It was one of those early flights that Brandon hates. Up at 4:30 to do final packing, clean up dishes and stack bedding and do a final cheque of the flat. Erastus arrives 15 minutes early and that puts even more pressure on. We arrived, aiming at being at the airport by 6:00 a.m., at exactly 6 a.m! Our flight with Kenya Airways was smooth and uneventful. It actually arrived early in Kigali and we were through Customs and Immigration at the baggage claim at the original arrival time. Fulgence was there to meet us with his big smile. We hadn't received confirmation for our accommodations in Kigali so we agreed to go south to a village called Sheli. It is about 45 minutes south. The route crosses a river into South Province, Kyomini District. The river banks are thick with papyrus reeds. It flows south to Lake Victoria making it one of the headwaters of the Nile River.
First order of business is to exchange foreign currency. The airport rate was apparently too low at 650/dollar. The taxi driver took us to an exchange where we got 678/dollar. The rate actually changes depending on the size of the bill. The taxi then took us to a place where I could get a SIM card for my cellphone. That cost a whole $1.50! Then I added about $3.00 airtime so I could text and make calls. Now we were off on our adventure.
Rwanda is very clean. There is almost no litter anywhere on the streets. We discovered that on the last Saturday of every month, they have "umuganda". One representative from each family is expected to work together with others in their communities to keep their neighborhoods clean. It's like a national workbench. Not only that, plastics are. Other allowed into the country, like grocery bags. You can actually be fined at ports of entry for bringing in plastic. I actually saw a woman detained by security who was engaged in an argument about her plastic bag!
We finally arrived at the village where the cab driver refused to drive up the access road, oops, trail, no, washed out path. He hardly got off the paved road and stopped. We understand,oaded lure suitcases (3) and our two backpacks, and the three of us went up dirt paths, through yards, past brick and mud buildings, all the while being stared at by the local citizens as if we had just come from another planet. The little ones showed obvious fear and wonder at the same time. Fulgence assured us that his father knew we were coming and that everything was fine. In fact, we were given a very warm welcome and our bags were whisked through the house, out to the back courtyard and in to a two-room building made of mud bricks and painted plaster. And the door had a functional lock...and there were mosquito nets hanging over the beds! What more would we need? The toilet facilities were of the non-flush type a day the shower room was typical baked mud walls with a polished cement floor. No running water, of course, except for the yellow buckets that someone had run to the river to fill. The kitchen was a wood fired earthenware stove made of mud bricks. Good thing, because the power went out frequently while we were there. I preferred to have my tea from the electric kettle. We generally relied on buying water bottles for daily consumption. There is a sanitizing liquid of which they add a small capful to every 5 gallon container of water to make it safer for drinking.
Fulgence has a brother, Ivan, two sisters, Yvette and Yvonne plus cousins or nephews, Emmanuel, Safari and Eric who also seem to live at the house. I don't know where they put them all but we were added to the mix. His mother and father obviously have a gift of hospitality because there were always new people coming through the door and sitting down to share tea, a meal, or just have a conversation. Fulgence' father, Sylvester, is a lawyer and often has clients come to the house for consultation. The power goes out sometime around 6:30 and comes on again after 8:00. So dinners are often eaten by candlelight. I've even seen Sylvester read and write his documents by the light of one candle!
Since we had arrived quite early in the day, we wwalked down the highway about 2 blocks to the Victory Family Home Of Champions. We were introduced to Pastor Ed and his wife Deb and three of their children, Samantha, Caleb and Kiera. They are from Colorado and have been here almost a year, and will be going home in January. There used to be over 60 children in this orphanage, but the government has instituted a policy of integrating orphans into family units and closing down orphanages. There are still 18 children here who have not been placed. We were told that some children have not been placed in good situations for them, and 40% across the country have returned to the streets, either because of abuse or re-abandonment.
We were given a tour of the orphanage and it's facilities. A large wood-fired kitchen, boys and girls dormitories, shower rooms, classrooms, and a beautiful chapel. There was a cow and and calf, goats and a couple pigs. The cow gave 15 litres of milk a day! More milk than needed, so some is sold. They used to have chickens, but there are nesting jawks nearby that knew wherebtheir dinner was, and if the chickens were free-ranged, they were often stolen. On December.6, all the former students will be coming back for a reunion. They will stay overnight and have a celebration. Each one that leaves will have the opportunity to take a live chicken home with them. We have entrusted Fulgence with the responsibility of finding 40 chickens for this event and left him with enough finds to do that.
Ed and Deb invited us to snack with them and stay for a movie with the kids. By movie time, the power was out and thought it best to leave and visit with our hosts where another meal was being prepared. We were offered shower and toilet facilities at the orphanage if we wanted them, but we felt we could manage where we were.
Cellphones are often used for flashlights here, so we managed to make our way home in the dark with a cell. The path is steep ago times a nx rugged. Got there safely. We had an interesting conversation by candlelight, sometimes in French, sometimes in English, at other times in Swahili and also in Kiwandanese with Fulgence translating. Branden hit it off with the boys and they were off to see the animals...a cow, 4 goats and 5 chickens. We ate and the power didn't come on again until after 9:30. It was an early night a day just as well. We had been up since before 5 a.m.
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