This week in Gisakura...

I decided to extend my stay by an extra week, seeing as I lost 2 weeks with N and am nowhere near to finishing this animation!! We have set a deadline for next Thurs when we'll hold the first screening. Friday is a national holiday, I'll be able to get changes or additions done and we have to get to Kigali for Sunday as I fly home Monday 4th.

A few explanations and mentions: The paintings are Julian's and are for sale. The weird fruit is called a Japanese plum. Looks like a plum from the outside, but you scoop out the fleshy seeds to eat and discard the skin. I baked cookies last weekend using both local and imported ingredients. Honey combs collected from the forest hives by Vincent. Some more preliminary character sketches. J's article in WCS magazine (and the moment I realised I've been spelling Dji Dji as Gigi!). Dji Dji is a river in Gabon and Azobe an important Gabonese tree.

The banana you see here is a red banana- rosy skin and orangey flesh. Rarer, more expensive and less bananery, funnily enough. The broken pots are the result of J not being here when they were fired but you can see the smoke textures sort of worked. The vervet monkeys I could see from my window yesterday. A massive moth J rescued. Tea, glorious tea.

Last night's delicious meal- Aka Benz (nickname for seasoned fresh pork killed the same day, the pigs snout said to remind Rwandans of the Mercedes Benz symbol, hence the Benz part!) served with fried plantains and lethal (30% proof?) pineapple wine at the bar they call Alleluia in Gisakura village. The big Congolese mask is N & J's, the minimask is what I bought at the same tourist market and is about all I can fit in my suitcase coming home. Bought sooo many souvenirs...

ALSO- I failed to thank one very important person in my Broken Tooth! episode... Lara Saour my personal dental advisor and councellor in Putney who talked me through the seemingly disasterous situation by text and skype while I was panicing in Kigali. She made sure I knew what to agree to and was an absolute life saver. She also sent me a text last week I forgot to reply to, which read: Linda! I can't believe you didn't mention me in your blog! Haha sorry Lara, I REALLY owe you one. xxx

The Nyamasheke photographers

On Friday 17th April, J decides its about time he visits Samuel the carpenter in Nyamasheke (30 min drive away), who is building his first boat. We take the dogs along for the ride and park up in the town. The dirt road down to the waterfront gets very muddy in the rain and J didn't want to get stuck at the bottom for 6 hours a second time (rain happens very suddenly in Rwanda despite sunny outlooks) so we choose to walk and accumulate a growing number of children in a pied piper-style procession led by 2 dogs to Samuel's house.

Once we are there and J is talking business, I amuse myself with the 20-odd kids who are keen on helping out. Soon they are vigorously sanding, lifting, varnishing and turning the boat around for J. Their attentions turn to my little snap camera, and before I know it, it is out of my hands and into the enthusiastic imaginations of these budding young photographers. I can only take credit for the first 2 pictures.

I have to say I had one of the most memorable experiences here in Sam's front yard. I loved meeting these kids, a gleeful bunch of characters, watching how they shared and taught each other how to use this little piece of technology. They had so much fun, picking up the controls whether they were 12 or 6yrs old.

It was amazing to watch a few of them - so natural at taking pictures, determination in their eyes. My favourite is the pic of inside the house. Whether they demonstrate natural skill or are purely accidental, these pics lead me to trust my camera with any child from then on who asks to use it. (Of course I have deleted 100's, mostly of my legs, shoulder or a blurred child's hand).

Every time so far, they have been incredibly careful, if not protective over the responsibility they have been handed and the power they achieve over their friends, and the whole adventure I give them costs me nothing (except occasional ear ache) and makes my walk from A to B all the more enjoyable. When its time to say Murabeho they hand it over immediately and are satisfied with the experience. I hope to print out the best or funniest and have them distributed around the villages I visited as momentos.

I apologise now to every mzungu who gets hassled for their camera because of this! I figure once I leave, this opportunity might be gone forever. Luckily I don't revere my little Samsung, probably why its served me so long and so well. Touch wood.