累！

办公室政治越演越烈无法置身事外。
庞大的工作量令人窒息精神紧张。

Disabled

A young boy came to the office yesterday accompanied by an elder teenager asking for donation. The boy presented his academic result trying to convince us his effort. Both of them are deaf and mute… I gave EUR2.50, so did my colleague. Probably he would visit other offices in the same building asking for the same.

The amount is small, but EUR5 is equivalent to 3 full day wages of a casual labour in Rwanda. Life is difficult here I strongly sensed. It is much more vulnerable for persons like them to survive in this country where unemployment stands high. Many jobless people are seen gathering in particular places hoping for a mercy of job offer to meet their daily needs.

Tomorrow Will Be OK

Guessed I had food poisoning. Since after dinner the day before, stomach was over stuffed. Lost my appetite completely yesterday, only had 2 slices of bread for the whole day. Back home from office, the pain intensified, the intestines were spraining with gust of vomiting (but nothing was thrown out). Battled for a few hours, crawling in and out from the toilet, almost collapsed at one point… today, I consumed only 1 slice of bread and a few pieces of biscuit.

Hope tomorrow everything will be fine.

Umuganda (photos)

Umuganda (Cleaning Day)

Every last Saturday of the month is fixed as the nationwide cleaning day, normally from morning till noon. People are encouraged to participate in this communal activity though not compulsory. I have not contributed any effort so far.

Our client had a fantastic thought and organized an Umuganda today to help a school expansion construction. All the contractors were “invited” (“summoned”) to participate this special occasion. We, a crowd of approx. 200 persons gathered at 7am at their office, but departed an hour later… Every participant prepared their own tools – shovel, hoe, digger. No one organized the works at site but we carried out the works spontaneously where necessary. We were digging and plowing the soil, transferring heap of stones. I had not touched the shovel for more than 10 years, this “hard” work exhausted me after ½ hr. The thought of a casual labour’s daily salary of EUR 1.80 flashed over my mind… tough life for them!!

The atmosphere was light, we made some harmless stupid jokes. It provided me a platform to meet new friends and acquaintances. A videocam recorded the hard effort of the Ministers and VIP, though they joined us much later.

At 11am, the activities stopped and we were directed to a restaurant. Ministers gave some short speeches. An anthem of Umuganda was sung (nice song). No food was prepared but just a bottle of soft drink.

I really appreciate the effort they are contributing on their land.

Am tired now… muscles sore…

Swine Flu in Kigali!

Yesterday the Ministry of Health announced 6 cases of swine flu detected in Kigali. The cause was traced to an American. The news is stirring a little panic. People are wearing mask in the public.

Hope this case would be swiftly under controlled, it will be a disaster if the virus spreading in this continent where medication is generally poorly established.

East African Union

Colleague said 6 East African countries – Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Congo and Rwanda are planning to form an EU-like union. The import duties among the countries would be waived, single currency to be introduced, residents could cross border freely etc. I really doubt this is a good idea at present stage. The political stability remains doubtful, considering Kenya’s and Uganda’s recent unrest. Forming such an union requires relatively well organized governmental structures and regulations, and strict obedient to mutually agreed accord.

Comparing to its neighbours, Rwanda has much lower criminal rates, better organized and cleaner government. The effort of the incumbent rulers to establish a financial hub of the continent is shaping up in great pace, with Switzerland as a successful model. The limitations of this landlocked cum mountainous country do not permit large scale of industries establishment. It is a great advantage when Rwandan could enjoy a much lower import duties.

I’m still having doubt if this idea would bring a better future to this country in short run. Some said international organizations like UN are gradually shifting their regional office to Rwanda due to its more stable politics and social status.

In The Blood

His head was bouncing with the beat of Reggae! Amazed with the musical gene in his blood. I like this boy! cool...

