Sunday 22nd

This evening I’m having a leaving party which meant this morning we had to kill the fattened goat. And he was fattened.

I felt very little remorse about saying goodbye to Ihene. He was a good goat, in that he did goat thing very well; bleating, pooing, eating everything in sight. But it turns out that goats are annoying if you spend too much time in their company.

I said goodbye to him on Saturday night, and the next time I saw him was after church on Sunday and he was very much altered, as you can see from this photo.

To Ihene:
Better in Death
Than in Life.
Thank you for your sacrifice,
We will always remember you,
But probably not miss you.

Because he was such a young goat, the meat was really tender and not at all chewy. Delicious!

So our 60 guests started arriving at 4pm. First off we played Lady, Hunter, Gorilla, a fitting game considering our location. Then I decided to introduce the Rwandese to Ultimate Ninja, which proved to be a bit too complicated for most of my friends.

The street boys did a rap and a skit and was really good of them.

We also had a troop of traditional dancers, drummers and singers. This was a real treat for all of us especially as they dressed up in traditional costume. Even I joined in!

And I delivered a particularly impressive speech in Kinyarwanda thanking everyone for their love and support over the last 8 months. Silas helped me right it of course, but it was a real privilege to be able to say thank you in Kinyarwanda.

Various people got up to speak, including Nathalie who came all the way from the refugee camp to see me off.

I can't believe how much I love all these people. I’m gonna miss them so much. Arrrggghhh!