1 home, 1 sweet home: a good house, big enough, comfortable, ours, as
luxurious as to be ashamed, for the local standards,though nowhere near the
typical westerners’ houses.
2 sick boys / 2 boys getting better quickly (one after the other, of
course, what a lovely week!); nothing serious (though Sam’s amoeba is not a
laughing matter either), just a good excuse to test the health system, first
time with Sam, in a big clinic in the city centre, for rich people, like us;
second time with Michele in a smaller but still clean and professional clinic,
very close and way cheaper. Anyway, only a few days home, not to leave Daddy
feel lonely in the morning, while Mum is at work.
3 workers, slaves, helpers, employees, time-wasters, friends, members
of the extended family, intruders… ?
4 VISAS: we have them, we are not coming back tomorrow (the entry
VISA lasts 30 days)! Not too hard, not easy, it just took some time, between
visits to the Immigration Office, the Italian Consulate, the bank… but we’ve
done it!
5 days (mornings) at school: Mum completed her first week, happy to
have started, shocked by the level of the teachers, overloaded by ideas about what
needs to be done, loved by the children.
6.00-6.10am: waking up time (5.55 for the grown-ups) / 6.40am school-bus.
7 days a week we thank God for sending us here.
8 lessons (2 hrs each) of Kinyarwanda, still a long way to go (such
a complicated language!), but Mattia is getting the hang of it and is starting
to try it out more and more, drawing a lot of smiles from the locals (are they
happy he tries or are his attempts so laughable?)
9 = icyenda: at least we’ve learnt to count (and up to hundreds of
thousand!)
10/10: the mark for the two boys, as to adaptability!
11 street kids: maximum but quite standard number attending
Mattia’s English lessons/snack/group time in the afternoon, just for a short
time (after language lessons, 
before the boys come back), but it’s a good
beginning.
before the boys come back), but it’s a good
beginning.
Dozens of birds, to be heard, listened to, waken up by, admired,
photographed…
13.00-15.00: language lessons; perfect time to feel tired after the
early rise, weary because of the noon heat... in a word, sleepy!
16.35: the bus brings the boys back from school.
17x10 minutes: duration of the Sunday morning service, in Kinyarwanda; the
saving grace is the music and dance, by various choirs, or Sunday School, if we
are asked to help with that.
18.00 mosquito-time: “boys, put on your long clothes, close the
windows (Daddy starts gasping for breath), put in the new mosquito-mats in the
vapour machines, come for the spray”
19 hours spent writing this blog and the Italian version?
20 days in school for Michele&Sam: they’re happy, their teachers
are happy, we too; they’re doing well and the school is very good, from all
points of view.
21/01 first (and only) outing on the tennis court for Michele and
Dad: Wednesday the boys have a half-day, so it’s going to be our family/sport
day afternoon.
22 minutes: time Michele managed to stay in the pool, for him still cold;
it was mid afternoon, the sky was cloudy, so the water was not very warm, but
for Dad it was fine (Mum was home with Sam, already a bit sick, before the bad
week); we’ll try again.
23/01 first day of after-school football for Sam: a success!
24/7 we know God sent us here, so everything is and will be OK.
1/25000: the chances of anything happening to us when we go around
town, for the country is particularly safe and white people are even safer,
quite a long shot from most of other capitals in developing countries.
26/01 meeting with Bishop Samuel and other bosses, to discuss our
plans: they are not pushing us to start, they are happy with some ideas, slow
to react to others…
27 smiling faces at the Amizero Centre (special needs school)
singing “My God is so Big” led by Elena.
28 nails, screws and hooks already hammered-driven in the walls by Mattia,
so as to hang things all around the house, both to decorate and to make up for
the few pieces of furniture and our many possessions.
29 Days when we all tasted at least one delicious local fruit (bananas,
mangoes, passion fruit, pineapple, tree tomato, avocados, papaya…)
30 times wealthier than many people here, more or less… shameful,
anyway.
31 warm days
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