Evacuation: the immediate and urgent movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard (Wikipedia)

A lot has happened since the last post. Which was, I just saw, from January!

2015 started promising, with the beautiful trip to Rwanda (see previous post) and a visit from Griet's parents in February/March.  In short: It included lots of snails, tambourinaires (traditional drummers), zebra's, monkeys, beach, off roading and warm beer.

After the Easter holidays, things were different. The president decided to run for the third time in the presidential elections. This is in breach with the Arusha Accord, signed in 2005. This led to a lot of protest, demonstrations and the school closing early. Between mid-April and mid-May, the girls have been to school 1,5 weeks. We were given tasks and exercises to do at home, but it's not the same. 

 

On 12th May, the school opened up again, only to close early again on 13th May. After hearing the protests and demonstrations coming very close and in fear of not being able to get to school that day, we took the girls out early. Nothing too early though. By the time we came home, the radio announced a coup d'état. Later we heard that there were children stuck at school till late because their parents couldn't get there. 

The days that followed were surreal. There was a constant noise of guns, granates, shouting. There was heavy fighting between the putchists and the president's loyalists. The strategic points (airport, radio station, presidential palace) were going back and forth.  All private radiostations burned down, journalists weren't allowed to enter the press house. When a stray bullet landed in the garden we realised we were more vulnarable than you first think. 

So we put the kids (with lots of comics and movies) in the hallway where there are no windows and stayed indoors as much as possible. The putchists (or some of them at least) were captured in the end and the president announced the coup foiled.

On Sunday 17 May Griet and the girls were evacuated to Belgium. 2 days later the girls were back at school. They have been remarkebly flexible and adapted well to the situation.

Now, 4,5 months later, we are still in Belgium. Thorsten has been able to come over for most of the holidays, but he had to go back to Burundi early September. Griet and the girls however are still waiting for permission. Although (superficially) things are much better now (much less shooting, granates etc), it is not yet back to normal. In August several highly influencial generals were assasinated (including the country's nr 2 and president's right arm) and the human rights activist survived an attempt. 

The girls are happy at school here, they have good friends and enjoy the perks like cycling to school, going to the swimclub, library etc. On the other hand, they miss Burundi and their friends there. They are really torn now.   

The situation is getting frustrating, not knowing when we can return. We can be given an all-clear to travel this week (Yes pleas!!!) or we can still be here with Christmas (No please!!!). But apart from a few logistical issues (Should I look for a french teacher for the girls or is it not worth anymore? Do I need to invest in winter clothes and shoes or not?) we are doing fine. We are able to stay at Griet's parents (thank God they have a big house!), have a good roof above our head, have food, heating and the girls are able to attend school. 

Christmas in Rwanda

Months and months we've been looking forward to this holiday. Finally we have the time to explore some more of this beautiful region. Because Burundi and Rwanda are (at times very) hilly countries, we decided to take it easy on the driving. All the girls, some more than others, get car sick. And who wants to start their holiday throwing up in the car?

So with plenty of stops and several nights in one place, we set off to Rwanda just before Christmas.  

After a night in Kirundo, close to the Rwandan border, we arrived in Akagera National Park in Eastern Rwanda. In the course of the 3 days we spent there, we saw all the animals there are to see. One day, in search of the elephants, we could hear them in the bush, saw one tail and saw a big one going at the trees. The suddenly, this elephant started charging and coming really close to the car. Luckily it stopped before it stuck its tusks in the windows but nevertheless, it was very impressing. When another elephant started to hoot at the other side of the road, we realised we were in the middle of a family that was divided over both sides of the road. They didn't like to have a car in their midst and neither did we... 

On another occasion, in search of the buffalo's we went down a plain. The day before, we had tried to reach that plain via the other side, but were discouraged by another car who said the road was too muddy. That day however, we came down no problem, and saw the beautiful animals up close. But then it started to rain and suddenly we were in the middle of that mud, with no other option but to keep going. The thing is, you don't know how long you will be driving, sliding in the mud, there was no way to see where it ended and Thorsten just kept going skidding past bushes, buffalo's and deer, on and off the road. One thing is sure: if we had driven any other car which is slightly lower, or had arrived there 5 minutes later, we'd been stuck. Back at the lodge, we enjoyed a warm lunch, played some games and the girls made friendship with some other children to keep themselves busy. 

After that experience, we decided to hire a ranger to accompany us all the way to the north of the park. We panned to exit the park there and if we'd get stuck on the way, nobody would know as we didn't have a phone. 

It was a beautiful ride, with lots of changing nature and all the animals much closer by as in the south. 

 

We had a picnic on the way with a stunning view.

After Akagera National Park, we had a couple of days in Kigali, where we realised we like Bujumbura more and where we met up with friends from Cameroon. 

On the way to Kibuye and in Kibuye, we were confronted with Rwanda's genocide past. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and everywhere you find memorials to remember. It is impressing to enter a church when you know 20 years earlier 11400 people have been killed. Now, this church is completely renovated and masses are held every week. 

On the way back to Burundi, just past the Rwandan border, a truck had fallen over and was barring the way. We decided to go back to Butare, spend the night and try again the next day. We took an alternative road, a small and bad "piste" but with beautiful views, along the ridge of the mountains, through small villages and banana plantations. It was worth the diversion. 

Back home we enjoyed the last few days of the holidays in the garden. We painted the paillotte (small round hut) and while the guard was hurting himself wondering why on earth those crazy mzungu's would do that work themselves in stead of asking someone else to do it, we had great fun. 

And to close off the holidays, our turtle, Fleur, layed her eggs and we were very lucky to be part of it. This also was an amazing experience, to see her choosing the spot, digging a deep hole with her short legs and laying, very carefully, 7 perfectly white round ping pong balls in it.