Life so Complex

So did Gary find his elastic band and get the Lysander prop to turn?

Did Macfarland require to do a stuka dive to bump start the engine?

What was the final destination anyway?

Was the intention to come home and was he able to steer the correct course anyway?

The answer to all these questions is NO?!

What happened?

I thought I would spin a good story filled with lies and silliness, but the real story turned out to be so unbelievable, I thought I would give you the wholly true version.

I spent my last hours in Kigali at a church youth rally, then wished Paul, Emmanuel and John Mutesa well. The journey back to collect my bags was the best and most dangerous taximoto of the 2 weeks. Brilliant driving – on the wrong side of the road!

When I turned up at Kigali airport the Lysander was gone. Rumour had it that the Rwandan authorities thought it should not be tied onto the jumbo jet sitting on the tarmac, and dragged it off to be used to water the local crops.

There was a 5 minute panic when I truly thought I had lost my passport, only to find it in a pocket not usually used.

I was forced to take the KLM flight. It was planned for 10.30 but when I arrived they made some excuse about snow in Europe and 3 and a half hours later we left.

Now my maths ain’t good, but since my connection for Glasgow was only 2 hours I knew there was a problem. The KLM rep did not agree, saying that they would book me onto another flight.  OK, I surmised, but I know other secret info that they would not have access to, and phoned home with urgency, telling Fi the possible the impending crisis.

The flight was great, I slept most of the way overnight, and woke up an hour before we landed. So far so good.

The Glasgow flight was due to leave Schipol at 10.15, and we arrived at 11am.  So, I rushed round to the transfer machine – Glasgow flight left, you have been booked onto the 3pm flight which gets to Glasgow, at 3.40pm

Immediate problem. Fi and I were due to leave for London by Easyjet at 4.15pm. Phoned her. Its ok our flight to Gatwick is cancelled! She is on the case and is trying to get later flight. We discussed options, Gatwick sounded very risky due to weather and concluded Luton was better.

Then as I am meandering through Schipol and looking forward to a quiet few hours, I hear that the Glasgow flight is boarding, - hares round to departure gate, yes you can get on sir, but your baggage will come on 3pm flight.

So I arrive Glasgow, without all bags and am collected by Roger. Message from Fi,  - cannot get easyjet to rebook flight to Luton on internet – goes to desk in Glasgow airport, no problem sir, can sort it in a minute – oh dear not allowing me to  - but sure I can sort – will see you at 3.30pm when you return to collect baggage and will check then.

What about a flight to Gatwick where our hotel is – oh, I am not sure if that flight will be on, due to conditions at Gatwick.

Roger gets me home for 1pm.  Bag packing would start in earnest for our holiday, but a bit difficult when most stuff is in Holland. Instead focus on all my mail and emails and other stuff.

You see it is our 30^th wedding anniversary and we are off to the Caribbean for a cruise – lucky sods I hear you say! Flying out of Gatwick at 8.45am on Saturday am. Why do I put myself under this pressure!

I go back to Glasgow Airport to collect my bags off the 3.30pm from Holland – there are long queues of unhappy people  - the 3.30pm is cancelled – bags are not coming – no shoes, no wires, no tee shirts etc etc etc. Oh Fun! – ‘Garlic holidays in Caribbean in the nude’ I hear the Blog stories sound!

Anyway the wonderful person at the Easyjet counter gets us onto the 7pm flight to Luton, and the fabulous Roger, determined to get Macfarland out of the country as fast as he arrived, takes us to the airport and we head south – no problems left – wrong!

By the time the train gets into London Bridge its 10pm. No trains to Gatwick sir, try Victoria – no trains to Gatwick sir – try the bus station  - 9 minute walk – no buses sir – how do we get to Gatwick – no idea sir!!!

Its now 12 mid night. There is a bus to Heathrow. Perhaps there may be a transfer bus to Gatwick from there. Worth a try, though no guarantee. So at 1am we are now in Heathrow, and get the bus from there to Gatwick, then a taxi for 4 miles and finally we are in our hotel, for 3 hours sleep, before we are up for the flight to Bridgetown, Barbados.

We get up on time, dressed and head for the transfer bus.

Where on earth is my wallet cries out Macfarland, and despite twenty looks through his bags there is no sign. Its fallen out of his pocket  (Fleming and Bennie will love this he thinks), either in the taxi or bus the previous night.

So at the airport we not only have to buy black shoes for the formal evenings on ship, and wires a plenty to charge computers and phones, but also have to cancel all cards, that we need for the next two weeks holidays.

I conclude life in Rwanda was much easier and simpler. Please let me get back there soon!

Work on the commencement of the College is planned to start as soon as the planning application comes through. As yet, I have not decided whether I need to go back before New Year to conclude matters – we will see what we can do by email from the Caribbean over the next few days.

Thanks for all your support and prayers for the College and all the work going on to get it built.

Expect an update on Wednesday or Thursday.

Garlic – signing off for now – somewhere off Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles.

Roger will love this one!

You  may or may  not remember that in the last trip out to Rwanda we spent the good part of 3 weeks getting the deed plan legal. This involved numerous visits to the site from the local district surveyor with his GPS machine.

