June 13-14

June 13-14, 2011

My experience in Africa this time is much different than my previous ones. Instead of being in village or at least a small town, I’m living in the capital city. For all of the capitals that I could have potentially lived in, Kigali is not a bad place to be. Seeing foreigners everywhere does take some getting used to and it feels more like a vacation than anything.  The city seems calm compared to the rush of people in Dakar or the motorcycle taxis zooming around Kampala. There are large sidewalks that line all the streets, motorcycle taxi drivers and riders are required to wear helmets. There is a plethora of ethnic restaurants—so far I have had Italian and Mexican food. There’s a Chinese restaurant near my hostel and tonight I’m going with some people to get Indian food for someone’s goodbye dinner. 

The government seems to have a hand in everything here- the NGO that I am working with has strong partnerships with various government ministries. They are the ones who created the laws to make people safe and maybe my favorite thing, have banned plastic bags because of the environmental impact. Once a month everyone is required to do public service and I hear that communities all come together to do beautification projects in their towns. It is very cool to see a developing country making environmentally friendly changes.  The description of “land of a thousand hills” describes Rwanda perfectly. From every vantage point you see hills in every direction and each hill has its own name. It is very green, even in the city. Rwanda reminds me a lot of Uganda- the climate is similar and I ate some beans yesterday that rivaled my favorite meal in Uganda. I was actually told that it is the same thing. One thing that I have already come to love is the tea. They peel fresh ginger and brew it with regular tea and it is just spectacular.