Lightning Round Part 2

My posting has dropped to all-time lows, mainly because I have been swamped at work. In a few more days it should be smooth sailing til the end of the year. However, while I've been busy, I still have found time to:

1) Have Thanksgiving dinner at the American club. About 200 people attended, and they did a good job of importing all the favorites (though nothing beats our family's stuffing). Although we sat with friends and had a good time, I vastly preferred hosting our own Thanksgiving for ~15 people in Belgium last year, so I've resolved to try to repeat that here next year. That will mean finding a local poultry farmer, paying him to kill the turkey, and then plucking it ourselves, but I think its worth a shot!

2) Attend the Mille Collines Road Rally. There were 17 entrants, and we are friends with two of the co-pilots. The race went from Kigali to the NW part of Rwanda (volcano/gorilla region). The cars were fast and loud (except for the two Belgian entrants driving Peugeots!) and the track was scary! Cliffs on one side, freefall to a river on the other. Local kids turned out in droves to watch the cars zoom by, and were really into it. The best part was going to the pit stop and seeing the drivers make tons of repairs in the 15 min of allotted time, while being surrounded by throngs of children. We took a break to drive up to the Virunga Lodge - a chichi eco-lodge that costs 800 dollars a night (and really isn't worth that much!) but does have the most stunning views I've seen in Rwanda: a 360 degree panorama of volcanoes and lakes.

3) Start decorating the house. I commissioned a huge painting (6 feet by 3 feet) from a local artist, and it should be ready next week- really hoping it turns out nice. We have bought some local cow dung art for the walls, started painting the rooms, etc, had a carpented build some furniture...all to be shown off to the 3 guests we have coming for Christmas, where we'll do the full tour of the country - cannot wait!

It's a bit strange to be in the holiday season in such warm weather - first time I've been sunburned in December! Hope you are all well

What's in a Name

I am just back from a week in the U.S. for work, happy to have seen family and friends, and to have stocked up on hard to find goods. I'd be even happier if both my bags hadn't been lost, meaning my marathon session at CVS was essentially a waste of time. But ahhhh, the luxury of choice in shopping...

Combine that trip with a week in Burundi for work, and there isn't a lot of Rwanda-related news at the moment.

But as I've lived here almost three months now, a I learn a lot of small, interesting things about life here.

Something that can be endlessly confusing (because its very difficult to know if/how people are related), but is cool, is how people are named. There is no such concept as a last name (or nom de famille). Most people have two names, often an English or French first name and a Kinyarwanda last name.

So, for example, Joseph Ishimwe.

But in this fictitious example, Joseph's son wouldn't have the last name Ishimwe, nor would his father. Ishimwe is just a name that his parents liked. And this is what he is probably called by his family, when speaking the local language. My guess is that people used to just have one name, and with colonialism and the European custom of two names, just started adding a European name as a first name.

Now, Ishimwe has a meaning - joy. And because so many people have names that mean something, quite often the name that is chosen in English or French has a more literal meaning than the names we are used to in English. You meet your Marys and Josephs here, but I also have meet people called, Blessing, Patience, Prudence, Innocent, Aime (Loved), Dieudonne (God-given), Beau (Handsome), etc

Adventures in Driving

After a great 4 days in Burundi for work (which justifies a separate entry), I spent the weekend in Kibuye, a small town on Lake Kivu - the same lake that I went to last weekend, but several hours south. The lake takes up most of the border of Congo/Rwanda. The weekend was with about 14 people at a new hotel there to celebrate a friend's birthday. 6 of the people there were Scorpios, so there was lots of celebrating. One of the guys had a boat, and there were boat trips and waterskiing and general lake fun. Despite the coldest weather we've had yet in Rwanda (60 degrees?), and a lot of rain, the temperature of the lake was like bathwater - very nice.

The scenery is idyllic - green, mountainous, misty, practically untouched by humans - almost as you'd imagine Eden.

But I've blogged about the lake. What made a bigger impression over the last few days has been the driving. On Saturday we rode with two friends, iPod blaring, enjoying the hilly views on the road from Kigali. We had a small incident we laughed over - involving a stray goat darting across the road, and us nearly turning him into a kebab/brochette dinner accidentally.

That was just a hint of things to come. On Sunday, we were heading back to Kigali. The roads are pretty deserted in the rural areas. Let me clarify - deserted of cars. No matter where you are, there are always people walking along the side of the road - some carrying bags/baskets on their heads, some just walking to the local village or down to their huts, but regardless of time, there's always a buzz of human activity. However, most of the road traffic is the local taxi- minivans that carry about 18 people. On the hilly terrain, they have a hard time on the uphills and go quite slowly. So at one point at the beginning of a hill we were behind a taxi and a police truck. The police pulled out and tried to pass the taxi, but apparently they'd been eating too much or their motor was too weak, and they couldn't build up any speed. Luckily we were in a circa 1993 Toyota that could whip right past those two suckers!

Unfortunately the cops didn't like us showing them up, and radioed ahead. At the next checkpoint - BUSTED! We were pulled over and given the usual spiel - need to see license and registration. Unfortunately, the friend driving us had forgotten his license, and the routine stop became a bit of a nightmare. After quite a long time of fruitless negotiating, I slipped my license to the driver's wife, which she "found" in her purse. Luckily all muzungus (foreigners) look alike, so we were off! Though I did effectively get a ticket (for 50 dollars! prohibitive for the average Rwandan) for only sitting in the back seat! And my license seized until I go pay the fine.

Which brings me to today: had a meeting in Gisenyi at 8am, started out with a colleague at 4:45. Took my car but with him at the wheel since I was so recently sans license. About an hour into the drive, out in the endless hills, light just breaking, mist obscuring the valleys. Coming off a long uphill, just starting down a big incline. Go into a turn...and we just kept turning. Was it the wet roads, too much speed, brakes locking too quickly, bad tires? Who knows. We were spinning and spinning for what seemed like an hour but must have been 10-15 seconds. My clearest memory is spinning and getting a view of the left side of the road and thinking, I don't want to hit that wall of rock. Then 180 degrees later seeing the right side of the road and thinking, I REALLY don't want to plummet hundreds of feet down this mountain to certain death, then closing my eyes tight.