Finally we managed to get a  legal document based on his readings which we agreed with.  This in total took about 10 weeks!

Just to make sure these readings were set in stone, we hammered some pretty deep stakes into the ground, sawed them at road level , and knew that they were there forever.

So when Paul said that he thought they were gone I was really doubtful. No-one

could have dug hem up I surmised.

But, of course on my last day I had to go and see, just to make sure. Well I was right, no-one had dug them up, just covered them over - with bitmac!

Why do I get the sense that I will have to get the surveyor out another 3 times to set the exact boundaries?

And no I cannot ignore this one, because we need to ensure that the site boundaries are agreed and the water culvert is being dug to the correct position, or someone will require us to redo it.

And the big question is, why and who covered them over and for what reason.

Oh Joy!

Lost Post!

Roger will love this one!

You  may or may  not remember that in the last trip out to Rwanda we spent the good part of 3 weeks getting the deed plan legal. This involved numerous visits to the site from the local district surveyor with his GPS machine.

Finally we managed to get a  legal document based on his readings which we agreed with.  This in total took about 10 weeks!

Just to make sure these readings were set in stone, we hammered some pretty deep stakes into the ground, sawed them at road level , and knew that they were there forever.

So when Paul said that he thought they were gone I was really doubtful. No-one

could have dug hem up I surmised.

But, of course on my last day I had to go and see, just to make sure. Well I was right, no-one had dug them up, just covered them over - with bitmac!

Why do I get the sense that I will have to get the surveyor out another 3 times to set the exact boundaries?

And no I cannot ignore this one, because we need to ensure that the site boundaries are agreed and the water culvert is being dug to the correct position, or someone will require us to redo it.

And the big question is, why and who covered them over and for what reason.

Oh Joy!

Elastic Band Missing

Right Flemingd, or whatever your name is. Where did you put the elastic band to start up this plane. Its ridiculous, I have searched all over Kigali airport, and not one of these large planes is willing to lend me their elastic band.

I have tried starting the prop myself. The only technique that gets anywhere close to a puttputt, is standing on the top blade, and jumping like a bungie jumper, head first onto a mattress while holding the edge of the prop. I have given this up for the obvious reason that the top of my head is now flat, and the taximoto helmet I was using has only stayed on once in 20 tries.

I knew the Ginger did not want me back in the country when I received his wireless earlier today.

However, I have solved the problem. I found a rope thats quite long enough, and am going to attach it to the tyre of one of these jumbo jet things. Hopefully when it takes off it will drag me along. When it gets to about ten thousand feet I am going to let go the slip knot - hope I did it right, been a long time since the scouts.

Anyway when I let go my tow, I will dive stuka like and with the speed of the descent the blade are bound to spin, and then I can put it into gear, and I am sure I can jump start the lysander, before I meet a Rwandan grave.

For those that do not think it will work, I am pretty sure Biggles did something similar, in his last episode - cannot quite remember how it finished though!

Anyway, having a quick carafe of white wine in the Novotel to get my courage up, and then I am off. Can smell the fish and chips and a pint of cider already - amazing how far smells travel.

Bad Boy, get that elastic band off ginger, we may need it to stop me if I skid on the snow - put it across Lanrig Road when you see me dip the wing, and I'll stick a hook out the back to catch it on the way past.

Gatenga

Gatenga Lads

I was down in Gatenga this morning, just to do some more work on my report for Callum. I thought I would just provide you with some photos of the people that we are working with, and the place that they live.

These young men are the people who will benefit from the College building, and today I went to have a chat about what we are doing. Only one or two speak English, but we got by thankfully avoiding me having to speak French.

This photo shows the centre of Kigali not that far away. I suspect that as the city develops, then Gatenga will gradually disappear, though its people will not, and new housing will have to be found for them, or they will be driven to the outskirts in similar housing.

I had a good hour interrogating Betty and Emmanuel about they work which they do. Its really pretty well developed and includes sponsoring through school, running football games, feeding them three times a week – porridge no less, chasing poor school attendance, installing discipline and preventing fights, and a generally providing a  place where they are loved.

I was asking them whether, as a generalization the children’s (many much younger_ are good at expressing love to their children. The view was that the parents are just so exhausted existing, trying to make a penny or two, and doing basic tasks – like dragging water a mile back home!

So the children do not tend to get much love at home, and the church based activities for the 3 times per week, give real opportunity to make them feel valued, and to give them fun and structure.

And talking of fun, this afternoon they are having a conference for young people. It last 3 days and these balloons are part of the fun.

For those of you who are interested in supporting this kind of work, Betty was telling me that they would like additional funds to help support additional school lessons for children who are struggling with their school work.

You can give through Comfort Rwanda

Rhum Holiday!

I received this message from Bad Boy and Ginger. Came in on the wireless early this morning. Looks like the journey back may be more difficult than last time. 

Garlic

ALERT  ALERT!

