Rwanda is a popular place...

Looks like when Pat goes to Africa, Paris Hilton wants to follow....


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Paris Hilton's postponed trip to Rwanda will go ahead next year and she believes the trip will encourage youngsters to get involved in charity work.

Paris Hilton's postponed trip to Rwanda will go ahead next year.
The hotel heiress - whose five-day visit to the war-torn African country in November was "regrettably rescheduled" last week - is still determined to work with the Playing for Good Foundation to draw attention to the plight of the Rwandan people.
Paris said: "We were supposed to be going in November, but the charity is undergoing restructuring and has to sort some things out. It's going to go ahead next year."
The 26-year-old star believes her trip to the war-ravished country - which was torn apart by the genocide of 1994 - will encourage a younger generation of people to get involved in charity work.
She said: "I know Rwanda went through a lot of traumatic experiences, and I feel like if I go there, I can help save some lives.
"I lot of people do help, but they may be in the older generation. I want kids to know, even if you're 15 or 16 years old, you can do something."
Earlier this month, it was revealed Paris' Rwanda trip was being turned into a reality show.
The programme, called 'The Philanthropist', was set to feature various celebrities undertaking charitable endeavours.
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Photos Rally

Au Service, 20 minutes pour réparer la voiture!15km avec cette roue! Vive les pneus Michelin!
La grande famille des pilotes et co-pilotes
La remise des trophés

The Huye Memorial Cup

Hi Everyone! It’s been a while since my last entry, but I have been very busy this past week preparing for my first real entry into the car racing world. Martin is a member of the Rwanda Automobile Club and competes in various car rallies across the country. His co-pilot used to be his girlfriend Caroline, but she has had to stop when she learned she was pregnant. In their last rally together they made a mistake and the car did three flips before crashing down a mountain, not too safe for a baby.
So Martin was looking for a new co-pilot and when I saw his race suit and started bragging that my step-dad and cousin were also into racing, he knew he was going to drag me in as his new teammate.
At first I was kinda apprehensive about the whole ordeal, since I usually get carsick and was kinda scared of killing myself in the middle of Africa. But the idea of getting myself into another crazy adventure, making Michel proud (and my mom not so much), and competing was enough to convince me.
So last weekend we drove down to Butare (now called Huye), a city two and a half hours away, to do the “reconnaissance”. The whole idea here is to know the tracks well and note every single turn so that on race day, we could whip through as fast as possible. The job of the co-pilot is to tell the pilot exactly what is coming up. Is the next turn a 90 Left, a jump on 120 Right or a Long U 90 Left? It is crucial to give the driver the right instructions so that he can properly gage his speed and not fly off a cliff or into a ditch. In order to get the most precise notes possible, we used a GPS to know exactly what kilometre we were at and took down many “repères” such as a house with a blue door or a banana plantation. Anyways, all was not so well that weekend. I was taking down the notes that Caro and Martin were telling me, but it didn’t take long for me to get car sick. I basically felt like puking the whole day. We decided to sleep there at night to practice more, esoecially the one we would have to do at night. My notes also ended up being really bad cause I was too sick to focus and Caro had to redo them all.
After the reconnaissance weekend, I spent every single weeknight at Martin’s house typing up the notes with Caro or at the garage with Martin setting up the car. I also had to practice changing a tire in less than 3 minutes, and learn all the logistics of the rally. That week was incredibly tiring and I wondered if I had gotten more than I bargained for.
Finally, Saturday morning arrived, and there was no turning back, I got all suited up in my anti-fire suit and left for Butare.
There were 11 cars racing in all. Our car, a Subaru Impreza, was about the 5th or 6th best car and Martin was about 6th in the ranking since he had not finished the last two races and got no points. We were also the young rookies of the gang. One pilot had been racing for more than 25 years, and another had been the co-pilot for the Champion of Africa before becoming a pilot himself. After the first 26 Km leg of the race we were 4rh. Martin went slower than he could have gone because he needed to build trust in me and I was not complaining. On the way back of the same track, we beat our time by 30 seconds which is huge. However, we remained 3rd. When we got out of the car for a 20 minute service time, I felt like puking so I took some gravol. Then we did the 46 km track, I was scared about this one because I did not know it well, it was long and I was scared we would take a wrong turn at one of the many intersections. However it went really well and luckily two of our competitors ran into car troubles so we fell into 2nd place. The night trail was a short 13 km one, but very fast and fun. We did average time there, but managed to keep our position. The next day we did rhe 46 km one twice. The athmosphere of a car rally is really fun. There are a lot of people all around the track cheering us on and loads of kids everywhere that come up to you just to shake your hand and touch your car. It made you feel like a professional athlete with lots of fans. Some people drove from Burundi just to see the rally. Anyways on the second day the plan was simple: drive conservative so as to not get a flat tire or break anything major. If we had to stop we would lose at least 3 minutes and lose our lead.

