This week I have witnessed many examples of the hardworking nature of Rwandese people. After spending the weekend visiting Coral, my VSO friend who lives in Nyanza (Southern Rwanda), I returned home on Sunday to find that every room in my house had been painted. The house has recently been sold and it seems the new owner is very keen to get everything in good condition for me. It was just a shame that the painters left my house with all my belongings shoved on the floor in the middle of every room and they didn't sweep up the mess they had made! So my Sunday night was spent cleaning and rearranging furniture but it was well worth it as my house is now looking bright and clean.
Another other example of hard work I saw this week was at a school yesterday. In Rwanda, no cleaning or maintance staff are employed for schools. Instead the headteacher is supposed to manage the work that needs to be done. This means that pupils and teachers are responsible for keeping their school tidy (cutting the grass, washing the floors, cleaning the toilets etc). The school I went to yesterday had clearly been neglecting these duties. However, the new headteacher (who started last week) had already devised a schedule for getting things in order and yesterday involved a massive cleanup of the school grounds. Small children came armed with big tools from their homes and began landscape gardening. It was incredible to see how skilled they were! Others made makeshift brooms out of twigs and swept the paths. Within a few hours, a clear improvement could be seen. Here are some of the kids in action:
Today I went to the tailors in Kibungo, to collect my latest design, a new top. To everyone's hilarity, when I tried to get into the top we realised that it would not be possible without a zip -despite two women trying to yank it over my head! So I was given a seat and told to wait whilst the women started making adjustments to my top. Within half an hour, a zip had been added, the sides had been taken in and a belt had been sewn on too. This meant I was able to get into my top without needing help - phew! What do you think?
It is my hope that the industrious streak continues as I currently have a hole in my wall, after a tree was cut down yesterday. Here's hoping it is cleared away and the wall is rebuilt soon! A woman appeared today to give the worker instructions (see photo on the right) so I'm sure everything will be put to right!!
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