Weeks 7 & 8: The Frog Prince and Film Production

Muraho!

A double week whammy for this blog as time seems to be slipping through our fingers rather quickly!

So Week 7 and the beginning of Week 8 turned out to be fairly quiet by our standards as we weren’t able to carry out any field work, for one reason or another.  This meant that we spent a lot of time doing planning and preparation (for English lessons, Holiday Club activities, and teaching at Compassion International), something we’re getting rather good at!

Throughout our time here, we’ve been learning what works well and what falls flat when it comes to teaching.  This week, we made the discovery that the “carrot” (sweets!) rather than the “stick” (stern words) approach works best when it comes to teaching at Compassion.  It was amazing how some of the teenagers knuckled down to work with the prospect of a sweet as reward for those who contributed the most in the lesson!  Now, does this count as bribery?!

The second half of Week 8 brought in a new project for us to get our teeth into.  Having seen the good work which the team did in producing the Second Chance Ministries video, the Diocese of Shyogwe (to which RDIS is attached), approached us to produce a 30 minute documentary on the projects which are being run across the diocese.  So on Wednesday and Thursday, we travelled to all corners of the diocese (quite literally!) filming interviews with project managers and looking round parish compounds, churches, schools, health centres, and even a pilot project where local people are trained in agricultural best practices.  This was actually quite hard work as the travelling was tiring (a lot of typical Rwandan “roads”, aka rutted, bumpy mud tracks!) and, unsurprisingly, everything took far longer than we had anticipated!  But we’re hopeful that we can finish the job before we leave here in 2 weeks’ time.

Filming at a diocesan school

At one point on our travels, the bus wouldn't start and needed the help of several willing helpers!

 Some of what we saw was quite eye-opening.  Back in the UK, you often read in the media about conditions and health services in developing countries, but it all seems rather distant.  However, on Thursday, we were shown round the diocesan health centre at Gikomera, a village about 30 minutes from Muhanga.  The development of this centre is very much in evidence as they are in the process of building an extension, but seeing the facilities there made me realise just how privileged we are by the NHS and our health facilities in the UK.  There were two “wards”, each with eight beds with a mixture of patients, including two children sharing a bed, several people suffering from malaria, and an infirm old man.  It was very different from what you would expect of a ward in the UK as patients had no privacy and very few comforts – the beds were spaced about half a metre from each other, with no screens and no pillows.  From speaking to the staff, it was clear that everything possible is being done to meet the health needs of the local community, but the differences in comforts and technology just brought home the reality of the “development gap” between the UK and Rwanda.

The maternity ward at Gikomera Health Centre

Another of our visits took us back to Nyamagana where we had previously filmed the Second Chance Ministries video.  As soon as we got off the bus, our jaws hit the floor when we looked at the church where we had attended a service just one month ago – we were utterly shocked to see that the building looked as though a bomb had hit it!  We were soon told that it was in the process of being dismantled owing to the building being unsafe, and a new church was being built just down the hill.  Still, the shock took some getting over!

Believe it or not, this was a fully intact, functioning church less than one month ago!

 And now, on a lighter note, here are some other highlights of the last 10 days…

1.  During one wet and rainy Holiday Club, we ended up indoors playing Musical Bumps with the kids who danced along to the music of The Spice Girls.  For some of us, this was a nostalgic yet surreal reminder of our childhood.  But the kids were just too good at this game, and we often had to agree that it was a draw between about 6 of them, otherwise we would still be playing it now!

2.  We very much enjoyed a couple of visits from friends.  Wednesday of Week 7 ushered in the visit of Maddie (a Tearfund ICS staff member) who took time to chat to each of us.  Lovely to see her as usual!  And then on Friday of the same week, Beth’s previous ICS team mates, Bella, Patrick and Fred, came to catch up with the friends they made in Muhanga whilst they were on ICS.  It was great to share lunch with them and trade ICS stories, finding out the similarities and differences between the teams.

Two ICS Muhanga Teams United

3.  We also enjoyed attending the wedding of one of our friend’s brothers last Saturday, the first Rwandan wedding that the UK volunteers had attended.  Unsurprisingly, it started about an hour and a half after the time we had been told to turn up and so we were the first guests to arrive by a long way!  But as with any wedding, it was a joyous occasion, and shared by many people.  Before the service, we made friends with a local “mamma” (old lady) who was just lovely – I think we all wanted to take her home as our Rwandan grandma!

The beautiful wedding procession

Isaie with our friendly Rwandan mamma

4.  Sunday was a double church day.  Early in the morning, we attended the English service at Gahogo Parish, singing with the worship team as usual, and then we hot-footed across to Gitarama Parish as we had been invited to join them for their Kinyarwanda service.  We introduced ourselves, and sang a song with some of the Gahogo worship team who came with us.  Beth had been invited to give the sermon so she swallowed her nerves, donned a white robe and spoke about God’s message of forgiving and loving our enemies through the stories of Jonah and the Good Samaritan whilst Fulgence, from RDIS, translated each line she said.  It was such a lovely morning, and we definitely felt part of the community as we knew a lot of the people at the service from our various activities.

Pastor Beth giving the sermon

Gahogo Parish English service worship team

 And finally...

5.  One particularly fine evening, we were eating our dinner al fresco in the back yard as usual, when Isaie spotted a frog hopping past.  Now, as we’ve come to know, Mya and Amy both love frogs, whilst Debs and Beth have completely the opposite feelings on the matter.  Isaie and Claude are fairly indifferent, but laugh at the girls’ responses!  This particular evening, Amy and Mya decided they wanted to get photos with "Dave" (the frog), so we enjoyed the spectacle of them chasing this poor frog around the yard trying to catch it, with Mya yelling, “Kiss it, Amy, kiss it!”  Needless to say, this provided some considerable amusement.  But the girls were rewarded with their photos, even if their frog prince didn’t appear.

Amy with "Dave" the frog

So that pretty much brings you up to date with where we’re at!  We’ve only 2 weeks left (seriously, how does time move so quickly?!) so we would be so grateful for your prayers – that we would be able to complete all our projects and keep up our strength right to the end!

Until next time, with much love,

Team Champion, aka ICS Muhanga

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