Warning, Dangerous Blog appearing

Word has reached me that a new and potentially dangerous blog is being produced.

Some character who lives in a wheelie bin, who for the present shall remain nameless, is planning to release a full volume of stories.

If I receive news of the Blog site I will post the warning here shortly.

I have seen the first few chapters of the epistle and according to my wife she thinks it is absolutely brilliant. She has not laughed so much for ages.

Watch this space you will not want to miss it.

Postscript

Roger and I hope you have enjoyed our tales of Rwanda, and all the adventures we have had.

Both of us were thrilled by the time we spent in Kigali, particularly the people we met, and of course the challenges of trying to get the building project off the ground.

We are very hopeful that we have managed to get all the planning and other details in place, and fully expect the building to start construction in late October - more later.

Gary is going back in November to check on the building progress and rumour has it that Roger, Bad Boy Bennie, and a few others are trying to charter a Lancaster Bomber to get them back into Rwanda in early January - something about chasing some spy McAdam.

However, I know from my sources that the Rwandan authorities will be better prepared this time and fully expect to divert them to even deeper Africa!

We plan to resurrect the blog occasionally over the next few weeks, (probably weekly updates) just to keep you in touch with building developments and our attempts to escape the clutches of ordinary life.

We remind you that the young people of Rwanda need our College and hope that you will financially support the Build - please click here. Remember that all monies go to the College.

Blog Credits go to the following stars of the last 3 weeks - Pastor Paul, Manic Mosquito, Safari Fred, Denise Delicious, Cuddly Cuthbertson, Miracle Mutesa and of course Bad Boy Bennie.

From Garlic and Fleming - remember that you too could star in the next episodes of this farce - so keep your head down, because we are on the look out for more targets!

I suspect some of the rising stars in this continuing comedy will be Handy Annie, Pistol Pete, Feisty Fi, Bendy Barr, Wicked William and perhaps Naught McNaught, but be assured - none are out of our clutches, now that we have so much more time to develop our story line.

Thanks for your support and for the 2400 hits we have had in the last 5 weeks - we do not know who you are, but we are very grateful for your interest and the sharing in our fun.

If you want more information on the work that we are doing then email me at garymacfarlane1@me.com. Perhaps you know about running a college and would like to offer your expertise! - or just to keep me company!

God Bless

Manic - **** how did you get there??? **** Outch!

Lysander Lands in Lanrig

Reports are coming in that a 1943 Lysander plane landed about 6pm last night in Lanrig Road, Chryston.

It is rumoured that 2 spies were secretly deposited, after flares were seen on the Moodiesburn to Chryston Road. Bad Boy Bennie apparently had a series of 5 alibies arranged - elderly women at the Chryston evening soiree, but many people remain suspicious that he was the covert informant that let these Rwandan infiltrators into the country.

There has been much conjecture about the event, after one of the spies invaded Chryston Church and attacked a helpless Chryston church cook by kissing and hugging her almost to death! The cook tried to escape by trying to clamber under the oven she was working at, but unfortunately failed to evade the onslaught.

The other spy tried to attack another women called Mary, but she had been pre-warned, and managed to evade a similar fate.

It was noticeable that both the Lysander pilot and his crew were able to be contained by the large gathering of 120 people at the Chryston Church 'fellowship' meal. They appeared to be unable to resist the high quality food that was put before them, of which they both had 3 helpings.

Late in the evening, they were repatriated to their homes, for a degree of interrogation and possible molly coddling - though your correspondent is somewhat less convinced that this latter technique is being used.

Reports are sparse but it appears that neither were treated to the post Rwandan bacon roll and pot of tea treatment, though one of the spies was taken out for a pub lunch of fish and chips and a pint of cider.

There are no depths of torture that some people will descend to get the full truth out of their captives - sorry Roger I told her everything!

Bennie Run! Hide the Lysander - we will need it for our escape - shame it only carries 2 people.

A Beer at the Embassy

Today Roger and I went to the British High Commission. We were invited of course. You see we rotate in high circles. Suspect that is best word for what we have been doing the last few days. It certainly feels like a pretty dizzy experience.

Anyway we were very prompt, arriving at 3.50, and then were called through to our meeting. Then suddenly a commotion, and we were flung out. I suspected BBB had something to do with it.

Well not quite. Another person had arrived for the same appointment time, and we are such gentlemen that we offered to go down to the beer garden for an hour, in the grounds - for a pint at the Gorilla and Goat! Honest its true.

