We have been in Rwanda a week and a lot has happened. First, if we have not signed onto our blog, please don't worry about us as the internet is up and down and we sometime cannot get on.

We are very safe, living in the village of Kimoronko with a widow and her 3 "kids". Families got cobbled together after the genocide with widows taking in orphans so the families are not really related. Helen & I are in the same house. We did not expect to be but she had room and I think needed the money. Living conditions are rustic, however very clean & comfortable. Our farming background is standing us well as we shower in a tub. We will check into a hotel every couple of weeks to get back to civilization. They all speak kirawandan except for 1 and she speaks quiet good English.

We visited the Genocide Museum last week and it is a horrific introduction to what went on here in1994. It is a well done museum, also included information on other genocides. A hard day but well worthwhile to understand the people and what they went through.

The countryside is lovely, green with many mountains(hills) and is very clean. Last weekend we went to a town on Lake Kivu and had a great time. We has tilipia fish for lunch, caught that morning from the lake. We had to eat with our hands. Someone came by with a pitcher of water so we could wash before eating.

We take our meals at the centre and they are very good. Nice fresh, home cooked meals. There is enough to eat but no seconds and no desserts. We walk to the centre every morning which takes us 1/2 hour and so we are loosing weight. But that is OK because we found a beer place just 10 minutes from the centre and we are starting to have a cocktail every afternoon before supper.

Our volunteer jobs at the centre are varied and while it took us a little while to get into the swing of things, we are now busy. Helen is giving massages and working with the Dr. who comes once a week. I am teaching a little english, working on the business plan and a Rotary project. We both help out in the day care and both help cook the lunch meal for the day care. Today we peeled about 20 pounds of potatoes and a sack of carrots!!! These little buggers eat a lot. Kids are sweet and we love them all, but no we are not bringing them home, yet!!!!

It takes forwever to get anywhere as they all want to give you hugs, say Bon Jour and talk. Being able to speak French would have been a benefit but we are managing. Helen speaks some french so she can translate.

There are 3 other volunteers here so we have plenty of company. Very nice people and they have had interesting lives. We have had a couple of comments from the locals that they thought volunteers were young so we are unusual to them.

Next week we are off to Uganda and a visit to the Rotary projects there and a visit to a school.

Not sure if we are going to be able to load our pictures as we need to resize before we load them and computer time is an issue. Will try.

Thats all for now, talk next week

It is Monday and we are leaving Amsterdam tomorrow for Africa. We have spent 2 days here , and it is now our new favorite city. We spent lots of time in the museums, got to see Rembrandt paintings and Van Gogh. We are now all cultured up. So we thought we would visit the red light district just to balance us out.

This is an amazing city, would be lovely to see it in the spring when the tulips are all in bloom. The food is great, and the bakeries have all sorts of good things. We ate everything in sight getting ready for Africa. It is a great walking city and we have enjoyed the architecture and walking along the canals. No time for shopping but maybe next time.