Last update from Africa - better late than never

Our last week in Rwanda
The trip is coming to an end. After 3 wonderful weeks with the kids at Gisimba we have to leave.

The last week we have spent both at Gisimba and in getting to know family members to one of the kids. Really nice to meet so friendly people, who invited us in to their homes, even though they don’t have a lot.

Thursday we took a group of the bigger kids up Mount Kigali for a trekking trip. It was lots of fun and they really enjoyed it. As always it takes some time to get it organised, but again some of the kids helped us and then we were ready to go. It was a good day, a day that we will not forget. On the way back we stopped for some drinks and food. Thomas and I chose one of our usual lunch specialities, a samosa.

Sickness

During the night Thomas felt really bad, and the next morning, he was in a poor shape. Diarrhoea and vomiting…really poor. Then Helle also started feel poorly and having the same problems as Thomas. Later in the day it got really bad, and we left for the hospital.

Professional staff helped us and the waiting time was short, as they could see especially Thomas was poor, but also this was the private hospital of the president of the volunteer organisation FVA, who we worked for.

Both of us were given a drop. Thomas first and Helle in the evening, when she didn’t get better. We had our own room and bathroom, which was really nice. Claire from FVA stayed with us most of the time and helped us with the language challenges, as not all staff spoke English. Also FVA organised for some food during the stay, which was really nice of them. We had to spend the night there.

We were really sad about the situation, as this was our last day in Rwanda, and now we couldn’t go and say goodbuy to Gisimba. Luckily next day (Saturday) we were able to postpone our flight to Tanzania by some hours, and then make it to Gisimba on the way to the airport.

Farewell

We started by saying goodbuy to Eddie, the guy who lived with us and cooked for us, and then we were off to Gisimba.

We had prepared two big picture collages with photos of the kids. Then we had also printed many pictures, which we could hand out to them individually. They are so keen on having their photos taken and really excited about having the print outs.

It was difficult to say farewell after three weeks where we had become quite close to many of them. And now we shouldn’t see them again, or at least not for a long time. Wonderful and loving kids, who really deserve the best!

We will definitely miss them all and the times with them. Facebook and email addresses were exchanged, so we could keep contact.

It is nice to know that there are other volunteers, who will come and play and talk with them. They are not alone, and a lot is being done for them compared to many other places in the world. We believe that we have created value to them, though it was a short time, and with more time we could have done much more. We have also had so much back from them. It is really a rewarding experience, which everyone should do.

We do hope that we will come back one day. 

Safari in Tanzania

We left Rwanda and went to Tanzania to start our safari in the Serengeti and the surrounding national parks. It was a total of 6 days safari. We stayed different places, but had 3 nights in the Serengeti.

It has been a huge experience living in a tent in Serengeti less than 4-500 meters from a lion group, whom you heard every night. But also seeing elephants up close, buffaloes, cheetahs, giraffes, antelopes, hundreds of wildebeest, and zebras preparing themselves for the migration, and many other animals. WOW. It was a real National Geographic experience. We also saw lions mating and eating zebras and wildebeest. The only thing we didn’t see was the actual hunt. Hopefully some other time. Also we didn’t see the leopards, which are difficult to find. But we managed to see four out of the Big Five.

We also visited a Masai village, which was very interesting. A guy from the village showed us around and told us about their culture. We also visited their kindergarden. Very cute kids, but very dirty sitting in a little hut and being taught in English.

They have no access to the world, and when we talked about internet and the Masai said that he had heard something about that you could have an email, and would like a computer, but did not understood how it worked, and was very surprised, when we told him that he could be in contact with other people through emails and also via a phone with internet access. When Thomas showed him his iPhone this was really “a whole new world for him”. The Masai guy couldn’t believe his own eyes, when he touched the iPhone and the pictures started to move.

Really funny to experience and what a different world they live in. But so interesting to see, and important to preserve this culture…though it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 10-30 years, when they most likely will be exposed to more Westernised cultures and technologies.