Trip Down South



Bus to Huye



A gang of motos ready for the off

At the weekend of the second week of May, Mary and I were invited to take part as facilitators in a workshop run by Sarah who lives in the south of the country in Gisagara which is about 30 minutes from Huye (formerly Butare) which is one of the major towns in Rwanda. We set off on the Friday, journeying to Kigali and then a change of bus for 2 ½ hours to Huye and off to Gisagara. A number of other volunteers were joining us as this Saturday workshop on “Planning” would have a whole sector of teachers – about 120.

Setting off on motos over pretty rough terrain we arrived for the workshop in a Groupe Scolaire School. They all turned up. I can’t imagine that happening at home on a Saturday! The workshop lasted from 9am until 4pm and they had Fantas and Mandazis (a kind of hard doughnut) for lunch and never complained. Well, not a lot anyway! It was good to meet up with other volunteers and see how they run workshops. The long trip back was not quite as exciting but 6 hours later on the Sunday, we arrived home to our little bijou residence in Rwamagana.



Planning on a Saturday

Another volunteer once said to us – you work in a tiny office in a container truck and live in what is probably the smallest VSO house for two and yet you are still speaking to each other. Well, we realise that all we have is each other so we have to make the best of it.

But best of all, when we got back we discovered that we had a new neighbour in the house next door in our compound – Akiko, a Japanese girl working for the volunteer organisation JICA and working as a science teacher in one of my schools. And she likes going to the bar for Goat Brochette, Chips and a bottle of the local beer Primus – what a result.



Sarah's Gisagara Residence