Arrival

07/09/2013

Arrival…

We arrived safely in Rwanda on Tuesday morning after a long and not uneventful journey. Having just dropped off to sleep at about 1 am on the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi, we were woken by the person next to us saying in his perfect Scandinavian English ‘I think they need you’ and pointing to where a traditionally built African woman was slumped in the aisle with a rapidly growing audience.  Having alerted them to the fact that we were doctors, Matt was handed a rudimentary medial kit and I kept the crowds back and provided paracetamol when necessary. Through an interpreter the tentative diagnosis of a simple faint and possible fractured ankle was made…fending off some overzealous diagnoses from a Spanish nurse of a stroke and arrhythmia.

Sadly no upgrade or complimentary nuts. But instead of a possible 5 hours sleep this was reduced to 1.

Having got to Nairobi, due to the recent fire there, it seemed a bit chaotic with departure gates in marquees outside, random queues everywhere but admirably managed given the lack of any usable buildings. We narrowly made the connection and tiredness was replaced with moderate levels of anxiety due to having seen Matt’s bag and ‘guitar case’ sat alone on the tarmac…would they make it to Kigali?

After and peaceful flight to the Rwandan capital we passed through immigration with minimal hassle and a stamp in the brand new passport of Mrs Croft! We waited at the baggage reclaim with baited breath and to out amazement all bags came out unscathed including Matt’s dubiously packed guitar.

 

We were met by Ben, a guest house owner with connections to Kibogora, who helped us get some cash and got us to the busy bus station and onto the right minibus heading West. 5 or 6 hours, countless hills (we have a true appreciation for why this country is called the land of a thousand hills) and hundreds of hairpin turns later we reached our stop. We were picked up by Julie, an American nurse and Tim, an American surgeon, who took us the rest of the way in a 4x4 to Kibogora.

Almost exactly 30 hours from leaving Matt’s front door in Wycombe, we had arrived!!