Am receiving interrupted signal from our contact BBB. It seems to be coming from somewhere along the Chryston/Moodiesburn border!  STOP insiders massing STOP  along border STOP close to landing strip STOP  ( if I could only keep this bin lid open would not need to stop every STOP so often.) Advise landing elsewhere STOP. Have passed landing STOP flares to our new  STOP  agent STOP  Code name is GERTRUDE  STOP  Big Malky with insiders out to STOP nail you STOP advise you cut engines over Campsie Fells STOP and glide in (as per X1 Fliegerkorps Re  Crete 1941) STOP

Ensure parachute and other sensitive information is buried in snow. Proceed to Ref  S/T.A9Bles (stables) where BBB and self will be sitting  disguised as C of S ministers. Bring GERTRUDE with you - we will greet you as Mr and Mrs Waggstaffe! Sit beside us but do not allow GERTRUDE to speak as her English is not good.

SECOND  ALERT  ALERT

Picking up transmission from strange location - cannot be right - CARRIBEAN  Is this somewhere in Rwanda?

STOP cannot sail STOP this w/e STOP crew has been infiltrated STOP by insiders ( is there no end to the lengths these people will go to to stop you winning through to a well deserved holiday)

BBB has alerted self and GERTRUDE to the negativity effect this devastating news will have on you - hence your meeting with the three of us - your pals! We intend to keep you positive.

Accordingly we have arranged an alternative event for you - something which you will enjoy and be able to win at!

You leave SAT for a 5 day trip to the Scottish wonder island of RHUM where you will climb the 8 munros there.You will do each munro ( actually they are not munros at all but others do not need to know this and we your pals will not blurb on you.) on your own so you can claim to be the first to the top. Also you can boast that Ginger has only done 6 of them.

We have arranged attractive accommodation for you ( see attachment) with a fantastic cook thrown in by the name of  Ronald de Gallo. His speciality is stag head eyeball soup. Its another first for you - however nobody has ever ordered seconds. By doing so it will be another first for you.

No need to advise wife of this change of plan - actually she advised 15 days but we thought that this would create too many firsts - a win win situation - which would not be good in terms of your mental state just now - lets do this slowly a bit at a time! 

See you soon - pecker up!

BBB GINGER GERTRUDE

What kind of pals are these!


Shall need to develop a plan quickly to avoid a Rhum holiday - Fi is definitely wanting to go to Caribbean for our 30th anniversary. Wonder if Lysander can get over the Atlantic without refueling - could stop Madeira and Azores, but last bit is quite long. 

Hope Fi does not mind lack of catering on the Lysander - make the sandwiches Fi, put on your scarf, remember your goggles, and pack the champers! 

A plan is hatching. If only I could find that elastic band - Ginger have you got it?

Day with a Twist

From Solace over Kigali

I had deliberately planned this day to be very busy. I needed to make sure that I had completed almost all my work today so that I could leave the last day for loose ends.

So I started the day at 8am with the builders, going through every fine detail of the construction. All went well and there appears to be full agreement between us. I have just to write up the detail tonight, and get the construction agreement done.

The REMA Environmental Report is through, and ok, and has been delivered to the Rwandan Development Board.

Then I had to take a taxi moto into town. I took the new masterplan of the site Roger had pdf'd for me yesterday, and it printed out perfectly to scale. Many thanks Roger. The planners now have the redesign of the toilets and site. This all went so well I had time for a coffee at the UTC.

I phoned Betty and arranged for me to go and meet her tomorrow, to ask my last few questions about the street children, for my report to Callum. Then the phone call came from Albert from the Workforce Development Agency, who are the lead agency that develop technical college training in Rwanda. He wanted to meet earlier and we did so at the Leica Hotel.

We chatted over our College's aspirations for helping the poor to achieve employable skills. He was very supportive, and I have to do a proposal focussed on helping the poor get into employable skills.

However, he expressed a really strong desire that he would like the Scottish Colleges network to support Rwandan TVET (Technical and Vocational Training), and that he would like to come to Scotland to spend a few days talking to people in Scotland in early January, with a view to getting practical Scottish College help.

Basically they would like to possibly adopt the Scottish model for training young students, with Rwandan adaptations.

So, I agreed that we (Scotland) needed to support Rwanda in this, took careful notes of what he wanted to achieve, and phoned Linda McTavish, Principle of Anniesland College, and convenor of all the Scottish Colleges.

Anniesland College

She and I  had met (accidentally) at Anniesland College earlier in my sabbatical. One of those many coincidences I have mentioned to you. Linda as you will know from previous blogs is a great enthusiast, and has all the right contacts as well as being really down to earth and practical. So between us we are arranging for Albert to spend 3 days in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and to meet all the right people.

My aspiration for this is that we will together identify individuals and plans that really help Rwanda to take the key steps towards a great TVET system, jointly designed and supported by Scottish and Rwanda partners.

So the afternoon had taken a sudden twist and in a very positive way.

I love when these things happen. I had a sense some months ago that this conversation would happen, and when it did, it just confirmed to me at least, that there was a purpose about all of this, and that my skills were being used productively.

Its hard to explain walking with God, but I feel I should try and do so. Its something like:

He wants me and you to really enjoy being near to Him. We all struggle through the business and turbulence of life to feel close to God. So we are required to just trust and have faith that He is with us despite how are feelings are at anyone time. Emmanuel - God with us. Yes, with you and me - despite ourselves, and what we are like, and whether we are perfect (!) or not.

And when we have faith, and trust Him, and look for Him, our eyes are opened and we all, each, get glimpses of him. Those glimpses challenge us, and make us reflect our worth. If He values and cares about us, then we have value.

