Blogs from Chirnside Park, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

Volunteering The Last Chapter. Volunteering - was it easy? No way. The cold showers (I’ve only had one hot shower since arriving here), the lack of water pressure, occasionally no running water for a number of days, the occasional blackouts, dusty roads, dodgy internet connections, language barriers, lack of the creature comforts we take for granted and of course leaving your loved ones and friends behind. All these factors make it hard work. Would I do it again? Yes I would. Even through all the discomforts and times of awkwardness when you see the smiling faces, the friendships you make and the acceptance you get it, and the new experiences you are involved in makes it all worthwhile. Sometimes you may ask yourself ( and I have) is it worth it? Am I making any difference. ... read more

GACACA (pronounced Ga -cha -cha hard sounding “g“) This ancient form of tribal justice system was revised after the 1994 Genocide period to cope with the overcrowding of the prison system as a result of the number of genocide suspects being held. The normal judicial system was still being rebuilt after the protracted conflict and genocide period and was unable to process the prisoners in a reasonable period of time. Some writers suggest that it would have taken the normal judicial system up to 100 years to process all the prisoners. Some of the prisoners had already been waiting up to 8 years for their case to be heard. So to help speed things up in 2002 Gacaca was reintroduced. Gacaca actually means “grass” and it comes from when the villagers would sit around on a ... read more

Genocide - Setting the Scene Pre 1950s In 1885 at the Berlin conference Rwanda and Burundi were officially assigned to Germany as part of the German East Africa colonisation policy developed in Europe to divide up the African continent amongst themselves. It was not until 1892 (7 years later) that any German entered Burundi. When the first German entered Rwanda what he found was a very well organised country with effective administrative structures in place. During this period of time (plus previously) the leaders within the country where from the Tutsi tribe with a Tutsi Monarch. Even though the Tutsi tribe were the major administrators of Rwanda there were two principalities (areas) that resisted Tutsi control. In 1912 with the assistance of the Germans the Tutsis successfully took administrative control of these two principalities. Resentment and ... read more

Election Rwandan Style Rwanda has just gone through its third Presidential Election post 1994. Election day was the 9th of August, but as in most countries the actual campaign started months ago. When I first arrived in Rwanda there was already an air of anticipation and excitement about the upcoming elections. The official campaigns hadn’t been launched yet but there where posters and radio ads encouraging people to carry out their right to vote. The Electoral Commission employed and trained hundreds of representatives to move throughout the country to conduct forums explaining the importance of their right to vote as well as how the voting process will be carried out on the day. Unlike Australia where you number your candidates in order of preference here voters are required to put a thumb print next to the ... read more

My weekend away (2 part entry due to its length) 08/09/2010 A few weeks age Emmanuel invited me to visit his family home in Muramba an area of Gisenyi. I have to admit that initially the thought of going to visit was interesting but as we got closer to the date I felt a bit wary as there seemed so much that was uncertain and in his wonderful African way couldn’t answer any of the concerns or questions that I had. For example I was under the impression it was a one day visit, an in, greet them then out. So I organised myself just for a one day visit. Oh no this was not the case, as we were boarding the bus to travel to his home town he informed me that we would be ... read more