Since I'm writing this I guess its clear we didn't plummet. Bounced into the rock, came to a stop, limped to the side of the road, about 8 kids came running down the road to see what was going on - we hammered the wheel well a bit so the tire had room to rotate, cut off part of the bumper that was hanging to the ground, tied the brake lights that were hanging down into a stationary position with rope fashioned from a nearby tree, and crawled back to Kigali.

I think I will start walking to work!

Congo Congo Congo!

On Friday I had to give a presentation in Gisenyi, a resort town on the Congo-Rwanda border which overlooks Lake Kivu. Lake Kivu is one of the largest interior lakes of Africa and is the highest (elevation almost 1500 m), and is nestled in between the 8 volcanos that straddle the Rwanda-DR Congo and Uganda borders - home of the gorillas.

The lake has very few fish due to elevated methane gas levels that are the results of volcanic gases that bubble up from the bottom occasionally - some areas of the lake are not safe to swim because these gases rise to the surface and will asphyxiate you! However, most areas are safe to swim in, and a side benefit of all the gases is that many of the nasty diseases you can catch from freshwater swimming in this area of the world aren't present.

It really is a beautiful setting - sandy beaches, an immense lake, with volcanos in the background. The highlight on Saturday was lunch - we went to a local restaurant with tables that were individual huts on the beachfront. We were told we had to pay a cover charge of ~1.40 USD, which included a free beer and music. Well, this music turned out to be a 3 hour concert on the lakeshore of traditional Rwandan dancing (with a couple of hiphop tunes thrown in) - about 30 musicians with drums, traditional instruments and a microphone they passed around. There were about 12 dancers, wearing traditional outfits - a combination of kilts and overalls, with tambourine-like bells strapped to the ankles. It was all highly choreographed, and a huge spectacle for an audience of less than 20.

On Sunday we crossed the border to enter the DR Congo, specifically their version of the Lake Kivu resort town, Goma. In 2002 the Nyiragongo volcano erupted, and within 2 hours the lava had reached Goma, running all the way down to the lake. The city was covered in 6 feet+ of lava, and today the evidence is still everywhere. Buildings buried so that just the roof is sticking out, a parking lot with 10 cars half covered - and now of course the lava has turned to gray rock, so those cars are stuck - rusted through but really immovable. People have taken the hardened lava and made fences out of it and used it as building material, and in general people have rebuilt right on top of all the lava.

There weren't really too many sights to see in Goma except for all the volcano damage, but its amazing the contrast that is immediately obvious on crossing the border that you're not in Rwanda anymore - the quality of the roads is atrocious (granted, the lava might have had an effect there!), there is trash everywhere on the sides of the roads, and things just seem more...dilapidated. To be fair, this region of Congo is currently at war (don't worry, we were safe - although fighting was going on 15km north and 20km south, Goma is the base of the UN operations, so is relatively secure...at least for an afternoon). It was also interesting to see how many mansions there were - our guide said they were vacation homes of those who'd gotten wealthy via diamonds.

The volcano isn't stable enough to be monitored, but experts are relatively sure it will blow again, and probably soon. There was smoke coming out the entire time we were there, and its possible to spend a day hiking the volcano, camp out at top, and peer into the crater and see lava bubbling below. Maybe next time!

Thirty

So, on this blog I try to talk less about myself and more about Rwanda, finding anecdotes that are interesting to people who've never been here and are curious what its like. But let's be honest, these "people" are basically my family and friends, this isn't exactly reaching millions of readers, and pretty much everyone who sees this knows that, today, I turned 30.

Yesterday I had my little crisis and am over it. My sister sent an email saying, "Hope they have cake there", and I am happy to report that indeed there is a fantastic bakery. My coworkers + Hannah threw a little surprise party this morning; I totally fell for the "we have an urgent team meeting in the conference room now," walked right in to all 12 or so of them singing and then we had chocolate and carrot cakes, both of which were delicious.

Tonight these coworkers, their spouses, and some of my (few, but I'm working on it) friends in Kigali are going to dinner at the Indian restaurant, which honestly is the best Indian food I've ever had. So, I'm living high on the hog as we say at home. Here that'd translate better as, high on the cow.

To bring this back to Rwanda, I'll talk about what a cow culture exists here. When the Belgian colonial administration initially divided the population into Tutsi and Hutu for identity card purposes, the criteria was cows: Own more than ten cows, you're a Tutsi, less, and you're a Hutu. Here cows are still given as wedding dowries and presents, and beef is much much more present than chicken in grocery stores.

So, while I haven't received a cow of my very own yet, it has been a great first birthday in Africa!

Rainy Season etc

My, my, time flies. A lot going on, so it's time for a lightning round of your questions/my random observations that haven't made it into other posts!

1. Hannah is here! She arrived almost two weeks ago now, has settled in amongst the bugs, and is looking for a job, with some successful leads so far. For all you blog junkies, she has her own at http://interestingencounters.blogspot.com

2. I've caught my first tropical disease! Ok, ok, perhaps that's a bit of an exagerration, but all my friends here exchange stories of malaria, giardia, bilharzia etc like its nothing, and I was feeling left out. So I went and got myself the flu. Or something that kept me in bed for 48 hours with body temperature "so high you could grill cheese between my legs"

3. I have hobbies! We joined the pool/tennis club at the Novotel. The courts are clay, the coaches/lessons are cheap and it seems to be a social center for expats.

4. It's now the short rainy season, which means it's slightly hotter during the morning, then at some point in the afternoon will rain for an hour or three - sometimes a sprinkle, sometimes a veritable downpour the likes of which I haven't seen in my life. Then the rest of the afternoon/evening is quite cool. This should last for a month or two, then back to dry.

