Development Performance Indicators

This organisation, and others in the area, and those in other countries, and actually many aided projects around the globe have, and still do, lack in sufficiently monitoring and reporting on their impact. One of the reasons why aid failed in the past is because the development organisations weren’t held accountable for adequately indicating what their funds have achieved, and therefore donors are becoming more and more demanding on wanting to see proof of the return on their investment.

I picked up this deficiency in RDIS’ management of projects and over the last few weeks, developed a model for monitoring progress of their project objectives adequately, using KPI’s, in order to obtain figures as proof of the project’s impact. RDIS is definitely achieving a lot and has great success in what they do, but they have been challenged lately with the question of: where is the proof? I had to throw my PRINCE2 principles almost completely out of the window, as things here just work so much differently to the UK (perhaps someone should devise CHIEF2 principles for rural Africa?!). My aim was to come up with something that could be practically implementable here.

The RDIS coordinator was so enthusiastic about my suggestions that he gave me a whole morning at their monthly ‘board’ meeting to present the model. The presentation was quite unique to what I’ve experienced so far, having had to pause after every sentence to allow time for the interpreter. All in all, my propositions were received very well and the concepts introduced were understood clearly. But right now I’m not the most favoured person around, having exposed them to this challenge.

Though I tried to make the model as practical as possible, I still have my fears on whether it will be implementable as is. Time will only tell. Meanwhile, the first steps of action need to be taken now. Next week, I will start to visit each staff member in the different regions to help them implement the performance indicators in current and upcoming projects. Quite looking forward to that!

What Westerners have Lost

Self-consciousness of westerners, I think, made over the years that they have lost a sense of freedom. I’ve yet to meet someone in this country that is self-conscious. Here is why I came to this conclusion.

Any child randomly picked from a group, will without a blink stand up and sing a song or do a dance, if you ask him or her to do so. Now imagine the same situation in a school in SA or the UK … I don’t think so. And this is not only among the young, any age group will be willing to do the same (even the grannies). Maybe we should look back at where we picked up this attribute (or should I say attitude), and learn again from the 3rd world on how not to judge and be thought of as being judged.

A Saturday with Compassion Kids

7:50am this morning, we (two other volunteers and I) were collected at home by the Accountant of Compassion Project 727, and we ascended the hill behind our house to where their Saturday activities take place.

Children in school uniforms were playing all around till they were gathered on the steps in front of the church building to start the day. Now, we were invited by the project’s coordinator to come and see what they do, but true to Rwandan culture (as I’ve come to know), the way they like to make visitors ‘feel welcome’ is to included them in what they do. So in front of the 271 children, the coordinator announced that the three visitors will be taking their hour and a half lesson this morning. Luckily by now, my improvisation skills have developed quite well as this was not the first instance of this sort I’ve experienced whilst in the country.

The children gathered in to age groups at different spots under trees on the hill. Blackboards and a few benches were carried out from the church building and then the morning session started. Each group has a teacher who provides them with education in mainly social and bible studies. The class I was assigned to was very eager to learn more English words, so I combined this with teaching them an English song. And thereafter, as part of social development, we played some of their games. They even played ‘vroteier’! I wonder where that game originated then really if it’s known across Africa.

After the session, the children rushed to the Compassion office down the other side of the hill to get their cup of nutritional drink (boiled mixture of sorghum, maize, soya and sugar) and two ‘vetkoek’-like pieces of cake.

Normally, the children would have had another teaching session afterwards, but today they were gathered together for the handout of mosquito nets. Each child got two nets, one for themselves and one for a parent. This is obviously not enough for the whole family, but the nets are very big and could easily cover 2 children at a time. The children were very excited about these new items, but one of the Compassion staff explained to us that now they have a big task at hand as they’ll have to go and visit each individual family during the coming week to make sure the nets are being used and not sold for cash.

I looked over the hundreds of faces, and then started looking in to individuals’ eyes, and then realised that each single one of them are being cared for and prayed for by some person across the water. These children are light-years ahead of their peers: the children of other farmers like the ones I met yesterday and the children I see along the road so often. Their health, their clothes, their alertness and their content are some of the characteristics that are visibly different. As a sponsor myself, today’s interaction with the children meant so much to me, as I now clearly saw the difference that child sponsorship makes.

Achievement with the kiddies

Well, as for the teaching of English, I’m not too sure if the children have improved that much yet. But, at least I managed to teach them two new songs in English!