The first time around went really well and we still stood in 2nd position, with the 3rd place guy about 2.5 minutes behind. All we needed to do was get through the track again without breaking anything. But at about the 20 km mark, I heard Martin say he thought we had a flat tire. But we decided to keep driving anyways. However, there was at least 15 km left when I heard this screeching noise and realized we had no more tire in the back driver side. We were driving on the metal part of the wheel! If we stopped, we would lose our place so we slowed down considerably but drove on. Every 100 meters Martin was yelling “HOW MANY KM LEFT TO GO?!!!” It was getting really hard to control the car, especially in the curves. But we manage to make it past the finish line. However it wasn’t over yet. We still had a 10 minute liaison through the city to get back to the service area. If we did not make it in the allocated time, we would get penalized. Our plan was to stop, take 3 minutes to change our tire and then take 7 minutes to get back. We jumped out of the car and got everything out but realized the place to insert the “crick” had been broken so we could not change the tire! We got back in the car and drove through the town on 3 wheels honking like mad so people would get out of the way and we could make it back on time. And guess what?! We made it!!! Even though our time was 1m34seconds slower we maintained our 2nd place!!! At the ceremony we each got a huge trophy and I even received flowers since I was one of the 3 ladies taking part in the rally!
Overall, I had a great time, but best of all was getting to meet all the fellow drivers and co-pilots with whom we had a blast and partied with all through the weekend.

Meals, Rwanda style

My Apartment

Hi everyone! Thank you all for your advice about what to do with the living arrangement situation. I finally decided to take the apartment I was telling you all about. Being with my boss 24/7 is great and all and I enjoyed it plenty while I could, but it is time for me to experience living on my own in the middle of Africa.
Martin and his girlfriend were very nice to have offered me to stay with them for another month, but I felt it was time to take the leap. I also did not want to give up the opportunity since I was not sure that I would find anything better.

So this week, I settled into my new apartment. It is great for many reasons:
1- Safety: I live on top of a bank, so there are two armed guards at all times. Everything is locked and Emmanuel, the grounds keeper, is always around.
2- Cleanliness and space: It is the nicest I have seen in my budget and there is plenty of place to host a party. (All my coworkers keep asking me when I will invite them over, so I need to learn how to cook and buy enough forks for everyone soon!) Seriously, I have seen uglier apartments in Montreal for triple the price so I cannot complain. I even have a balcony in my room where I like to sit at night when I am bored and spy on people (or keep working or write my blogs).
3- Proximity: It is only a 10 minute walk from work, which is nice. There is also a market nearby and the famous Chez Lando hotel/restaurant is just around the corner. I am already friends with Willy, the waiter, and he is making me taste something new every time. The famous stadium and U.N headquarters is also right beside where I live. I think I saw a volleyball game being played one night, which excites me like you wouldn’t believe. I just need to find someone to bring me as I am not sure how safe it is for a white chick like me to go by myself. Apparently crowds can get rowdy.
4- Utilities and Equipment: The place is fully furnished with a small fridge, a two burner camping stove (only 1 works right now but they are suppose to fix it), a foam bed with foam pillows (my cuz Val will have to heal my back when I get home), a mustard yellow living room set, a coffee maker, a kitchen table with 3 chairs (don’t ask where the 4th went) and a shower.

