Jelsmas in Rwanda

Matthijs’ first grade class came for a visit just before American Thanksgiving, to see our turkeys. They had a chance to touch the Tom Turkey, practice their herding skills, etc.

Here are some other photos!



But by far the highlight was when we discovered that one of our “male” rabbits had delivered six babies… We had been given this rabbit and told she was a “he” and never bothered to check. Anyhow, SURPRISE! The kids were pretty excited to see brand new bunnies, the size of mice!
Funny things happen on the Jelsma Funny Farm.

That pretty much rounded out our day! The kids came inside for a craft project and had banana muffins for snack…Wishing I was in first grade again…sigh…

In many ways, it is helpful to know marine traffic rules when one is driving in Rwanda. Don’t mistake us, it is also helpful to have a driver’s license. Especially when that license has included a “theory” component when it comes to the rules of the road.
For a breakdown of which marine traffic rules that apply to driving here, please continue:

Rights of Passage and Sound Signals
The one key rule of the waterways highways that everybody should know is that when two boats cars meet head-on on the water road, the traditional method of avoiding collision is for both vessels to pass port to port by altering their course to starboard, the right of the driver.

There are of course numerous instances where greater means of communication are required to broadcast driving intentions to other vessels. For such occasions boats cars are expected to use their horn signals. Although the vast majority of recreational boaters drivers are unable to communicate anything other than displeasure with their horn, it is standard practice for boat users to know the basic sound signals and be able to use them whenever there is a danger that needs broadcasting.

The correct ways of signalling with a horn on inland and coastal waters roads are as follows:

* One short blast – I am turning starboard side passing you on the left and will leave you to port side.
* Two short blasts – I am turning port side and will leave you to starboard side here, right beside you and you are swerving into my lane.
* Three short blasts – I am reversing my engines. (I can’t see you, so please don’t hit me, move out of my way.)
* One long blast – I am now getting underway.
* One long blast followed by one short blast – open the drawbridge please. Please proceed through the intersection or I will run you over.
* Five short blasts – danger, please move out of the way. Or, don’t do what your signal indicates you are about to do.
If the recipient vessel has understood the sound blast message then they should repeat it to confirm. If they do not then they either did not hear correctly or do not understand horn signaling. If the response is five short blasts then this means the original intended action is dangerous.

Concessions for Small and Large Vessels
Concessionary measures and alternative rules apply to non-motorised craft such as sailboats or kayaks bicycles. The main practice is that such vessels have the right of way over powerboats cars because they might have a much harder time changing course abruptly. (IN THEORY!) It is also good manners for motorised vessels to slow down when passing small yachts and rowboats children, families or other pedestrians to avoid upsetting them with a strong wake. hitting them.

When two sailboats cars come face to face with one another, it is standard practice for those on the port tack – those with the wind coming over the port side – to give way to sailboats on the starboard tack who are in the wrong lane to please return to their own lane. If both vessels under sail have the wind on the same side then the sailboat to windward must give way to the one leeward are on a collision course, hold the dashboard and pray.

At the other end of the scale are ships any vehicle larger than your own, which have the right of way over all other craft because of their slow manoeuvrability and the stringent course they must follow to avoid getting into difficulty. Translation: they will hit you if you are in their way. They will hurt you, because their car is bigger than yours and probably has a better paintjob.

Rwandan Rules of the Road. If you’re a boater, you’ll be fine.

Driving is one of the most dangerous things we do here in Rwanda.
Vehicles frequently get flats and there is the occasional blowout.
Richard experienced this at high speed as a passenger, not driver. When he got out the car, this is what he saw:

It was a “minor” problem, however, the more “major” problem was that the spare was flat. Thus commenced a three hour wait so that the driver could get into town, get the tire repaired, come back, and install the new tire.
While they waited…

No BCAA here…unless it stands for “Bring Car And Assistance” before leaving home…

We have quite a few kids in our neighbourhood that enjoyed coming over throughout the summer. Now that our kids are in school but the neighbourhood kids have two months holidays, timing gets difficult. These are some photos we took over the summer…

Yes,
you may have heard of keeping premature babies warm through Kangaroo mother care. The baby is put skin to skin with the mother and literally tied onto her front. Like this…

We use it here in Rwanda due to the lack of incubators and because survival rates are much higher in kangarooed babies…makes sense! The baby can regulate her heart rate and breathing rate better by hearing her mom’s breathing and heart beat.

You may not have heard of the much lesser known “Kangaroo care for turkeys”. When there is a power outage and you need to keep poults warm, your options are limited.
Consider this turkey care in a resource poor setting.
The babies couldn’t stay warm in the breeder box because there was no light.

Yes, one of the mother turkeys gave up on her eggs once two hatched out…  Groan…

We didn’t want to give up on them, so we “candled the eggs” (for those of you who, like us, know nothing about this process, read on)

Basically that means cutting a hole in a piece of cardboard, shining a flashlight through the hole and peeking into the egg…

You sit in a dark room and then it’s quite easy to see if there is anything “shaping up” on the inside of the egg. Think early Flintstone x-ray technology. We felt positively pioneerish…

Once we found out which eggs were looking chickish, we placed them into our oven with the oven light on…maintaining a temperature of 38 C.

We laid a thermometer inside the oven and periodically opened the oven to let heat escape. We also had a pan of water in the bottom of the oven to keep the humidity about right.

To make a long story short, despite all odds, including numerous power outages, we hatched three turkeys in our oven! Gasp!

Richard says: “They started their lives in the oven and they’ll end them in the oven”…I guess that’s the more morbid way of considering the situation…

Enjoy the photos!

There are lots of opportunities to get your hands dirty in Rwanda, but some are better than others!
Richard recently visited a project that is training men and women in good agricultural practices. It’s called GAKO. He was so impressed…
The project tackles small spaces and shows locals how to produce gardens in small spaces as well as raise animals (such as goats, rabbits and chickens).
Here are some photos!






Check out our blog in a bit…we’re planning our own bunny high rise under our water tank tower!
Local solutions for local people…we love it.

It’s harder than it looks, especially since the turkeys enjoy eating our dahlias and small plants…Why eat grass when there are infinitely more interesting things to munch on? The funniest is when the turkeys decide to break free…say to have a turn at the playground equipment…

Surprised the cat a little!

We’ve been growing so much in our garden patch, however, one of the most exciting things to harvest has been our peppers. Matthijs enjoyed picking them from the garden with Richard, but also picks them out of whatever food we put them into. Not a big pepper fan!