31st March

I’m still working from home and it’s very full on.  I’m getting constant WhatsApp messages and emails, even more WhatsApp groups being set up for various work groups, and requests for feedback and annotation on documents.  My laptop had stopped working at the weekend, Google chrome wouldn’t boot, the internet connection kept going down and my phone was slow with messages. My son had talked me through the repairs and eventually everything had come back to life, but I had lost the momentum with work and had to locate all the online working documents. My head felt like it was bursting so I decided to go for a walk.

I took a long route to the shop.  I’d had an inkling a couple of times that people don’t seem as friendly as they usually are and I was starting to feel awkward, which had never happened before.  I found I was being stared at, and at one stage two young guys called me a Muzungo. It’s a common enough word used here to describe a westerner and not meant as an offensive. Children will often shout it out and try and touch my hair, but mostly in rural areas and not in Kigali.  The two guys seemed really unfriendly and I started to think that I would avoid coming to the shops again, or at least walking the back route.  I wondered if it might be something to do with them not having enough food and knowing that the virus had been brought from people travelling into the country. Or maybe I'd been trying too hard to smile at people and they don't find it appropriate anymore.

The schools in Rwanda have been closed for just over two weeks, ever since the first case was identified.  Children in private schools are receiving work to do at home and online, but for those in government schools, the likelihood of having computers or resources at home is small, especially in rural areas, and many of the parents would not be able to read or write themselves.  The Rwanda education board has now launched an e-learning Youtube channel to help students to continue their studies at home as the uncertainty on when schools will reopen continues. Lessons are also being presented on radio.