we expected, we went to see Francis who had returned from Uganda. He had sent a text saying that something was "haunting him" which worried me, because I thought something had gone wrong with his eye. However, it turned out that he had been to see the consultant that day and everything was improving, which I was very happy about. What was "haunting" him was the cost of the consultations every month! I told him that Sabine (the VSO worker who is in Rwanda until November) had talked to Doctor John and that he had said that all the follow-up consultations would be included in the 1000pounds that we paid in the first place, but it seems that Francis has been paying every time. So I rang the doctor there and then and he confirmed that yes Francis needed to come every month and if he couldn't afford it he could come for free - and he had told Francis this but I don't think he was strong enough to stand up to the people thrusting bills at him! I explained that we just couldn't afford to keep paying for consultations if we had any hope of raising the next 1000 for the other eye next year!
Then the conversation moved on to the visit I should have paid to Uganda...apparently when Francis first came to see me I had said that it would be great to meet with his family. Now I cannot remember specifically saying that, but if I did, there was no way I realised they were in Uganda as opposed to Rwanda. So, when I got a text message from him last week saying "I will see you in Uganda on Saturday, we will meet with my family, stay the night and then go to the National Park" I had to reply to say that unfortunately I was busy and the visa cost $50 which for Pam and I plus petrol to get there was just too much. We had discussed going to Uganda to see the child with cross-eyes that Pam wants to help but decided that we didn't have the time or the money. Well, apparently I offended him and his family...he said that in Rwanda if someone is coming to visit the family prepare, they fix up the house, he had invited the pastor, everyone was expecting me... I felt terrible!! But he didn't tell me he was organising any of this and I just had no idea he was expecting me to go to Uganda! I apologised profusely and he did eventually say that he understood the situation...and he said it was alright he had put me on speaker phone when I phoned him to explain the situation and his entire family was listening to me try to wriggle out of the engagement!!!!!!!!!!! No wonder the line was so bad, I spent most of the conversation asking him to repeat himself!!
Thankfully Friday was lovely - the children sang "Bye bye Emma, we're gonna miss you" a song specially composed for people leaving! I gave them all sweets and took lots of pictures. Sabine also came to say goodbye...Then Francis came to say goodbye again (he had actually planned that we might spend the whole day together but I had wriggled my way out of that too), then...well who else but Pastor Boris with a picture of his twins! I'm going to say no more.
So, by 12noon we did actually get in the car to head of to Kigali...only an hour later than we had planned. My case had suddenly filled itself up as all the teachers and childcarers decided to give me gifts to bring back for Anna, Margaret and Tracy - I really didn't think it would be as full as on the way, but it was in the end (though not quite as heavy - luckily gifts here don't weigh much!)
We met Hazel for a drink at Umabano in Kigali, and then checked in at the EER guest house and went for dinner at Hotel des Milles Collines. It was a nice end to the day (despite the slight smell of drains at Milles Collines, Pam!!)
Then we went back to the guest house, I got attacked by a cockroach the size of my fist, and put down my mosquito net to find it was full of holes and not big enough to stretch over the bed. This realisation was accompanied by a symphony of humming from above which lead me straight to my bottle of tea tree oil which I covered myself in! I got away with one bite in the night, which was a small miracle - tea tree obviously works!
Well, its time for bed, I need to go and find a nice comfortable bit of floor to spread myself on for the next six hours...then I shall get my free Emirates breakfast at 6am (which will feel like 3am as I'm not three hours behind!) Can't wait to get to Manchester airport tomorrow!!
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