5. Buffet restaurants seem to be very popular here. They usually consist of: bananas, fried plantain, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, a meet dish, a vegetable succotash (usually pea and carrot based), avocadoes, tomatoes and then fruit. And sometimes French fries. Mmmm.

6. There is basically no Diet Coke here. Coke everywhere, Fanta everywhere (orange and lemon), but no Diet Coke. You can buy cans of it in the two expat grocery stores I know (at a hefty price premium over Coke), but in restaurants, regular stores, etc - non-existent.

Any questions for the next lightning round can be submitted in the comments!

Umuganda

On the last Saturday of every month, from 7am-noon is Umuganda. I'm not sure how it translates exactly, but it basically is a morning of community work. Everyone is expected to participate, roads and businesses are closed, and everyone reports to their community organizer. Last weekend I saw tons of people cleaning the streets, building things, a real frenzy of activity. At first this struck me as a really nice idea, everyone working for the common good, building the community, etc. But as I've talked to people about it over the past week, its quite controversial apparently.

The arguments for it are that because the informal economic sector is so large in Rwanda, it is very difficult to collect taxes, and this service is in a way a method of collecting a tax. Also, everyone working alongside each other promotes Hutu-Tutsi collaboration and reconciliation, and of course the community and infrastructure benefit.

However, some people say that the idea isn't new and that it originated with the previous regime, and that certainly didn't result in ethnic reconciliation. Also, the idea that it is forced is a bit too Soviet-centralized-state-esque for comfort. When you participate, you get a card with a stamp to prove you've gone, and you're often asked to show this when you need government services, and if you have missed a Saturday, good luck getting power, water, etc. Wealthier Rwandans abuse this system by sending their houseboy, etc, to participate and get the boss' card stamped.

What do you think? Great community initiative? Good idea, but hard to implement equally? Scarily interventionist? In any case, it's definitely indicative of a different mentality than we are used to...

Rwanda in the NYT

September 28, 2007, 12:37 pm
The Word Is Getting Out
By Josh Ruxin

Josh Ruxin is a Columbia University expert on public health who has spent the last couple of years living in Rwanda. He’s an unusual mix of academic expert and mud-between-the-toes aid worker.

It was much to the dismay of family and friends that my wife and I moved to Rwanda. Having seen little more than “Hotel Rwanda” to educate them about the country, they believed it to be a hostile and unstable place. We had a different take: it’s safe, clean, friendly and relatively uncorrupted. Our perception is clearly shared by others and, now, the country’s resurgence is being recognized.

Tuesday, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation released the results of its “Ibrahim Index” — a holistic ranking of how African countries are doing across the dimension of governance. Ibrahim, one of Africa’s most successful and philanthropic entrepreneurs, set up the index to inform the Mo Ibrahim Prize — an annual award of $5 million for a former head of state who has demonstrated excellence in leadership. The surprise to all but Rwandan insiders was that Rwanda made the greatest progress of any country during the course of the last five years.

As the always insightful Steve Radelet pointed out in an earlier post, governance and democracy in Africa mean everything. Having worked in nearly a dozen countries in Africa, I decided to place my bets on Rwanda because it was the first place I’d never been asked to pay a bribe. I’m not alone: donors are lining up to invest in Rwanda, reassured that the money will reach the people who need it most.

None of this is to say that Rwanda is utopia: major challenges remain for improvements in the press and in democracy. Nevertheless, at a time when many nations are spiraling downward, it’s heartening to see little Rwanda making progress against all odds.

The News That Has Kigali Abuzz

From People magazine....I feel it could spark an intellectual debate on the role of celebrities in society, whether any attention is good attention, can fame play a role in economic development, etc. But....Paris Hilton?!?!? I can't bring myself to comment. Readers, thoughts?

It's not the typical sort of hot spot she's used to, but Paris Hilton says that she's planning to hit the road to Rwanda. Apparently making good on her post-jail promise to help others, the socialite, 26, tells E! Online about her African ambitions, "I'll be going in November, after I get back from filming my movie. There's so much need in that area, and I feel like if I go, it will bring more attention to what people can do to help." Though a trouble spot of notorious proportions – an infamous 1994 genocide in Rwanda claimed about a million lives (in a nation of 9 million) – the country's multitude of problems doesn't seem to worry Hilton, who vows to pay calls upon a variety of beleaguered regions. "I want to visit more countries where poverty and children's issues are a big concern," she says. "I know there's a lot of good I can do just by getting involved and bringing attention to these issues." Hilton reportedly will visit Rwanda at the invitation of Scott Lazerson, whose year-old Playing for Good charity assists celebrities and high-profile business personalities in getting involved with organizations that benefit those in need. Hilton's Rwanda trip will also cap a busy September, during which she's been in Toronto filming her upcoming movie Repo! The Genetic Opera, partying at the MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas and hitting a slew of Emmy parties in Los Angeles.

Language and Poetry

So, as I've mentioned, the language here is a mess. Kinyarwanda is the local language everyone speaks, Belgians instituted French in schooling system, was the most common language of the educated, but during the years leading up to and including the genocide, so many people fled eastwards and spent significant time in Anglophone countries that English is widely spoken, not to mention Swahili which exists quite a bit as a regional lingua franca.

So, its theoretically a tri-lingual (English, French, Kinyarwanda) country. Very few people though are fluent in all three. The past week I've run a few workshops for work, and usually the format was: the head of the organization would present for 15 min to his staff in Kinyarwanda to introduce us. Then my colleague from the US would present in English, and I'd translate slide by slide into French (using such hard to translate words as framework, balanced scorecard, etc). Then I'd present in English and a local colleague would translate into French and Kinyarwanda if necessary.

Something I've noticed though, is that people here are very, very good with metaphor. Not sure if its something thats used a lot in Kinyarwanda and they translate them, whether the educational system encourages it, or whether they are just a poetic people. When the audience of the presentations would ask questions of us, even in English or French (remember, not their native tongue) they would really have a way with words, giving vivid examples, etc As anyone who speaks other languages knows, you're usually just happy to get the grammar and the words right, let alone flowery speech worthy of literature.