One afternoon this week, we arrived quite late for the English classes and it appeared that the other two teachers couldn’t make it at all. No students have left yet, all were waiting patiently for us to arrive. But what amazed me even more, was that one of the classes decided to start on their own. Some of the children took initiative to carry on with the lesson where they stopped the previous day, and were trying to teach the other with what ever few words they could utter in English. Wow! I honestly did not think children could be that eager to learn … anywhere in the world!

Ceramic water filters project

Having clean water to drink is considered a luxury in the country. Water is mainly obtained through collecting rain water or from bore holes and the more elite purchase from water kiosks (providing reservoir water). The only filtering process the water goes through before it is drunk is the boiling of the water which is not sufficient. Sometimes the desperation for water is so big that it is even consumed as is – which naturally contributes to people getting sick.

RDIS is partnering with a Canadian charity to manufacture low cost ceramic water filters locally. It basically looks like a clay plant pot. These filters have apparently been proven to filter water to a very high standard. Even if sold at a very low cost, it will still be a challenge to promote/market the filters as for generations long there has been no culture of filtering water, not even to speak of paying for filtered water. But once the ball gets rolling, general health will improve significantly.

RDIS is currently in the phase of preparing for the manufacturing of the first filters, but one of the things delaying the project to move forward is the difficulty in communication between the Rwandese and those in Canada … so this is one of the things that has kept me busy this week – assisting the two parties in gathering and communicating the information correctly in order to move to implementation.

Domestic water tanks

These water tanks are slowly spreading throughout the country, depending on the people’s ability to afford cement. Rainwater captured by the roof and then fed through a pipe into the tank. This could alleviate water shortage problems quite a bit if cement wasn’t as expensive.

Fruit adverts

Bananas for sale!

You can’t buy one banana though, their only sold per branch. Costs app 50 pence per branch (about 80 bananas).

Avo’s almost for free!

Avocado pares – the largest and most beautiful you’ve seen – costing 5 pence each when brought on the street.

Kigali Memorial Museum

Not the most ideal place to visit on a day off – a museum portraying a genocide – but certainly one of the most insightful things to do in the country!

The Genocide Memorial Centre takes you through every step of Rwanda’s history, explaining the complete war and genocide from every angle in a very sensitive manner. Even through I thought I new the whole story, having read quite a lot about it before I came, the museum put things to me much more into perspective. Definitely recommended if you are to pass through Kigali at any stage!

The last placard on the wall in the museum read something along the lines of: a genocide is not the killing of thousands of people, it’s thousands of killings of individuals.

Rabit for dinner …

being prepared by the butcher on the left and the cook on the right.

Newsletter

RDIS started a quarterly newsletter earlier this year to inform their beneficiaries, donors and local community on whet their up to. I was drawn into assisting with contributing articles to the next issue at first, but have now been handed over the responsibility of overseeing the complete compilation (including being the editor). Luckily it’s just a 10 pager, but it’s still completely outside my sphere of expertise! I’ll be working on this during the course of the next few weeks in between other things.

Thanks for keeping visiting!

Progress Reporting

It’s quite ironic that a weak point of mine, writing, is one of the main needs of the organisation I am working with. As their English skills are, well, still in the phase of being developed, they struggle to comprehensively report on their projects’ progress. When I first took out my camcorder to capture a group of youth welcoming us with song, the RDIS coordinator poked me in the shoulder and asked me to record as much I can so that they have better evidence of project progress. And this instigated his request for me to write reports on their projects as part of my role here. I’ll also attempt to help their staff on improving their report writing skills (as a more sustainable solution to this requirement). Improved reporting will allow increased donor confidence, better marketing and raised project awareness. Let’s see what I can do!

Lake Kivu – Kibuye Day Trip

We had a great day out! I joined the students group from the UK (Transform team) for a day trip to lake Kivu. On these very bendy roads, it took us 2 hours to complete the 80km journey to the lake (in a minibus), but it was all worth it. I can’t really describe the lake in words, so please look at my photo’s to get an idea of what it’s like.

We did a boat ride to one of the little islands off-shore and spent about an hour docked to the island while we tested the water. The water was lukewarm and calm – perfect for swimming – I could have stayed in it all day if we didn’t had to head back for lunch.

A highly recommendable visit!

Banana Leave Cards Marketing

One of the products of the Youth at Risk projects (see my section in this for more info) is the making of cards, using banana leaves as decorative medium. The problem is that the market in the country is very small for this product, as it mainly appeals to people who earn a proper income and tourists only. This week, among other things, I had a look in to how this product could be marketed overseas, as increased sales would benefit these youth immensely. Some work still needs to be done in this area.

