The building project

About once a month, we have been visiting a parish on the edge of Kamembe and speaking at the Sunday worship services. They call us their “parents”, a title which does not sit very easily with us, but which at least encourages us that we are appreciated.
Last Sunday we were told that there was a meeting after church and that we were invited. It turned out that it was to discuss the building project. The current church is house-size (7m x 5m), but can easily accommodate the 20-odd adults and a similar number of children who comprise the typical congregation.
The plan was presented by one of the congregation, a building technician who I work with sometimes. His plans were for a building with a floor area 5 times as big as the current one – total cost 4,800,000 Frw (£4800),excluding the roof, which would be donated from the UK in an agreement with the diocese. The current balance in the building fund is 90,000 Frw – a series of pledges taken at the meeting raised this at least in theory to 220,000 Frw.
This is where our theology and praxis diverge sharply. I can think of half a dozen reasons, practical and theological, why public pledging is a bad idea and I can think of another half a dozen reasons why a huge building project is a bad idea.
For most Christians here, however, a big project like this means a big vision, requiring big faith and big commitment. Their view is that God will reward this faith and commitment by miraculous provision. There is no doubting the willingness to give sacrificially, but there is also no doubting the impracticality of the project. Only a handful of the Christians have any kind of regular employment and that is mostly low-paid. Many others are struggling to survive, to feed and clothe their families, pay school fees and repair earthquake damage to their houses. There are numerous examples around of church buildings which have been started but not finished and we know from experience that over-ambitious building can dominate and drain the life of a small church. Of course, we are being expected to bring a significant amount of money from outside, but I got the feeling that even without that expectation the visionary project would be seen as the way forward.

I took the opportunity to speak, reminding them that Jesus warned would-be disciples about the need to consider carefully before following him. He reminds them that no-one starts a war nor starts to build a tower without being sure that the project can be successfully completed. They listened respectfully enough, but it was clear that I was not being “heard”. Perhaps it’s a sign of maturity when one is able to go against one’s parents’ wishes. In any case, it was at least agreed that nothing should be done until the pastor returns from a training course he is on in Indonesia (see “A sudden goodbye”, 31 Jan)

One question to myself as a postscript - if a rich donor was to read this blog and to send money to build the church, would that be an answer to the faith and prayers of the people? I’m not sure how I answer that!

Business partners

This week I signed an agreement with Eugene, the letter-writer and budding businessman. I have funded his request for a 25-kg bag of flour (I think it is cassava flour, wheat-flour is much more expensive than that) in exchange for a share of the profits, to be paid at the end of April. The plan is :

Purchase price : 6400 Frw
Expected income : 25kg x 400 Frw/kg = 10,000 Frw
Profit : 3600 Frw
My share : 1500 Frw

I am hoping that this may indeed help towards some self-sufficiency for Eugene. I’m not expecting it to be a smooth ride, however, nor to make either my fortune or his!

A letter

Good day, sir.
Firstly I want to thank you because you have given me 1000Frw [£1] to pay to the school for my photo.
Sir, I need between 6000 Frw and 8000 Frw to set up a little business, in order that I do not need to come and bother you every day.
Sir, choose – do you want to give me a little money or for me to come and bother you every day?
Sir, do you accept that I will be able to not bother you every day?
Sir, I await your answer.
It is Eugene, the pupil of Rusunyu School.
Thank you for your understanding
Eugene

This arrived in my office a couple of days ago. Eugene is an orphan pupil in p6 who we have helped a little – he is bright and speaks good French, is not always truthful but is certainly persistent. I’m still thinking about what to do, but it certainly won’t be long before he is back “pour me déranger chaque jour”.

Earthquake 9 : housing in Rwanda

Our welfare programme is currently working in 3 quite remote parishes and we visited a few days ago to see the progress being made with building houses. This is the main thrust of what we do in the programme and the visits reminded me why. Regardless of the earthquake (and there was little sign of damage where we were on the edge of Nyungwe Forest), many, many families in rural Rwanda live in terrible conditions. There is a desperate and huge need for decent housing.
We have been building simple mud and wattle houses, about 8m x 6m, with 3 bedrooms – 1 for the parents, 1 for boys, 1 for girls. There is a kitchen / store and a toilet at the back. The doors are very basic, the floors are mud and usually there is very little furniture : I have never seen a wooden bed in one of these. The families are overjoyed to have even this very simple accommodation and are overflowing with thanks to God. This week we met a family which had 8 children (2 others had died) in their new house and they were delighted to have it. The family have a small coffee plantation and otherwise depend on the father finding temporary work digging fields.

