SUNDAY

I spent a quiet day Sunday anticipating Monday...my first 'working day'. I was not able to find an English church so I opted for a swim in the pool, spent some time searching out internet sites regarding Rwandan dairy and agriculture. I also decided to 'attend' Maranatha Church in Belleville Ontario via cyberspace at 5pm which is of course 10am in Ontario. My friend Pastor John Visser is senior pastor there and they have a wonderful electronic wireless capability when your physically out of reach. Internet speed was not sufficient here for a video link but voice link was as clear as if I were in the building.

Monday morning arrived and there seemed to be no response from my hosts so I called the director of agriculture to determine our agenda. He informed me that today was a holiday - International Womens Day. Parliament decided late Friday evening that Rwanda should recognize this day with a holiday. Apparently most people didn't know anything about it and government staff weren't informed until late Saturday. I didn't get a copy of Friday's paper until Sunday and noticed considerable coverage regarding this particular day and then Monday's paper lauded President Kagame's presence in London England
inaugurating Rwanda into the Commonwealth Club of Nations. It was also noted that Rwanda's Parliament had 56.4% women parliamentarians, the highest percentage in the club of nations. Hmmm... Apparently no other nation made it a holiday eventhough women are recognized in many prominent positions in other countries.