Turning Right on Red: March Update from Rwanda

March has arrived and I have now spent equal amounts of time in Rwanda and Uganda. Within Rwanda I’ve traveled to Gisenyi and the Congo border (at Goma) and stood at a pedestrian only crossing where thousands of people pass freely every day between countries (see billboard sign here).

Standing in the sun all day marketing the ReadySet was exhausting and pretty boring since most people here only speak Kinyarwanda and sometimes Swahili. But it’s an interesting job going around to farmer cooperatives, meeting up with UNICEF, and working with Africans as co-workers. I got to stay for the weekend to check out nice lake Kivu (one of the African great lakes), which is where I snapped this classic white dude with small African children picture.

The other day I was walking down the street and a small group of school girls walked by. One of them turns and spits on me for no reason. I got pretty upset and the girl (maybe 12 or so?) got scared and started to run away. Eventually she apologized but it was such a bizarre event that I can’t imagine happening in the U.S. Besides getting the middle finger randomly one other time (and I don’t know if it was on purpose), Rwandans have been very friendly. They really like Americans (really most foreigners outside of Belgium/France for obvious reasons) and many people you meet on the street want you to stop to say hello and find out what state you are from.

I bought a mountain bike to get to and from work, about a 15 minute hellish commute down one steep long hill, through a golf course, and then up a very steep hill. Everything around here is about going through these dips or going all the way around the valleys. I usually show up to work sweating terribly and then arrive at home at the end of the night in a similar state.They call Rwanda the land of a 1,000 hills but there's got to be way more, and who's counting anyways?

I am paying $320/month for rent in Kigali, which is more than I would have thought it would be here, but everything else is similarly expensive, except moto taxi rides which are usually less than a $1 and take you pretty far. My rent does include utilities though, meaning water, electricity, and oddly enough the “house boy,” which sounds off to call a “utility.” Back in Uganda in Kampala this also usually meant the guard since all of the places were gated with a security person. Here we have rex, the dog, so I feel safe (not that I wouldn't anyways actually, Kigali is incredibly safe). The house boy does the laundry, cleans up around the house, cleans the dishes, and even cooks us meals at night. It’s incredible; it’s like living in a hotel. It’s also the opposite of the living situation I came from where as a member of the coop, I had jobs and felt like I continually needed to clean more. One could get used to this life style here. It is a bit weird though still and has taken me time to get used to it. Edward, the house boy, does not speak any English or French, and he hardly speaks otherwise. So it’s kind of weird just having this person who goes around the house (he’s probably a few years younger than me) that I know actually nothing about. It also feels weird having the African wait on the muzungus (white people, same word they had in Uganda for us) here but I guess it’s a job and normal here. It’s just a different culture.

At work we have a cook, Deo, from the Congo, who makes bomb food every day. It costs 2,500 francs (which is like $4.20 or something). We also get a free breakfast, it’s kind of amazing. American offices should learn from this (google has). We are more productive when we are well fed and we don’t waste time going out for lunch.

The first picture here is of Kacyeru, the neighborhood I live in, looking across from Nyarutarama, where i work. There's also a couple pictures below of the breakfast and lunch we had recently at work.