Today I was supposed to go visit another tea cooperative far away with multiple taxi buses. When I got to the office Numerien goes: “You are really a morning person”; not sure whether he was serious or sarcastic. If he only knew my morning struggle. I was happy to hear that today I was staying in the office and maybe going to the tea microfinance and micro savings office around the corner for an immersion.
Still tired from the steep climb on the hills towards the taxi bus and the consequent suffocating ride to work (see photo) I open my laptop. All of a sudden, I feel focused, sharp and my first words for the strategic plan are being written. Yesterday, I contacted Karina Weinstein whom I met on the flight here for a possible partnership between FXB and the tea union. She had arranged that we could call the regional representative today at 11 o'clock. I didn’t want to visit the tea MFI yet till I had made the call with FXB. 10:50 Numerien starts calling. No answer. We continue calling till 11:10. The director must be in a meeting. At 11:30 we call again and someone picks up the phone but there is no clear line. We really want this partnership so I decided not to visit the tea MFI till we had someone on the line.
A large part of the strategic plan has been written since 8 o'clock. The local alarm goes off (which means it’s noon)!and Numerien wants to go lunch. I had packed my bag with fruits I had bought yesterday with him on the market and wanted to eat that for lunch. I was in the strategic plan mood and felt like continuing to write.
Numerien asked me a second time to go to lunch so I agreed. I left my laptop in the office and headed for the road. We got in a taxi bus and I realised that was the road to Gisenyi. Nooo! Please not all the way back! If I had known that I would have taken my laptop with me and worked the rest of the day on the strategic plan in the cyber cafe near the Centre D'Acceuille in Gisenyi. This meant that I would have to do a return Gysenyi - Nyundo - Gisenyi… More taxi buses and at least a loss of 2,5 hours. No wonder my working days are so long. Arrived in Gisenyi, we walk down towards Lake Kivu to go to the Bank of Kigali. Payday! Numerien was giving me my DSA till Sunday. He had been working on such a detailed contract for days and now everything had been figured out. As I am on the budget of the Union, everything has to be counted for and Numerien (they name says itself) knows how to account for as no other. I was happy I got my first Rwandan check!
We head back to the ‘hotel’ and go over the incredibly but correct contract. Numerien hands over the cash and says he was now leaving me for lunch. He was going to have lunch elsewhere because the ‘hotel food’ is too expensive for him. I immediately invited him to have lunch with me as I was cash rich now :) He had to laugh. Numerien orders as usual his favourite local beer Mutzig (sounds German to me though). He drinks his beer warm and is trying to convince me to also drink everything at room temperature. He says I shouldn’t spoil myself with cold drinks as it’s not always available. So if you are used to it and you can’t have it, your pretty much screwed. Well he has a point so I take a nice warm cola.
We are both hungry and want to eat as fast as possible so Numerien asks what is already cooked today. The waiter tells us cauliflower, peas, chips, rice and meat. No chips with rice for me anymore. So we order cauliflower, meat and rice. It takes forever for the food to come. So Numerien calls another waiter. He said we ordered noon made food and it’s been 40 minutes. The waiter laughs and says they don’t prepare food. There is no buffet. It’s a la carte. They are preparing your request in the kitchen now. I had to laugh. Why in the hell did that waiter make up such a random list of food ? Numerien was vexed and called the waiter a bloody liar for making up that list of food available. I couldn’t stop laughing. Numerien had ordered the so called prepared menu (In Belgium that would be the plat du jour) and is always sold at lower price. He was being kind and didn’t want me to have a high bill as I was treating. We got screwed though, we had to pay full price for food both of us didn’t want. Cauliflower I can miss that for a month without a problem. Numerien put the waiter in his place in a very polite and proper manner. He said he come back inspecting the level of service tomorrow. I couldn’t stop laughing. He does everything so proper.