Mind you, we did not get a beer - no-one there to serve us, so we just sat in the sun, chatted about strategy and planning. The meeting was very helpful, and pointed us in a good direction in establishing a significant project - back to Scotland to discuss this with the Scottish Colleges.

Now, while I am on high circles, we also have to let you know that the Prime Minister, David Cameron, has had the privilege of staying on our floor in Solace - indeed has sat in our office, when he was here a couple of years ago. What a fortunate fellow - blessed by association with Garlic and Fleming.

Enough of this blog - we are just about to board the flight from Kigali to Nairobi, via Burundi.

Hoping to be home tomorrow evening - see you also soon.

Light the flares Bad Boy - the Lysander is coming in!

College Report

Well, enough of Garlic's blurtings. Here is what you really want to know. The College Report - the:

• ground is cleared, and laid out for the building
• deed plan is now ok - to be registered on Monday
• plans and engineering drawings are complete
• reports are nearly all written - 2 to finish tomorrow
• builder has been chosen and seems reliable and intent on doing a good job
• initial price looks good and close to predicted budget
• start date, depends on planning application, should be mid October
• finish date early February
• site checking arranged

The only thing outstanding is the Rema certificate - environmental impact report - we need to get someone to complete this - hopefully not too big an issue.

Tomorrow we hope to visit the director of the Workforce Development Agency about a joint curriculum development project, and then on to the UK Department of International Development to discuss whether they would support an developmental initiative to help all Colleges in Kigali.

It looks like it is all coming together - he says very warily.

Then its home on the 3am Flight to Nairobi, and sad fairwells to Rwanda until mid November.

PS RAIN IS OFF and MANIC IS BACK! God love him!!!!

Brilliant Office, Manic Retreats

3rd Blog of the evening, none rational, and why should they be.

I had so much to say tonight, that I decided to change my pattern. You see I usually get back to my room at 10pm and then lie on my bed under my net hiding from Manic Mosquito. Now, having been bitten quite a lot in our time here, I took to avoiding Manic. But this has had the detrimental effect that I toss and turn on one elbow then the other as I blog way. Eventually I get fed up with the discomfort and give up, and nod off.

Anyway tonight I am in my office - actually out in my office. I have a balcony which is great in the morning, because you get a great view - (see photo), sunshine and warmth, great sounds of children playing and singing, and for two or three hours can do my business planning, and organising meetings, before it becomes too hot.

So tonight I decided that I should fight back against manic, and came out onto the veranda, with the mosquito spray, squirted it everywhere, and for the last hour I have been able to work very happily listening to my usual music, while watching the lightning and thunder storm.

This is probably the best time to make a formal complaint against my fellow colleague about my work. I used to be doctor of some standing (many would dispute this I know), but at least I thought I had some position. Then I took a voluntary step down to be a Project Manager of a one man team (Roger). Not much of a position I hear you say, but at least I was in charge.

However, he has very ably turned the tables, and I am now merely an architect's secretary. For the last three days I have been typing out all the details for his plans, headings, and outline specifications. From GP to secretary - what a come down. Is this really my calling.

Anyway, we have pretty well finished all our work - see report in 'College Report'

I, however must more seriously put on record how tremendously hard Roger has worked to get everything done, and it has been a great privilege to share this time with him. He has been fabulous in every way - except his sense of direction which remains awful - he says its because he is too busy trying to cope with the work I am putting on him.

Mary, you can be very proud of your husband - thank you for lending him to me and the project for these three weeks - a great friend, a tireless worker, valued advisor, and most importantly providing me with loads of fun and many laughs.

By the way, I am now inside, on my bed - and manic has been drowned by the flood outside - YES!

Confidential Message to Bad Boy Bennie

This message should not be read by anyone other than BBB - encryption code needed to decipher.

Transmission - Bad Boy Bennie - your position noted - presume you are still holding your post - stop - will attempt Lysander landing this Friday evening - stop - ensure road between Chryston and Moodiesburn is cut at 1800 hours - stop - insiders must be held at junction at all costs - stop - insiders Malcolm and Brown suspect - stop - may be outsiders - stop - identification two frog croaks - stop - good luck - stop

Transmission ends

Fleming and Garlic Lose it Completely

I have decided to do a number of short blogs in the next 24 hours. This may or may not work, but I wanted to give you a flavour of how it feels to be finishing this stage of the project, and for tomorrow to be our last day.