The best example I can give is the following. At OTF, I'm managing two local consultants (kind of at the McKinsey equivalent of BA, the position right out of undergrad). One of them - whom I really, really like, is really smart, super nice and one of the few trilingual Rwandans - and I were working on a project on Friday. It was about 5:50pm, he was at my desk, and we were talking about how our meetings had gone that day and what needed to be done as the next steps. In my mind I was thinking, these are things that need to be done next week, but apparently that wasn't clear and he thought I was asking him to do them right then. He looked at me so earnestly, almost like a little boy (he is my age, married, and with a 3 month old son), and said, How long do you think this will take, I have a meeting with the queen of my heart tonight, and I am already twenty minutes late.

Referring to his wife as the queen of his heart. Isn't that the nicest thing you've ever heard?

Creepy crawly

In some of my pre-move research, I'd read that Rwanda was sometimes referred to as "Africa light" because it didn't get as hot or as buggy as some of the steamier parts of the continent.

So, I thought I'd be living alone in my house until Hannah's arrival. I was wrong. I have many roommates, with many legs.

Sure, there are mosquitos everywhere, and I'd been prewarned about the little ants that are omnipresent and impossible to get rid of - when I saw them coming out of a miniscule chink in the kitchen wall tile, I thought, How Industrious. They keep to their little area in there, and I keep to mine - a good arrangement. And, the small green lizards I've seen on the walls are old hat - they are all over SEAsia and I think kind of cool. So far so good.

It started going slightly downhill when I first noticed the caterpillars crawling on the floor, leaving a slimy trail. Not cool. Really not cool when I woke up one morning with one on the wall directly behind my bed. That was responsible for a night of constantly waking up feeling something crawling on me. That hasn't lasted thankfully.

One morning I woke up and was going to work, and in the living room saw a dead cricket. And there were my friends the ants, swarming the carcass in the hundreds.

All of this I was handling pretty well. But the worst part was the other day - I came home from work, went to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and the biggest cockroach I have ever seen came scurrying down the side. I'd like to say I handled this well, but to be honest, I shrieked like a little girl and went running into the hallway. After a few seconds and a lot more screaming and the feeling that my entire nervous system had just lit up like the 4th of July (or 21st of July for you Belgians reading this), I realized that I had left the fridge door open and certainly didn't want that critter running in THERE! So I ran back into the kitchen, slammed the door, saw the roach again, screamed a bit more for good measure and at this point for old time's sake, stepped on the roach, and ran out!

Domestic Life

So, as a result of nothing terribly exciting happening lately, I'll share some of the more mundane details of my life in Kigali by answering come questions I've gotten in emails.

My "staff." First, that's weird to get used to, the idea of having 3 people have their full time job be related to my house. The two guards are named Edouard and Sombiri. Edouard is the night guard (6pm-6am, 7 days/wk), and Sombiri takes the other half. I was given the option of having armed guards, but I haven't seen a single other house with one, so I thought a) I don't like guns and b) it would give the impression there is something inside worth stealing, so they are unarmed. I often wonder if the armed guards would have been these same two guys, just with guns, or if there are more...highly trained armed guards. Don't get me wrong, these guys are nice, but I can't see either of them harming a fly.

Edouard is perhaps 70. And he moves slow. And the word frail comes to mind. He has taken over the garage, put a bed and radio in there, and I can hear him playing the radio if I am in the dining room or kitchen -he listens to news in Kinyarwanda or French, and often very Gregorian chant sounding music, and sometimes what sounds like more current African music.

Sombiri is I would guess 16. I haven't talked to him much because I am not around too often during the day. And the fact that he doesn't speak French or English complicates things. So I can't give you many details about him. He always has a huge smile on his face. But, he washes my car every morning! It seems like such a waste since its such a piece of crap, and you can't avoid dust here.

Of course, there is a part of me that thinks, how can I have guards who are either senior citizens or should be in school. Why isn't he in school? I casually mentioned to a coworker that it was hard communicating with him because of the language barrier, and the coworker was shocked that he was hired - suspects that maybe the office manager gave the job to the son of a friend. But, I don't want to say anything because I have no idea of the circumstances and certainly don't want to be responsible for someone losing their job. Maybe when I start Kinyarwanda classes I can practice with him and get some information.

Then there is the housekeeper/cook, Melanie. She is my favorite, because she speaks English and French, and leaves me funny little notes around the house explaining things or asking me questions. The company pays her directly, and also gives her money to go grocery shopping, so I am completely at the mercy of what she cooks me. Though I did stress, NO FISH in about 6 responses to her notes.

What she cooks though is usually excellent. Usually a salad with lots of vegetables, and then a rice/meat/sauce dish. The beef is good, usually in a tomato sauce. Chicken with peanut sauce. Pasta casseroles on the weekends. Meatballs and onions. I can't always identify it, but its usually great!

I think this week I am going to ask her to pack me a lunch, because I feel like it takes so much time for me to go home (the commute is only 5 minutes, but she serves the meal course by course, no one rushes anything here!), and while I'm at the table she serves me like a waitress which just feels ridiculous.

Long Awaited Pictures

So, these are all from the safari this weekend. Many thanks to my coworker Jeremy (and his amazing camera and photog skills) for sending them to me.

NOW are you ready to visit?

Safari!

When you think of African tourism, what do you think of?
SAFARI!

Rwanda's tourism niche is gorillas, and the traditional African safari is most often found in Kenya or Tanzania, and I guess at Kruger in South Africa. However, Rwanda has a national park on its eastern border (shared with Tanzania), where the landscape is drastically different - think lakes and savannah with small trees, acacia, etc. In this part of the country, there is most of the wildlife you'd associate with safari - elephants, zebra, hippos, giraffe, buffalo, monkeys, baboons, wharthogs, all sorts of antelope - topi, impala, etc. Even a few leopards, but none of the big cats - lions - those are all in Kenya and Tanzania. We saw everything except leopard and elephant, but what we did see was amazing.