And if we have value in His eyes, then everyone is valued, whether king or street child, whether intellectual or mentally impaired, taximoto driver or director of a big organisation, preacher or prostitute.

Its preciousness of people that which has made Rwanda mean loads to me this last 2 weeks - Betty helping the street children; the kids that live in the dirt close to the guest house - that want to hold my hand and get a cuddle - they are brilliant - wish I could do more for them ; the rwandan team that need a project manager to build a College; the builders that need supported through a big project; the planners who get fed up with people moaning at them; even the taximotos who need to learn that 700 Rwf is less than 800 Rwf! - they really must stop negotiating me down!

People are precious  - that is what God feels.

Its all part of it. I see him in all of it. God being near, means that you actually feel the reality of His Love for you and for others. It creates an imperative that requires a response. Something to grapple with, that demands and urges us on.

So the needs of others, and God's love for them, begs the strong question of what can be done, what gifts do you and I have that could help others needs, and could God use these gifts?

Even more remarkably, could God really make great use of these skills and let them freely flow.

You see sometimes, we put all sorts of limits on God, rules about what we don't want to happen, what we think he is like, fears that we have, what he demands of us. But if we just go for it, and trust, then He graces our lives with positive happenings, real friendships, brilliant outcomes, and a relationship with him that explains everything.

Not that it is not very difficult at times, like Rwanda has been for many families. But there is real strength in knowing Him, and in my experience, always real positive benefits for those I work with, for me, and I think for you too.

Anyway I just wanted to say its fun, a real privilege, and I would not trade this experience for anything - except maybe representing Scotland in the World's at curling - naw, not even that!!

Going home tomorrow for a wee while - if the snow will let me in!

Clear the landing zone Bennie. Get the flares out again. The Lysander is on the tarmac at Kigali airport. Ginger where is my elastic band.

Heads down I am coming in!

Heaven on Earth

I rest my case.

I have always said that Shiskine Golf Course is the most beautiful place to play golf, and today in my email I find a great photo.

Shiskine 12th Hole

When you are far from home, it is great to get wee reminders of people and places that you long for.

Perhaps when this project is over there may be  celebratory golf outing with you guys back home.

David McAdam - no more fitting golf in between meetings - this course deserves a day away.

Ginger - you will love the crow's nest hole - suits your climbing skills to a tee.

Bad Boy, the pod of whales going past the 5th green this summer were fabulous. Malcolm, the otter eating fish on the beach just on the rock pictured will surely put you off your game.

Anyone else want to come - be my guest!

A Building Update

Some of you observant ones, will have noticed that we have not actually done any building. So what is happening?

Well it is looking good to start in the next 3 weeks – he says with a large amount of trepidation. Just to recap.

The deed plan that was wrong in August is sorted, and has been signed by the Prime Minister.

The church is now a registered organisation, again this needed a PM signature.

The land has now been defined accurately by GPS and we have an authorised piece of paper saying so.

The neighbourhood cell are happy with the project, and they have been keeping the land neat and tidy for us. (see photo)

The planners are happy with one storey - FANTASTIC!, after a detailed paper, and 4 meetings last week. They want more toilets, so over the weekend, Roger the architect in Glasgow, has done a plan for this. Sorted.

The planners also wanted a REMA certificate, so a full Environmental Impact Assessment was done by our consultants, and will be delivered to the Rwandan Development Board this afternoon. The certificate should be at the planners within a week.

The final piece of paperwork we need is the lease contract. This required a ministerial signature, which we have, and they have produced a legal document, which we also received yesterday. This we handed to the district council, and they have sent it with our papers to the land registration, for them to produce the Lease Contract, again promised within a week.

When we have the REMA certificate and the Lease Contract then the planners will give us the construction permit, which they have already started to work on, and we will then be able to start building.

Below are Kayitare and his son Jeff. These are real Rwandan small builders. A great delight to work with.  

Kayitare

Kayitare does not speak English. He was recommended by our friend Pete Andrews as having a good track record of building Vocational Training Centres. We have put a lot of faith is this recommendation, but so far this is working out very well. 

We could have gone for a tendering process but I was absolutely convinced that we would have run into all sorts of problems with this.

Jeff

Jeff speaks good english, which is just as well, and regular readers of the blog will know that he is an excellent musician. So far, he has completely failed to provide me with a CD of his music. Tomorrow he must or the contract is off! 


Jeff is also very good with email, which helps loads when you want to work back and forth on various issues.

Apart from concluding costs, and a construction agreement which I am finalising today, we need to work out the practicalities of the construction plan, money transfer, site checking and resolution of issues.

I could really do with another week to resolve these matters, but my flight back is Thursday, and the architect, Norbert Kalka, who is going to check the site as construction develops, has escaped my attentions by being in Germany this week – unfortunately I did not know this until about 2 hours before he left!

Would really like to see them all the week before Christmas to resolve matters, and get the construction started, but the cost of flights back is considerable at that time of year. May be able to jump back for 5 days - we will see, or perhaps I can do it by email!! (he says  - not at all convinced)

So, I think there will be photos of actual building in January, and certainly by end of January when Roger, Bad Boy (if he agrees) and I return.


