| Home | About | Volunteers | Partners | Blogs | Interviews | Hall of Fame | Workshops | Contact |
Muraho: Learning Kinywarwanda and a Dowry Ceremony in Gisenyi
I’m starting to get settled into life in Rwamagana and as you can see from the title I’m beginning to learn a few words of Kinyarwanda. It’s mainly useful when people shout stuff at me in the street. Now I can work out whether it’s friendly or not. Pretty much all friendly. Kinyarwanda is the main language spoken by Rwandans although many people also speak some English and/or French. In 2008 Rwanda moved from teaching French as a second language in schools to English so lots of adults speak very little English and are trying to learn. For me, this means that on the bus, and in the street, people approach me to practise their English. I definitely like this as I get to meet lots of people, and have interesting random conversations.
So, lesson over, onto last week at work.
Tuesday we spent the morning updating DIZA’s records, and also trying to do a bank reconciliation. Non accountants – this is where you compare the amount of cash you thought you had to the amount of cash showing in the bank statement and then work out why it’s different. DIZA is very small; as such, it has very few transactions and the bank reconciliation in theory should be a pretty straightforward process. Unfortunately it was not, as the bank statement was wrong. It is definitely not something I’ve encountered in the UK. We’ll be trying to sort out over the next week or so. In the afternoon we wandered round town getting quotes and prices for the school budget.
DIZA Office
Wednesday I was left to my own devices as Eric had an exam. I was pretty efficient in the morning getting through some of the stuff I needed to do on the computer (there’s only one which we share). When I got back after lunch the power was down, and it stayed down all afternoon and evening. This is one aspect of Rwandan life that I hadn’t really considered. The power goes down pretty frequently (at least 3 times since I’ve been here) and it is a real hindrance to work/life. I’m luckily staying in hotels that have generators but these are manual and aren’t too much more reliable than the mains. Anyway, I decided to go and sit in the sun and read through the notes I’d bought with me.
Almost as soon as I sat down I heard a cry of “Muzungu” (white) go up and three dirty little boys came charging across the field towards me. I had a camera half hidden under some of my papers but as soon as they reached me they spotted it and started pointing and saying picture picture. So we sat together and went through the photos I’d taken (of Rwanda and home). Particular highlights for them were Keith the cat (Norfolk) and some pretty red breasted birds (Rwanda). After that they had a go at taking some pictures themselves and since then they regularly run up and say good morning to me.
Rwandan boy
As I’ve started on the subject of children, I may as well continue. Whenever I go outside it takes about one minute before I hear a child shout Muzungu! The very little ones (2 & 3) smile at me from a distance and if I walk past them they run over and hug my legs. Slightly older children will grin and giggle, and wait till I’ve just walked past before shouting “Good Morning, How are you?” This can be said at any point of the day (and even in darkness) and when I reply they dissolve into laughter and shout it again and again. All very cute and amusing. Tweens and teens tend to want to practise their English with me so that’s always interesting too. The pied piper has nothing on me.
Now some Monkey Business. I was walking through town last week with Eric and I saw a monkey cross the road in front of us.
Why did the monkey cross the road? To get to the other side.
I was very excited about this and pointed it out to Eric who merely rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders in the general direction of a house we were passing. “They keep them there as pets.” This was said in the same tone that people in England use to talk about neighbours who keep old fridges in their driveway. The next day on my way to work I saw the monkey again. When I got in I told Eric straightaway. “You like the monkeys don’t you?” Yes Eric, yes I do. Apesolutely.
Monkeys: do I need to say more?
So this weekend I visited Gisenyi with Jean Marie, DIZA President, to attend a Rwandan dowry ceremony.
In Rwanda the family of the groom still pay a dowry to the family of the bride. It’s traditionally cows although now money is sometimes given. The ceremony is held at the family of the girl and the girl’s family (“GF”) sits separately from the boy’s family (“MF”). Nowadays it’s all role play as everything is decided between the couple.
The ceremony starts off with basically a load of joshing where a representative of the male side asks to see the girl and her family say she doesn’t exist / it’s the wrong house / she isn’t there etc etc. After a while it’s established that it is the right house, and the girl is there and that maybe the family will let the BF see (and possibly marry) her. At this, the BF give the GF some booze and everyone has a little drink to celebrate.
Then comes the business of how many cows the BF will give to the GF. One is the standard. Once a number is decided on (in this case the standard one) a few people go and check out the cows to see that they have four legs / udders / whatever.
Then it’s time for the groom to reveal himself. In Gisenyi he was wearing a rather fetching leopard print skirt, carrying a spear and was attended to by 4 other men in skirts. They wander about for a bit and then have a sit down and wait for the girl. The BF call for her.
The girl appearing is a BIG THING. I think it varies depending on how far a family want to go with it. The first people to appear from the GF house were some topless boys in blue skirts with some drums. They were followed by 4 girls in blue dresses who danced to the drum beat. Then there were 4 bridesmaids in golden Rwandan dress. Then finally the bride and her chief bridesmaid appear. The bride and groom meet, share a kiss, a drink and some food and then everyone eats.
Once the crowd has been fed the BF leave the house and the GF get down to some serious drinking / dancing. As you can see from the photo below, even Congolese and Rwandan ladies dance around their handbags.
Finally other random stuff:
- I was slightly horrified bemused this week to wander down the dirt track to work this week and hear the sounds of Shania Twain. Loads of the shops here have speakers outside playing music, sometimes Congolese, sometimes terrible imitations of terrible Western pop, sometimes Shania, sometimes Whitney.
- Ashes very exciting! Been keeping up to date on the guardian’s OBO. I’m not sure there is anywhere in Rwanda that will show it but meeting up soon with some English people who’ve been out here a while and might be able to point me in the right direction.
- I’m still addicted to The Shield, on series 3 now.
- The craving for red wine has got too much. Luckily there’s a supermarket in Kigali selling Hardy’s for 7 quid. Result.
- I now have a favourite Rwandan mineral water (Nil) and beer (Mutzig)
- Also in a brilliant development I’ve found a non threatening Rwandan boozehound to hang out with. I knew there’d be one somewhere.
- At bars you can’t buy spirits by the shot, you have to buy 300ml. Some would say a wine glass full of Johnny Walker red is too much, I would disagree. FYI Mum, I shared the 300ml, I didn’t drink it all myself.
- I’ve been trying to feed my snake phobia / obsession by asking everyone I meet about snakes in Rwanda. I was rewarded by a story of a snake trying to get into a house in Kigali and biting a dog. Now I am PROPERLY scared.
Hope you’re all well and not too chilly in the snow! TTYL
Our Partners & Supporters
.jpg)