We rented a 4x4, packed some lunches, and made the 2 hr drive to the border. It was my first time out of the city, and the countryside is really great. Hills that are completely green, filled with banana trees (its mainly the western and southern parts of the country that have the coffee and tea farms) that gradually gives way to a flatter, grassier landscape.

Also, outside of the city it hits home that the GDP is 270 dollars per person. Most everyone is a subsistence farmer, working plots of land the size of an acre and trying to scratch out a life. Most of the houses are stick frames and made from bricks or dried mud. Also we seemed a bit more foreign - got more stares and waves, and some extended hands asking for a handout.

We got to Akagera (the park), went to the office, and was given a guide. One of my coworkers had been to Akagera many times and knew the place well, but the guide was really good at spotting wildlife in the distance and in the brush. He also had a big book of the Birds of East Africa - apparently there are 550 species of birds in Rwanda and there is hopes to develop some bird tourism to diversify the country's offerings. Ever since my sister's pet parakeet Sammy, I haven't been a huge fan of birds, but these things are amazingly colorful, like someone painted their feathers with a brush.

Seeing the animals is a thrill, and most are completely unconcerned that you are there. The two highlights were the hippos and the giraffes. We went to one of the lakes in the park and there were about 6 hippos in the water, and one sunning himself on the bank. It was HUGE! Apparently the number one rule of hippos is: NEVER get between the hippo and the water. Water = safety for them, so if they are near water they feel fine; if they perceive a threat between them and the water, they'll fight like hell. And trust me, you'd lose that fight.
Our big fella just stayed there calm as day, watching us with a wary eye but only staggering to his feet after we'd been there quite a while and were revving the engine to leave.

The giraffes were much more skittish but we went offroad and got pretty close to them and they are amazingly graceful. And that neck is just so odd. Loved them!

There were a lot of DLAs as my coworker referred to them (Deer-like-animals) that were hard to keep straight, and after 6 hours it wasn't quite as exciting to see them or the baboons (so many it was like pigeons in Paris). Plus, after my experience at a game restaurant in S. Africa a couple of years ago, I was more interested in tasting them than sighting them.

My general theory on zoos etc is that they are smelly and kind of sad, but this really changed my mind - the guide knew an amazing amount and seeing them in the park was fascinating. Even though Rwanda may not be the place for the ultimate safari, the people I was with who know Africa well loved the fact that there were NO other people around. We literally saw a group of 4 Germans once, and Akagera receives only 15,000 visitors per year, less than 50 a day, while Serengeti etc are in the many hundreds of thousands. A hidden gem, and definitely on the must see circuit I'll take you on WHEN (not if) you come visit.

Rwanda 4, Liberia 0

What a weekend!

On Saturday, I did a little bit of work, and then went to meet two of my fellow expat coworkers, and one of our local colleagues, Mbaga at the soccer stadium. The qualifying for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations is in full swing, and Rwanda was hosting a match.

The stadium is a bit outside the city on the Airport road, and what a scene! The usually full streets and busy traffic was multiplied, and there was a big crowd outside the stadium. The last time I was at a soccer match was the World Cup Semifinal, so the stadium wasn't quite...a model of German efficiency. But it was great. Most of the stadium is uncovered, but we had gotten seats in the VIP section...meaning covered and not a concrete bench, but a real plastic seat. Which actually was very comfortable!

It was great to be there with Mbaga, because he is a huge fan and could give all the dirt on the Rwandan team. Both Liberia and Rwanda are in a group with Cameroon, and were the bottom two teams, so qualifying for Ghana is probably out of reach. Rwandan had two players who were clearly the best - one plays in the Swedish league and the other was the top scorer in the Rwandan league.

The President, Paul Kagame, is a huge fan and was at the game, flanked by security. There was a performance by the army band, and a hilarious heckler (I was told he was hilarious as he was shouting a mix of French, Swahili and Kinyarwanda) I did learn that Sowa means good in Swahili!

A sowa day!

It's Never Quiet

I fully recognize that my enthusiasm and raves about Rwanda so far have engendered some skepticism that I am in the honeymoon phase. Which is true. Things are great, but I do have on the rose colored glasses. However, I want to give an accurate picture of everything so I’ll give you a glimpse into the seamy underbelly of the non-glamorous life in Kigali.

Our office is in a very nice building, probably on of the nicest ones you could rent should you choose to locate your company here. I’d say ten times a day the power goes out – usually for 5-10 seconds, sometimes a few minutes. The internet can be really slow, and also cuts in an out, and has a tendency to disappear right when I’m in the middle of downloading or sending a large file, wrecking the whole thing. The worst though is that often the water doesn’t work, and last week, we had an entire day without water, including the bathroom sinks and toilets. Meaning you hold it, or the office starts to smell. And someone didn’t hold it.

The speed bumps on some of the downhills are better described as speed mountains. I’ve given myself and my car quite the jolt several times. Ahhh, and the car. I’m not a huge car guy (who here remembers the FYRBALR?), and have never been overly possessed with the desire for a nice one. But the McKinsey car policy was unbelievably generous, and I guess I’d gotten used to my Audi. Here I am driving a dented, dirty, paint peeling off, early 90s Toyota. It makes sense – a nice car would just get ruined, and quick, but still…the luxury. Oh, and I forgot…the radio doesn’t work, but there is a scratchy cassette player, that came with a tape of Nicole Miller. I know what you’re thinking. Who? There is a reason you haven’t heard of her. Silence is preferable!

I live in a neighborhood of nice houses, mostly expats, but not so far out of reach that well-to-do Rwandans don’t live there too. In fact, my next door neighbor is Rwandan and has 5 cute kids! Our neighborhood is mostly paved, but our street is dirt (looks very similar to Virginia red clay), so the last 45 seconds of a drive home is on a dirt road. Although it isn’t the rainy season, there has been quite a bit of rain the past few days, and that road turns to muck.