Your prayers and thoughts about the project are much appreciated.


This afternoon, I prepare the following:


A paper on the street children and their needs, for my meeting tomorrow with Albert the Director of the Workforce Development Agency, and the budgetary plan for the construction.


It all seems a long way from being a GP. Heaven knows what it is going to be like to jump back into Scottish GP mode after the sabbatical is over in February. We will cope with that when it comes.

Kamikaze and Emmanuel

This video - well it would have been if I could get it loaded - 12 hours trying! (will try again later) is for my church friends and particularly those who have been out to Kigali in July of the last 2 years. This morning Emmanuel Rubagumya, who is a pastor at L'Eglise Vivante, and his fiance were being introduced to the congregation

They are getting married on the 18th of December and this was like their banns being read out. Emmanuel's fiance is Kamikaze - pronounced kamkiz. When Emmanuel txt me the spelling of her name I had to double check. She is quite a shy person, and does not look like her name! However, in Rwandan her name means queen which is much more like she is.

She speaks only a little English, and mainly French, but when we chatted after the service we managed to communicate a bit, and I wished them both all the best for their wedding - from everyone at Chryston church.

The others in the video are Paul, the pastor who is reading the banns, and their friends John Mutesa who led some brilliant singing today, and Bette.

I do not know if you will recognise Bette. You will remember I was down at the Friends of Jesus on Friday and met Betty and her great kids. Well here she is with her new hairstyle - which is why I did not recognise her when I was walking through Remera on Saturday.

Rwandan women change their hairstyle all the time, and it is really a big thing here to be very smart with the latest clothes and styles.

I do not fit in well to this!

How is the Weather

Always great to hear and see news of things back home.

Firstly the weather. I hear from my sis and wife that you have snow. I tried to explain this to our cook this morning and we had a very difficult converstaion for a couple of minutes.

Here the weather is, as always  - 30 degrees and sunny. I would like to see your snow but I really quite like the warmth for now.

Although I had to walk a couple of miles in the heat this morning and could have done with it being a bit cooler. Today is community Saturday which they have once a month. So there are no taxis, and everything closes. Some people do community service – though more seem to just sit around and rest. Others play sports.

Here is the Rwandan under 15 cricket team, being coached by a young man from England. He coaches them for no salary, only expenses. They were playing on Friday at Kicukiro College when we met their Principle to get his advice on various matters. There present pitch is being redone, and so they were playing on baked earth instead. Good to see cricket is here.

Was talking to some Rwandans about the importance of sport, and that it is an essential component of youth development. Apparently the Rwandan Government is not prioritising this with significant finance. A real mistake, as Scotland found out when it dropped serious competitive sport from being central in Scottish schools in the 1980s.

Time for politicians to understand and action a change in our culture through sport. Unfortunately grass roots competitive sport is not supported by key elements of our society. What a loss!

Talking of sport, and home, I have been watching the results of the Edinburgh International, and delighted to see David Murdoch being beaten by Team Prentice. Shows that our loss to them in European semis was not too bad a result - even if we should have won!

Not sure I agree with Bob Cowan about them being old. I really think he needs to understand Macfarlanes Rule – under 65 young, 65 – 95 middle aged, over 95 old, unless you want to move the goal posts

Come on Bob, we are all young, its just that the really young ones think that we are old!

One Stop

I have visited this One Stop centre 4 times this week and will be there at least twice next week!

Herein lies the planning department who wanted our College building to be two storeys, which was a real risk to the project.

Yesterday, we went in ready for a fight, armed with my photos of one storey buildings all along the road where we are to build, and lots of arguments I had rehearsed. 

Final threat was to set Winnie on them.

The first thing Vincent murmured almost in audibly, so quickly passed over that I doubted he said it – ‘floors ok’, and then went on to say we needed more toilets – 8 for males and 10 for females.

Later in conversation I had to ask him to clarify about the one - two storey issue. Yes, we will support one storey. Fantastic!

I could not have cared less about toilets – would have given him a 100!!

So basically the planners are fine with our building, and are supportive. Major hurdle overcome.

Now we only need 2 more documents – REMA certificate, and Land lease contract – should have them within the week – perhaps by Thursday when I leave (overly hopeful!).  Would really like everything sorted by then.

If cannot get that done to my satisfaction, it leaves me with a dilemma about a short trip out in late December/early January to complete things.

NEARLY THERE – I THINK!

Betty and the Kids

This afternoon, I had made an arrangement to meet Betty Bazizani and the street children, in Gatenga which is about 4 miles from the centre of Kigali.

Betty looks after about 70+ street children, and does a great job organising them. In particular she makes sure that they are attending school, and doing well in their work. The children’s school fees are sponsored by various people in the UK.

To make sure that they are working Bette gets their school reports, which is also a double check that they are attending regularly.

My job today was to collate a few things about them, like age, how they are doing, what skills they have and for the older ones what work they want to get into.

43 of the 70 attended which was fabulous, and we saw them as a group and explained what we were doing, that we wanted to know what level of abilities we are likely to have, when they come to our college after 4^th year at school.

Now shame on you teenagers in Scotland. When I ask these guys what there skills were they included carrying water – which some enjoyed, cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, and then there was the 8 year old who was skilled at business. She sells sugar for her parents.