However, I will have to get used to a couple of things:
1- Water is turned on only 3 hours a day (4 if I am lucky). This means that a flushing toilet is a luxury and I need to hurry up and fill all my water basins when they do turn it on so that I can cook when I come home late and wash my face at night.
2- Hot water is also an unknown concept to Rwandans. Washing has therefore become a most painful (yes painful) chore. I basically heat water in my pot for 30 minutes and mix it with my huge cold water filled basin. (The water becomes lukewarm at best). I then must stand in the bathtub and poor the cold (cuz by now its already cold) water on me using a plastic juice jug bought at the Chinese store. I cringe just thinking about it and totally understand why many Rwandans prefer stinking rather than washing more than once a week. I am seriously thinking of adopting a similar strategy, but I am not sure I would be able to smell myself…Seriously, I wish this to nobody back home.
3- I must lock every door with a different key. This is great safety wise, but if you know me, it can be a total pain when you forget or lose one somewhere. I already managed to leave one set of keys in my jacket in my office at work. By the time I finished work in the office next door, Christelle (who shares the office with me) was long gone and I was locked out.
4- The fridge is empty ….and there is nobody to clean up after me. That’s when reality hits… But I guess I need to figure this one out on my own! Good thing I have a friend who went to the market with me on Saturday and helped me buy enough to get started. You see, over here the price seems to change depending on the colour of your skin so she helped me to learn the real value of things. El Cheapo aime ca!

Alright well I hope this is enough to get you all up to date with my living arrangements! Send me your comments! And by the way you are always welcome if you would like to visit! I will be waiting and by then I should have learnt how to cook! (It can’t be too hard; they seem to fry absolutely everything!)

Weekend au Parc Akagera

Akagera Park Weekend Getaway

Bonjour à tous! Merci de vos commentaires et conseils sur mes blogs précédents! Continuez à me donner des nouvelles de la maison ça fait toujours du bien d’entendre parler de vous, de potins et d’autres niaiseries amusantes! On dirait que je peux entendre votre voix à chaque message que je reçois!

Laissez-moi vous raconter mon weekend extraordinaire et bien sûre rempli d’aventure au Parc Akagera.

Afin de décrocher un peu du boulot, nous avons décidé de partir en safari dans un des trois grands parc du Rwanda : le Parc Akagera. Nous étions 6 et nous avons quitté à bord de deux 4x4 le samedi après-midi pour nous rendre à l’hôtel à l’entrée du parc afin de relaxer un peu et être en forme pour traverser le parc en entier du Sud au Nord
le lendemain. C’était ma première sortie de la ville de Kigali.

L’hôtel ou nous restions me faisait penser à l’endroit oû j’étais restée lors de mon périple dans la jungle bolivienne il y a de cela déjà 3 ans. Le plan était de se coucher tôt pour être en pleine forme le lendemain, mais nous avons fini par faire la fête au bar et jouer aux cartes jusqu’aux petites heures du matin. Le jeu préféré de la soirée : l’indien.

À 6h00AM le lendemain matin nous étions tous debout, quelques uns plus poqué que d’autres. Nous étions déterminés de trouver les girafes, les zèbres et l’éléphant. Avant la guerre de 1994, le parc était surpeuplé d’animaux, mais depuis, plusieurs espèces sont disparus et le parc a diminué grandement en superficie pour donner des terres aux gens qui revenaient de l’exil. Malheureusement, on n’y retrouve plus de prédateur, car les fermiers ont tous tués les lions qui venaient manger leurs vaches.