These visits are very humbling, because life is a real struggle in very basic conditions, for so many people. The visits also raise a lot of questions about earthquake aid and if there is any just or fair way to distribute in this country with such overwhelming needs.

A rare negotiating success

There are of course “mzungu” prices here, elevated specially for white people on the two assumptions that they are rich (usually correct) and that they will easily part with their money (sometimes incorrect). Generally expats become less tolerant of these prices the longer they live here, certainly true in our case. The practice of attempted price inflation varies enormously – food in the market just a little, in shops not at all, but others are quite outrageous in their attempts to make money.
Recently, I went to the market to buy a pair of trainers. These seem to come, along with many second-hand clothes, in bundles which are bought in bulk by stall-holders and then sorted out. Presumably the original sources are in the West somewhere. The sight of a mzungu buying something was of course enough to gather a small crowd of spectators in the market, but as usual it was good-natured curiosity. This is just an unavoidable part of life here.
So I was presented with a pair of trainers and asked for 40,000 Frw (£40). I laughed and said I was looking for a serious price.
“How much will you pay?” was the response.
“5,000 Frw” I replied. Knowing that people typically pay between 5,000 and 10,000 for shoes is a great advantage. Otherwise, it is hard to believe that the seller will come down so far from the first attempt.
Now it was the seller’s turn to be incredulous.
“You cannot find shoes at that price in the market” (actually, you cannot find shoes at 40,000 Frw in the market).
Sheena’s arrival was timely – she got hers for 6,000 Frw just a few weeks ago. “Those are ladies’ shoes” was the response. I made my final offer of 7,000 Frw.
We have found that the only way forward from this situation is to leave. If your offer is at all reasonable you will be followed so that the deal can be closed. It is much less emotionally satisfying than haggling towards a mutually agreed price, but it is the only thing which works, at least in Kamembe. Sure enough, the seller was soon after me to make sure that I took the shoes. They are a brand new pair of tennis shoes, so I am quite pleased and the seller also got a good price.
It’s all a bit more wearing than going to a shoe shop at home, but if you are in the mood it can be quite fun, especially if you get a good deal. That probably happens less often than not in my case, but the tennis shoes were a definite success.

Burning books

There has been a lot of discussion recently about “genocide ideology” and a fear that it is still around. As is often the case here, it is very hard to find out exactly what is meant by this phrase, but there has been a lot of attention given to schools. The education minister has been under severe pressure from MPs because it is alleged that her department has failed to ensure that all unsuitable textbooks have been removed from schools.
It now seems that a drastic solution has been found. At a school committee meeting this week, we were told that new text books would be supplied because pre-1994 books were to be burned. The deliberate and targeted burning of books always seems very uncomfortable, but it is another reminder that the fear produced by the genocide of 1994 is still very real and present.

Earthquake 8 : government policy

There was a local government meeting this week and rebuilding after the earthquake was among the subjects covered. There are fairly clear ideas about policy, although the practicality of them is still to be tested.

It is one of the features of Rwanda that houses are not gathered together in villages, but are spread across the countryside. People like to live on their land. Because of the population density, this means that outside the National Parks and the tea plantations, it is hard to get more than 100m away from a house. Recently, the government has been trying to gather people together and to live in “imidugadu”, groups of houses which have only a very little land around them. The expansion of our town, Kamembe, has been by the building of these villages at the outskirts. There are obvious advantages for the delivery of services such as electricity and water, although it must be said that this is still theory, as most of the houses are fairly basic and are without either of these.
So the government has decided that any rebuilding of houses will not be on the original sites, but in imidugadu. Furthermore, they have decided on a “standard” house, which will have a cement foundation and be to a standard design. I can see the sense in both ideas, but also the drawbacks. Firstly, the proposed sites have not yet been identified, so no rebuilding can be done; secondly it means that there will be a forced removal for those who have been affected by the quake and lastly it will significantly increase the costs. For the last few years, the Eglise Anglicane has been building “welfare” housing”, mostly for widows, for about £1000 for a house plus kitchen and WC. The government standard will cost at least twice as much and is therefore likely to create difficult choices, because it seems likely that the increased cost will limit number of houses available.
It still remains to be seen how this will work out in practice, of course : meanwhile the tremors have diminished, but not quite disappeared.