Firstly, I should explain about the mental state of your two intrepid bloggers. We have been out all day finishing off business - more of which later. We came back by coach from the centre of Kigali, which is one of the cheapest forms of transport hear - pretty crowded, but definitely good fun.

We were dumped off - I think that is the best description, and going past the Novotel (real name Leica - but no-one calls it that here), and we decided to see how much an evening meal would cost, on the way down to Solace Guest house.

Since we had asked to look at the menus we decided to get a beer, and then Dave Wald appeared and we persuaded him to chat for about an hour.

This was pretty productive. We made a semi booking with him for Kayaking in October up the west coast of Scotland, also to come to our church, and sorted the Rwanda need for an art and music festival. We also talked through his love for music and what he would like to achieve here in the next few years with his work on orphans - building a house for them, and doing his music lessons, which just allows him to just survive.

Anyway, Dave, delayed us so much that we stayed for a meal - that's actually a bad lie - (learning too fast from Bad Boy Bennie) because we had already decided that it was not worth going down to Solace.

Finally about 9pm (3 hours after expected) we walked in the dark down the dirt track towards Solace, when we suddenly saw this very small animal running along the road. It was quite strange, and when it saw us it stopped several times then again rolled on, and after chasing it for 20 yards, we nastily pinned it down behind a tree.

In the darkness Rog thought it was a small bat, I had not a clue - perhaps a mouse or weasle, but was intrigued to identify it. Quickly out with the camera and this fantastic action shot revealed that we had just chased a flower up the path, blown by the wind.

The two clowns - Fleming and Garlic quickly looked round to check that we were not spotted being so ridiculous. No problem - just an armed soldier giving us a strange look!

Time to go home - we have lost it completely!

Finally Work on Site

When you do lots of preparation for any project, you always look forward to the day you see the 'real' work starts. Today we were up at 7am for breakfast, and had a half hour meeting with Callum, the director of Comfort Rwanda. Callum arrived with a party of 18 people from Edinburgh at 2am this morning.

Then we met the District surveyor on site at 9am, and agreed the final position of our ownership. Hopefully tomorrow we get the correct deed plan, and put it straight for registration. That means that in 4 - 6 weeks the actual build can start, assuming the planning application goes through ok. (actually it arrived at 8pm tonight and looks correct - at last!)

At 9.30am we met Kayitare and his son Jeff, and their squad of 12 who immediately descended on the site where the College is to go, and with an hour and a half they had really swept aside the long grass allowing us to see what the area really looks like.

Then at 11am, Callum arrived with Mark and Emma Galloway who are part of our fundraising team - we are still looking for another £30,000 - so it was really important that they were able to get photos of the site and us laying out the position of the building on the plot, so that everyone can see that we are serious about this College starting construction soon. If you want to support the College Build and its work then there is a giving page. Thanks for considering this.

At 2pm we met Norbert and Robert who we are thinking will check the costs and the building stages for us, and tonight we have a meeting again with the Vice Mayor - so still very busy right up to the end - but we are getting there!

2 days to go and we are on our way home - so much to do before we leave!

Pastor Paul

I thought it would be good before we return home to do a blog on Pastor Paul Ndahigwa. Paul and his wife Odette live fairly close to the church in Gatenga in Kigali. He is a man with many facets. At heart a pastor, he will often stop his car just to have a chat to someone he knows, and he knows many people. I get the sense that there is often some spiritual content to the conversation - would love to know what he is saying.

He is always on the move, on the phone, going to meetings, and organising more. I sense there is much more going on in his life than I know - I sense a business man, and a bit of a politician. Today for example I am sure he had an invite to the presidential inauguration of Paul Kagame, and I am sure he was there in Remera Stadium.

As you will remember, he is also a farmer, with I think 3 farms. He is very proud of his cattle and we passed one of his larger farms on the way to Akigera National Park the other day, and shot his long horned cows from a distance.

He is pastor of a church which frankly is pretty run down, but gets often 400 - 500 people there on a Sunday morning. I have not heard him preach but suspect that he is pretty frank, because that is his way. He is a leader and expects much of his congregation. As a result they have projects in a number of areas with street children and schools.

I have been disappointed that our business with many many planning drawings and papers has meant that Roger and I have not really learnt what Paul and his church have been doing and what they aspire to do in the future. We have invited John Mutesa to spend a couple of hours with us in the next couple of days in the hope that we learn more, and I trust I will experience more on my next visit.

Wee Irritations cause Great Hilarity

Sometimes its the small things in life that cause the most irritation, and the most fun.

