New Years Party 2012 in Rwanda

Organising the party

As previously mentioned we were very excited  to see how the New Years Party was turning out. The kids were planning and organising the party. We only had two meetings last week with brainstorming of ideas and planning the shopping. Then on Monday we had the final meeting, but that was it. Nothing about the actual entertainment taking place. So we were quite excited to see how everything would turn out and the actual entertainment on the day.

We spent Friday and Monday on shopping at the local market behind Gisimba. Christy (the American volunteer) and Pascal (one of the teenagers at the orphanage) had done some initial pricing reviews, so we knew where to go and buy the different things. Not really possible to negotiate a lot, even though Helle tried to but the small shops did not want to give discount, so Helle had to go back to the shop with the best prices, even though the customer service was a unfamiliar word in their world :-) Hmm not something Helle liked.

Helle went with one of the mama’s (the women workign at the orphanage), who is responsible for the shopping of food for the kids, and bought meat at the market (local butcher) and veggies. Quite a different experience from buying it in a supermarket. When looking at the butcher cutting the meat and the flies on the meat, you could easily become a vegetarian, but we must say that this is some of the best meat we have had down here.

Thomas went with Christy and a good bunch of the boys to pick of cases of soda’s, bananas, etc. The kids were so nice in helping out carrying stuff.

By Monday afternoon all shopping and decoration were done, and we could relax. The orphanage had organised another event in the afternoon, where some external people came with free milk, juice and lolly pops for the kids. There were some known artists (singers, football coach, etc.) and a reggae band. After they handed out the stuff, everyone went outside and listened and danced to the music. It was really good.

Great to see how they just dance in the middle of the day without getting embarrased - not something Danes would do.

The Party

The party began at 7pm with everyone coming to the dining room. The room was nicely decorated with balloons, glitters, and other things. The kids were sitting at long tables. The food was served by the mama’s.

We had a table next to the "DJ’s" aka a couple of the teenagers who were in charge of the music. We had rented some speakers and a microphone and borrowed a laptop from a friend of the manager of Gisimba. So the music was in place.

The owner of Gisimba was there and had a welcome speech. He stayed there most of the evening. His wife and kids also participated. This was really great. Then Helle held a speech where she handed out gifts for the New Years Eve Committee, who had helped plan and organise the party (15 people).

After the speeches, Pascal, who was the MC (toastmaster) kicked off..and from then it was their show. We basically just helped in the background.

Following dinner we quickly  cleaned up the room and removed many of the tables, and then the entertainment began..and WHAT A SHOW! We were all so proud and amazed about the show they had organised all by themselves.

The show began with traditional dances, followed by modern dance performed by both the girls and the boys. Then there was comedy, which we of course didn’t understand much off, but it was good. Then there was more dance. They really know how to dance and those moves..wow!

Then modeling started, which at first was just the girls and then later a new modeling show with couples. Oh my god they were good at this modeling.

There was also singing, which was good and a speech held by Emanuel (another teenager from the orphanage) on behalf of the kids to say thank you to us for making it possible to have this party. So sweet of them.

The entertainment lasted from 8.30pm to midnight – great show! It was all different kids performing, both boys and girls. They had really put a lot effort into this and it was a huge success. Everyone was yelling and clapping.  So much fun.

This evening was MUCH better than we could have hoped for. We did not know that they had done so much practice and planning about the entertainment, because when we had asked in advance, it was like “yeah..it is okay..everything is in control”, but nothing more about how many events during the night, group of dancers, etc. So yeah we are just so thrilled about it and proud of them. This was only possible because of their effort and work. Pascal did an excellent job in being the MC and coordinating everything, also down to when we should serve soda’s and snacks.

Again everyone helped with the serving and cleaning..great to see how they all helped. You don’t need to ask twice for help.

Just before midnight the entertainment finished, and the music was stopped briefly. Then the music was turned on and the dance began. Everyone was wishing each other Happy New Year and giving each other hugs. People started dancing and soda’s were used instaed of champange, ie. sprayed after each other, so we all got quite wet and sticky.

The party continued until 1am, but then we had to stop, as the smaller kids had to go to bed. Quite quickly we got everything cleaned up except the floors, which the kids cleaned the next morning. They also took care of all the empty soda’s and carried them back to the shop where we bought them.

What a party!!!

Our last week

This is our last week here in Rwanda and it is REALLY sad that it is coming to an end soon. We will miss all the kids SO much, as they are such wonderful kids.

Christy went back to the US today..a bit sad too. Three new volunteers from Australia and US came yesterday and will be here for two weeks and one month respectively.

Tomorrow we will do a small excursion to Mount Kigali (right next to the orphanage) with some of the kids, among other the New Year Committee group.  It will be quite fun.

We have also had the pleasure of visiting one of the kids’ sisters in their homes, which has been really nice. A really nice family. It was also an interesting experience to visit them in their homes, as this is so different from back home.

Safari in Tanzania

On Saturday we will leave Rwanda and fly to Tanzania, where our safari begins. This will so cool, and we are looking forward to it. But right now the focus is on Gisimba and all these great kids. We will of course miss them, but will keep in touch with some of them via e-mail and Facebook.