Moving on and Moving In

Our house in Rwamagana



View from outside the gate



So much has happened since the last post. For a start I am sitting in the main room of our home where we will be spending the next twelve months. After the party, we went into Kigali the next day to do some shopping and on the Monday, after a session on Monitoring and Evaluation by the country Director, we were taken to Kigali again to buy things for our house. We had no idea whether anything had been left in the house by the previous volunteer so we decided just to buy some basics. As it happened when we arrived, there was nothing there so we have had to do a lot of shopping since.



Employers' Conference



On Tuesday, we had a conference with our employers. However, ours could only come for the afternoon as he h ad been summoned to a meeting. He decided to take us to our home a day early that evening. So the pick-up was loaded and off we went to Rwamagana. After a brief tour we eventually arrived at the house. It is in a locked compound along with a few others and has a small patio, a living area and a bedroom at either end. Fortunately we have an indoor toilet and cold water shower. The kitchen, like many Rwandan kitchens is a small room separate from the house where people use charcoal stoves and kerosene stoves. We decided to set up a kitchen in the main house which will be more convenient for us. However, the house was not ready for us and we had to stay two nights in a hotel at our own cost before we could move in. There is a lot to do here but we will eventually be able to turn it into a comfortable home.

We have had three visits to the market to buy some provisions and basic household things. We will probably go to Kigali tomorrow to get the things we can’t get here – quite a long list. I’ll describe the market in another post. We’ve opened a bank account and have access to most of the things we need.

First meal after getting lost