Not too long ago I was in Rwanda for a
weekend. It was a short stay but refreshing in a lot of ways. My 1st
time ever to learn of Rwanda beyond the name and an East African country was in
my 3rd year of high school where we read an examinable Swahili set book by the name “Mayai Waziri wa Maradhi”. The book authored by
several writers in Africa has short stories about matters/ affairs that occur
in the continent. While most stories are fiction, some are based on true
stories. In one of the stories,
“Mkimbizi” which means a refugee, the character is a young boy born in Rwanda
who happens to be a victim of the genocide that took place in 1992. It was a fight
between 2 tribes; the Hutu and Tutsi. I remember a lot of emotions drawn in my
class when my Swahili teacher Mr. Mwaura took us through the story. I felt
terribly sad as shivers ran through my blood for the fact that such a young innocent
boy would lose his entire family over tribal war. But I remember feeling happy
that despite all, having even feasted on wild fruit to survive, he finally made
it (through a refugee program) and went abroad where he shaped his life (I
believe he is now taking part in developing a now serene Rwanda).
After high school, then a more
enlightened student about Rwanda, I would learn a little further about it
through its president Kagame and Tusker Project Fame, a music reality show that
draws contestants from East Africa. The 1st term Rwanda participated, Alpha from Rwanda emerged the winner. He stole the hearts of East
Africans and it was obvious he deserved the top award that year. I would later come to meet my 1st
Rwandese friends Jean, Athanase, Esperance and Mathieu in my 2nd
year of university. And immediately I would learn their likely nature to have
long names. The local language is Kinyarwanda but they are also good speakers
of French. A majority of them are familiar with Kiswahili and English.
Rwanda (from online material) and friends
is a very clean country. I believed this but I think the amount of believe grew
on my trip there. It is a small country which can take one 5hours to drive
through. The economy is rapidly growing amassing investors whom I assume have
fallen in love with this “land of a thousand hills in the heart of Africa”. As
you drive along the streets of Kigali (where I was), you see beautiful trees, flowers
and well manicured fences around. There are not many people on the streets as
is the norm in my capital home city of Nairobi. The vehicles are few as well;
you need not worry about traffic in the morning. The local currency in the
Rwandan Francs but the US dollar is generally acceptable. A dollar is
equivalent to about Francs 630(as per our hotel concierge exchange rate). The mobile telecommunication network is MTN
(which allows my local country mobile phone network Safaricom to operate except
that roaming rates would apply).
Most of the food in Rwanda is similar to
my country. The interesting bit is that whereas for us Chapati is a meal over
lunch or dinner, it is a typical breakfast serve in Rwanda. The local pepper is
noticeably hotter than what is super hot back home. I had learnt these back home
and confirmed them on my stay. There are a lot of cooked bananas served in
various forms. The local bottled water (similar to a Dasani or Keringet in Kenya)
is Inyange. Most places, streets and local goods are referred to by a local
name. That reflects a strong pride in local language.
Plastics
are generally prohibited in Rwanda, you may be alerted on your plane prior landing
not to disembark with plastics as they are not allowed( I had a tough time doing
my packing for this trip as I wasn’t sure to what degree is ‘not allowed’ applicable). And to a new
visitor, the moment you step outside Kigali international airport, you will
notice the cleanliness and freshness of the breeze that hovers the vicinity. To
an environmentalist like me, you feel embarrassed for driving or walking in a
green, clean city where you will not spot a plastic paper or any form of litter
on the streets whereas in your own country, you are not yet hitting that level.
Along the roads, there are waste bins pitched at reasonable points from each
other. And while back home we face a problem of theft of such metallic bins, in
Rwanda things seem to be way beyond that nature of theft.
Right from our taxi chauffer at the
airport, I immediately connected with a people who are friendly and polite.
Except for language barrier, you cannot quite feel uneasy around a Rwandese for
the 1st time. Just like my Rwandese friends back in school who are
friendly and generous, the reception in Rwanda didn’t prove an opposite. Our
arrival day happened to be the Saturday weekend where the whole community participates
in community service and clean-up. Locally known as “Omuganda”, on such a day,
you will see hardworking people pouring out for an activity meant to last till
mid day. And they all devotedly clean their community. That was a culture that
I admired. Just how many places in this world do we have most citizens
participate in a nationally recognized community work day monthly (unless it is
on a volunteer service program such as those we organize as students over
weekends)? On such a Saturday, you will
not spot vehicles on the roads easily. People honor their service to the
community. Even at local shopping stores, there are not many people during the
community service hours. That kind of discipline is irresistible.
I was dying to connect more with locals
through their local dialect. I wished I had more time there to learn the
culture, and the people, and the food, and the language. I was visiting for a workshop
organized by FAWE (Forum of African Women Educationists) where I got to learn
more about the Rwandan Education system. While there is a slight difference in
their primary school to Secondary school system in terms of years compared to
the 8-4-4 system in Kenya, one is quite capable of attaining further studies
elsewhere. We have students from Rwanda who join Kenyan universities. Rwandan government
supports higher education through loans just as does the Kenyan government
through the Higher Education Loans Board.
On my last day as we drove back to the
airport, we spent time bonding with our new friend Alphonse who had been
driving us the entire stay. A nice, soft-spoken, jovial and intelligent young
man, Alphonse becomes my 1st taxi driver who becomes a good friend
that I look forward to meeting again. An economics graduate, he opted to run a
taxi business and enjoys what he does saying it gives him the pleasure of
creating new friends from all across the globe each day. And based on our interaction
with him, he is definitely a people’s person who is better off meeting new
people while proudly sharing about his country than sitting in an office the
whole day probably staring at a monitor and punching numbers on the keyboard. Murakoze which means thank you in
Kinyarwanda is all I could say as I bid him good-bye hoping to meet again soon.
I have never wanted to be back to a place that soon where you feel home away
from home.
