Just a few bits and pieces
on Stephen and Mary in Rwanda (Rwanda), 07/Aug/2011 14:15, 34 days ago
Starting earlyIn recent months, a spectacular red brick wall has sprung up as you enter Rwamagana on the left. It’s at least 100m long and 2m high. We’ve watched the whole process from beginning to end. The final stage was tidying up the pointing. Like many jobs, including mixing the mortar and, in fact anything, a job for women. There were six of them meticulously cleaning up the straight lines of the wall with trowels. Four had babies strapped to their backs, one looked as though she would give birth at any moment and the sixth was child free or so I thought. Her little tot, no more than 18” high and a babe who should be in arms was sporting a trowel, copying Mama, learning his trade. They startearly here in Rwanda!The interminable yellow snakeWell, it’s not a snake at all really. In fact it could not really be said to be alive but it keeps moving, six inches at as time and gets longer and longer at the back and shorter and shorter at the front. They can be seen everywhere in Rwanda, gasping at the various water holes around the countryside tofill their bellies. They have no legs and they cannot move unaided and they survive only on water. They rely on humans to carry them wherever they want to go. They are hard skinned with a big hollow abdomen and red lips. They are insatiable and can gulp down and regurgitate up to 3 or 4 gallons a day. They never wash or get washed. There are always humans around them helping them to move. They come in all sizes and little kids look after the little ones. They seem to have an affinity with each other. Some are lazy and can be seen on the back of bicycles and can sometimes be seen on the heads of women. Do they pay the same fare as humans, I wonder?On their own, they’re useless but without them the nation would not survive. They are probably every family’s greatest possession (or pet). They transport the water from every available standpipe, well, river and water hole and lubricate the nation, keep them alive and smiling as well as healthy. It’s the humble “ijerrycani” as they are known here or Jerry Can to you and me. Everyone lines them up and moves them forward until it’s their turn to fill. Veritable “Eau de Vie!!!!”When is a banana not a banana?When it’s a stopper for a Jerry Can? Which came first the banana or the hole in the Jerry Can? Did bananas evolve to their unusually small size to be a water bung? Who was the first person to use one as a bung? What happened to all the little red caps? Unanswerable questions but nevertheless a normal part of Rwanda life?When is a bed not a bed?In our house when it’s used to store rice sacks, pens, rulers, markers, card, motor cycle helmets, shopping bags, jigsaw and board, worksheets, paper, flipcharts. Where does it all go when someone comes to stay?Where will the guests sleep?The Humble Elastic BandPerhaps the most useful accessory to the modern Rwandan household and especially in the kitchen is the elastic band. It’s versatile, it’s cheap, it’s recyclable, it comes in various sizes and most of all it stops disease.There are few things that don’t need wrapping up, tying up, protecting that cannot benefit from an elastic band. Imagine the earwigs in your cupboard, the cockroaches on your floor and the occasional gecko. They can wreak havoc with your flour, your oats, your herbs and all the other stuff that by rights should be in your fridge but when you don’t have one, the elastic band creates an impenetrable seal well away from the reach of these critters.They are good for hanging curtains, securing candles in bottles as well as the usual uses associated with offices. The best 150 RWF we ever spent.And that brings me to my favourite quotation about travel.........."Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel's immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way." ~Ralph CrawshawWatch this space for more interesting facts aboutour life in Rwanda.