Not as easy as it first appears

How hard it is for an institution or organisation to “do good” here and to do it well! We recently had a review, or more accurately post mortem, of a project in a camp for people displaced by floods and landslides. Lots of blame flying around, lots of wisdom in hindsight.
The people were living in small shelters made of tarpaulins and straw. We built houses of mud bricks for 20 of the most needy families. It was never a “best” solution, simply a hand up out of very basic living conditions and there were undoubtedly problems with the quality of construction of some of the houses. Prompted by our work and that of other churches, the government has decided to build houses for the remainder of the families. The problem is that they are bigger and stronger than ours (they use interlocking bricks made of compacted mud which requires the use of a machine). Now the families in our houses, once the privileged, feel “cheated” (the word is not too strong!) and some are very unhappy.
Our meeting brought out how difficult even apparently simple projects can become. It is not that we have failed in our original objectives, but simply that perspectives have changed and fickle human nature has come into play, or just plain sin.
So, a little checklist for future development projects. We had most of these this time around, except perhaps thick skin.
ß Local knowledge, to understand the real needs and priorities
ß A good plan
ß Management skills to make sure that things happen
ß A warm heart, because these are not just “projects”, but people, mostly living in very poor conditions
ß A cool head – choosing to help some people means choosing not to help others and it can be hard to make these choices
ß Regular site visits – there is nothing like being there
ß A thick skin, to ignore the inevitable criticism
ß Open ears, to listen to other perspectives and to advice
ß Wisdom from the Holy Spirit to know how to handle difficult people
ß The ability to predict the future would also be invaluable, but is not usually available!
As usual, Jesus can put it more simply. The first and greatest commandment, comes to mind : “You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all of your strength”. It will take nothing less to do our work well.

2 sides to the story

It is hard to believe that the 2 web stories about General Nkunda, who is deeply involved in the conflict in eastern Congo not far from here, refer to the same person. They provide an excellent illustration of how politics affect reporting. While both have Nkunda as a “rebel general”, the BBC report his troops as being responsible for breaking ceasefires and also report “allegations” of child abductions – in this part of the world, bringing the notorious LRA of Northern Uganda to mind. In the New Times, the general is defending the persecuted Tutsis of the Congo from the erstwhile perpetrators of the genocide (FDLR) who are being aided by the Congolese army. They have also captured people who are acting as spies against Rwanda.
BBC
New Times (Rwanda)

Assumptions and stereotypes

The rain was just starting and I stopped the car to pick up a friend at the bottom of the hill near our house. Two young men jumped in beside her. When we let her out at the top I asked her if they were friends. “No”, she said, “I don’t know them”. They were either opportunists, or just thought that we were being generous to all the passers-by who happened to be around when we stopped.
This assumption that we will give a lift to passing strangers, even in towns, is widespread and is undoubtedly based on the colour of our skin. It also illustrates one of the most enduringly frustrating aspects of living here, because it is based on the deeper assumption that all white people are rich and generous. Now, this is fairly valid, because most of the white people here are missionaries or aid workers, or tourists who are also likely to be disposed towards generosity in the face of the widespread poverty they encounter.
However, all of this means that every time you help someone you are reinforcing the stereotype. The individual is assisted, but the idea that you can get money by being around white people is strengthened. There is no way out of this, or none that I have yet thought of, but it can be very wearing to be constantly seen as a source of money.

Flooding

I read on the BBC website about flooding right across Africa. We have had our own share of that in the north of Rwanda, where 15 people have died and 500 homes have been destroyed. We saw a little of that on a recent journey – mud houses which had apparently “dissolved” in the rain, leaving only the roof lying on the ground. Others were surrounded by fields of muddy water where there had once been crops. It is hugely depressing to see people in such poor circumstances hit by further hardship. In some cases the road appears to have been a contributory factor, holding back water which had run off the hills because of the lack of adequate drainage facilities.
This area of Rwanda, under the volcanoes, appears to have well organised agriculture, on a bigger scale than the southwest where subsistence farming on tiny plots is the norm. There are also some considerable areas which are reasonably flat, which makes agriculture easier most of the time, but of course is a problem in heavy rain because the water can gather and lie. The obviously fertile volcanic soil and the better organisation don’t appear to result in great prosperity, however. There is still widespread poverty and need.

