The joys of ICT2
on Melissa Hipkins (Rwanda), 27/Apr/2010 17:01, 34 days ago
It's been a quiet spell since we got back from Tanzania, last week we were both in Kigali for "in country training" run by VSO to give the volunteers a chance to catch up and exchange experiences. There has been a fresh intake of volunteers this month and for a bit of an experiment the training of both groups has been run together.It's a small intake, only 7; mostly Canadians with one Dutchman and a ScotsmanI, being only on the honorary list of VSO supported spouses, stayed for the Kinyarwanda lessons but spent the rest of my time pursuing leads to help me with my task of lecturing.In order to eke out modem time, I thought I would try one of the many cafes that offer free wi-fi for the price of something to eat or drink. The one recommended is pretty up market and has the advantage of being central to the town buses. It's a bit involved getting the login and password but for the price of a bottle of fizzy water it was worth a go. Results were disappointing. There is a video I was hoping to down load to show the students depicting a cow caesar. This is performed in the middle of a field by? I presume? some American vet, there's no commentary. It's split into 6 parts, and I had succeeded in getting the first 4 on my computer. It looks as though it is filmed in real time with a phone camera, and in all honesty it's not really a "how to do it" manual, but it will serve as a topic for debate.Anyway, one episode is about 50meg and that would have taken 2 hours to download. The password gave me 1 hour of time so the maths tells the story. I ended up prosaically getting upgrades for Vista while moodily supping my rapidly warming and flattening water.I shall have to bite the bullet and carry on with the modem; there are quite a few other videos available to download to give the students some vicarious experience.Something is going on locally with the power supply. It began 2 weeks ago with cuts each morning throughout the town at about 7.30-8.00, followed by restoration in the afternoon at about 4.00. Melissa had noticed it at the District office, but they were back on power at noon. I had hoped that our week away in Kigali would be enough time for it to settle, but I have just noticed it's off again. At least if it's predictable we can work round it and we always have the charcoal to fall back on if it's still off in the late afternoon, though it will remain a challenge to cook by torch in the outhouse. Our strategy will rely on the two big thermoses we have to store hot water and remembering to heat enough before the lights go out.As a PS we now only have one thermos, the other sustained a fatal knock against the table edge this morning when I got it out. A loud report followed in rapid succession by scalding water down my trousers caused me to utter profanities. Jacky, not there at the time, has dealt with the remains in the traditional Rwandan way by dumping it in a field somewhere.My big day approaches when I begin my lecturing, in fact that's what I should be doing at this very moment, but instead I'm sitting in Nyanza writing this.I had been building up to my departure on Sunday; the day that Nyanza commemorates the Genocide and a day that brings coach loads of people in to take part. As such, places on the buses are at a premium especially later on in the day when the crowds want to go home. We thought it wise to buy a ticket the day before in order to assure myself that indeed the buses were running and to set myself a goal in terms of a time to leave. I texted the manager of the guest house to confirm my booking and give him an idea of when I would arrive. I even went so far as to begin to pack when I got a text Saturday evening from the director at the college.This amounted to a postponement for 2 weeks for the start of my engagement. The reason given was a shortage of chemicals that would interfere with the practical component of the course. It was late when I received this and I felt an exchange of texts would not clarify matters so I chose to contact him early Sunday.It is the habit of the vast majority of Rwandans who are not obliged to work daily in the fields to go to church on Sundays. My phone call at 8.30 Sunday morning was not answered. However, I soon had a text explaining he was in church and he would call as soon as practical. They are a devout lot in general and it was not until 12 45 that he felt able to ring me back. His explanation still left me unable to fully appreciate the problem as he saw it; he said we lacked a certain sedative of which I had seen half a box full less than a week ago and which ordinarily would have taken 6 months to exhaust back in the UK.I persuaded him to let me start in a week instead of two. I can only wait and see what happens during this week and hope that it's all plain sailing from now on.