As a side line to our main project we are undertaking a careful review and analysis of Rwandan table legs. In particular we are hoping soon to find a table where we can sit down and have a meal without the imbalanced table leg causing coffee to be spilt all over the table cloth.

Roger has a really good system which involves sticking his bedroom door key under the short leg. Unfortunately, we live three flights up from breakfast, and it is a regular occurrence for him to get to the top of the stairs, and then realise that the key is under the table - back he runs.

So far he has forgotten 3 times and I have forgotten it once, and it is starting to become a wee frustration, that provides a lot of fun to the other person!

For those wanting to know whether we danced at church service, I have to convey to your great disappointment that we did not. In fact I have to admit that we dogged off church in the morning. Instead we spent 4 hours planning the College with our proposed builder. I know its not biblical and not what we should be doing, but Pete Andrews, who was interpreting for us, was leaving on a plane to Wales last night and this was the only time we could meet.

So instead we left the windows open and listened to the solace church singing only 30 yards away. I love the Solace Gospel Choir music which I have purchased off iTunes, and its great to work too, though often brings a tear to my eye.

As I look forward to going home on Friday, its praise music is one of my fondest parts of Rwanda. Just as well I am coming back in November, or else I would be very unhappy to leave.

Why not have a listen (click here) to their music.

Oops got sidelined.

Anyway we had our building meeting, which went well, and we await prices for Tuesday nights meeting - a key time for decision. Having, missed church in the morning, we took a taxi across town to L'Eglise Vivante church, and joined a small group for an hour and a half.

Miracle Mutesa was preaching on Christian reward. If we are seeking out God, and put our trust in Him, we are rewarded (don't absolutely like that word) with being able to walk in God's presence, feel the effect of His love in our lives, and to enjoy His company (and fun).

I added that (fun) bit because I think we can have fun with God. Might get into trouble for adding it - but that will be fun to debate anyway!

Oh, and the last piece was an absolute requirement to share this love with others also - Praise God. Hope I shortened your 45 minute sermon appropriately MM?

For the very disappointed (about the lack of dancing) you should be made aware that Fleming raised both hands (above his head even), and Macfarlane could only manage one (well he is Irish and I am Scottish)

When we came out of church we realised that we were in the middle of a shanty town type village, pretty dark, and a very long way from home. We walked for half an hour. There was absolutely no sense of risk, with many people coming out of coming out of the Expo exhibition. Eventually we managed to get a taxi, and finished up spending our last Rwandan francs on a chinese we are getting to frequent.

Now pretty broke, the banks are closed because today is the presidential inauguration, so we are working and eating at home in the Solace Guest house, and will try and get some cash later in the afternoon.

Irish Scottish Matchplay Championship

We have been stuck inside all day - I know, a bit sad really on another beautiful day in Rwanda.

We have been preparing plans for meeting Callum and Paul on Tuesday, and we have some good news for both of them and that good news goes with lots of work. Anyway, thats why we have been in all day.

If you wait until Tuesday I hope to be able to share it with you.

Anyway, by the time we got to 5pm tonight we were stir crazy, and decided to go for a walk. You see at the bottom of our road there is actually a golf course. Now I need to speak to David McAdam about this, because there was no mention of a golf course in Kigali, and certainly not one 300 yards from Solace. If I had known a small bag of clubs might have come along - perhaps next time.

So Roger and I went for a walk, and very interesting it was. The golf course has 18 holes, and I have included a few shots of great golfers playing a championship round (bit suspicious you cannot see their clubs), but anyway the Irishman won.

Then we found the local lake where the kids go swimming and fishing - quite an art the fishing - but the fisherman was pretty successful as you can see.

The local village that is just below where we stay, is really poverty stricken, but you should have heard the fun the kids were singing in one of the houses - all afternoon the laughter and singing and drums rang out. We felt like going in and joining them, but just walked on past, tapping our toes and stubbornly refusing to dance - nothing changes.

Roll on Sunday services tomorrow - you never know, you might get a picture of Macfarlane dancing - heaven forbid!

6 days to home - but the really important memories will be the small villages we walked through tonight, loads of kids, seeking money, mums struggling to keep thinks clean, small mud houses in the middle of the city, just under expensive flats and private homes. Frustration that we cannot communicate, just have to smile and say hello, and be gentle and humble - knowing that we are privileged, can go home in a few days, but their lives live on here.