One thing I like about living in the neighborhood is that it doesn’t feel totally removed from the real Rwanda, as some of the huge mansions with pools etc do. On the other side of my dirt road (no, it doesn’t have a name or an address, meaning I’m getting all my mail sent to the office, though locals apparently call it the Second Parallel) is the real Rwanda – shack type housing with no electricity, etc. There are always, always, always people milling about, night or day, all ages, women washing clothes, a little corner store selling water, cokes and cell phone cards, kids playing, etc. And at night, it doesn’t quiet down. Those chickens that mill about are crowing, dogs are barking, people playing their radios (country music seems popular, and someone should let Kenny Rogers know that if he played a concert here, it’d sell out fast as I’ve heard him innumerable times). So sometimes its hard to sleep. Every morning I swear I am going to kill that rooster!

But, I am still in the honeymoon phase, so these are minor annoyances!

Trip to Burundi, or, Life in a War Zone

…was pretty nice. So Wednesday and Thursday I went to Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, for a coffee conference. The day we were supposed to leave, some violence broke out and 21 people were killed in Buj as it is sometimes called. After some rumors the flight wasn’t leaving that were eventually disproved, we changed our hotel from one in the city and ended up staying along the shore of lake Tanganyika in the hotel where the conference was being held so we wouldn’t have to venture out if necessary. The hotel was great – lodge-y feel, pool, sauna, massage, the best pineapple juice, etc. So while we never left and I didn’t see any of Buj proper, it was a nice time and it was easy to be oblivious to the problems. I am not too knowledgeable on the politics of Burundi, but the country’s situation is very similar to Rwanda’s in many ways – a mix of Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, a former Belgian colony, a small landlocked country dependent on tourism and tea. They have only recently had a stable peace, also having an ethnic conflict from 1994-96, and years of lowlevel fighting after. The group responsible for this week’s killing is fighting fellow Hutus, so there was a bit of infighting.

Anyway, Burundi doesn’t have too much in the way of tourist sites (Lonely Planet highlights include the disputed source of the Nile, and the disputed location where Stanley and Livingstone met up…), but has a stunningly beautiful landscape. Its in the rift valley between mountain ranges, so you are flying in over a green, flat valley with the enormous mountains of Congo on your right and the mountains of Burundi on your left, with Buj situated right on Lake Tanganyika – one of the longest and deepest lakes in the world. Its also at a lower elevation so felt hotter and muggier than Kigali – I often forget we’re right at the Equator.

I’ve had a lot of complaints about the recent lack of pictures – its terrible, but I forgot my camera. You’ll have to wait until Hannah arrives…

Settling In

I don't even know where to continue, a million things are happening on a million fronts. Maybe I'll do a lightning round of questions I've been asked:

Language: So, the first language of most people here is Kinyarwanda. OTF offers classes in this, but it is one of the most difficult languages in the world to learn. As a former Belgian colony, French is widely spoken in the cities. However, there is also a movement towards English, as during the genocide millions of people fled to Anglophone neighboring countries (Tanzania, Uganda, etc) and learned English there. The President is one, apparently, so English has momentum. For me, I speak French with the people who work in my house, although one of the guards speaks only Kinyarwanda so we just do a little Ca va? Ca va! In general I've been just trying Bonjour hello and seeing which language people respond in. I'd say its 75/25 French/English. At work in the office its English.

House: I've moved in! It's a brick rancher, or what I think is called a rancher but I'm not exactly sure what that is, actually. Its one-story, with a main hallway, a kitchen that has been stocked with all the basics - even peanut butter, take that Brussels! At the moment there are three staff - Melanie, the cook and housekeeper, Edouard, the night guard, and Sombiri, the day guard/yard guy. Its funny, I don't even have keys to the house - one of them is there 24/7 to let me in. They seem very nice. I haven't quite gotten used to the idea of it yet though...

Work: In general I want to avoid writing too much about work. Partially because McK beat client confidentiality into my head, party because it probably won't be too interesting on a regular basis (to you that is, to me, hopefully it will be!). I officially start tomorrow, but I've come into the office a few times to meet with people, my new boss, etc. I will be mainly working on the strategy for the coffee industry. So start buying Rwandan coffee!

Things I've done: Gone to the awards ceremony for the Rwandan Golden Cup 2007. This is an event put on by the coffee industry that attracts an international jury of cuppers (professionally trained coffee tasters) to find the best coffee in Rwanda. Washing station owners submit their samples that are tasted by this jury, and they rate the coffees. There was entertainment consisting of a local dance troupe/drum band that was awesome!! It was held at the Hotel des Mille Collines, one of the three big international hotels in town, and the one that was the subject of Hotel Rwanda (which I still haven't seen, I know, I know, terrible).

Food: The food has been surprisingly good and varied. There are a ton of restaurants of every cuisine - Indian, CHinese, French, Belgian, Thai, etc, and I had a fantastic pizza!

Weather: 80, sunny, breezy, perfect.

Time difference: Same as Brussels, 1 hour ahead of London, 6 ahead of East Coast USA, 9 ahead of West Coast USA

Ok, that's all I can think of for the moment...ask specific questions if you got em! Oh, and I got the bank account - well, she called and said its open at least! Talk soon...

Arrival Part Deux, or, Goat is Good

I’m still here.

Meaning I’ll flesh out my previous post with more details.

So I’ll go back to Monday night. Had my last last last dinner at Le Perroquet, the café we go to all of the time. Couldn’t decide between my favorite pita and my favorite salad, so got both! We’d had a late start because I had met Yves for a drink since he was out of town this weekend. By the time I’d gotten home it was almost midnight and there was still a lot (ok, all) of the packing to be done.

I stayed up the whole night packing, cleaning and organizing…well, as close to organizing as I get. Because we are going to have to reduce the size of our shipment in order to stay under the OTF limit (no sense spending 1000s of dollars to ship our junky stuff), I also tried to have some semblance of top priority, mid and low for Hannah to tell the movers. I unfortunately left her with some unpleasant tasks of having to get rid of large pieces that we can’t ship.