Works

Pretty busy lately… but I enjoyed it. Am trying hard to organize all info in order. Now is the most crucial moment to strengthen the project background, would be essential for later stage. I know my time and capability is limited, but the 2 local assistants employed had not reached my expectation after 3 months, couldn’t really hand over responsibility to them. Today the new secretary (a man, though I prefer a lady for this position) has reported to work, hope he wouldn’t disappoint me.

A colleague has just left the site, part of his works are taken over by me. Sometimes I did like the “stress”, it forced me to react swiftly and more decisively. It’s kind of satisfaction when I look back later the volume of works I have completed and achieved. When the works get routine, I would feel bored again.

Resumé

I read several resumé recently. This is the first impression I judge on the applicants before conducting interviews. I’m bored to read if it exceeds 2 pages, or the word count was too dense, or not nicely composed. The concise version is sufficient, I’m not interested to know your hobbies, your primary education; don’t like the applicant boasting he/she is highly motivated, a responsible person, a team player, a fast learner… do you expect me to believe what you sell/say? Most of the applicants said they have sound computer knowledge (MS Office), but so far none of the interviewees passed my test. Am going to interview a secretary soon… let’s see how much she can show me on the computer.

Rwanda Development Board (RDB)

Visited RDB yesterday for the first time. This government center counsels and assists investors processing almost all aspects in regards to registration, legal matters, taxation, visa etc. Instead of tackling different ministries and departments separately, this one-stop service organizes most issues under one roof, truly remarkable and efficient. Though not particularly grand, the atmosphere was good and the service was friendly. I didn’t feel the commonly stereotyped bureaucratic arrogance.

This country is awarded world best service in assisting investment recently. I was told RDB is run by an American. Rwanda’s President has a vision to transform this landlocked country to become financial hub of Africa, apparently this is a more feasible idea as it is seriously lacking of natural resources and agricultural possibility on this land of thousand hills.

Another Party

Another pleasant party was held yesterday. Our director invited a local band to perform live (EUR90 for a night)… many of us had the similar first impression – “You must be kidding!” Our opinion was re-assessed after a while. Reggae, folks, local pops, with a few “remix” version of classic English pieces gradually heated up the atmosphere drawing people to the dance floor.

5 cylinders and a few crates of beers were drained. This was far too much for a crowd of 50 people. Too much was wasted. Some people just didn’t care about it if foods were served free, selfish thought. Jokingly we proposed to issue beer coupons or charged accordingly in the next party. Bet they would lick till the last drop.

The guests were from different levels of social status, the rich businessmen mingled among themselves, while the workers joined their own circle. I didn’t mean to criticize, but the table manner of some workers was really an eyesore.

Many were somewhat intoxicated, I could hardly understand what they talked but I had to pretend concentrating. They poured out their true emotion but mostly non-sensible & illogical.

Flooded

Shit! Just woke up from siesta, I realized my whole apartment was flooded after the rain. The water was not seeping through the windows but gushed in from the corridor. Water flowed like a mini waterfall from the staircase and the idiotic design of this apartment has equal floor level to the corridor.

The entire ground floor was water soaked. 3 workers from this building cleared the mess. They swept the water out from my bedroom, bathroom and sitting room. The dead insects and worms scattered here and there. Now my apartment was never before sparkling clean.

I worked “so hard” to help them cleaning, the skin on my palm was torn!

Lousy Service

The Italian restaurant (also an Irish Pub in the evening) right in front of our office used to be our lunch place during working days. There is no other good restaurant within walking distance.

Last Sat, I ordered a burger. They forgot the order, served after 40 min. I told them nicely to pack and take away.

Yesterday, I ordered carrot juice. 2 flies were found drown in it after I consumed 1/3. I didn’t complain to the boss.

Just now, again they forgot my order. I lost my temper slightly, for sure my face didn’t look friendly. I snapped and told them to pack and take away. The agitating waitress came to my back and apologized softly. Why at my back? They had no idea what’s proper service… I lost my hunger completely.

Back to the office, I calmed down and thought over again, what kind of service should I expect from under developed countries? I should be grateful staying in one of the most friendly places in the continent.

