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.

700 pairs of shoes and a couple of elephants...

I am so sorry that I have not written for so long! Nathan's computer with the cheaper internet access has gone funny, and last week I was rather tied up looking after Pam. The day that I last wrote about, when we went to Kigali, to take Pete back to the airport, Pam woke up with a temperature and feeling dreadful. So, after we had dropped Pete at the airport, we went off to what is called the "Polyclinic" but because it was still before 7am it wasn't open. Suspecting that she had malaria, we then called in at the hospital and I was very impressed with how quickly she was seen. In fact the whole time we were there, we never saw another patient…I'm now wondering if that is because the majority of the people here can't afford the consulatation fee. Hmm…that hadn't occurred to me, and in a way I wish it hadn't, but it has now, so you can all share that thought with me. Well, anyway, Pam had blood taken and pulse and temperature, and an hour later I went and collected the results…by this time she was fading rapidly and stayed in the car. I had to fend off a doctor offering me a field full of cows for my hand in marriage (I managed to fob him off with an email address as opposed to my phone number!!) – mind you the most I'd been offered up to that point was five cows, so perhaps I should have taken more notice!! Anyway, the results showed that she didn't have malaria, and they prescribed her some codeine to take down the fever and take away the pain. By the time we had made the two hour drive home, she was very very poorly, so I put her to bed and stayed in the house, praying that she didn't die in her sleep! I think I woke her up to bathe her down with cold water a couple of times – because her temperature came up to 39 degrees when the codeine wore off!! Through the night we were probably up roughly every hour…I kept creeping in to check that she was still breathing…I texted Grandma to check that if your temperature rose dramatically you would actually wake up, as opposed to just expiring and she said I would notice her sleeping "fitfully" before that happened! I was actually quite relieved that if necessary I can sleep lightly – because normally I can sleep through a herd of pink elephants having an aerobics class in the bathroom – I now feel it might actually be safe for me to have babies and wake up if they cry in the night! Anyway, so we spent a lot of the night awake, and a lot of the next day asleep, and she wasn't really much better by the day after that, so we went to a local clinic to get tests for typhoid. Now, that was another experience. For those of you from Woodlands reading – you can imagine how surprised I was to see them using a catheter as a tourniquet round her arm to take blood. In fact Nathan sent me out of the room because I was laughing so much! They did all sorts of tests in this place, with a small microscope and a bright light, and a whirring thing that he had to wind manually to separate the blood…and everything without a sink!! Neither the man carrying out the tests, nor the doctor can wash their hands at all during the day! Nathan who has a degree in environmental health pointed out to the tester man that this wasn't really good enough, while Pam and I sat outside, waiting to be told eventually by the doctor that it wasn't typhoid – thank goodness – but a bacterial infection. So for the last week I have been giving her two pink tablets three times a day, and two white ones twice a day…perhaps I will go and do my nursing training after all…

Tracy had also moved in with us, after the first night, because our Tremma house (as it is now called) was a bit empty with me being away and my space was gradually being filled with fanged spiders (though thankfully not my bed, because I left the mosquito net down!) I have really enjoyed staying at Pam's house, especially when she began to improve and I was less worried about her chances of survival! However, all good things must come to an end, and I think Samuel (Pam's house-help) is probably quite glad that I have moved out and taken my pants with me.
Usually once a week Tracy and I make pants stew, and leave it marinading in hot water overnight, with soap seasoning…and you'd be amazed at the delicious result created by morning!

To conclude this entry - I never want to see another pair of shoes, ever, ever again! Yesterday we spent ALL DAY fitting trainers on the Sonrise school children. It turned out that not many of the measurements which people had laboriously taken about a month ago, bore any relation to the shoes that were in front of us, due to a stange combination of US sizes, UK sizes and Japanese sizes (which I can tell you are a law unto themselves!) We had spent the entire day, the day before laying out these shoes in pairs, and lacing them…to the extent that our fingers hurt from lacing! And the smell… well, 700 pairs of shoes do not smell good – I can tell you! We laid them out in the chapel and the entire place reeked within minutes…a sort of chemical smell – perhaps water-proofing spray or something on them, which was soon all over our hands. I'm actually wondering if it had side effects when breathed too deep…yesterday was certainly the only day that I have seen a herd pink elephants doing aerobics in the chapel bathroom…an uncanny experience, though not one I slept through…

One last thing…I think I told you that my laptop died, but there is another one coming out for me with the men in exactly a week (big big cheer!) It will be incredibly useful – some day I shall tell you about the website I'm creating, but for now I must sign off. If anyone wants to write me an email, I should be able to check it on my very own computer sometime next week! Hurray!

3.30am!!

Sorry - that title is the time we have to get up tomorrow. It's just occurred to me that I ought to be in bed...but I just wanted to show you my hole! (Though it transpires after half an hour that this picture hasn't downloaded and I will have to try again tomorrow!) It ended up being about two and a half metres, and then we filled it with porous rocks and it will act as a soak-away pit for a sink and shower, I think. It's named after me...though I'm not sure there will ever be a plaque that says "Emma's soak-away pit" and no-one knows its there now its been covered over, but I do! Gosh, it seems like a long time ago that I was doing this! So much has happened since, and its high time I did some more manual labour! I ended up jogging round the house and doing star-jumps the day before yesterday, because I had spent so long sitting down in front of the computer designing the Tubakunde website, on an incredibly slow internet system!! We might go swimming in Kigali tomorrow which would be fun - we are going so early because Pete is leaving and his flight is at 6.40am. Still I can sleep in the car...unless I'm needed to drive! Ooh, I forgot to tell you - I drove the car yesterday because Pam and Nathan were both away. It is a massive four-wheel drive and quite unlike the corsa I learnt in (and as you know I only passed last May and haven't driven since, apart from at Christmas - and thank goodness for that week of driving Grandma's little car - it was an experience that enabled me to feel almost confident getting in this huge beast of a car and rattling off down the dirt roads!) We went for a little drive in the morning and Tracy also had a go, and in the afternoon I drove her to school. Actually apart from the pedestrians who walk anywhere they like and are very difficult to avoid hitting at times it wasn't nearly as difficult as I was expecting. Considering the size of the car, and the fact that we drive on the other side of the road here, and the gear stick therefore being in the other hand, it went jolly well. And no casualties - a bonus! Anyway, I must sleep...it's nearly time to get up!