So, one all-nighter later, we left at 7:45 to head to the airport. Bought some Belgian chocolates as gifts for my new coworkers, checked in, and promptly went to sleep. I woke up as we were descending into Kigali at 6:45pm – late enough for it already to be dark (unlike the 10pm summer sunsets in Brussels)

Stepping off the plane I was a little groggy, but just so excited to finally be there! The airport is bigger than I was expecting, but certainly not huge. It is close to the city center – only 5km – so stepping off the plane into the warm air with all these little twinkling streetlights on the darkened hills could have almost been a scene in the Hollywood hills.

There were two other coworkers on the plane with me – one had interviewed in Boston at the same time as me, and one was a Director who did the interviewing. The three of us were met by the Director responsible for Africa and the manager of the car fleet. We were driven to one of the houses OTF has a long term lease on – and a couple more OTFers were there to greet us. The cook had salad and beer and “pizza” (in quotes because it wasn’t exactly pizza, but was quite good!)

I won’t go into much detail about the house because I have since seen the one I will be staying in for at least the first three months and will go into details in a later post. But I will say that I slept under a mosquito netting for the first time in my life. Restrictive.

Wednesday we got up and went into the office and met the rest of the staff based in Rwanda. Nice to put faces to all the people who have been so helpful over email. Got our laptops set up, chatted a bit, etc. Came back to the house for a lunch of boulettes (meatballs) and rice. Really good, actually.

In the afternoon, Jeremy (other new hire) and I went to the Commercial Bank of Rwanda to set up accounts in Rwandan Francs. There are a few ATMs in Kigali, but none accept foreign cards, only accounts from local banks. My salary is paid in US dollars and I can transfer enough each month for living expenses to this bank and they’ll convert it to francs. And then use the ATMs to get cash.

We needed a passport photo, passport, and letter from a Rwandan employer to open the account. I hadn’t thought to bring passport photos (stupid rookie traveler mistake, as you always need them at the most random of times). Jeremy took one of me with his digital camera and we took it to a strip-mall-esque place with a camera/photocopying shop in hopes of getting it printed. After much conversation in French, English and Kinyarwanda (Jean-Claude from OTF was with us…), and several failed attempts by the shopkeeper, I got nine too-large, too-pink, but at this point let’s just take them passport photos.

We sat down with the bank clerk, started filling out paperwork, everything going very smoothly. She asked if we wanted to make a deposit, which I did since I had a fair amount of cash on me, and Jeremy even more. So, I handed over 300 US dollars, and she took it and put it in her desk drawer. And said, ok, I’ll open your accounts later. She gave us an official looking receipt though, and said she’ll call us later when the account is opened, and then we can come back and order the ATM card. It’s a bit strange to have just given over the money, but I’ve been assured its perfectly normal!

Tonight we went for dinner at a restaurant in our neighborhood. Basically a bar in a converted house and tables out in the yard, with a big barbeque in the back. The menu consisted of goat brochettes (kebabs) – the most commonly eaten food, apparently – and fish brochettes. More out of my massive disdain for fish than a desire to be adventurous, I went for the goat. It was served with fries and was actually really really good. A bit chewy but in a good way. Tastes like…lamb, actually. I can see it becoming a staple. Baa!

This is becoming obscenely long, and I know if I keep reporting this miniutae I’ll lose all 3 readers that I have fast. If you’re still reading this, please please please leave a comment, as I love that feature. Also, I have a cell phone number now, and a mailing address. Let me know if you want them. Soon I will force them on you as I demand care packages!

Finally, thanks SO MUCH to everyone who has written me. I appreciate it and love hearing from you. For those of you expressing concern, don’t worry I am being safe, etc etc. But I have a good feeling about this place. The only bummer is being away from y’all. I will digress for a minute about omens/signs. I believe in them. When I worked at the Korean Embassy in DC, my coworker Megan and I would leave almost every day at the same time to walk to the Metro. Almost every day for two years we would be passed on Massachusetts Avenue by this little, little Hispanic man. 5 feet, tops. Running at top speed, no matter the weather, hot or cold. He’d constantly be looking back over his shoulder to see if the bus was coming. Sometimes he’d be so tired he’d give up and wait at the bus stop, and sometimes he just kept on running. But we never saw him catch the bus. We never talked to him, but created a whole backstory for him. Decided he was working a job at an Embassy on Mass, got off work at the same time we did, and had another job to get to in the suburbs. Anyway, on my very last day, he was running at top speed, turned around, saw the bus was coming, raced even faster, and caught it! And the last image we saw was his face in the window with the broadest grin you can imagine. And then I had this overwhelming feeling that everything was right with the world.

Anyway, on Saturday night in Brussels, I was walking home from my going-away party and I got lost in the Bois de la Cambre, a huge park/forest near our apartment. I was wandering around for a long time, it was about 5am and while it is not a dangerous area per se, it was late and I wasn’t totally comfortable. I had that awful feeling of going in circles, and on paths through the forest it is impossible to know where you’re going. All of a sudden, I looked up and saw the skyscraper that houses the McKinsey offices (and yes, the lights were on, even Saturday at 5am!). I was so thrilled because I knew exactly where I was and where I should go, and my thought was, McKinsey has literally helped me get my bearings – perhaps a good metaphor for the past year.

Since I’ve arrived in Kigali, the moon has been full, and the thrilled feeling hasn’t subsided. A la prochaine…

Arrival

I'm here.

Which is pretty much all I have to report. Arrived last night at 7pm, and it was already dark, so hard to see much. Clearing immigrations and customs was a breeze, and someone from OTF met myself and 2 other coworkers at the airport. We spent the night in a house OTF leases for 2 senior people who are in and out of town.

Took a drive around Kigali last night and on the way into the office this morning. It's pretty much what I expected. Hilly, pretty, wonderful weather, people everywhere, etc. Excited to get out there and see more.

Leaving now to set up a bank account, see my house, etc. Should get a car shortly. They drive on the right, but the steering wheel is on the right! I'm just praying they haven't adopted the Belgian traffic laws!