English Teaching Progress

I already completed two weeks of teaching English! This week, due to other activities, I didn’t teach every day, and strangely enough I actually found myself wanting to go back to my classes. Not really because I like the teaching aspect that much, but because I’m missing the children and they appreciate every single class so much that you kind of feel you want to give them all you can.
I’ve found a new strategy with my advanced class. I give them a topic and then we discuss it in the class, with me chipping in helping them to say what they want to say. This gives them all the opportunity to practice talking and I learn new things about the country at the same time. The Rwanda Vision 2020 (our last point of discussion) is quite interesting!

Fruit Juice & Jam Factory

The fruit juice and jam factory of RDIS was bourn to address two requirements. Firstly, to provide pineapple farmers in the region with an additional opportunity for sales, as the local markets many times receive an overflow of pineapples. Secondly, to generate an income with the aim to become independent of international aid for running their development activities.

The factory produces pineapple syrup, strawberry syrup and mixed jam consisting of pineapples, papaya and tomatoes. This week, I had the chance to help out bottling pineapple syrup. I made a point of it to observe their process carefully and think I might even try making my own when I get home.

This business is still very small and has many hurdles to overcome in order to expand, mainly restricted by finances, but the first steps have been made … and their products taste really good!

Pineapple Widows

An association for widows (from the genocide and HIV AIDS deaths and wives of men in jail) was formed in 2000. Together, the women started growing pineapples for its profitability. The association also brought women together that lived otherwise in isolation, and at their meetings they would assist each other morally and spiritually.

Pineapple sales have enabled the women to send their children to school, to buy proper clothes, obtain health insurance, provide their families with balanced nutrition food including meat once a year and to jointly run a savings and credit programme. It also enabled the association to improve their business with the investment of more and better tools and with them joining a co-operative for pineapple growers. At the end of 2009, the projected savings of the group will amount to 600,000 Rwandan Francs. The aim is mainly to use this money to buy each family a cow.

Genocide after effects

15 Years later, the country is still struggling because of the genocide set-back. Many women were widowed and children orphaned because the men were either killed during or jailed afterwards. Another consequence was deforestation because people’s houses were destroyed and they therefore required a considerable quantity of wood to rebuild their homes and facilities. Causes like these have left the country in a much poorer state and hence widows, orphans and tree planting are focal points of development work in the country.

Disaster prevention methods

One aspect the RDIS projects are very attend to is disaster prevention. Droughts, floods and famine as a result of climate change are real causes for concern. Some of the initiatives of RDIS are encouraging communities to build food storage huts (e.g. for rice or potatoes) and to plant trees for rain accumulation (see the section on Climate Change for more details on this topic).

Living the Word

So many places we’ve visited and people we met, locals, organisations, NGO’s, churches, children … I noticed them share the word of God interchangeably with their daily living conversations. God is practically part of their every day lives in a real way. They acknowledge that they can not live without His provision, from moment to moment, whether it is simply surviving from day to day or living proficiently. I might be on the biased side as we move mainly in the church circles, but even so, it’s such an encouragement to see people from a huge variety of circumstances and backgrounds openly living with God – as they know there’s no alternative.

Teachers Help Please!

I’m a bit thrown in to the deep en here – now delivering two English classes a day for up to 90min each! Everyone wants to learn English as they regard it as their key to knowledge. So the need is big and here I am, trying to help where I can but with very little skill in this area. These lot are any teacher’s dream, but any non-teacher’s fear … when I end off the class, they just keep sitting wanting to learn more, or run after me as I leave to get a few more words in with me.

I’m taking the beginners in the morning and the advanced English students in the afternoon, which means they can speak broken sentences at least. BUT I’ve got no teaching training and very little experience, so I’m ‘phoning my friends’ and calling on all teachers to PLEASE send me some advice, tips, ideas or anything that will help!

African Style Church

Yep, true to its reputation, church goes on for 3 hours, and now I’ve experienced it as well. Though I need to admit that their services are action packed and it actually feels like an hour only. What really helps is that we have someone translating everything to us. The church we’re attending in Gitarama is only two years old and therefore doesn’t have its own building yet. I really enjoy how young and old engage fully, especially when it comes to dancing on songs!

