One candle and three mobile phones: Photo

I arrive at the cottage in Rugerero at dusk. It took about 8 hours for the 200 km journey (including the lunch break0. I feel the isolation. I left something behind... Soon, I will be living here alone – no more Soeur Josephine to help me and to work as a cultural buffer. I feel excited and a bit scared at the same time. I can’t help thinking: ‘This is it! This is what you have been wanting for such a long time... Time to live dream! Time to walk the talk, to face the demons of the unknown!’. I can’t help thinking of those I love and left behind. I feel the distance, I feel the separation.
I try to cheer myself up: ‘At least it would be great if I could connect with them once in a while via my telephone or via the internet once in a while’.
I have three mobile phones with me... My Australian one – no good except to access phone numbers if need be, the phone I use in France, whenever I am there with groups of Australian pupils from Sydney Grammar School (so far I have been able to use it to send and receive text messages in Kigali, but here it does not seem to work. The third one is the one I bought in Rwanda (think globally, call locally). I spent almost 200 US $ to buy credit that can last a very long time and to use the phone as a modem and thereby access internet. I check to make sure it is working ... it is going to be my umbilical cord with my loved ones, back home and also with Christine . I will also need it to make contact with local people. I switch it on... I get a very clear message: no service. The network I chose does not work around here...
‘Rwandatel’ sounded pretty local... more than MTN (which sounded too much like CNN or MTV). WRONG... only MTN operates around here.
I feel really cut off now... I worry about my friends and family worrying about not hearing anything from me. Meanwhile darkness has made itself at home. My eyes need to adjust. Thank God for the candle I am given to unpack my suitcases in my bedroom.
There are times when one candle is worth much more than three mobile phones...