The key question - how do we provide help to support in their determination to rise above the enormous efforts of their just existing? What practical help can we provide? Will the College make a real difference to these youngsters?

Too many questions, and not nearly enough answers.

Frustrating that I do not have the answers, and that the problem seems so big. At least in Kigali there is a real sense of Government seeking to do something significant to make a difference, and there are loads of organisations working hard and achieving valuable improvements.

On Monday, the president is sworn in, its a public holiday, and a big party begins - should be very interesting.

Next time I will bring my clubs - saves us having to pretend to play, and should be able to beat Rog with real golf sticks, mind you the fairways were pretty tough!

Feart of Feet Fleming

This blog is not for the faint hearted. Beware. Recommend that all those who get squeamish at the least sight of blood should definitely stop here.

Chryston adventurers, including Bad Boy Bennie, Cuddly Cuthbertson and (yet to be nicknamed ) Paton and well know the serious problems we have had over the years with Roger's feet. In fact everytime we go away he presents us with another therapeutic challenge. So, it was hardly surprising to me that once again he required medical attention here in Rwanda.

An operation was needed, and undertaken earlier today. Dr Macfarlane once again undertook very careful and quite major surgery. The patient required a prolonged convalescence. We thought you would love to see the videos - the operation. There was also a post mortem and that video will be available on our return home

I would like to personally make several apologies:

To Roger for not using anaesthetic when I had some in my case!

To Ian Brown because I had to do the pathology without his expertise present,

To the Chryston football team, because Roger will never play again - Rick please note and

To you bloggers and particularly to anyone who ruptures a muscle through uncontrollable laughter

Enjoy the video - Oh Joy!

Bonnie Banks of Akagera

We left Kigali about 8.30 in the morning. We were passing the College site yet again, so we decided to do some more measuring before we meet the district surveyor tomorrow, for the final decision re the exact area of the site.

The particular issue is the road to Nonko which runs beside the land. This has to be 9 metres wide. At the top it is 8 metres, and we will have to give one metre away, but at the bottom we should gain quite a lot

Anyway, after 2 hours drive we turned off the main road, and bumped for another half hour until we came to the lodge. Cost of entrance was £20 - so not bad really. We were both pretty concerned because we were the only car there. You see most of the animals go further north because it is pretty dry where we were.

The first half hour we saw some eagles, and buffalo and baboons, but it was pretty quiet generally. When we came over the crest of a hill there was a tremendous view towards Tanzania, and as soon as we hit the lakeside we started to see lots of interesting animals.

We were able to get out a couple of times to take pictures, and walk along the lake side. The temperature locally is really pretty comfortable, about 30 degrees which is because Kigali and the surrounding area is about 4500 feet up, and although it is close to the equator the height reduces the heat.

We drove for about 80 Kms around a very small part of the park. There is really quite a large number of lakes around here, and for those who like bird life it has loads to see. It would have been nice to see large herds of elephants and giraffes, but we were very pleased to have seen what we did.

The trip back was in the dark, pretty wild with lots of people on bikes and walking at the side of the road. Had to stop because the car overheated, but passers by helped find some and we were soon sorted - the people here are so friendly - always a smile and a hand shake - have not seen a scowl since leaving Europe, except the one on my own face when I heard of the land deed problems

Anyway I am much less grumpy today, and eager for the work tomorrow, when it is back to work for the next 7 days. There will be little spare time as we complete our meetings with the district surveyor, a builder, an architect and a quantity surveyor, Pete Andrews again, the Vice Mayor, Albert director of WDA, Rosemary in charge of careers, Abraham from KIST, representatives from business, Callum and Emma who arrive Tuesday, final meetings with Paul and his team, and John Mutesa.

Apart from all that, we have to get the final plans submitted, the engineering drawings completed, add in the College costings and print the 3D plans.

Sorry about the list - my brain was just going over all that we have to do - oh, and there is a possibility that Paul wants us to preach on Sunday, and neither Rog or I have done anything to prepare for that - though in Paul's usual way, it is difficult to know whether we are expected to preach or not - something was said about us doing that last Sunday but then it got dropped.

Well we will just have to see what happens, and its better than having to dance. I have warned Rog to prepare something, as will I.

Its good to be busy - (must not forget to buy some presents)

Hope you enjoyed some of our many photos from safari. Love to you all. God bless.

Feart of Croc Fleming!

Now, everyone knows that Roger and Garlic have spent enormous amounts of money on this Chryston Adventurers expedition, and that I promised him the kayaking adventure of a lifetime.