Kitchen Gardens

Here is a wide-practiced initiative of conserving water when managing crops for own consumption, called the Kitchen Garden (pronounced ‘chicken’ garden by the locals). The pyramid effect supposedly causes that water draining down from the top gets consumed by the crops on lower level and therefore less water is required for the same area of land. This is typically used for growing a variety of veg for the house. Mmm, might give it a go at home!

Organic Farmers

Rwanda’s great asset of the spectacular rolling green hills, is also a big drawback to the people’s prosperity. Because of the majority of land on an incline, little is suitable for agricultural and animal farming, so the space they do have needs to be used optimally. RDIS introduced a 3-layered animal cage for this purpose. Not sure what I think of it, but it was quite a sight to see. When you enter in to the little shed, you find on one level some pigs and goats, on the next a few rabbits and at the top a hole lot of chickens. Their agricultural issues still need some work. It’s quite difficult to provide general solutions or code of practice to communities like these, as each family’s situation of land is different.

Sunbathing

After lunch one day, I was ‘slurp’ing in the sun, sitting on the grass outside. I soon was so lekker lui that I decided to take a quick nap on the grass. A little while later, I heard some voices coming around the corner and when I looked behind me there were five people staring at this woman all spread out on the grass. I quickly got up, collected my shoes from where I kicked them off and went to greet the visitors, only to find out that it’s the lady Mayor and her committee members, paying RDIS a visit. Speaking about first impressions! Oops!

Bugarama Rice Plantation

This project visit was completely crazy. When we got out of the car, we were surrounded by children immediately, and as we did our walk through the rice plantation, they kept appearing till there were probably hundreds nosily following us. I later learnt that the rice valley hosts around 50 000 people! Though no-one really knows how many for sure.

We started our visit with a meeting in a small dark building where the local leaders informed us on the project and its progress. They actually invited villagers to tell their testimonies themselves. Initially, the people suffered from very poor housing, clothing, education and nutrition. RDIS identified the potential of using the valley for rice plantations and started the work of facilitating this through the local parish in the year 2000. This plantation is now one of the very few that serves the whole country, and provides an income for 90 families with many more involved with consequent village activities.

The locals told the following stories:

• Before, our houses were made of only banana leaves because of the shortage in trees. Now, after assistance with growing trees, we have much more sturdy houses.
• Before, we (mainly women) had to process the rice with hand tools which took very long. Now, with the new machine, we are able to process rice much faster and to a better standard.
• Before, I didn’t have proper clothes. I didn’t even have soap. Now, because of the benefits of the rice plantation, I have good quality clothes (and she stood up to show us) and my children can go to school. I belong to the Mother’s Union (around 30 women per group meeting on a regular basis). We learn to make clothes and sell to the people. With the profit we make, we run a microfinance programme to support other women in need. We also learn to read and write and we pray together.
• Before, our widows, elderly people and the sick were left to look after themselves as we were not able to. Now, we are financially strong enough to support them in their needs.
• Before, I wasn’t able to obtain education. Now, I am literate and have been trained to teach others in literacy and funds management.
• Before, I was an orphan living on the streets. Now, I have a wife, a house, clothes and I was taught about the Bible, all made possible by the support of the community.

We were sent off with a glass bottle of Fanta each. It must have been a real expense for those people, but it was a real blessing for us in the heat!

Kigeme Remote Village

I joined a group of youth from the UK for a day. We drove for 2 hours (at 10 to 20 km/h) from the town Kigeme to get to this remote village. The journey gave me once again very good insight in to the life of the really rural. All over I saw people working in fields: men, women, women with babies on their backs, older people and children. The main challenge these people have to fight is the access to larger villages and markets. Because this is so hard, they need to survive with what resources they have, literally living from hand to mouth.

RDIS identified the dire need for intervention of this village and through the village parish, started their project in 2001. RDIS first of all listened to what the parish leaders reckoned the greatest need was and then planned their actions from there. Before 2001, the village had no facilities at all. Since then, major growth had occurred.

Upon arrival, we were made to sit down on a bench in the field and were welcomed by a team of parish leaders (serving as the town council) with song and then prayer. We were told that our interest in their activities, shown by coming all the way from England, is a big encouragement to the local people. After the short ‘meeting’, we were taken on a little tour to see the development achievements over that last eight years: three classrooms were built for primary school (no nearby school before); secondary school was started (50 students attending, with 8 sent to University from this school); literacy programme was started (for those who never had the opportunity to go to school); potato food storage building was built (no place existed before to store excess produce and hence lots was wasted); animal rearing, a.o. made possible by RDIS (Tearfund) with the provision of 10 cows to the community on a revolving loan basis; microfinance and savings programme initiated (people taught how to manage funds and could borrow money); widows support programme started. In addition, as the parish got more established through managing these activities, people were encouraged to fight witchcraft. 76 People turned from witchcraft practice – they even showed us the complete list of names and photo’s as evidence!

