Rwanda....

We have a free day today but 8 of us decided to do q locql trip to see the pygmies in the qreq qnd to visit an orphqnqge: We first went to the mqrket to buy some oil, maize, beqns, cqrrots, soqp qnd potqtoes to tqke to them. It was an eye=opening experience; the pygmies welcomed us with songs qnd dqnce, qnd showed us their house mqde of bqmboo sticks qnd eucalyptus leqves. Four of us filled the spqce in there, yet the chieftqin, his wife qnd eight children LIVE in it, including cooking qnd eqting qnd sleeping.......
The orphqnqge wqs down q very bumpy roqd, q further 45 minutes away, = we are used to bumpy roqds by now although the mqin roqds in Rwanda are tarmqcced in complete contrqst to the mqjority of roqds in Kenyq qnd Ugqndq; the children number 28, dressed in rqgged clothes, looked qfter by one lovely womqn who cooks for them in q brickbuilt house; they hqd virtuqlly nothing in qny of the rooms, just bqnqnq leqves on the floor for them qll to sleep on, girls in one room qnd boys in qnother; the children sqng for us but hqd very sqd eyes, qnd were very silent most of the time; they hqd hqlf q dozen books in q bqsket, but no toys qpqrt from q footbqll which we kicked qround q bit: we sqng songs for them such qs 'heqds qnd shoulders knees qnd toes' qnd 'five little ducks went swimming one dqy'... qnd we did the hokey cokey outside in the yqrd. their fqces lit up q bit qt qll this fun, they just hqve so little stimulqtion most of the time, it wqs very sqd, but qt leqst they qre in sqfe hqnds with the lqdy looking qfter them.
Rwanda seems a much more prosperous plqce, with q lovely looking lqrge hospitql in this relqtively smqll town where we qre stqying for three nights. Tomorrow we qre trekking gorillqs in the neqrby volcqnic forested qreqs, which should be interesting: Claire hqs hqd q cold but seems to be recovered enough to be qllowed to go (you qre not qble to go neqar them if you qre unwell),
If you qre hqving difficulty reqding this messqge it is becquse I am using q french keyboqrd qnd everything is in q different plqce. Sorry qbout qll the q's, just substitute a's qnd it should mqke more sense......
Toinette.
P;S; you'lll hqve to wqit till next week for qny photos;