Then there was the 13 year old who wants to be a nurse, and at the moment works in a boutique.

Once we had been through the assessment, we had half an hour playing a couple of games, which seemed to go down well. I had brought a large number of tennis balls with me from Tony Yates He was clearing out his garage before he left for England and found a large bag of them. 

They are now the property of the street children of Kigali Tony.

Losing with Garlic

It is common knowledge that Garlic has developed a real brilliance at coming second. 

This mainly relates to success at getting to finals and semifinals and then letting it slip.

Some curlers have become quite worried about me, Robin Aitken of particular note.

With this in mind I thought that I had better get some therapy, and Bad Boy Bennie seemed like the natural choice - though why I cannot image.

His advice to me is contained in his book and his first letter here.

Now I have every confidence that this therapy will work, and Robin A need worry no more - except about losing his titles.

Enjoy his blog. You may find it rather odd, but then Bad Boy is rather odd!

Winning with Winnie

Its funny how things work isn't it

I am an SU camp leader 25 years ago. One of the campers there is a young lad - Stephen Bell. 

25 years later I am going through the gate at Kigali airport and Stephen says hello - came off the same plane. - first time I have seen him in 25 years. (I am going to log all the coincidences!)

He is working with a Christian entrepreneurial group headed by Denis Overton, that I had had previous contact with, and with whom I had made arrangement to meet during my time here. They are trying to helps Rwandan develop their businesses.

So we met last night for a meal - I was feeling not great - tummy upset all day.

We chatted through the planning problem, and the planning departments desire that our building should have 2 storeys. A ruling that would immediately lead to serious risk to the whole project on financial grounds

Stephen said - Gary - you must go and see Winnie - she is running a spectacularly good Christian school, and has done lots of building development. She has the planners rapped around her little finger - he says!

Indeed I had heard from Callum, that I should see her at some point, but had not got round to it yet

So tonight I had a short 5 minute phone call with Winnie, and talked through the issue.

Oh Gary, - you do not need to worry about the one storey issue. Its just an idea they have - it will be no problem. But Winnie what happens if the planner refuses the application. Oh says Winnie - you just go and find another planner who will agree!!! Phone me if there is any problem and I will help you sort it.

Funny how things work - 5 minutes, with the right person and a light blinks back on. 

Good to be looked after.

Suspect her nickname is going to be Winnie the Winner!!

Tomorrow I meet the Principle of Kicukiro College - the main college in Kigali, at 8am, then at 10am the planning department, and at 2pm a meeting with the street children - going to busy. 

I suspect I will be speaking to Winnie later in the afternoon.

Taxi Moto Guidelines to Ginger

Dear Ginger,

Now that I am a fully qualified taxi moto passenger, I felt I should provide you with guidance, since you are such a novice. These guidelines are from my extensive experience.

1. Make sure your driver has enough diesel in his bike or else he will have to stop at side of the road, and lean it in all sorts of directions to splash every last drop into the engine, and when that works he will mutter under his breath that the journey is too far, and what he means is that he is fearful that he will not get back to the petrol station.

2.  Always haggle. As a general rule of thumb use the German severe facial technique, which always beats the British weaker mentality (like mine) and reduces the fare by 25%. Though I do remember that your willingness to haggle was non existent - so you may have to add another 30% for Irish awkwardness.

3. However, when you offer the taximoto 1200RwF for a journey, and he does not understand, and says 100, and you agree to 100 (which is clearly robbing the poor guy), take the opportunity to do some language tuition at the end of the ride, and give him 1000 RwF (which is what he meant) –you have made 200 profit, which is still more expensive than the German would have paid. Also make a mental note that you could have had the same journey for 800 - 1000 RwF. you will still give in and pay 1200, but I want you to know how weak you (and I) are.

3. Keep your knees in. You can lose them in the tight fit between cars at rush hour. In fact, thigh squeezing is recommended for the whole trip. It is part of the technique, and stops you shooting up in the air when he goes over a bump or 5 too fast

4. Note the taximotos often do not have speed counters that work. These are the fast ones who have clearly turned them off so that they can argue better with the police about why they were doing 70 in a 40 km/hr limit. They also regularly go through red lights, drive up the wrong side of dual carriageway into oncoming traffic, and take risks with your life. They are also the most fun!

5. Try not to overload the taximoto. You will see many strange sights, even Macfarlane carrying a slow cooker, someone with welding equipment, and others with TVs. These are all ok. A surf board might also be ok, but nothing bigger, and please do not go on a taximoto with your kayak, as you previously suggested - it really is asking for trouble! The paddle might fall out.

6. Remember you call a taximoto by going sssssssssssssss. Its accepted practice – they can hear you at 150 yards. Always check the helmet for any ability to tighten up the helmet strap. One in 10 helmets will not fall off in an accident, and it would be a shame for your skull to dent the bitmac, when the strap might just be able to hold the helmet on – rare I know, but worth checking

7. Closing your eyes means that you miss all the fun. Take your own advice and watch the scenery go by, even if you cannot quite focus because of the tears, and pain. Try letting go. Instead of holding onto the handles behind you, take both hands off and just relax! Excellent for the soul. It allows you to see the interesting sights and to ask yourself why a beauty of parlour is named after your Saviour. And no - do not go inside. There is nothing they can do to improve your attractiveness.