This project is a very good example of RDIS’s approach of church and community mobilisation. RDIS didn’t go in and manage the work. They simply mobilised the church and community to do it themselves. I’m all for this approach, as I’ve come to witness that one of the key failures of aid is the dependency and hence slackness it creates.

Water Supply

The other day, we stayed at a Guest House on our visit to a project. I was quite impressed with the standard, but little did I know that water supply is still a problem for everyone. I only realised it when I took a shower during the morning peak time. I was standing there, all soaped up, when the water suddenly stopped. I actually felt ashamed when I found myself praying for just a little bit more water to rinse myself because I realised that most out there don’t even have showers to start off with. But I still did long for that bit of water because I wasn’t exactly looking forward to going through the day with a soapy body and hence an itching bum. After a minute or two, a few more droplets trickled down. What a relief! How we get dependant on such basic things so heavily.

Welding Workshop

In welding classes, children learn to make items such as doors, windows, tables and transport mechanisms.

Carpentry Workshop

Wherever you go in Rwanda, you’re bound to see some carpenter entrepreneurs with small businesses on the road. It is from their products that people furnish their houses with beds, tables, chairs, benches and cupboards. These boys are therefore well off if they are educated in making these items themselves!

Sewing Training

Here is Martha, a girl that graduated from the Youth at Risk programme and is now employed to teach other children. She’s also one of my top students in my morning English class! Martha teaches them sewing techniques and how to make mainly skirts, shirts and trousers. It is a great asset for a woman in Rwanda to be able to make clothes, as clothes are otherwise imported and cost a lot more than the locally made.

Youth at Risk

Children between the age of 14 and 22 who have been orphaned (either as a result of HIV AIDS, malaria, the 1994 genocide or their parents jailed after the war) are a real concern everywhere in Rwanda. ‘Youth at Risk’ are those from this target group that live on the street or under severe poverty in child headed households and with no access to education, basic needs or proper nutrition. They are therefore at risk of engaging in prostitution and crime. RDIS initiated centres where these children can be trained in various trades for very low tuition fees. The types of trade include sewing, shoe making, crafts, carpentry and welding. At these centres, children are also educated in English (that’s where I come in), agriculture, family planning, HIV prevention and Bible studies and they participate in sport and cultural activities such as traditional Rwandan songs and dancing. The centres are managed by the Anglican church, but children from all denominations are taken in.

Depending on the resources available, the programme length at such a centre varies between 1 and 3 years. After graduation, the youth can then be selected to be a teacher for the next year’s group, or join an association to manufacture products for an income. Such jobs are scarce though, so ways to fund equipment for lending to the graduates, enabling self-start-ups, are currently being investigated. There are now 10 projects running with a total of 405 scholars enrolled this year. This initiative has lots more potential but already makes a huge difference in empowering in the order of 400 children a year to earn an income.

Mother’s Union

After the genocide, the country was left with a vast number of widows, many of whose husbands died and other whose husbands were jailed. A lady from Gitarama decided to do something about the widows’ struggle to adjust to living on their own and founded the Mother’s Union (MU). MU’s are now run in all dioceses. This association aims to look after widows and their families as a whole in managing Youth at Risk projects (see below above for more detail), educating widows in finance and savings, nutrition and hygiene and training them to make hand crafts for additional income. These ladies meet regularly to support each other morally and spiritually. Here is a photo of some of the crafts produced by the ladies.

Oh the Cow is a wonderful thing…

Amazing, one cow actually has the potential to assist a family out of poverty. Its manure increases soil nourishing for increased crop production. It produces milk (the only diary product available) for the family as well as to be sold. And then of course the meat. This family told us that through the products of their cow, they are now able to send their three children to school. One cow costs in the order of £80 – that’s all it takes (potentially) to free a whole family to live.

Animal Pharmacy

Shyogwe’s animal care / agriculture centre. Here, locals can buy all sorts of products to look after their animals, as well as plant seeds – a one stop for the farmer! On Wednesdays, people can come to receive free training and advice on looking after animals and their crops.

