If I was on Facebook right now, my status would most definitely read, “Suzi Finlay is currently on the worst journey of her life”. As if it wasn’t bad enough getting up at 4:30am to start an 11 hour bus ride from Kigali, Rwanda back to Kampala, our bus driver must be looking forward to a hearty lunch waiting for him, as he is flying along these mountain roads at speeds a Formula 1 driver would be proud of. I’m just thankful I didn’t have breakfast this morning, or I may be having a true student traveller experience and be “chundering everywhere.” (Mum and Dad, you probably won’t get that. Ask Claire to explain.) I’m pretty sure this is not the sort of thing I’m supposed to be writing about in my Stranmillis blog, but unfortunately, this is my life in Africa right now. If I was at home I could not express how I’m feeling any more eloquently than our well-known Stran phrase “I’m having a mare.”
Rollercoaster aside, Africa is fantastic. I’ve been away almost a month now, and I feel like I’ve adapted to most aspects of African life fairly well. Despite living in a busy city, daily life is surprisingly laid-back. People here don’t seem to worry when things don’t go to plan; when I compare this to Northern Ireland it’s clear to me how quick we are to get frustrated and stressed when plans don’t fall into place exactly as we want them. For example, Africans have a totally different system of time-keeping to us, whereby they don’t seem to keep time at all. At home I would probably be at least a little annoyed if I had arrived at an 8am lecture only for the lecturer to arrive shortly before 10am, but here you just shrug, laugh, and put it down to ‘This is Africa.’ In our first lecture at Makerere, Mark (the lecturer) introduced us to the class and welcomed us with “We don’t always keep time here, but somehow we manage to survive.” I’m adapting to the concept of being late all the time quite well, though I can’t imagine my friends and family loving this attitude when I get home!
There’s a Jim Carrey film called ‘Yes Man’ in which the lead character has to agree to any invitations he receives, no matter how crazy they are. I want this to be my attitude while I’m here in Africa, so I make the most of the opportunities I receive here and don’t go home regretting not having tried something. So far this has led to some really fantastic occasions, and meeting some wonderful people. Equally, we’ve had some awful experiences (but at least they make funny stories when we get home!).
Every week so many crazy and brilliant things happen, but the past week spent in Rwanda has been absolutely incredible. We arrived on Thursday night, and as we stepped off the bus we were literally swarmed with eager taxi drivers all trying to wrestle our suitcases towards their cars. We eventually found a driver who insisted he knew where our guesthouse was; two hours later as we drove around dark backstreets, Rachel and I weren’t so confident in his abilities. To make matters worse, he didn’t speak English or French and didn’t seem able to read. Eventually an American walking by stopped to help and took us to her house, phoning her friends to find out where Solace Ministries guesthouse was. Taxis and taxi-motos (motorbikes) getting lost in Kigali soon proved to be a common occurrence, happening at least once a day. Trying to direct someone in French to a place you’ve never been before in a brand-new city can be pretty hard!
My favourite part of Kigali was visiting the Genocide Memorial Centre. Although it can’t really be described as pleasant, it was really interesting to learn about the Rwandan genocide; to be honest all I knew beforehand was what I had read in Lonely Planet on the bus from Kampala. To see and hear about the horror this country went through so recently is really humbling, and made me so grateful for the peaceful upbringing I’ve had. The bit which struck me most about the centre was watching videos of survivors talking about their experience in the genocide and losing family, and realising that many of those talking were a similar age to me. Back in the guesthouse I was chatting to a Rwandan girl called Sylvia, and soon found out that her father had founded Solace Ministries in 1995. The guesthouse is one of the ways in which they raise money to support orphans and widows who contracted HIV during the genocide. Hearing a little of Sylvia’s experience during the genocide left me speechless; her family had to go into hiding for three months and depended on friends to provide for them. When these friends returned to their home in Germany, Sylvia and her family had to survive by sneaking out to pick mushrooms before dawn, and raiding houses for food. The Interahamwe came to attack and search the house several times, but didn’t ever find the family hiding in a wardrobe.  |
| At the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali |
As well as visiting Kigali, Rachel and I spent three days in the village of Gisenyi by the shores of Lake Kivu. As well as being a chance to relax after several weeks of teaching practice, I really enjoyed visiting a more rural part of Africa. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, though there was no swimming in Lake Kivu for us as there are volcanic gases on the surface of the water which can asphyxiate swimmers! Instead we headed to a nearby hotel to use their swimming pool and (as is becoming typical for us) the moment we lay down on our sunloungers the clouds gathered overhead. Despite the overcast sky and copious amounts of suncream, Rachel and I still managed to get burnt, and had to endure the awful ‘Brit abroad’ look of strapmarks and bright red skin for a couple of days. Gisenyi is also very near the Virunga mountain range where gorilla trekking takes place, but the $500 price tag led Rachel and I to conclude that the gorillas probably weren’t that different to those we’ve seen in zoos, and our day would be better spent on the beach!
