In terms of work, it certainly feels as though progress has been made: books and records are up to date; Quickbooks is up and running capturing income and expenditure; the school staff have signed their contracts; payroll with the operation of taxes is good to go for the next year; we have set up a calendar for daily/weekly/monthly tasks related to accounting and child sponsor communications; and along with the school principal, we have introduced a system to monitor school fees income to ensure that that all important cash keeps on comin’!
The overwhelming friendliness of the people of Rwanda remains my favourite thing about the country, though the brochettes and chapati (like a moist version of Indian naan bread) run a close second! Last Saturday I took the 5.40am bus to Kigali to watch Wales beat Ireland in the Rugby World Cup quarter final. I decided to go all-out and not use a designated bus stop but to do as the locals do and knock on the roof when I wanted to get off. This is easier however when you know where you’re going and can recognise your destination!! To my surprise there were actually other passengers on the bus at this ungodly hour (even more surprising was the group of over 100 police out for a jog that we passed when leaving Rwamagana) and they couldn’t have been nicer in firstly trying to decipher my mispronunciation of the area I was looking for, then discussing it among themselves before actually doing the knocking for me.
After the match I went into the city centre and by 11.30am felt I had achieved enough for the day so decided to return “home” for a rest. The city centre bus station, where I always caught the bus back to Rwamagana was not its usual bustling self which confused/concerned me until I remembered somebody mention that all buses had been moved to a different station as of the previous week. I stood there struggling to recollect the name of this station. I knew I had been to Nyarutarama for the rugby and that the word that escaped me now was somewhat similar but I just couldn’t get it. All this must have been clear from my facial expression because after a few seconds a moto driver approached me asking “Stella bus, Nyabugogo???” …..BINGO! (Yes, I do understand that the driver wasn't motivated by pure kindness, I’m sure I paid above the odds for the taxi to Nyabugogo but he was friendly and helpful nonetheless.)
This new station was a whole other kettle of fish from the one I knew and loved – a maze of rows of shops stretching in different directions, what seemed like millions of buses all over the place, and teaming with people. Cue puzzled expression and low and behold a guy approached me and brought me straight to the Stella office. Here I was greeted with a beaming smile by the ticket lady who had worked at the city centre office saying “Ay! Sista, you here….in Nyabugogo!!!” Just lovely.
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