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.

A different country

We were talking with friends about school fees. It seems that some of the private English-speaking primary schools in Kigali are now charging 70,000 Frw per term. Around Cyangugu, many people are earning the national minimum wage of 15,000 Frw per month. Kigali is the only city in Rwanda and it looks and feels increasingly prosperous. The gulf between rich and poor is a problem in many countries, the UK included, but with figures like this, Kigali is becoming a different country.

Shaking

Every time I take the car for servicing, there is some shaking damage to repair – loose screws, a light misaligned, a wing mirror off or occasionally something more serious. The Rwandan roads provide a stiff test for vehicles and around here even the ones with a tarmac surface have an increasing number and depth of potholes. No part of the car escapes this shaking and constant care is needed.
Sometimes living in Rwanda feels a bit like this. There is a shaking which tests every part of us – physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically and socially. I don’t mean that it is terrible, any more than driving through the beautiful countryside of Rwanda is terrible. I don’t even mean the word to have negative connotations, simply that living here is indeed testing. It is one year since we arrived in Cyangugu and I think this word sums up my experience better than any other single word would.
I am grateful to God for the opportunity to live and work in Rwanda, usually I am even grateful for the shaking, but especially I am grateful that He provides the constant care that I need to keep functioning here.
I hope to return without anything too serious having been shaken loose!

A non-meeting of cultures

On a recent trip we had a misunderstanding about numbers and ended up taking 6 people in the pickup, 3 on the bench seat in front and 3 behind. It was a bit of a squeeze, but the man sharing the front seat with us is very slight in build. Later the bishop’s wife took me to task for squeezing someone in beside Sheena. She was worried that Sheena would be uncomfortable in her work and therefore be unhappy.
I realised that there was a complete non-meeting of cultures here. Our priorities are completely different. I could never make her understand that the main hardship for us working in Rwanda comes from poor organisation and management – any physical discomfort pales by comparison. In turn she could never explain to me what is wrong with putting 3 people in the front of a pickup, especially when we were driving over some of the worst roads in the diocese.

Grenade at the garage

It’s always hard to get news out of Rwandans. Although their standard greeting (“Amakuru?”) literally means “how is the news?”, the answer is ALWAYS “It is good”. We did, however, find out that while we are away a grenade had gone off at the local garage, the one I normally use, killing 2 people. The man carrying the grenade and a woman who worked at the garage both died in the explosion. One of the petrol pumps is still peppered with holes, made through quite thick sheet steel, a sombre memorial.
It seems that there were family problems and that the man had somehow obtained the grenade with some deadly purpose against his relations, but that it had gone off accidentally while he was at the garage. The woman was an innocent victim. I knew her a little, we had had several debates during the diesel shortage earlier this year, during which I had tried to persuade her (usually unsuccessfully) to sell me some of her small stock.

Kumbya 3 - is too much choice bad?

One thing that was noticeable at Kumbya was how well the young people and children got on and across gender, age and cultural gaps which would probably have proved a step too far in a western context. We discussed this with an American friend who has been in Rwanda and among missionaries for many years. Her observation was that “missionary kids” were usually very able and willing to relate to a much wider range of people than young people at home.
We speculated if this was due to necessity arising from a lack of choice of friends. (Social isolation is still one of the major problems we and other westerners face in Rwanda). The question then arose as to whether too much choice is actually bad for you. Does it encourage self-indulgence, spending too much time considering what you want? I think I would answer a tentative “yes” to that question. Spending too much time on choice focuses our energies on our personal needs and put simply that just goes against the advice of Jesus about the best way to live.
Being in Rwanda certainly reduces choice in a whole range of areas, from food to friendships to travel. Like all spiritual disciplines, it is difficult at times, but I am coming to realise that as a discipline it can produce spiritual health. Western society is of course full of a myriad of choices and the freedom to choose is fundamental to politics and the economy. I would never recommend actively reducing choice for others, but I wonder how the benefits of “reduced choice” can be realised in at least some areas of life.
As an aside, the “luxury” foods we brought back with us – muesli, dark chocolate and assorted cheeses – are now nearly finished. `I like my freedom of choice as much as anyone!