Streets of Kigali- A few articles on Kigali

I found this article this afternoon which describes Kigali's streets. While nicely kept, there are no street names or at least street signs which means getting around Kigali is based on giving landmarks or telling the driver a neighborhood and then directing them to the place. If you don't know French, your ability to get somewhere goes down about 70%. Some moto taxi drivers speak basic English but if you want to end up where you are planning, they understand French way better.

For me, famous for my lack of direction, it has been quite a challenge explaining things to people. For instance, I had a party for my birthday and tried giving out directions. What I wrote out seemed extremely complicated but it was all land marked based. To get to my house you have to make 3 turns and describing them is not so easy. "Turn right when you see a red and white barrier in the middle of the road where you are not supposed to take a u-turn" "Turn at the school." "Continue down a small road." " Look for the house marked with a silver star or just look for my roommate's car outside."

Even my office building's address is "the pink buildings" on "the road to the hospital." The only way mail actually gets here is because we have a P.O. box but I still laugh every time I address a letter back to the states.

In b-school, when you talk Rwanda  it is frequently about its development process compared to Singapore's. The government is certainly making an effort to increase development, foreign investment, and decrease reliance on foreign aid. This article talks about Kigali's cleanliness, development goals, and reasons for such an emphasis on keeping the city clean. Plastic bags are illegal, people are paid to clean the streets as part of a poverty reduction program (and I swear I've seen people painting the pristine black and white lines at least 2 times since I've been here), and the last Saturday of every month is a mandated day of public service (mostly planting and cleaning). In the five months I've been here, they have put in reflectors on the streets and street lights that tell you how much time you have at the light. At the school near my house, the entire school spends the Friday before picking weeds, picking up trash, and beautifying the school. This upcoming weekend is this public service day, called Umuganda, and I plan on spending it cleaning in my neighborhood. There are signs everywhere designating where to go based on where you live and its highly organized. It's an awesome time to be here with the government's Vision 2020 policy and plans and seeing how PSI works with the government (and other NGOs) to help accomplish these goals.