Destination unknown

The main post office in Kigali has 4 boxes for letters to be posted, dependent on destination. They are labelled :
Kigali city
Provinces
Foreign
Unknown

Presbyterians again for a day

Last Sunday we were invited to attend the local celebrations to mark the 100th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in Rwanda. Since we regard Scotland as the spiritual home of Presbyterianism and my sister was visiting from Geneva, where John Knox, the leader of the reformation in Scotland, studied under Calvin, how could we refuse?
It was an open-air event, although the invited guests (about 100) had a tarpaulin shelter to keep us from the elements. The rains have already started, but on this particular day we needed protection from the sunshine. There was an impressive array of visiting choirs, including one from Idjwi, a large Congolese Island in the middle of Lake Kivu and another from Bukavu. The lead singer of this latter one had a fantastic jazz-singer voice, quite strong enough to make the microphone redundant even out of doors. Their choice of music was also noticeably different in style from most Rwandan choirs we have heard.
However, pride of place had to go to the brass band from Kigali. They were well equipped with trumpets, trombones and drums and played several pieces competently : unfortunately we did not get an opportunity to discover their history. We haven’t seen or heard anything like this elsewhere in Rwanda.
There were impressive contributions from school choirs and a dance group, with an inspiring and admirably short sermon about building on the good points of history while having hope and faith for the future. We were welcomed as the “official delegation from the Presbyterian Church in Scotland” (!) and presented with a length of specially-printed fabric which the brass band were wearing as a uniform.
It was all going so well under the direction of a very competent MC until the political speeches started. At first it was interesting to hear about the vision and strategy of the Eglise Presbyterienne au Rwanda, although it took a long time to describe it. There is of course a strong similarity with what the Eglise Episcopale is doing. Peace and reconciliation is still vital for all the churches here, while education, health and the alleviation of poverty are essential parts of living out the gospel, as being faithful to the mission of Jesus.
However, at these events the political representatives are always given pride of place and the last opportunity to speak. Since he started with “I will not say much” we should have known we were doomed. Thanks, repetition and political propaganda took us well over the 4-hour mark for the whole event, well past the comfort limit not only for us westerners, but also for the crowd. One of the good points about NOT being under the tarpaulin is that you can come and go at meetings like this and usually the ordinary people take full advantage.
The day was going to continue over food, usually in such cases followed by more speeches, but we were able to leave at this stage, having another visitor to welcome later in the day. The EPR is obviously thriving, like most of the protestant churches in Rwanda – we hope to meet with them again when we can play a more low-key role.

Learning 2 new cultures

A few things recently have reminded me that I am living in 2 new cultures here – Rwandan and Episcopalian. We are learners in both and it often seems as if Rwanda is more understandable than the workings of the Anglican communion.
This is especially true of the ongoing, high-profile and increasingly acrimonious dispute between the African episcopalians and their American counterparts. It centres on the ordination of openly homosexual priests and bishops, but there are a number of other issues lurking just below the surface. Self-interest is just behind theology in some of the discussions I have heard.
To our shame, Presbyterians know a lot about church schism. lt is one of the hallmarks of the Scottish branch of the church and indeed our most recent split is less than 10 years old and was still quite acrimonious when we left the UK 1 year ago. One of the things which impressed me about our first contacts with the Church of England was its ability to maintain unity in diversity. CMS, the mission organisation we are with, certainly shows a generosity of spirit in the people it “sends” as missionaries and in the work it supports. The “charism of a big heart”, a phrase I once heard used to describe the Church of Scotland, describes it well.
It is particularly disappointing now to find that the wider communion is in such serious difficulties over this very issue of unity, which initially appeared to be its greatest strength. It feels as if we have come to live with a family which is bitterly feuding with its American cousins, while the grandmother in England tries vainly to patch up the quarrel. I’m a guest here on 2 counts, and will therefore refrain from detailed comment, but words and actions on both sides appear to be extremely provocative. While we learn the culture of episcopalianism, we definitely treat this as a “no-go” area.

"It does not only cost you money"

Following yet another extended visit to our Electrogaz office, to persuade them to reconnect a supply which had been cut off in error, my colleague Odeth commented “Going to that office does not only cost you money, it costs you heart also”. How true, you can feel the will to live just slipping away!

School fees again

The season of school fees has just passed and it has become “safe” for us to go back on the streets without meeting constant requests for financial assistance.
In the first 2 weeks of each term we are frequently asked to help with school fees – in the office, in the street, by children and parents alike. It is such a big event on the calendar and one which puts a lot of strain on many family finances. On a recent trip to a parish we passed a cattle market – apparently they are particularly busy at this time of year because people sell their cows to pay school fees.
The French word used here for school fees is “minerval” which I have been unable to find either in my dictionary or on Babelfish, the Altavista translator.
Everything in education here is in transition. There is free universal primary education, although at one end of the scale parents are willing and able to pay large amounts of money for private schools, while at the other, in the more remote parts of the country, the free education is not universally taken up. While there is still some way to go with this implementation, there is also an ambitious drive to extend education for all to S1-S3. This is obviously creating a huge demand for school buildings and for teacher training. It is happening in a country with an annual population growth of more than 2% and about 50% of the population under 18, so there is no prospect of the need for new schools being met any time soon.
The roles of public schools, private fee-paying schools and church-assisted schools have still to be worked out, too. Finally, to complicate matters further, the relative importance of French and English in education is changing as Rwanda becomes more Anglophone. You have to be trilingual to get into higher education, but most primary schools are still Francophone.