Friendly Africa

In a few days I will hit my six month mark here in Africa. Although I thought I was taking a job in Uganda, I’m still in Rwanda currently, and I've spent just over half of my time here. One stereotype of Africa that continues to amaze me in its correctness is the incredibly friendliness of Africans. I don’t think I am generalizing too much at this 

The road to Bumbogo is paved with dirt

Church building ceremony

point having been to Senegal, Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda. There are points along this spectrum though – in Cameroon, perhaps the friendliest place I've ever been to on earth, if you even make eye contact with someone on more than two separate occasions, you have a significant chance of being invited over for dinner. In Rwanda people can be more reserved but I still meet random people all the time who want my phone number after barely meeting me. They actually do call sometimes (just to say “hi,” it’s very strange) so assuming you aren't giving them a fake number (I don’t judge people who do, it can get tiring here), you actually have to save their number. I have so many “random Jon,” “random Alex,” and “random George’s” in my phone I can’t even count; which all leads me to a story from last weekend.

Random Bosco had been calling me for months. I had met him several months back deep in the village on a work trip and he was persistent in his follow up.  Specifically, he wanted me to come to some ceremony in the village and each time I told him I couldn't come he would tell me how disappointed the whole village was…so I said to myself, “what the hell? I've got nothing going on this Saturday, might be interesting and different, why not?” Well it certainly was different…

Two buses, a one long moto ride, and about two hours later, I arrived in the thriving metropolis of Bumgogo. When Bosco said ceremony he wasn't joking, there were hundreds and hundreds of people, including local politicians and well-known public leaders. What Bosco didn't tell me was that the ceremony was for building a new huge church in town and they were undergoing a huge fundraising effort. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the singing, dancing, and not understanding 4 hours (that was all that I could take, the ceremony was not over) of Kinyarwanda speeches, but I also got put in a very uncomfortable position. First, I was expected to give a speech in French in front of this huge crowd of people (about what, I have no idea). Why; because I’m a small white Jewish kid with a shitty beard? Next, I was declared by the project leader to be the white ambassador to the village and this project (wait what, I agreed to that?). And Finally, I was expected to announce my financial commitment in front of everyone, after hearing two politicians who committed $770 and $384 (I had been contemplating whether I could get away with $10 before hearing that). I’m not even a Christian for CHRIST’S SAKE!!!

I extracted myself from the situation by saying I would talk to friends in Kigali see, what we could come up with, and that I’d get back them (figuring in the back of my head that maybe I could pawn this off on some Christian NGO who helps people in Africa build churches).

I felt pretty stupid for not having clarified about what this ceremony was or not questioning why Bosco was so zealous about recruiting me. People assume because you are white here you have money. To some extent that may be true given the standard-of-living differences, but being a student, volunteer, or low-wage worker doesn’t seem to factor into the equation ever. And I’m obviously too trustworthy. Africans may be friendlier than other people, but sometimes there’s something behind it.