Doha Dear

Well good morning, good afternoon, good evening,  goodnight - please choose the most appropriate greeting according to your timezone. 

I write to you from my mobile office, located at Doha International Airport, sitting at the very same table I was sitting at less than one week ago when this incredible adventure was just beginning.  But this time, I have purchased a large Coke, rather than a small. 

What a week it has been. 

I understand that you might be reeling from yesterday's post, where I attempted to explain the background to the genocide in Rwanda.  I'm sorry if it was hard to read, but I felt as though I needed to go through it as it helps to put the Guides du Rwanda into context.  I really encourage you to read more about the country because I only gave an overview yesterday.  What is so inspiring about the Guides du Rwanda is that it only gained full membership of WAGGGS in 1996, at the World Conference, which was just two years after the genocide. 

I chatted with some of the Rwandan Guides over lunch yesterday, about the way in which the country operates now.  One said, 'people are no longer Hutu or Tutsi, they are Rwandan; we cannot forget what happened during the genocide, but also Rwandan people cannot just leave Rwanda, so we have to find ways to work together and move forward'.

The country is now thriving within Africa, with no corruption, unlike some other places.  Kigali is the most clean and tidy African city I have ever been to.  Some parts of some African cities have a carpet of litter over them, but Kigali is not like that.  It is well-kept, clean, and has a lot of rubbish bins.  Part of the reason for the place looking so tidy is that carrier bags are not used here.  In fact, they are illegal in Rwanda, and there are big signs warning travellers of this at the airport.  Banning carrier bags seems a strange thing to do, and when I heard about this a few years ago, I remember thinking along the lines of - well, you control of that which you can control - and banning carrier bags seems such a pathetic and bizarre thing to do when you consider the ethnic tensions which pulverised this country less than twenty years ago.  But somehow, it seems to fit in with the pervading sense amongst the Rwandan people that yes, we have seen unthinkable atrocities, and acute loss of life, but we can move on from that, and become a strong and effective nation.  One of the Rwandan Guides told me that Kigali won an award for being the cleanest city in Africa.

We spent yesterday afternoon hanging out with the Rwandan Guides.  They took us into town where we had lunch, then wandered around a very relaxed craft market, where people stocked up on African souvenirs.  I have seen some of the same souvenirs in South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda, and can't help wondering if there is a massive warehouse somewhere in between all those countries which exports its souvenirs out to those places.  Seriously - I have seen the very same set of napkin rings in each of those four countries, and those bracelets.  Strange. 

Last night, I headed out to dinner with some of the planning team and some participants who had stayed an extra day.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at Papyrus Restaurant.  If you know me, you may remember my love of rooftop restaurants and bars, or those with a balcony.  Papyrus had a spectacular view over Kigali and it was a perfect way to spend my last evening in Kigali, amongst new friends from Rwanda, Greece, Madagascar, Argentina, Sweden and Egypt. 

I headed to the airport this morning in the hotel courtesy bus, which nearly didn't come because the receptionist's watch stopped and the bus driver was at church, what with it being Sunday.  But it all worked out, and we took a quick detour to collect the driver's children from church, on the way to the airport.   TIA.

There were several of us on the same flight to Doha, via Entebbe (Uganda's international airport, where we stopped for an hour or so) - participants from Australia, Pakistan, Egypt, Sweden, Japan and the UK (me!) It was great hanging out with them at  the airport.  We had all made our way to Kigali independently, as individuals and strangers, but we left together, as friends.  We have now all gone our separate ways, but thanks to social media, we are all linked up already, and there will be a lot of conversations to come, about our projects, suppoting each other. 

I think I'm going to continue this blog periodically, to provide updates on our Stop The Violence project, once it is all approved and underway.  In the meantime, I thought it would be good to end with the poem I wrote and read out at the closing ceremony.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog.  There have been over 1,000 pageviews altogether, and they can't all have been me, so thanks for reading.  I hope you have found it interesting.  If you have comments, or would like to contact me, please do so via the contact facility below.  Maybe you work for a relevant organisation, maybe you have been inspired, maybe you are thinking about organising some sort of international opportunity; I would be interested to know who has been following this.  If you are involved in WAGGGS, can I ask you to support the idea of a Fifth World Centre in Africa? Africa needs to have a World Centre as Guiding is so strong here, and it will open up opportunities to so many African Guides.  The idea of using existing premises and facilities is perfect for a Fifth World Centre, as this successful week has shown, so if you have any say or influence, a Fifth World Centre in Africa is the way forward, both for African Guiding and for international Guiding more broadly.

Being part of the Fifth World Centre pilot has been an extremely memorable experience, and has further inspired me to build partnerships with organisations, encourage people to apply for international opportunities, to maintain links with people and more.  It has also enabled me to be trained in the Stop The Violence curriculum, which I am going to take back and train in, and encourage Leaders to use the Girls in Action resource in their unitm particularly the AVA activities. 

Thank you to all those who made it possible for me to attend the Fifth World Centre project, especially Caroline, Carrie and Ros.  It has been life-changing, and I don't say that lightly. 

We gathered in Rwanda

We've learnt and we've shared,
We've grown, we've prepared
To go back to our organisations,
Representing twenty-eight nations
And encourage Stop The Violence converasations.

Rwanda has seen tragedy and genocide,
But there is so much strength in a Rwandan guide!
We are going to take so much from here -
Practical knowledge to address the fear that violence brings
Through campaigning, advocacy, amongst other things.

What a wonderful week we've had -
So much learning and I'm so glad
That I was able to participate -
The Fifth World Centre pilot was great.

We've laughed and we've cried,
We've received inspiration.
We even did some
Comedy improvisation!

The impact this week has had
Is hard to quantify,
So enormous thanks to all,
And so, for now, goodbye.