Rain on the roof

Eve of 22/3/10
The rain is pounding on the metal roof; an indication that we’re definitely in the rainy season. I’m sitting in a luxurious living room in Bukavu in Congo, having eaten some lovely ‘ng’ombe’ (beef), ‘wali’ (rice) and cabbage (the Swahili for which I haven’t yet learned).
Eric (the Programme Director) and I had a five and a half hour drive from Kigali in Rwanda to Bukavu. Most of this was winding through villages and small towns – Rwanda is very hilly and the road follows the contours! For about an hour and a half we were going through Rwanda National park, which is dense forest over steep hills (nowhere for people to live) although that also means that the chances of seeing the gorillas that inhabit it is very low.
Crossing the border was fairly straightforward. Went into the office, they wrote our names and details in a book, stamped our passport and we were out. The Congolose side of the border was a noticeably worse road – whilst the Rwandan side was tarmac with recently filled in potholes the Congolese side was tarmac with unfilled in potholes. Makes a big difference!
The Tearfund accommodation overlooks the lake (seeing as everything is on an incline it all overlooks the lake!) with views to the mountains in the distance. There’s a spacious lounge/dining area, with slightly odd shaped sofas which are comfortable enough in you’re curling up but less so if you’re just sitting. I'm staying in another staff members room, who is currently out on leave. Most of the other international staff are either on training or on leave at the moment.
I have met a number of the national staff when we went over to the office this afternoon. It’s about 15 seconds walk down the road, with different rooms for the various teams. We communicated in a mix of languages – English/French/Swahili but we did manage to communicate! My briefing proper starts tomorrow.
Now, the rain’s stopped and I’m off to bed. It’s only 8.30 but I’m tired after my long day!
Bon soir,
Anna