Not only that, but I have brought him to a specialist Rwandan kayaking builders yard to get his own specially design kayak. Then when I tell him that across this lake is Tanzania, I expect him to push me aside and tear down to the lake to get paddling.

But no, not a flicker of an interest. Not a molecule of enthusiasm. And as a fisherman I thought he would dive at the opportunity to get in the boat and catch a few catfish. Not a chance

What could be the reason? - perhaps the hippos put him off, or the maybe the croc who was eyeing him up for tea - I suspect the latter. Maybe we should be calling him 'Feart of Croc' Fleming.

For those more interested in where we are, rather than our usual juvenile banter, we are on safari in the Akagera National Park, about 2.5 hours from Kigali. Today was our self appointed day off.

The lake is Lake Ihema, and Tanzania is easily seen just the width of Loch Lomond away. The hippos did not look particularly fearsome, though we did keep our distance, and the croc just seemed to circle the kayak expecting a juicy fleming meal.

I personally could not see what the croc saw in him - there is hardly any meat on him!

Music saves my Day

Today was not a good day! I lost the land again - more later.

It started well enough with a half hour chat with Dave Wald. Dave came out to Kigali in July last year, having qualified in a masters in music and psychology at Leeds University. Roger also qualified at Leeds, so was interested to know if he knew anyone - unfortunately Rog qualified 40 years earlier - so not much chance!

Dave has been doing some really interesting and practical work helping genocide victims through using music to help them express their emotions. He is finding that through this people are being helped to cope, and coping helps them to live.

He has a variety of projects going for individuals and groups, is working with establishing a music curriculum, and we had a pretty broad and interesting discussion on developing arts and musical festivals.

He tells a rather unusual story of David McAdam suffering some form of hallucinations when he was out last year - we are suspicious that he might have been eating the same kind of bananas as we had, though Dave thought it was some form of heat stroke.

He informs me that the Solace Gospel Choir are doing a Christmas Album, which is really good news since I very much enjoyed their last album which I downloaded from itunes.

Then some bad news came, that Christian Aid did not include Technical Training Colleges and their work supporting the poor, as part of their strategy in Rwanda. Apparently they are much more involved in the Aids programme. This was a bit of a blow because we had hoped to develop a joint project with them. However we did get a lead to the Ministry of Education out of it, and so another paper is being prepared, and perhaps this lead might go somewhere.

Straight from the Christian Aid discussion, Paul phoned and we were met by this man, Safari Fred. (no need for another nickname here then!)

Fred is the main driver for us these three weeks. In fact tomorrow he is actually taking us on safari to one of Rwanda's national parks - so lots of photos on the blog tomorrow night. There will be headings about Roger and the water buffalo - might even manage to find an appropriate nickname for Roger from the trip.

Anyway Fred took us to lunch. The main reason was because the local legal department were refusing the deed plan. They were strenuously opposing the area, because they wanted to ensure that their main road, and the side road required quite a lot of our land. We argued hard and long but it looks like we have lost 20% of it. Apparently the district can stipulate a distance of 15 yards from the centre of a main road, and also demand that we create a wider road for the local community. All this without any apparent payment to us.

It does not seem right to me - I move into very cynical grumpy GP mode during these sessions. Miracle Mutesa gets quite alarmed and must have asked me 6 times whether I am ok. It looks like he has not experienced a grumpy GP before.

Well if you had lost 20% of land that had cost you £67,000 you would be pretty non plussed! Thanks to Vic McLaughlin, (well done) we do have someone working on the eastings and northings - hopefully he will reassure me that the land is actually in Kigali, and not in Congo where it was the last time I worked it out. If its in Congo, then I am definitely coming home early.

The district surveyor is going to meet us on site on Friday, to see whether this is correct. This will be our 5th time looking at the site, and still no bulldozer.

Fortunately we know that we can still get the buildings on the site, with a bit of adjustment, but we have now lost a month of building time, despite best endeavours.

So when I returned from the meeting, it was straight on with the music therapy and a fair bit of banging on the key board - I think I know a psychologist I need to see!!

Tonight thankfully, we had a very good meeting of the planning group. Good delegation of responsibilities, and more insights into how Rwandans do their business.

However, I really must do a session on diet with them - it was chips, lamb kebab, more chips, tomato sauce and coke for tea. Not healthy - designed for instant indigestion and an early exit, but then maybe it was comfort food, to treat Grumpy Garlics mean mood.