Playing games
on Rose Hardman (Rwanda), 13/Mar/2011 14:17, 34 days ago
A while ago my friend Vanessa told me she liked to celebrate her birthdays. And she wasn’t kidding. 26 of Vanessa’s friends met in Kibuye on Lake Kivu this weekend to celebrate with her. I had never been to Kibuye before, despite it only being an hour and a half from Gitarama. I’m not sure why I had never visited, but I can guarantee I will be going again, many times!The weekend was very welcome after a busy week. Karen, who has moved from Gitarama to Kigali, was visiting us on Wednesday so we headed to Brother’s Inn for dinner. It was lovely to catch up and it sounds like she is doing very well in Kigali. Thursday, I met with Heather and Tom to make Vanessa’s present. Vanessa loves games so we had decided to make her a game combining questions on Rwanda and Gitarama with some games we know she likes,including singing songs and describing people. We spent most of Thursday evening printing and cutting questions. Pauline came to Gitarama on Friday so a group of us headed to Green Garden where Heather and I put the finishing touches to Vanessa’s present (including a game bag, rules and ‘wrapping paper’ which is surprisingly hard to get here and so we made it out of a paper bag!) We also indulged in mini eggs from one of Heather’s care packages which were amazing!Saturday morning and 14 of us from Gitarama headed to Capital to catch the bus to Kibuye. Vanessa had text me on the way to say she had picked up the bus in Kigali and there was only 5, and then later 1, seat left on the bus. We were supposed to be picking up the same bus so Pauline and I were wondering how 14 of us were going to fit on one seat. When we arrived at Capital a very kind man translated our concerns to the Capital representative. Nachi bazo (No problem- not sure on spelling!) she said, you have your own bus! They had put on an extra bus as there were so many of us going to Kibuye.After arriving into Kibuye and checking into our hotel we took a boat to Amahoro (Peace) Island where we swam, relaxed and ate. Returning to the hotel we spent the evening playing games, eating and drinking. Seriously my favourite way to spend an evening!The following morning I woke up very early and didn’t even mind as Kibuye is so beautiful and I fancied a swim. I had a quick breakfast and then headed down to the lake. I thought I would be alone but I stumbled upon a man having a wash (luckily partially clothed!) He’d obviously pulled up on his boat as it was waiting for him filled with barrels of tomatoes. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me but I’m not sure he would have appreciated me taking a photo of him washing any how! We exchanged pleasantries and then he continued washing and I went for a swim. The rest of the day was spent swimming, eating, playing games (there isa theme here- it was Vanessa’s birthday after all!) and then wishing we didn’t have to leave!View from our hotelPlaying gamesI will definitely be returning to Kibuye. Unfortunately probably not for a while as I do not have a free weekend now until May!