I don’t want to be a heavy financial constraint on the organisation and told him I could speed up the work if we drop some cooperative visits. If they could transmit data I could analyse it from Gisenyi and finish by Tuesday or next Wednesday. Numerien didn’t like the idea because my work would be come invalid. On top of that the cooperatives in the union would become jealous that some saw me and others didn’t so we revise our agenda’s. I don’t want to pull all nighters to finish on time next week.
After lunch we go to downtown Gisenyi. It’s actually quite hot today and I am suffering having to walk but this is whipping my in shape. So not complaining. Numerien says I need an MTN number because half of the time no one can reach me with the tyga number. I didn’t think it was necessary but he was right. When Chantal Katmatari from BNP Paribas CSR was trying to call me she couldn’t reach me. She had to call Numerien. Oh gosh this Numerien seems to be always right. He keeps telling me everyday not to climb on the taxi mottos and he smells my eagerness. Therefore the bookkeeper comes with me to and from work. I am his responsibility and nothing will happen to me on Numerien’s time. I am safe under his control. I decided to obey to the terms and hand my life over to the taxi bus.
Coming back from the office in the taxi bus I realised that it didn’t bother me anymore. I have gotten used to sitting on half or a quarter of a butt cheek, while breathing, sweating and smelling all over each other. The taxi bus helpers are starting to know me and told Jean de Dieu (the bookkeeper) no more muzungu, she is African now. The ladies in the shops I buy water from are now saying African muzungu. That’s perfect to me! I got the respect now everywhere and don’t need to power dress for work anymore! Goodbye fancy heels.
It’s only been 5 days and this place has become home. I get happy when I get to my room event though my toilet seat is gone and they have removed my self-made living room with blankets on the floor. Home sweet home !
What I notice the most out here is that there are tons of babies. Almost every second woman is holding a baby on the back like its a purse. There is obviously a big baby boom going on. Numerien says Rwandans like to make babies everyday. So funny!
On the way home a really dirty child with banana all over its mouth jumped in the bus. I thought: oh can he ride for free ? Where are his parents ? All of a sudden all the women in the taxi bus started screaming that the child had to step out. No one dared to touch him. Like I said I have never seen a child so dirty. The women didn’t stop shouting and starting kicking the boy with their feet. I said what are you doing ? What’s going on ! It’s a child for God'sake, you don’t have to kick him with your feet. What is the problem? The lady said the child is a mentally challenged orphan who likes to act a fool. Well still no reason to kick him. The taxi bus only left after the child was removed from the vehicle. I thought it was a very strange situation and I actually don’t know what this was all about. The child looked rather sick to me, like it had lepracy ? Not sure if Rwanda has lepracy? Strange that no dared to touch him and was mean, scared. If I could, I would have given him a bath and brought him to a close by orphanage. Or maybe he ran away from the orphanage ? Not the usual behaviour I see of Rwandans.
On the way, I gave money to a beggar and asked Numerien why there is such limited poverty here. He said that all beggars were placed into cooperatives that help them end poverty. Every beggar has the right to join such an NGO. There should be no reason to live on the streets. I asked him so why is this woman begging ? He said some people just prefer it and don’t want to join the cooperative programs because then they have to work. He told me he asked a beggar once to come home with him and offered him a house job. The beggar refused. He offered him a ride to a cooperative, the beggar refused. That’s crazy! but I am happy the government through allowing NGO’s in the country is making an attempt to eradicate poverty. Kagame gets his third high five from me!
My mom and dad both found flights to Kigali but now it’s an issue of visas. Grrrrrr….. So not sure if they will make it before week 3 because then I am off gorilla trekking. It only gets better !
Oh the bookkeeper wanted to ask me a personal question. I said yes go ahead; actually wanting to say no! He said: How can I improve my English … Mannnn!!! I thought he was going to ask me about sex considering he is young and we are in a religious country… LOL… I guess I am the pervert!
It’s raining, I have my bottle of Nil water (Still adapting to the fact I am drinking purified Nile water; I always imagined the Nile to be filthy) and I am going to try calling it an early night.#tired
