Going home for Christmas...

Things have been so busy in the office over the last couple of weeks that I haven't had the chance to post anything, so here's a quick update on what's been going on...

I’ve been working on all kinds of things – from creating invitations to our office Christmas Party to researching Rwandan inheritance law (not easy - there ain't no LexisNexis or Westlaw here!), and from sorting out the address book to preparing documents for re-registration with the government. Can't complain that I don't have enough to do, or that it isn't varied! IJM Rwanda is gearing up to start actual casework in January (which everyone is excited about) and at the moment we are in the middle of conducting a baseline survey in the area we intend to work in. This will give us a bunch of useful information to help us tailor our casework, and also allow us to evaluate how much of an impact our work is having.

We've also welcomed some more staff members - Modeste, our new driver, and Kalisa, our accountant. Our Rwandan lawyers start in January or February, so we'll have a full team very soon. Everyone's been fantastic so far, working really well together and very committed, so things should really be ready to kick into high gear in January.

Other than work, I’ve explored a lot of Kigali (which is full of areas with tongue-twisting names like Nyarutarama, Mbarabuturo and Kacyiru, as well as a surprising number of nice restaurants), and managed to see a little bit of the rest of Rwanda so far – taking trips to two orphanages and a pottery workshop outside Kigali. I haven’t yet made it to Lake Kivu, which I’m told is incredibly beautiful, or gone gorilla trekking near the Volcanoes National Park, but they’re both on the to-do list. I’ve also found a great church, called New Life Bible Church. It’s largely Rwandese, but has an English service. The only drawback is that it starts at 8am, but then here I’m getting used to early mornings (something I never thought I’d say!). Work starts at 7.45am, so I have to get up around 6.30 every day.

And lastly, I'm heading home for Christmas tomorrow! Very excited - will be so good to see family, friends and especially Mairi. Plus, can't wait for cold weather and a proper Christmas dinner (hot sun, casava and matoke - a kind of banana thing - are all very nice, but don't really feel right for this time of year!). Will miss some good friends I've met here though - most I'll see again in January but a few are leaving Rwanda for good over the Christmas period. I guess that's both one of the best and worst things about expat life - you meet incredible people from all over the world, but then they leave to go back to their home countries just as you're getting to know them. Bit bittersweet really, but I really hope we'll stay in touch.

Hope everything's good where you are. Noheri nziza n'umwaka mushya muhire [Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!]