A poor man?

We watched the DVD of “Fiddler on the roof” recently with a Rwandan friend. Expecting a rather light evening’s entertainment, we found that it dealt with quite a number of serious issues – political upheaval in pre-revolution Russia, anti-Semitism and the decline of tradition as a force shaping society. It also had an interesting story-line and some good songs.

The setting of perhaps the most famous - “If I were a wealthy man” was very interesting, particularly as we sat and watched this in Rwanda. The man singing was in his huge barn, with his milk-delivery horse and several other animals. With all this round him, compared to most Rwandan subsistence farmers, he was already a very wealthy man.

Earthquake 7 : update

As I write this on Tuesday morning, we have had 3 minor tremors today already : worrying signs that the seismic activity is not yet over. They were nothing like the first ones, but enough to wake us up during the night and to noticeably shake the building this morning.

Meanwhile, there have been a few developments :
> A group of government ministers came down last week to inspect the damage. They refused to use the conference hall at our guest house because of signs of damage, although it has been used for weddings. The first lady also visited on Monday, so we have not been forgotten by Kigali, at least.
> Our bishop has returned and was told by local government leaders that the distribution of tarpaulins and blankets was complete. When you visit families affected, you find that this is not true - there seems to be a blockage somewhere. In particular, where the house has not completely fallen down, it appears to be difficult to get help.
> As a diocese, we have decided to focus on things within our capability. We have developed some expertise in building simple houses (wood, mud and wattle) for less than £1000 and we will be concentrating on that alongside repairing our own property.
> We have managed to find a temporary project manager who will come to manage the repairs. This is great news, because it will take a lot of time and could easily have meant us choosing between our "normal" work and earthquake relief. With 4 months to go before we leave Cyangugu, our programme is more clearly defined than at any time since we arrived here.
> There are appeals operating in both the US (via the AMIA website) and in the UK via Rwanda Aid (see link on the sidebar). Once the money gets transferred, we can start, subject of course to also finding the much-needed wisdom! (see the last earthquake report).

Goodbye in Bujumbura

We are just back from a week-end in Bujumbura. It’s an almost perfect location for swimming – our hotel was on the sandy beach, the water in Lake Tanganyika is warm, the mountains of Burundi and the Congo create a stunning setting and the weather was great. You have to swim in the morning, as the wind gets up in the afternoon and creates some quite large waves. The other drawbacks are the presence of teenage boys who are of course fascinated by us and there are also hippos, although they are usually about 3km away from where we were. It’s just a step too far to claim that we were “swimming with hippos”!!
It was also a week-end for saying good-bye to our Scottish friends who have been working in Uganda. There was a lot of reflecting on our time in Africa, on lessons learned, on experiences both good and bad, on problems unresolved and on the future. It was a very significant time as we prayed together – the support and encouragement of our regular but infrequent meetings has been a huge source of strength for us. Much of our reflection was on struggles with African culture, set in context by 2 short passages from The Message version of the New Testament. Perhaps more important for us than the work we have done in Africa is the work God has done in us :

Then Jesus told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat—I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? " (Luke 9)

"You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule." (Matthew 5).

Where's the coffee?

In Kigali a couple of weeks ago, we found it hard to find ground Rwandan coffee. Eventually we managed to buy a couple of small packets instead of the usual 500g. This week my mum reported that the new Marks and Spencer’s store in Berwick had just started selling – Rwandan coffee! I don’t know if the two are connected : perhaps the export strategy has been too successful. The government is certainly encouraging people to grow coffee. The only problem is that it takes about 4 years to get your first crop!

Earthquake 6 : wisdom needed

A metaphor for our current situation (providing assistance after the earthquake) might be serving school dinners. Unfortunately, we are doing this without 3 important pieces of knowledge :
We don’t know how much food there is (no money yet received from various appeals)
We don’t know how many people are in the queue (assessments not yet complete)
We don’t know how many other people are also serving dinners (no overall plan for relief yet)
If ever there was a need for all the wisdom and gifts God gives, it is now.