Trees – Climate Change Prevention

Why then are so much more trees required? Shouldn’t there be lots already seeing that the country is on the equator with a favourable climate for growth? The answer lies in over population, creation care and the genocide. After the genocide, a vast majority of the country had to relocate, choosing bushy areas not previously lived in. Much trees ware cut to make space for homes, and to build the homes with.
Because Rwanda is so hilly, it is naturally suppose to have lots of rain. But because of the deforestation, rainfall has decreased substantially. Having more trees enforces cloud accumulation in the area and hence increases rainfall.

Tree Nurseries

Who wants a more idyllic setting to work in? In the outdoors with enough shade and the rolling green hills as surrounding. Tree nurseries is an established yet still immerging initiative by the RDIS, beneficial to the individual households, the community and the globe. People can come to the nursery to learn how to grow all sorts of trees and fruit plants. They pay between 5 and 10 Rwandan Francs (that’s 0.5 to 1 pence), depending on their capability, as a token of valuing the service, to decrease their dependence on NGO aid and to increase the project’s sustainability (decrease its dependence on external funding). The nursery also produces its own trees to be sold to the community for very little, in order to promote their vision of each household with arable land to plant at least 5 trees per year. Each nursery produces in the order of 100 000 trees per year.

Three types of plants are grown: Forestry (e.g. timber for building houses, fire wood), agriculture (e.g. leaves providing feed for animals; trees that enhance soil fertility) and fruit. Around 35% of the country suffers from malnutrition, most instances because there is simply not a fruit-eating culture, even though the country is able to produce almost every kind of fruit available. Apart from the benefits to the households, excess trees could be sold by them to generate income. It clearly holds lots of benefits!

Tackling the issue of HIV-AIDS

Behind this door, in the Shyogwe diocese, I met a lady who’s contributed so much to the community in terms of addressing HIV and I really admire her endurance with the challenges she face. Beatrice lives her concern for the HIV epidemic by training representatives in all parishes in the region to address the issue by: 1) promoting prevention, 2) fighting discrimination against those who are affected, and most of all 3) encouraging people to be tested. She explained to me why this last point is so integral to combating the spread of the virus. Most people don’t want to know if they are positive, with the fear that they’ll know whether they are going to die and with the fear of being rejected by their community after being diagnosed. This of course eases the spread of the virus as people live obliviously. When people are tested negative, they are encouraged to stay clean. Their testimonies many times help a great deal to encourage others to follow the same route. If tested positive, the person is invited to join an association that helps them to adjust to living, obtain medication and educate them on why not to spread the virus. Sounds easy, but then there’s always the case of the poorest of the poor that sees prostitution as the only way to survive. How ironic.

Mahongo Market

I paid the local market a visit today. Here is the food section. Apart from this, they sell mainly clothes and shoes (all imported). You’d probably call this the shopping mall of the town, as the only other places where you can buy anything are the small shops on the road as I mentioned below.

Local Shops

I’ve had the question about shops around here. Well there’s actually not much to tell on this topic, ‘cause there are very few. With the exception of business people (10% if that much), Rwandese can’t afford anything but the very necessary food which they aren’t able to produce in and around their homes themselves. This they’ll buy in outdoor markets. Therefore there is a very small demand for things sold in shops. All I’ve seen so far are little house-shops like this one, where people sell a few drinks with basic household items or material for clothes. Kigali apparently has more shops resembling what we know, and Butare is the only other town with a proper food supermarket. Even then, predominantly imported items are sold ‘ten duurste’ as Rwanda hardly process or manufacture anything other than tee and coffee. This place has an infinite number of development opportunities. The positive side of the lack of shops is that I am definitely saving money!

Back in time

I’m really mind blown at how time could have seemed to stand still around here in terms of development. I still remember my Sub B (year 2) class where we drew pictures of the development of housing over the ages. One of the very early phases of housing was mud houses. These should have been imitations in museums by now, but here, a vast number of people have no alternative. Many houses are really just a construction of wooden poles with a mud filling as walls. Although clay brick houses are more common, mud houses are still a reality with the really poor households.

