Monday 6 December 2010

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 30th 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!

Thursday 2 December 2010

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?

Wednesday 1 December 2010

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!