A time for reflection

As I prepare for my holiday in Zanzibar and then my journey back to the UK for a Christmas visit, I can’t help but reflect on the past academic year. I’m now half way through my placement and in some ways it has gone by very quickly. There is so much I want to achieve at work, but also in other spheres of my Rwandan life. So I have composed a list of 20 things I still want to do in Rwanda to make sure that I return in January with a spring in my step and a sense of purpose. Some of them I can’t believe I haven’t done yet, while others could prove more of a challenge.

20 things I still want to do in Rwanda:

1) Drink banana beer (not to be confused with banana wine)

2) Successfully balance a pot on my head

3) Go to a Rwandan wedding

4) Know all of the words to the Bella song

5) Have a party in the TRC

6) Have a go at making at least 1 Rwandan handicraft, perhaps basket weaving or cow dung painting

7) Get my hair braided

8) Surprise someone with my Kinyarwanda

9) Hold a dinner party at my house for my Rwandan colleagues

10) Go to Nyungwe national park

11) Try to make melange

12) Get something made out of Primus fabric

13) Wear a Mushyanana (Traditional Rwandan ceremonial dress for women)

14) Make a picture out of banana leaves

15) Put on an Intore headdress

16) Buy a Rwandan desk flag and put it on my desk at the TRC

17) Blow bubbles at lots of kids

18) Get a copy of Lindsey’s tunic made out of African fabric

19) Watch gorillas in the mist

20) Make something with Piripiri sauce that actually tastes good.

Phew that’s quite a list! It Now its on this blog it will serve as a constant reminder that there is much left to experience in this place, and I’m sure things will continue to surprise me.