I Can't Wait...

Finally the latest novel of Dan Brown - The Lost Symbol was released yesterday. Was trying to order one via Amzon.com just now... but the e-book was already available on the internet for illegal download, unbelievable! But... I can't wait no more...

09-Sep-09

999 - the only thing I could recall is the registration no. of my father's green Volvo 240. Couldn't remember when it was bought... should be around 1983. I was the one washing it weekly... This was the last car he drove till 1995. We sold it to our neighbour after his decease.

The car is now parked in their car porch. Mom still peeks a look whenever passing by... too much memory for her.

驱蚊

妹在娘家坐月，小丫头晚上睡不稳，常有哭闹。神灵劝妹在婴儿床边烧香佑平安。某日妈见家中柬籍女佣带几株香进婴儿房，问之所以。其曰：驱蚊！

Tired

Pretty busy lately, works is still not in good order, trying hard to straight up the path. Some changes are being done, to better or worse, can’t see it right now. Fed up to fight and complain, no one would listen anyway, it's useless and helpless. Just do my part to clean up the shit left over by the others.

I look To You – Whitney Houston

A new album of Whitney 7 yrs after her last release. Songs are OK, but lacking of exceptional catchy piece, missing kind of “I will always love you” number… She looks old on the cover, the drug abusive eyes are no longer shining. Anyhow, she is still one of my favourites.

Gambling Lehman Brothers

I bought Lehman’s shares at its height EUR 25 in Apr-08. Ever since the company declared filing bankruptcy protection, the share price tumbled all the way to EUR 0.03 in May this year. I reckoned this stock wouldn’t have any chance to bounce back to EUR 25 level. Thus I gambled to purchase additional units to dilute the average price, hoping someday it would rebound slightly to regain my investment.

Yesterday news announced that Lehman would file USD 100 billion claim to its parent company, this immediately triggered speculation and pushed the share as high as EUR 0.165. I managed to sell off all on my hand at EUR 0.125 today, was so glad to recover complete investment with EUR 90 profit! Ha… I was lucky!

Who knows Lehman’s share would escalate higher in the near future, I wouldn’t risk myself on this company anymore. Maybe I’m missing a chance to make a huge fortune?

New Office

Finally my office room is made ready today, 16m2, I like it… I always need a quiet place to work.

New Apartment

Shifted to a new apartment yesterday, finally I could enjoy my own space and absolute privacy. It’s just a mere 67m2 small apartment, but the rent is USD 1400 per mth! This is Kigali. Well, company paid for it.

It’s the smallest unit in the building, at the ground floor, the infrastructure is not class at all and fairly basic. It’s ok… shouldn’t complain.

Look how the toilet bowl was installed. How should I sit on it? With right leg lifting higher, or crossing my right leg over stylishly, or sit facing the bathtub?

My Adidas T-Shirt

I know, she tried, and she’s still trying her best to do the job well… but sometimes a little over…

The cleaning lady showed me my Adidas shirt… colour was bleached… I sighed, said, “no problem.” She replied, “thank you.”

What a pity, even though that’s a fake Adidas.

Akagera Park (photos)

Akagera Park, Rwanda

With a colleague and his son, we travelled to Akagera Park yesterday. It was a 2-hr drive from Kigali, border to Tanzania on the east.

We stayed at Akagera Game Lodge, the only hotel situated inside the national park. The official website of this Lodge (last update was in 2008) gave a complete false data of room rates. It was stated USD60 and 80 for a single and double room respectively, instead we were shown the revised rates were USD110 and 150. Ok, fine… we didn’t mind. We checked-in the room, not larger than 3x5m, acceptable clean, but my toilet was partially flooded and a small spider was lying in my bathtub. The only complimentary item – soap, smelled like detergent.

The tourists were countable. The facilities were poorly maintained, the moss-coloured milky opaque pool water was obviously not changed for weeks. Baboons wandered inside the hotel compound, mainly around the restaurant, attracted by the scent of the foods.