I hope that these pieces of advice will help you when you come out to Rwanda with me in January with you friend and mine, Bad Boy Bennie. Please pass on the advice secretly to him, and avoid the wives Rena and Mary. They must not know of our intended Taximoto race.

Planning Nightmare 3

The vibes. The vibes!

I spent this morning doing a 5 page paper for the planning department, and good stuff it was too. I looked at Norbert and he just looked as if we had no chance of persuading the planners to allow a one storey College.

Anyway off I went to get Pastor Paul to sign the document. When I arrived he had a letter from the REMA office - the certificate - yes! NO, NO NO. A letter to say that we needed a full environmental report. But I knew that, we knew that a month ago - did the consultant we paid not do a report?Apparently not, just a letter asking REMA to advise us if we needed a full report.

Macfarlane self combusts at this point. Another 2 weeks delay, and off to the local printing company to change the document I had spent all morning on.

We went round to the one stop centre and dropped in the paper and chatted with the planner. He was nice enough, but the facial expression and vibes were not good!

This afternoon, we went to see a REMA consultant who is going to the report and will have it with me on Tuesday - pretty good considering the amount of work. 

Tonight I had a meeting with Denis Overton and Stephen Bell, and others. Denis does a lot of work on helping entrepreneurs in Rwanda. You could tell he thought the planning application would fail, and his friend, who seemed to know quite a lot of important people, looked pretty glum too.

I am starting to think glum too. I do have a couple of possible helpers  - including Winnie 'who wraps planners round her finger' - going to phone her first thing - more of her tomorrow.

So the next instalment is Friday - cannot wait

Planning Nightmare 2

Those of you who have been reading the blog the last couple of days, will be wondering what the planners are saying. Well at lunch time today we were given the letter.

It was in Rwandan, so I had not a clue what it said. So Emmanual Rubagumya (sorry about the poor photo Emmanuel) came to translate it. Unfortunately some of it was pretty unclear, despite two people trying.

There was nothing else for it but to take another taxi moto to the one stop centre in Kigali City centre.

The last time we went there it was quiet ad we just walked in. This time it was empty apart that is from a full planning meeting with the Kigali Mayor and Vice Mayor.

I thought about joining them (aye right!) but decided I should just sit outside until the meeting finished. After an hour Vincent who has been helping assess our planning application, came out and explained the letter.

This was about 4pm. I immediately phoned Roger in Kirkie, to decide a plan including some redrawings, phoned Callum in Kilsyth, and Paul in Niboye, to agree the way forward. Nothing like having a planning meeting on the hoof!

In 20 minutes all was agreed, so I went and had lunch (well it was 4,30pm), did my emails and blog, and then headed for home.

Must say I was pretty puggled after a long day and just could not resist a beer at the Leica Hotel, and there I updated our basecamp website with all the curriculum and business planning information I had received from my earlier visit.

Then it was on to a local Chinese for tea, and by that time Roger had completed the pdf file, and had written the architect speel for the planners. Fantastic job!

All I have to do now is to write my letter on behalf of the church pulling it all together, and by late tomorrow morning it will be back on the planners desk – with me sitting outside looking for answers yet again.

The key question I must ask myself is what will the planners respond to, if anything? It would be nice to have  a conversation where we had a bit of negotiation, but it does not work that way, or does it in Rwanda?

Patience folks - you will just have to wait for the next instalment of Planning Nightmare 3!

The BAD Proposal

Part of my work here this time is to develop the Ihumure College business plan. This involves getting fairly accurate figures on income  - what we can charge as fees, how many students can afford them etc, and what the main expenditure costs are – teachers and principles salaries, material costs, and control mechanisms.

For this I have arranged two visits. Today was the first to the SOS Kinderdorf technical school, and to visit John Gaga. John was excellent, and gave me an hour and a half. I now have most of the details that I need to make substantive financial plans for the actual running of the College.

These will need to be checked against the results of my second interrogation (oops sorry, should not mention that medical term) – I mean visit, on Friday to the Kicukiro Technical College.

John showed me round the school he runs. It is a German establishment, one of many that their charity runs. Its quite some operation and I was very impressed.

While I was with John, I raised the subject of apprenticeships in Kigali but learned that they are very informal and do not seem to have been developed much.

So its time for Bad Boy Bennie to stop writing his blog and get down to the hard work of developing the Bennie Apprenticeship Document. To be known from now on as the BAD proposal!

Anyway, by coincidence, (as if)  - you must really be getting fed up with the frequency of these coincidences – anyway, by coincidence when I talked to John about apprenticeships, he said that he was just about to go down to a morning conference on work placements. Would I like to come and meet all the people from local colleges, business and the workforce development agency. Not an opportunity to be missed.

So I spent the morning helping to design the new Rwandan work placement system – even gave them some of my indepth knowledge and experience of Scottish work placements and apprenticeships – oh no, what experience I hear you cry – well thanks for that vote of confidence.

While I remember, while I was there Denis from WDA said he would arrange a meeting for me with Albert the director – must get that email off now.