Au début j’étais toute énervée et je regardais intensément par la fenêtre, la caméra prête et les jumelles autour du coup. 5 minutes plus tard (j’ai jamais vraiment été reconnue pour ma patience), je commençais à me dire que c’était pas mal plate un safari lorsqu’on ne voit pas d’animaux. Et puis tout d’un coup, Néry s’est mis a s’écrier : regarde regarde! J’ai aperçu un petit troupeau de bambis (je me souviens plus du nom scientifique) qui broutaient l’herbe. Mais ca ce n’était que le début un peu plus loin nous avons vu des singes sans poil sur les fesses comme dans le roi lion, des sangliers, des buffles et d’autres petits singes. Là je me suis gâtée avec ma belle nouvelle caméra (merci papa!). Mais le plus impressionnant était les girafes. Elles étaient 5 qui mangeaient paisiblement juste à côté de la route! Nous sommes même sortis du véhicule pour mieux les observer. Ces bêtes sont vraiment géantes. Un peu plus loin nous avons aussi vu des hippopotames. Ceux là, ils sont plus laids que je pensais, mais aussi beaucoup plus gros.

Tout allait bien et nous continuâmes notre route après s’être arrêtés pour dîner (et dans mon cas pour calmer mon mal de cœur intense). Nous étions rendu à 140KM de la sortie, littéralement au beau milieu de nul part quand POW! Notre voiture s’est arrêtée. Il était 1h30PM et une courroie du moteur s’est brisée. Nous avons tentée de prendre le chemin d’urgence pour sortir du parc le plus rapidement possible, mais le moteur surchauffait trop et bien vite nous avons perdu la batterie. Il faut comprendre que là ou nous étions, à 40 Km du village le plus prêt, on ne pouvait pas se faire remorquer (ca n’existe pas des remorques ici) et on ne pouvait pas abandonner le véhicule.

Là j’ai commis l’acte le plus noble que quelqu’un comme moi aurait pu faire et j’ai sacrifié ma veste pour qu’on puisse en faire une courroie! Eh oui, le chandail que j’aimais tant qui m’avait été offerte en cadeau par deux amies chères et que j’ai portée tout le long de mon voyage au Pérou s’est fait découpée en longue lanière pour faire fonctionner le moteur. Je savais que les chandails MEC étaient de bonne qualité, mais je ne pensais jamais qu’ils étaient assez forts pour servir de courroie à moteur! Toute l’après-midi, Martin et Néry se sont battus avec la voiture pour la faire avancer de quelques kilomètres à la fois. À chaque fois que nous nous arrêtions, des dizaines d’enfants des villages le long de la route accouraient pour voir ce qui se passait.

Les villages sont pleins d’enfants et il y a très peu d’adultes, car ils sont tous décédés pendant la guerre ou du SIDA. C’était extrêmement triste de voir tout ces enfants sans parents avec du linge tout déchiré. Il y avait même un kid qui avait une fesse à l’air, car c’est jeans était tout détruit. Il y avait aussi une petite fille que ne devait pas avoir plus de 6 ans qui portait son petit frère de 1 an sur sa hanche. Mais, ils étaient très curieux de nous voir et nous leur avons donné nos bouteilles d’eau vide pour qu’ils puissent les utilisé pour amasser l’eau au puits du village. Ces enfants n’avaient aucune gêne et au début je me sentais un peu comme un animal observé. Il parlait de nous en riant, mais je ne pouvais rien comprendre alors je leur souriais simplement. J’ai serré la main à quelques uns d’entre eux et ils étaient tous excités.

Finalement, à la tombée de la nuit nous étions toujours pris sur la satanée route au beau milieu de nulle part. On a fini par trouver un type qui nous a prêtée une chaine. On a donc attachée les deux voitures ensemble avec une chaine de pas plus de 5 mètres de long. C’était extrêmement dangereux et à chaque bosse la chaîne se détachait d’elle-même! Nous sommes finalement arrivés à Kayunza à 8h00PM et nous avons laissée la voiture au garage pour qu’on la répare. Nous étions toujours à 1heure de Kigali, nous avions faim et nous étions crevés de fatigue! Inutile de vous dire que ce soir là, on n’a pas eu besoin de nous faire raconter de berceuse pour s’endormir!!!

Quelle aventure!
R.I.P chandail brun du MEC.
-Pat
-xxx-