The Weekend

We went to our usual place for a weekend getaway; Kumbya. This time with Clementine. She said it was her first time to see a part of Rwanda other than the capital (Kigali) and where we live (Butare). It was exciting to watch her excitement and wonder at seeing places she had heard of, the forest and a lake for the first time. I was really impressed when after watching our family jump in for a swim, she got over her initial fear and waded in, then declared she’s going to learn to swim. (If you look closely, you can see Adeline’s foot poking out in this picture.)

Dawn at the cabins.

A fisherman came to shore, baling water out of his boat. He sold us his catch, then cleaned it for us. Such fresh fish is completely different from what I’m used to; it was delicious.

The view on the way home, at about 5pm, is our favourite in Rwanda…

Above: The local warning sign that there’s danger on the road ahead; branches laid. A truck had broken down.

Below: The roadsides in Australia seemed so quiet after driving in Rwanda.

For our family I’d like to note that there were friends with us at Kumbya, although they didn’t make it into the photos this time. After feeling a bit guilty for not using our video camera nearly as much for our girls as I did with Will (I was obviously hardly busy with one child), I took video during most of our time away.

Back to Rwanda

It’s been a fair while since we’ve posted on the blog, but I though a quiet Sunday morning would be a good time to update you all on our news.

We arrived back in Rwanda on Monday after a fairly uneventful, 30 hour transit. Ronan, our French missionary friend met us at the airport and drove us home to Butare with all our luggage which was a real kindness and blessing. The kids were good on the plane, but have suffered a it from the inevitable “wide awake at 2am and looking for something to do” syndrome associated with moving eight hours worth of time zones.

Rwanda is very dry. It’s not rained for 2 1/2 months and dust is everywhere. They’re even spraying the streets each morning to try and settle some of it. Our garden mostly looks like this:

Although we still have a great herb garden, thanks to Nepo, who’s been busy watering every night. We have mint, basil, rosemary, thyme, parsley, as well as coriander, chives and lemongrass (pictured):

The weather may not be great for growing, but it’s perfect for drying our first chilli crop in the sun. Hopefully these chillies will be a little less fiery than the local varieties:

The house looked a little tired and dusty when we first moved in, but it has now been mostly set to rights. Our room is looking particularly improved, with Catherine saying it now has two of her favourite things in it: a lovely new sheet set from my Mum, and Adeline, in her new cot. I note I didn’t make the list….

Something that Catherine and I are both enjoying though is Rwandan coffee. We went to our local roasting emporium yesterday and had a coffee (or two), and bought some of their beautiful (in colour, but also in flavour - think chocolate and orange) peaberry coffee, fresh roasted that morning:

All the kids and enjoying being in Rwanda. William has been working hard on his reading and writing:

Hannah loves drawing butterflies:

And Adeline just loves being out doors under the avocado tree, soaking up the ambience:

Comedy shot of the week is from our visit to my sister in Gundagai a couple of months ago, in which Hannah wasn’t sure if she was warm enough or not, and so decided to try an unconventional half-covered sleeping posture (she really was fast asleep!!!):

And finally my favourite recent photo of our kids.