The ups and downs of living here!
on Melissa Hipkins (Rwanda), 06/May/2011 11:22, 34 days ago
Further to my hunt to change status from househusband to someone actively helping towardsimproving the conditions of livestock here in Rwanda, I have little to report except set-backs. InJanuary, I renewed my acquaintance with a member of the Rwandan Dairy Association whom I hadmet at Expo 2010 in Kigali last August. I had suggested that some meetings with the members of theRDA might be useful . As I was expecting to be working full time teaching in 2011, we did not pursuematters or discuss what he thought I might do beyond him being keen for us to work together.Anyway we agreed to keep in touch.With the merger of the two veterinary schools and the evaporation of any possibility of a job at thenew, improved school, I thought it now practical to see exactly what was behind his eagerness. Onthe business card he had given me his company was in the agriculture/veterinary consultancy fieldso I imagined that it was my practical experience he was after.He greeted my call with great enthusiasm and suggested we meet in a couple of days at the office inKigali. He outlined their interest in training technicians who work with cattle, and he also proposedwe visit the farm that he envisaged would be suitable as a base for training and perhaps I couldrecommend a cattle-handling system that would suit their purposes.Once I had found their office I met with members of the team; 2 veterinarians and 2 managementcum presentational specialists. The fifth member, the owner of the farm destined to the trainingcentre was absent. The veterinarians were very much in the background. The spokesperson andmain force behind the enterprise was the man I met the previous year in Kigali. The meeting didnot get off to a good start. Freddy, the RDA and main man was late and then announced he had toattend another event in Kigali and wouldn’t be back until 2.00. I, having got up early especially to getto this morning meeting for 10, was not best pleased but restrained myself. As this other meetingwas in the neighbourhood of the VSO programme office, I got him to give me a lift there rather thanwait in the somewhat sterile atmosphere of their office, the other members having drifted off. Hepledged for us to visit the farm in the afternoon so the day would not be wasted.At VSO I reflected on the brief outline of their proposal so far. I was to be part of this team andcontribute to the training element as well as advising on gaining contracts from foreign NGOs tofinance everything. Alterations were necessary to the farm and the team had no income at present.No contracts had been secured so far. There was at the moment no money. I wasn’t clear whethersubmissions had already been made for contracts but they had apparently formulated a proposalto bid for contracts. For my part, the role was still not clear but I could see they would find myexperience useful.During my time at the programme office, the skies darkened and we had the normal middaythunderstorm with an average quantity of torrential rain. However, when Freddy came to pick meup following his other meeting he declared that the roads to the farm would be impassable evenin his 4x4. This led me to question the wisdom of using such a farm as a training centre and a planto expand the buildings to be used as accommodation for students seemed fraught . Freddy wasinsistent that the viability of the scheme depended on the fact that one of the team owned this farmand they wouldn’t be able to look for another. So the afternoon proved to be another washout.I had expected to be back late that day; too late to be able to catch the bus back to Nyanza so I hadarranged to stay with some fellow volunteers in Kigali. I would mean that I could have a furthermeeting the next morning but my suggestion was rejected as they all had other plans. I asked to lookat their scheme of proposals that they would submit in order to bid for contracts and to this Freddyagreed. He did not have a copy there, but he said he would get one printed off for me the next day. He later rang and said this would not be practical but would email me a copy.Despite all these setbacks he was still convinced we should work together and proposed a secondmeeting the following week. Ever the optimist I agreed. I did not get the email he had promised;he said they would have a copy for the next meeting. When this meeting convened, he announcedthat his fellow board members were unwilling for me to see their proposals as they did not knowme well enough, not surprising after only 20 minutes of conversation the previous week. It’s onlynow 3 months later that I can imagine how their pitch would have gone down in front of theDragon’s Den; I suppose it reflects a measure of how ready I am to clutch at straws. After this equallyunsatisfactory meeting, I sent Freddy an email setting out my thoughts such as they were andsuggesting I see the documents that the NGOs had sent to them setting out the requirements fortheir submissions. Despite all the display of keenness and warm words I haven’t heard a peep since.It’s a week since we got back from Tanzania and a second visit to the Serengeti with Lucy whocelebrated her 25th birthday with us out there. It was very welcome to see her again and for oncethe trip went with barely a hitch. The list of animals seen exceeded that of the last safari and despiteit being low season because of the rains we had only a splash and that at night. Lucy had broughtout 2 bottles of champagne and we persuaded the hotel to put them in the fridge in exchange forthe purchase of a surprise birthday cake for her. We were there for 4 nights. Initially there were fewguests but as the day approached there was a steady influx until in a packed dining room the lightswent out and to the accompaniment of an unconventional“Happy Birthday” in came the blazingcake. Embarrassment lasted only moments during applause and the blowing out of the candlesbefore the cake was but crumbs.Lucy had the opportunity to experience volunteer life when she was able to spend a few days inNyanza at either end of her stay. The weather held off enough to let her go and see the King’sPalaces, one of which is visible across the valley from our house. She visited the market at its newsite close to the newer of the palaces and on the way back, she and Melissa passed a house thatis in the process of being converted into a veterinary clinic under the aegis of Vétérinaires sansFrontières, the Belgian organisation of which I may have spoken. They have an established basein Butare 40 minutes away by bus and I had made contact with their in-country vet last year. Itherefore did so again to see if there were likely to be any opportunities for me to help. He repliedthat they were recruiting at the moment and he hoped there would be occasions in the future whenI might be involved with training. Sounds more hopeful than Freddy’s doomed enterprise.Email this morning from a friend in Kigali remarking that a veterinarian recently out of college islooking for a job and did I know of any openings. I know the recruitment for the positions in Nyanzais really aimed at experienced clinicians but it highlights the lack of connections that students havewith clinicians and the absence of an effective national veterinary organisation to act as a forumfor employment. My discussions with final year students revealed their greatest concern was beingunemployed; nothing more potent to discourage future vets who have spent vast amounts on feesand expenses just to find they have no way of paying back their sponsors.