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| Lake Kivu |
After speaking to some Year 2 students at Stranmillis who are applying to go on International and Erasmus I looked again at my application form from last year. One of the key reasons I had applied to come to Africa was to experience a culture very different from my own, and I’m so pleased that in my short time here I have had many opportunities to explore African culture. Camille Paglia writes that, “All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”, and this quote is so applicable to the African culture here in Uganda. Although there is a considerable Western influence, walking down a street in Kampala introduces you to a smorgasbord of music, food, languages, dress and artwork which are unique to this part of the world.
Music
Last weekend, one of the members of staff at Nana’s took me and Rachel to see the Ngere Troupe, a company of singers and dancers who tour the country performing traditional pieces of music. I had never experienced anything like this before, and while the style of music isn’t one which I would normally enjoy, I really appreciated the insight into traditional songs and dances of Uganda. (Rachel and I also got really excited when we recognised one of the teachers from City Parents’ in the troupe!)
Food
Food has probably been one of the harder aspects of culture here to get used to; at home I’m notoriously picky about my food, but my time here is teaching me to be more adventurous! So far I’ve tried posho, matooke, goat, g-nut, papaya, cassava, chilli biscuits, African Chai Tea and some other unidentifiable substances. Our lunch is provided by the school each day, which is a great way for Rachel and I to sample common Ugandan meals. To be honest the food in Rwanda was much nicer than most of the food we've had in Uganda, but our confusion over the exhange rate meant on several occasions we ended up paying almost £40 for dinner instead of the £15 we had intended to spend!
Languages
When I arrived in Uganda I quickly realised that the fact that many people here speak English does not prevent there being a huge language barrier! Our Northern Irish accents can be quite difficult for Africans to understand, and I often have to ask people here to repeat themselves so I can try to decipher their accent. This has strong implications for when I am teaching, as it is necessary for me to slow my speech considerably and pronounce all of my words carefully so the pupils can understand. Rachel and I often catch ourselves copying the Ugandan accent without realising, particularly in school, which cracks us up – hopefully we don’t start doing it once we get home in May! There was even more of a language barrier once we got to Rwanda, as the primary language there is French and few people spoke English. This caused several hilarous conversations as Rachel and I tried to dredge up long-buried memories of GCSE French, occasionally throwing in a little Spanish by accident. However, we managed to survive and genuinely improved a lot over the week; "Ou est le bar? Pour....emmm.... des cocktails?"
Dress
I think the Western influence on Africa is most notable in how people here dress, particularly in the capital. The majority of people wear Western style of clothing, and put a considerable effort into their appearance; several members of our class turn up to lectures in business attire, while Rachel and I roll out of bed and throw on a t-shirt and shorts! However, I really enjoy seeing people in traditional African dress, as the colours and patterns are so vivid and bright. I noticed that wearing traditional dress seemed to be much more common in Rwanda than Kampala. Unfortunately Rwandans are known to be very sensitive to having their photographs taken, so I have only a handful of photographs of a group of women we met at Lake Nyarutarama.One of the things which really stands out to me is the pride African people have in their culture; Marcus Garvey writes that, "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots", so it is lovely to see how aware many Africans are of their heritage and culture. According to the Ugandan constitution there are 52 different tribes living in Uganda, and many of these tribes have unique languages, songs and dances. This has made me realise that often our Western culture can seem quite generic; apart from some different traditions and celebrations, our culture in Northern Ireland is remarkably similar to that of England, Scotland, Wales and even fairly similar to the culture of North America. When there is such a range of cultures and heritage in only one small country in Africa, it seems a pity that we at home have lost some of that pride and knowledge of our individual roots.
Just before I finish, I just want to share some more of my 'cultural' observations over the past couple of weeks:
My favourite things I have seen on a bodaboda:
~ A pane of glass
~ The biggest bag of stuffed toys I have ever seen
~ An overhead projector screen
My favourite things I have seen being carried on a person's head:
~ A six-foot long plant
~ Three armchairs (on one head!)
~ A double bed
~ A 500ml bottle of Cocacola (both hands were free!)
According to Jawaharlal Nehru, culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit. Although I think it can be difficult to sense growth or change in oneself, I hope that my experiences in East Africa are having this impact on me.
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