Rwandan neighbours

Well we arrived safely in Rwanda yesterday. Aline and the brothers of the bride arrived in the early hours of this morning. We went to see the building plot where Heather (the bride) & Manasseh are building their future house and these two little boys will be amongst their many new neighbours.

Life here is VERY DIFFERENT from our everyday life. We only have running water for a short time (& some days not at all!) So everyone is constantly going to standpipes with gerry cans to collect water and evidently for the past three weeks the standpipe at this end of the village has not been working so they have to walk several kilometers to collect water. The electricity goes kn and off all the time as well. So it really makes one appreciate how important these fundamentals are, particularly water. The people are so friendly and welcoming. We stand out as there are no tourists here and only a couple of other white people. So everyone wants to greet us. The family we are staying with are lovely. We all came together for a meal tonight (there are seven of our family here) and at one point this evening there must have been about 25 here, many of whom stayed to eat. The door kept opening and then we would go through the formal greetings, which of course got longer each time there were more people, so most of the evening was spent greeting people or saying goodbyes. Tomorrow we are going to a primary school to see the end of term concert. Our host family has two children at the school. It was difficult to decide which picture to blip today. I have much better photos on my camera but it is easier from the phone. I will try and put some of the other photos up but at present not sure how good this internet is.