We paid the park entrance fees, USD40 for 2 days (or USD30 for 1 day). The park ranger, Charles guided us to the game drive. He said lion has been extinct in this park after 1994 due to unregulated hunting by the farmers to protect their cattle. Unlawful poaching was still happening occasionally. The park was not immense, game (wild animals) was not plentiful. We could get close to the giraffes, impalas within 10m range, but the highly alert zebras, wild hogs and waterbucks fled instantly when our vehicle was approaching.

Hippos and crocs could be seen around the lake and islands. Unfortunately the weather was a little cold, we were told these beasts wouldn’t come ashore for sunbathing, boat trip (USD20 per person) was thus canceled. We saw a few hippos immersing themselves in the lake with their tiny eyes emerging an inch from the water, a few were staring at me when I was standing close to the lake taking photograph.

We drove in the valley this morning and saw a herd of approx. 70 buffaloes drinking at a muddy pond, but a stupid car got too close to them and scared them off back to the bush. Idiot driver!

Elephants could still be seen in this park, but they used to wander far away and hard to be spotted. By chance we saw one… one big pile of fresh elephant shit, but no trace of him.

I never thought of making a safari trip in this mountainous landlocked country. With no high expectation, I enjoyed the trip quite well. Of course the size, variety, organization, quality and value-for-money were no way to compare with my previous Kenya visit.

In general, without the gorillas in the mist, the tourism in Rwanda would be much neglected.

(photos will follow soon)

“Oui!” or “Ouah!”

Have been working with German company for 15 years… still not able to speak a proper German sentence. 22 mths spent in Philippines, I couldn’t speak Tagalog; 6.5 yrs in Oman and Sudan, I only learned to say “Insyalah”; 2.5 yrs in Bulgaria, my tongue couldn’t roll Bulgarski. Obviously I’m not gifted… (or my secretaries didn’t like to make me clever???)

French is still being widely spoken and used in Rwanda. It is interesting to find the similarities with English, especially some technical terms. By catching the keywords, we could figure out briefly the meaning of an article. This was comparatively harder to understand a German article instead. I heard French is a complicated language. Thinking of picking up a basic French language course, just to prepare myself when someone tells me “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”, should I reply “Oui!” or “Ouah!”?

Kigali Memorial Centre

Visited the Kigali Memorial Centre today, a memorial for 1994 genocide which killed a million. The centre was small but well installed. History of the genocide development was displayed, was quite unexpected to learn that it was programmed by the Belgium ruler then. In fact the genocide had started years earlier until it was pacified by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by the present president in 1994. During this period 2/3 of the populations fled to the neighbouring countries. The majority Hutu tribe set up road blocks in many places, Tutsi was murdered, raped, beaten… Grenades were thrown into the church where women, children and elders were seeking refuge. The notorious radio station broadcasted hatred towards Tutsi meanwhile. UN did not re-act promptly to stop the massacre, they realized too late the severity of this case. The 2nd deployment arrived only after the war was eventually controlled by RPF.

The exhibits comprised of photos and some documentary clips, most of the images were not gory. Thousands of photos contributed by the victims’ family decorated the walls.

Outside the building, there were a few mass graves burying up to 300,000 dead souls. The tidily trimmed garden with blooming roses and wild flowers couldn’t shed off the solemn atmosphere.

Photographing was not allowed inside the building.

Summer

The climate is getting warm lately. The office is facing west and I have to pull the curtains to block the heat, but the air is so stiff!

There is no big river in this mountainous country. The raining season yet to come, and the country is facing water crisis. The pressure was so low that water supply couldn’t reach our house for 4 days. We ordered a full load of water tanker, costs EUR 40! This country is not cheap at all.

Affairs

Just received from a friend, not new but a good refreshing.

The 1st Affair
-------------
A married man was having an affair with his secretary. One day they went to her place and made love all afternoon. Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8 PM. The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub them in the grass and dirt. He put on his shoes and drove home.
'Where have you been?' his wife demanded.
'I can't lie to you,' he replied, 'I'm having an affair with my secretary. We had sex all afternoon.'
She looked down at his shoes and said: 'You lying bastard! You've been playing golf!'

