An African kind of day

Today I had a day I could only have in Africa. Since I am in Africa this should only come as half a surprise... My French mobile phone and my lighter (brought from Australia to light candles in the evening) have gone missing for the last couple of days. I have been looking for them – to no avail. I told my good neighbour Papa Jacinth yesterday and he was very upset. I am now pretty sure they were stolen from the house, as I never take them out. He tells me that his son’s mobile phone was also stolen. Could this be the work of a very well organised gang operating in the aera and reselling the stolen goods to North Korea? I doubt it very much. Papa Jacinth says he will investigate. At this stage, he suspects Mr B. As for me, I go for Mr C, a young boy (perhaps twelve or so) whom I often see outside the house early in the morning when I do my yoga. He could have easily stolen these items from my bedroom window, which I leave open only when, I do my yoga... A few hours later, I come across Papa Jacinth’s son who has gone to the local ‘sorcier’ (witch doctor) to get some help.
At the school, I have a busy day, putting the newly bought resources on the newly installed shelves, I put the school stamp on the books and put category labels on the shelves ‘English readers ‘advanced’, ‘material for maths class’, ‘English dictionaries’ etc. I had previously walked around the primary school to feel the ‘teaching pulse’... Quite low, today! Only a couple of teachers are actively teaching. Not many teachers would be eligible for a ‘teaching performance bonus’... Then I decide to go to the District office (the local administrative office) so I can use the electricity produced by their solar panels to type the list of teachers on my laptop. When I get there, I am told that it is not working as the system was struck by lightning a couple of days ago.
I go back to school. I am expecting two boxes of textbooks I bought in Kigali to arrive in Butare Soeur Josephine will then organise transport form the bus depot to the school (she deserves quadruple performance bonus!). The books we supposed to arrive at 12:00 they arrive at 2:30 PM, not bad! I also have an appointment at the school with a technician from the solar panel company to look at the nitty gritty of installing such equipment at the school, one day. He is coming from Kigali by public transport – the last 40 minutes being on a ‘taxi moto’ under heavy rain. Frederic and I welcome him – we talk about the power needs, the number of panels required the converter, the lightning rod and so forth. We walk around the school, I see one teacher sleeping at her desk, in another classroom 2 or 3 teachers are chatting away, completely oblivious of the children. A couple of teachers are teaching, Yeah! It is time for the technician to head back to Kigali, at least four and a half hours away. He tells me his boss did not give him enough money for his transport. He tries to call him. No answer. What shall we do with the broke solar panel technician? The ‘taxi moto’ is waiting. Last bus from Munini to Butare is at 5:00 PM, not much time to waste. I can see that e3verybody is expecting me to give him the 10$ that he needs to get home. I am furious with his boss (who is no doubt a multi millionaire).
It has been raining most of the day. Ridding my motor bike home on those very slippery dirt roads is going to be very tricky... As I leave the school very slowly, I have about fifty children following me, shouting, laughing, pushing my motorbike, making me lose my delicate balance. I am mad at them! I get off my bike and pretend to run after them, they run away and the run back. They think it is a very funny game...
Last stretch home, I have left them behind. Yeah, I am almost there... but careful there is a pig on the middle of the road, he sees me and runs right in front of me, his trajectory is completely unpredictable. I am chasing him. Perhaps he is the one who stole my mobile phone.
What an African kind of day! I am exhausted...