Anyway the Rwandan plan now has a wee Scottish bit about Institute Learner Agreements  and student learning plans in it!  What have I done!

Fiona - Do Not Read

The Taxi Moto

The last time Ginger and I were here it took us three weeks to get the courage up to try this mode of transport. This time I have been using it frequently - its quick, to the door, and immediate. I know that if I walk out of the coffeee shop where I am I can get a ride home within 20 seconds, and will be home 5 miles away within 10 minutes.

The only thing is that I will have ridden at high speed through very busy traffic, squeezing between spaces that do not seem to exist, and even taking red lights when necessary.

I suspect that Fiona would not approve, but it works well, and interestingly on watching the ability of these bike drivers, they are pretty careful, though Ginger should know that one did 70km/hour - so be warned Rog I have the number of my driver for the January race!

Taxi! I am off for a chinese and a beer, after very busy day. More in next blog.

Camp Kalka

For the last 3 days I have been living with the Ndahigwa family. They have provided me with their usual excellent hospitality. However, I am a stubborn and fixed nature and I like my independence and freedom. I like to be able to go and come when I want, to make arrangements and meetings when I need them, and that is just not possible with them in Niboye, Kigali.

So as happened last time I have escaped, and this time to Norbert's place - Camp Kalka. Norbert is an German architect here in Kigali, and he is going to help us by checking the construction on set intervals.

What construction I hear you say after the last blog. Well I am an optimist, and have yet to bin the idea of establish a Vocational College for the poor.

This will be my base, and tomorrow at 8am, I am meeting John Gaga, Chair of the Association of Colleges. I wonder what he will think about all colleges having to be several storeys from now on. I am also hoping to meet the Director of Kicukiro Technical College at 12 midday.

These two people should be able to advise me of the key issues in college development, and matters regarding employing teachers, apprenticeship issues, and new contacts that I should make in trying to establish our college.

Today has been a busy one, and apart from visiting the planning department, I met Jeff and Kayitare our builders to go over issues regarding construction and cost. Which reminds me must stop blogging and write up my to do list. They were in good form, but once again I had to remind Jeff that he had forgaotten to bring me a CD of some of his great music - he promised that I would have it before I leave - I plan to hold him to that  - or no building contract!

I also met Florence Mukakabano, who came to meet me in the UTC. She had driven the 2 hours from Butare, because I had brought some presents from her friend Billy Smith. These were very much appreciated and were worth the effort of transport  - a laptop for her son, and a slow cooker, and some other gifts. The took up quite a lot of space but fortunately 2 bags are allowed to come to Rwanda. Great to be of assistance.

I see its 7.50pm in Glasgow - all the best Stuart, Mark, and Pistol Pete - expect you will win the Invershiel game at Brahead without me.

Regards to all

Planning Authorities - Garlic Grumbles

I make no apology for my dislike of planning authorities. I have had to deal with several, and I always get the feeling that they have to be dragged kicking and screaming to the point where they agree to your planning proposals.

So I should not have been surprised, indeed I was not, when Paul announced that he had just heard that the planners were recommending that the College plans were refused! Having had  a nice peace Sunday this news came out of the blue.

We were both seated on deck chairs looking at the moon at the time. The lights had been out in the whole district, and so the place with the most illumination was the front verandah. I nearly went up like a rocket!

So Paul, what is the reason they are recommending refusal. Oh they want the building to be 2 storeys, and not one. Why is that? Because the City plan says that all buildings in that area should be 2 storeys. But all the other schools and houses along there are one storey, and all the schools and colleges we have seen in the city are one storey. Yes - but the City Plan says that in the future - and that is now - that 2 storeys is it!.

But Paul, when we discussed this with the planners in July, they said one storey would be ok. Yes but they have changed this. So 4 months of plans appeared to be up the proverbial!! And we do not have the money for 2 storeys.

In true Macfarlane style, I ranted internally for a while, and then sent a text off to McAdam and Ginger - requesting an squadron of prayers. Txts came back that these had been actioned and the response was expected imminently.

Off I went to my room, preparing the powerpoint, and formulating a true Macfarlane robust response. I remember my last action with a planning authority, when they recommended refusal of our medical practice. As you can see I do not refusal well - and the centre was built against planning advice since the politicians saw common sense!

So off we went today and had a good chat with the planning team. Well at least we got to see them quickly. They were a nice enough bunch, and gave us a good ear. The problem is that they have set out a plan for the city which has very strict lines of demarcation and are inflexible. The only way you get anywhere is by giving them hard evidence well worked out and which their boss can use when his/or her hide is on the line.

So the problem is that they expect land to be a premium in the future, because they think they are going to have a city of skyscrapers, and therefore all future buildings should have a low footprint, and be tall.

I heard that one local embassy is still in dispute with them because they only built 2 storeys instead of 7! Does not give me grounds for optimism. But the prayer squadron are fast arriving so we shall see what happens when a higher power gets to work.

So tomorrow I have to form a very strong arguement to counter - will make for an interesting couple of hours, and then a long wait.

If the answer is no, then it could be an early flight back in the Lysander. More likely we will have to head upwards in the chain of command - President Kagame here we come?

Now where was the Rwandan High Commissioners email address that he gave me last month?