Go Hard or Go Home – #Invincibles

A reminisce and round up of Rwanda from project lead, Jono…

The spring Rwanda project saw a mixture of new and old volunteers from all different backgrounds, ranging from a Duchess to a medical administrator and a insolvency practitioner to a deputy restaurant manager.

The first week we were based in and around Kigali, visiting a mixture of schools from public to private and primary to secondary, not forgetting the incredible Rwandan Orphans Project (ROP), where the team all turned into Madonna and if we could have bought a child each home we would have. Some highlights of the first week for myself, included Chris (soon to be known as Jomo Kenyatta Steven Hawkins Brains) booking the wrong connection flight and spending half the day in Nairobi airport. Anyone who has ever travelled to or via Nairobi airport will know what I mean when I say 'unlucky!'. Another, was Adam losing his helmet whilst on a motorbike taxi race from Heaven. Also, not forgetting the look on the new volunteers faces when 300 primary school children ran out of the school gates towards their coaching stations. After asking the locals if there is any football on while we are here, the reply was no (note that boys, it wasn't a yes). In true African timing, this local derby had just been arranged (!), although the atmosphere in Kigali when the football was on didn't seem it, so with myself, Lee and Rich working hard, we let the new volunteers have the afternoon off to witness and enjoy the celebrity experience at an African match.

In the second week most of our time would be spent out of Kigali and in the Province of Nyanza (South Rwanda) with the usual 10 minutes journey time often referred too, we travelled two hours to get to our first school. Highlights in this week, were how much George (also known as Sleeves, Sleepy, Skype, Reverse Brains) sleeps so much. You could pretty much guarantee as soon as we would leave the apartments he would be asleep. Another moment when the big kid came out of Lee and broke a child's homemade bike/scooter. Finally, all I can say is read Day 10’s blog ‘Big Drama in Gitarama' – that's what it is all about, a memory which will stay with me for a long time.

On a final note, I would like to thank the volunteers for making my first time as project lead a memorable and enjoyable experience, you did yourself and CWB proud. "Go hard or go home!"