Memorial

From the 7th to the 14th of April Rwanda is commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Genocide against the Tutsi. As a result the country is operating at half pace this week with work finishing at midday so that everyone can attend village meetings in the afternoon. Here they discuss the genocide and ongoing social conditions with the aim of carving a brighter future for themselves and their children. Somewhat ironically this has coincided with our work starting as we finished up our planning week on Friday.

The Memorial week commenced with a series of national events across Kigali, the capital, starting with a presidential speech and then the 'walk to remember' and finished up in the evening with a candle lit vigil in the stadium.

Our team attended the walk and the vigil to stand by and show our respect for Rwandans who have made remarkable progress in healing from the deep wounds of the past. It was a privilege to be able to attend as thousands upon thousands filled the city to commemorate the tragic loss of their families, friends, neighbours and colleagues.

As we head towards rainy season the down pours will become all the more common but for now they are still a welcome refreshment during the day to cool us off. We enjoyed our first proper rainfall with raindrops like gold balls and decided to revel in it with a walk in the rain.

As the week picked up we went back to the catch up school that we visited last week and helped provide holiday activities for the children in the form of games in the scorching sun. It was a lot of fun to be able to get involved in the community and invest in these kids who are some of the most needy and vulnerable in society.

The following day we visited a local primary school, half of the team looked after the children there while the other half helped in capacity building for the teachers. Half of the staff were given English lessons and the other half we taught IT skills.

The week was rounded off with helping the partnering charity with all of their administrative activities. From filing quarterly reports to maintaining and updating their website.

Time here is now starting to pass by quickly as we have more to fill our hands with. No doubt as things continue to gain pace the time will fly by and it will be over before I know it!