Transport

The main modus of transport in Rwanda is per foot. Everywhere you go, you see people walking along the road. No-one even try to hitch hike, as there are so few car’s on the road and they are always jam packed already. For short distances, you can make use of motorbike taxis. You jump on the back of a motorbike, put on your passenger helmet (in stead of safety belt) and off you go (not that I’ve tried it … yet … toemaar, ek sal nie ma). Or you can make use of the minibus typical African taxis, as seen in this pic. Very few people have cars. In fact, the roads are so quiet, that people walk in the road until they are hooted to make way. There are also no speed limit signs, as the pedestrian hazards, the quality of road and the lack of street lights kindly regulates speed by itself. Yes, there are no street lights outside towns, even if it’s a highway. And in some parts roads have so many pot holes that your speed averages only 30km/hr. For example, it took us 4 hours to drive 240km! This is now talking about the tar roads, not even to speak about smaller roads to remote villages. Those roads are so bad, your top speed is 20km, making a 2 hour journey of just 40km. I definitely don’t have enough patience yet to be a driver on these roads.

Visit to Butare’s Bishop

On our way, we paid a quick visit to each diocese’s bishop. These visits helped me a lot to understand today’s setup of communities. The bishop basically serves as the ‘tribe leader’. Much more than being just concerned about church matters, the bishops spoke of community and poverty issues with such wisdom and insight. They are definitely the people most in touch with reality. People come to them for advice, guidance and help out of spiritual and physical poverty. I can now understand why RDIS and Tearfund choose to work through the local churches. Church leaders know the people and their circumstances better than any NGO could ever dream of and it has been proven time and again that addressing just the people’s physical needs is not enough to get them out of the poverty cycle. Their needs as a person need to be addressed as a whole. Also, what differentiate the churches’ approach is that it looks at a community as a whole, in stead of just focussing on the people with the greatest need.

Butare’s bishop sat in a small office with a small window with a few beams streaming through. In our world, we would have had the light on for sure, but here, when daylight shines with enough light to see (no matter how little) energy is conserved (I’m just worried about their poor eyes, working in this poor lighting). The bishop gave us a quick overview of his involvement in the community: coffee plantations, bee hives, literacy and functional accountancy education, environment management, fighting HIV AIDS and Malaria, land development and more. These are some of the issues they just can’t ignore.

A reflection of poverty levels

On our way to a rural village, we made a pit stop (I think the bushes would have been a better bet than the long drop though). These two were playing on the road, keeping themselves occupied by picking up little stones and shells. If I wasn’t on another photo spree, I might have missed them as they were completely camouflaged by dust. I think this photo speaks for itself.

Hase kos

We had rabit for dinner tonight. Dear Beatrice (our cook) makes great food, but her meat cooking skills needs a bit more than just a bit more of work (sy kook daai hoender/haas/beesvleis omtrent tot dit biltong is!). I couldn’t really expect more though, seeing that the normal Rwandan family can afford to eat meat only once a year. So meat preparation skills are a shortage in general.

Rwandan Stoves

Electricity and gas is very expensive, so most families cook with wood. This has lead to a very creative way of efficient cooking. The stove consists of 5 to 6 bricks (from clay and sand). This bricks are then built into the ground with an opening for fire wood. Only 3 pieces of wood is required to keep the cooking going for a whole day. More than one stove can be positioned adjacent to each other, with sand filling the gap in between to conduct heat from the one stove to the other. The normal amount of wood required for cooking has been reduced with a 3rd using this oven.This stove was invented locally and the people have now been contracted by the local authority to spread the stoves to the surrounding regions. You can buy a stove for just £15. And it’s easy transportable when you move. Just dig the bricks out of the ground and reassemble when you get to your new place. Any orders?

Farming project in Shyogwe

This 40 hectares of swamp has been transformed under RDIS’s direction for agricultural purpose. 600 Families, around 3000 people, have been lifted from poverty as the result. In the valley, the practice crop rotation, planting corn, carrots, tomatoes cabbage and beans. Then there’s also animal activities. They keep cows, chickens, pigs and have fish breeding ponds. The farming is run by a committee of local people. RDIS provide the people with agricultural and animal rearing training and advise the committee on management issues.

Education

It’s currently school holidays but English afternoon classes are provided at this school. We arrived 30min late for the class. The teacher hasn’t pitched yet but around 60 people varying from 4 years to probably 34 were waiting eagerly to learn more. Classes were separated in beginners, intermediate and advanced. I went to sit in on the advanced English class but before I new it, the teacher has introduced me and disappeared after he told the class that I would take the lesson for the next hour! My first day in Rwanda and I’m teaching English (with my Afrikaans accent). And guess the first question I got from a teener … are you married?