The 2nd Affair
--------------
A middle-aged couple had two beautiful daughters but always talked about having a son. They decided to try one last time for the son they always wanted.
The wife got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby boy. The joyful father rushed to the nursery to see his new son. He was horrified at the ugliest child he had ever seen.
He told his wife: 'There's no way I can be the father of this baby. Look at the two beautiful daughters I fathered! Have you been fooling around behind my back?'
The wife smiled sweetly and replied: 'No, not this time!'

The 3rd Affair
-------------
A mortician was working late one night. He examined the body of Mr. Schwartz, about to be cremated, and made a startling discovery.. Schwartz had the largest private part he had ever seen!
'I'm sorry Mr. Schwartz,' the mortician commented, 'I can't allow you to be cremated with such an impressive private part. It must be saved for posterity.' So, he removed it, stuffed it into his briefcase, and took it home.
'I have something to show you won't believe,' he said to his wife, opening his briefcase.
'My God!' the wife exclaimed, 'Schwartz is dead!'

The 4th Affair
-------------
A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front door. 'Hurry,' she said, 'stand in the corner.' She rubbed baby oil all over him, then dusted him with talcum powder. 'Don't move until I tell you,' she said. 'Pretend you're a statue.'
'What's this?' the husband inquired as he entered the room.
'Oh it's a statue,' she replied. 'The Smiths bought one and I liked it so I got one for us, too.'
No more was said, not even when they went to bed.
Around 2 AM the husband got up, went to the kitchen and returned with a sandwich and a beer.
'Here,' he said to the statue, have this. I stood like that for two days at the Smiths and nobody offered me a damned thing.'

The 5th Affair
-------------
A man walked into a cafe, went to the bar and ordered a beer. 'Certainly, Sir, that'll be one cent.'
'One Cent?' the man exclaimed. He glanced at the menu and asked: 'How much for a nice juicy steak and a bottle of wine?'
'A nickel,' the barman replied. 'A nickel?' exclaimed the man.’
'Where's the guy who owns this place?'’’
The bartender replied: 'Upstairs, with my wife.'
The man asked: 'What's he doing upstairs with your wife?'
The bartender replied: 'The same thing I'm doing to his business down here.'

The 6th Affair
-------------
Jake was dying. His wife sat at the bedside. He looked up and said weakly: 'I have something I must confess.'
'There's no need to, 'his wife replied.
'No,' he insisted, 'I want to die in peace.
I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!'
'I know,' she replied. 'Now just rest and let the poison work.'

Rwandan Colleagues

Last Friday a come together dinner was organized for our colleagues. The atmosphere turned lively after a few bottles of beer gushing down to the stomach, people no longer sitting rigidly, laughter sprouted here and there. Was a pleasant evening.

Being a “considerably” new comer to this project, it was interesting to observe the relationships among the colleagues, as well as their behaviors and characters.

Most of them are <30 year old, lacking of relevant experience in our field. Probably this is in line with company’s vision to recruit and train more local employees. The idea is good, but not well implemented. The young engineers fresh from the school / university are left idle in the office most of the time, without given appropriate duty, guidance and training.

The talking points had not much about the works, but emphasizing on personal matters. Many were surprised to learn that I am still a bachelor. Of course I would explain the famous “Cow & Milk” philosophy :) many volunteered to introduce their female friends to me… really appreciate their kindness… heh heh…

One said he is going to get married in the next months, and wished to further study. I was curious how could he afford financially? He replied, “God will help me”. I heard this answer not once, and I respected his faith to God. I told him, self effort is more foreseeable and manageable, not sure if he understood what I meant.

After midnight, alcohol had started seizing consciousness of some people. Everyone was in pleasant mood, no aggressive behavior. We checked the bill, someone must be disappointed for our early call to cease their drinking spree.