Friendly, Progressive, Rwanda

The internet is not cooperating with me so I'll have to add photos to this post later. Stay tuned.

On a Friday morning, 6:30 a.m. Amber and I, along with our neighbor and friend Lynn went down to the gas station to catch a bus to Kigale, the capitol of Rwanda. The plan was to meet Lynn’s husband Danny there, along with his two friends (one from Canada, one from Rwanda, a married couple), for a weekend of luxury and exploration. There is a proper bus station in Mbarara but it seems that most buses don’t bother to stop there since it’s a little off the main road and very congested. All the buses going to Kigale are coming from Kampala and unless you want to pay for a ticket starting in Kampala you won’t know if there’s a seat available until you talk to the agent in Mbarara, who then calls the bus driver en route to see if it’s full or not. It doesn’t really matter if it’s full though because often people get off mid route. The bus drivers don’t really keep track of who’s going where. That responsibility lies on the passenger. So when the bus pulls into the gas station in Mbarara to fuel up and let the people go to the bathroom we find out that it’s full and it’s going to stay that way for the rest of the journey. The agent is willing to sell us a ticket though, providing we are willing to stand in the aisle. Fortunately there are several bus companies so we decide to wait for the next one.

7:30 a.m. The three of us are sitting comfortably on a coach to Kigale, on the bonnet which is a padded engine cover at the front of the bus between the drivers seat and the opposite row of seats, I’m facing backwards and sitting next to a nun who is holding a giant toy helicopter. I still manage to twist around enough to get look at the gorgeous scenery during the 5 hour trip. It’s incredible to imagine how long this land has been walked by humans. The first humans ever lived in these hills and valleys. My mind folds over on itself trying to grasp it all. Occasionally you can see the remnants of a terraced garden stepping down the hillside. There are also some very impressive churches and mosques looming over the valley from the top of a hill. I’ve been reading Alan Mooreheads’ “The White Nile” and learning a lot about the European exploration of this part of the globe. Only 150 years ago this land wasn’t on any map. It was a total mystery what existed here. Slave trading ended just over 100 years ago, about 40 years after the end of the American civil war.

12:30 p.m. After a one hour break at the border where we went through customs twice, once for leaving Uganda and once for entering Rwanda, during which the entire bus was emptied out and luggage searched for, of all things, plastic bags, we’re rolling through Kigale in a car with Danny and his two friends, Virgil and Elisa. Rwanda has banned the use of plastic bags throughout the country and seems to be more intolerant of them than anything else. It’s one of the many signs of progression I saw in Rwanda. The differences between Rwanda and Uganda are obvious the moment you cross the border. It’s very clean (they had their “national service day” the previous Saturday where everything is closed in order to clean the streets and sidewalks), the roads are being maintained (yeah there were potholes but there were road crews out fixing them) and there was very clear signage throughout, lots of nice cars in the city and people appeared to be fairly well off (although there were beggars too). I didn’t get to learn much about it but they have a managed healthcare system that costs about 1 dollar to buy into. Overall Kigale has a very “European” feel to it. After a short discussion over lattes (our first decent cup of coffee since leaving the U.S.) about where we want to eat for dinner, we head to our hotel for a nap.

7:00 p.m. We’re at the New Cactus Restaurant dining on wood fired pizza and draft beer (insert Homer Simpson moan) but we’re trying to hurry to meet Virgil and Elisa at the soccer stadium for a concert. Virgil works at the Rwandan embassy in Beijing. With his job come a lot of high-powered connections. Fortunately for us we are in the position of benefiting from his connections this weekend. Virgil gets us all into this sold out performance of musicians from all over Africa and the U.S. for free! The setup is a little strange. The Minister of Sports didn’t want the grass on the pitch ruined so no one was allowed to go on it. (A pitch is the proper name for a soccer field). The stage was on one side of the stadium at midfield and everyone sat in the bleachers all the way around the outside. We were quite far from the stage but the performers all found ways to connect with the crowd. Many of them came out into the center of the field with a wireless microphone and danced. I’ll name some of the performers here but I won’t get the spelling right. Let’s see there was Koffi from Ghana, Baby Cool from Uganda, some dude from Burundi, another dude from Rwanda, and the headliner (from the U.S.) was Sean Paul. I’ve never heard of Sean Paul but I saw just as many t shirts for him as I saw for Eminem during our stay in Rwandaso I guess that says something. Great night!

9:00 a.m.ish More lattes and a croissant (!! such things are not available in Mbarara) from a starbucksy coffee shop called Bourbon Coffee Co. Then it’s off to the genocide memorial for some very heavy sightseeing. This is the main attraction for a first time in Kigale. It’s located within a 5,000Rwf (this is Rwandan francs. The rate is .555 this weekend, so 5,000Rwf is basically $2.50) taxi ride of the center of town and admission to the memorial is free. It’s built on the burial site of 250,000 people. They’re not sure how many were killed in the genocide in 94 but they say it’s around 1 million. The memorial is ¼ about genocides throughout history, ¼ memorial for the children killed in 94’, and ½ about the Rwandan genocide during which the world in general turned their backs for 90 days while Hutu’s ran around and killed as many Tutsi’s as possible, mostly with machete’s. It’s a very well done memorial and I don’t think a visit to Kigale would be complete without a visit to it. But man! That was hard to see. It has just recently been reported that the Rwandan military is supporting the Tutsi rebels cause in the Congo. These are Tutsi’s, who fled Rwanda for their lives, killing as many Hutu’s as they can in a “preemptive strike” type defense. The scars from the genocide of 94’ may never heal.

The rest of the stay we spent exploring, having lunch, and shopping for handicrafts at an artists cooperative. We also witness a game of boda-boda polo. I’m not sure but it looks like a group of muzungus hired a bunch of bodas for this. It looks like a good way to get hurt if you ask me. Amber and I found a great bookstore. Half of the books are in French and half are in English but we didn’t have trouble finding lots we’d like to read. Books are an important part of life here in Africa, and Amber and I are swallowing them as fast as we can. We also picked up some art supplies for more paintings and drawings by yours truly. The bus ride home was easy and uneventful. The best part was it dropped us off practically right on our doorstep. I heart Kigale!