Last year, the government implemented ‘education for all’. Primary school is now free for everyone. Even adults that didn’t have the opportunity before can now return to school. Classes are held in morning and afternoon sessions, so that more people can get through school with the limited number of schools and teachers. English is especially very important to the Rwandese education, as it empowers them to acquire knowledge with most books and internet information in English. Hence a major requirement for foreign English teachers.

Compassion Childcare Project

We paid a quick visit to the Gitarama Parish Compassion project. 226 Children are sponsored here. If you don’t know much about CompassionUK, visit their website, but in essence, children at risk are identified and supported by a sponsor to receive education, food, clothes and social and spiritual development. Here are some of the kiddies with me!

Water Sanitation Project

An artificial lake in between hills outside Gitarama is used for water sanitation and serves three regions. The water is pumped from the lake and treated with four products for purification. With gravity, this water is then fed to water kiosks in the surrounding regions.

Water Kiosks

Very few people can afford to have clean running water at their homes. The majority fetch water for cooking and cleaning from a water kiosk such as this one. The people here walk an average of 1 km to this kiosk, but in other areas they might need to walk much further. 20 Litres cost £1.

Energy

Electricity shortage is a real problem here … as I’m writing now, the power has gone out a few times during the last hour so my fingers are fiddling their way around the key-board in darkness. Luckily my laptop can last a while on power saving settings. And the bit of inconvenience is good practice for touch-typing in any case!

First week’s agenda

RDIS is supported by Tearfund UK. Tearfund has recently taken on a new country director (serving the whole of Rwanda and Burundi). The manager of RDIS organised a tour through the four dioceses for the Tearfund director to introduce him to the variety of projects, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the party. This was an amazing experience, travelling for three days with these remarkable two people who have worked across quite a number of African countries in development roles.
We started in Gitarama, proceding to Butare, then Kigeme and finally through the rain forest to Cyangugu at lake Kivu.
Back in Gitarama today (Saturday the 25th) to catch up with rest, reading and writing.

Interesting Facts

• Total population: 10 million
• Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa
• Children borne per women: 5.25
• Infant mortality rate: 8.5%
• People living with HIV/AIDS: 1 million
• Percentage living on agricultural activities (mainly subsistence): 90%
• Percentage living below poverty level of $1 per day: 70%
• Inflation rate: 9.5% (2008)
• Languages: Kinyarwanda as 1st language, French as 2nd language (16%), English(8%) as 3rd.
• Export: mainly tee and coffee (restrictions currently prevents export exploitation)
• Major issues: food security, malnutrition, AIDS/Malaria, population growth, environment degradation, quality education

First Impressions

Wow, this place is clean. People live so basic, with bare concrete floors in the best of homes, but everything is spotless clean and no litter is seen anywhere.
People are really friendly and take personal interest. And I feel safe. The title of a ‘country of a 1000 hills’ is an understatement, but its beauty is definitely not credited enough! Weather is great. Warm, not hot, during the day and mild during night time. And the food is right down my line – any type of fruit or veg you can think of!

RDIS

RDIS’s head office is in Gitarama. The building is sort of a combined jam factory/office/guest house. It consists of an office, three rooms for their jam factory, a kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. This is my new home. I will be based here for the duration of my stay, with field trips to other Dioceses every now and again. RDIS work across four dioceses (regions) in central and south-western Rwanda, serving nearly half the country’s population.

RDIS has witnessed the central role that the church plays in the socio-economic development of the people. Much progress has been made as the organization focus on promoting unity and participation in the healing process of the people through social transformation brought about by spiritual change and participation of the community in identifying and implementing relevant projects to overcoming their daily problems.

Main focus of activities:
- Capacity building for sustainable development;
- Child care and youth development;
- Food security interventions and water improvement;
- Evangelism and land management;
- Environment management.

Over the next week or so, I will be exposed to real projects as an introduction on how the organisation operates … and hope to get my hand in the pie soon after!

Arrival

I arrived just past 11pm on Sunday at Kigali airport, and was really relieved when I saw someone holding a piece of cart board with some words resembling my name. Vieter and Frederick from RDIS greeted me with broken English and tired yet really friendly eyes. We got in to a Toyota bakkie and made our way to Gitarama, an hour’s drive outside Kigali. So there I was, sitting in a car with two complete strangers as if their best friends in this far off country (which they actually did become later), cruising towards some place, somewhere and I realised how much I’ll have to trust in God during the coming 10 weeks.

On my way out ...

Arriving in Kigali at 10pm on Sunday 19th July ... the excitement is really building now!