Muraho!
We haven’t gotten back to the blog in a while, so we have a lot of adventures to tell… Let’s start with Friday, more officially known as “Shirt Day”, since- without talking about it- every member of the team decided to wear our EWB shirts!
Friday was also the day to get the materials: some of us went to get the nice Afritanks that will be feeding the system while the rest went around Kigali, looking for pipe fittings, valves, taps and all sorts of stuff for the irrigation system. We also went to visit our partner Manna Energy to get some tools to use during the implementation of the system.
We also had some time to get some local food at a Restaurant called the Top View, where we tried the peanut soup and the matoke, a mashed banana puree. Saturday was also material’s day: we revised our master list of materials and went to a local market to get the PVC piping and fittings, as well as some construction materials.
A truck left early in the morning on Sunday, taking all the materials to the orphanage which is in Mugonero. We also left early on Sunday and made our way to the L’Esperance Orphanage. The trip was around 4 hours in the beautiful hills. Around lunch time, we got to the orphanage. Victor, the director of the orphanage, had some lunch ready for us and we ate as we enjoyed the amazing view of the mountains and Lake Kivu. Even more amazing was the night sky full of stars and the view of the region with the highest incidence of lightning in the world… That was quite a show!
L’Esperance is a great place! On Sunday we also enjoyed playing with the kids and walking around the orphanage. In the pictures you can see Andy teaching some songs and games to the kids; they really had a good time!
Monday was a work day again. We started the day walking around the tree nursery and listening to Victor’s plans. Then we made our way down to the pump house, where we could check the pumps and started brainstorming ways to optimize their functioning. Elliot spent some time working at the pump house, while the rest of the team started to lay out the pipe location so the trenches could be started.
As soon as it gets dark in L’Esperance things slow down and it is time to go play with the kids and to listen to them singing. Andy played some guitar for them and they really enjoyed it. They taught me how to count in Kinyarwanda and in Swahili, and I taught them how to count in Spanish.
Being here is definitively a great experience! I have to go help thread some pipe, so Murabeho for now. We’ll come back with more amazing stories later on :)
Lila
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