Much more soon...

ps - a big thanks to everyone who came to my going away party in BRU - I had a blast! And will post pictures soon

The Final Countdown

I leave in 5.5 days. In that time I need to: finish packing, organize details with move, do laundry, pay a visit to the travel clinic, entertain some out of town friends who are coming for my going away party, go to said going away party, organize a million things, make a few more purchases of hard-to-get-in-Rwanda items, etc.

But my jetlag and odd sleeping hours combined with Brussels limited opening hours for shops means this might be tough. I'm just back from a week in the US to see family, which was fun.

The next time I post will probably be from Kigali!

Last Day of Work...and some inspiration

Well, it's here. Done. Finito. Etc. I'm leaving soon to head over to the office and turn in my computer, phone and home printer/fax/scanner/probably could counterfeit money too if I knew how to work it properly machine. All the implements of modern slavery. Just kidding, everyone here knows that I love being connected all the time and some may even say I have a slight problem...

I won't go into my very mixed feelings on McKinsey in too great of detail. Maybe after the perspective of a few months. I will say its a place where you can learn incredibly, incredibly quickly. And, it also can be a real grind. And even within my small start group, people have had wildly varying experiences, so luck plays a big role. Some fantastic people are there, and it was great to have been a part of it all for a short while.

The theme of the Brussels office in 2007 was inspirational leadership. Granted, I liked the fluffy classes in business school, and I am a definite F on the Meyers-Briggs, but I thought this was a fantastic idea. I went to a two day training with Hannah on becoming an inspirational leader, where the purpose was to really study your own needs, beliefs and values - without knowing yourself, you can't inspire others. I think what it comes down to is that I am hoping to find more meaning in the next job. Someday I would like to think that someone might consider me inspiring, but for now, I'll settle for finding a bit more inspiration myself.

And, in a fantastic segue combining Rwanda AND inspiration to end this post, I am going to link to a video of Bill Clinton (definitely an inspirational leader) talking about his dream of building a health care system in Rwanda. A 24 minute video, but worth the time. Thanks to my colleague Fred for passing it along.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/85

Startup: Rwanda

Here is a link to a really interesting Business 2.0 article about the myriad business opportunities in Rwanda - brings up some themes often discussed in development...highly recommended


http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/08/01/100138832/index.htm

Visitors and RIBS

When I lived in Germany for a year post-UVA, everyone and their brother said they would come visit. Very few did. Except Amita, who really did come with her brother.

But Belgium must hold a greater appeal for my friends, or maybe everyone just has more disposable income now. But in any case I have been amazed by how many visitors we've had over the past year, from near and far.

For the past three days, we've been hanging out with Mike and Kelley of Team Turner fame (see their blog in the blogs i read section). Mike and I went to high school, middle school and elementary school together in good ole Midlo VA, and he and his wife are traveling around the world for a year (living the dream!). Anyway, we met them for dinner their first night in Brussels, then ended up going out with them Thursday night and having them and the BRU CREW over for dinner on Friday - we cooked baby back ribs...

It was great to spend some time with them and I hope we didn't monopolize their Belgium time too much. But we have to go to bat for our little country and show off the best stuff!

The picture with the huge test tube of beer is translated as A Giraffe of Beer...probably something else I should have added to the Things I'll Miss entry!

A sunny weekend is a good omen

This past weekend we went to a McK colleagues wedding, which was a great anthropological experience. The groom was in my start group back in September, and we've become friends and sounding boards since. The bride comes from a very politcally-connected family, so we were expecting a glimpse into the upper crust of Belgian society - not our normal milieu.

And it didn't disappoint. The uppercrustiness was cool - we saw (ok, had to be told who they were) the former Prime Minister of Belgium, a couple current members of government, and the first Belgian in space!

Its really a full day of events for the bride and groom, and I can only imagine how exhausted/dehydrated/hungry they are at the end. First was the church service at noon, which was held at a great old church in Leuven, a university town in Flanders (and probably the best university in Belgium-they are much more equal here than in the US, but I'd say its the one with an international profile). It was a Catholic mass that lasted about two hours, and was in Dutch, so I was just listening really hard for the end of Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Heilig Geist) so I'd know when to cross myself.

Things that made it not-your-typical-American wedding. There were 18 attendants on each side! The males all wore matching outfits, but the women had chosen their own - no common color scheme and certainly not the exact same dress. And each wore a hat. A Queen of England, multiplanar with feathers and bows and flowers kind of hat! The ceremony was long, but so are Catholic ceremonies in the States, but children were much more visible as was the wedding planner-ish guy. Also, the groom gave a welcome speech at the church before the priest did (I think they were welcoming, again, the Dutch! A lot of the prayers and readings were in the program, and from my limited Dutch a lot of the Biblical verses and vows are similar to ours- definitely in sickness and in health was mentioned!

The first reception is an outdoor cocktail and I think gets quite an extensive guest list. Later on there is a sit down dinner and afterparty of drinks and dancing for the closer friends (we weren't invited to this part) Anyway, it was held in a castle on the outskirts of Brussels, and was really amazing. A sunny afternoon, which is rare in Belgium! Here is a picture of us in front of the castle's donjon tower (dungeon!)

Bye Bye Brussels

So, keeping my priorities in line, its time to plan a going away party. Given the propensity of the neighbors to call the cops at the slightest noise (despite their never ending shouting matches), I need to find another venue. Local readers, any ideas?

As excited as I am about moving, it is sad to be leaving Brussels sooner than I'd planned. Things I'll miss:
Our apartment
The friterie on our block,
SAMOURAI sauce
Still finding new domestic beers on menus
My coworkers and friends
Speaking French on a daily basis

Things I won't:
The hours
The bureaucracy
The rain

A Belgian Weekend

So, I've received two articles recently from the New York Times about Rwanda: one praising the country's turnaround and leadership, the other talking about the difficulties of doing business there. No doubt both are very true. Email me if you want the articles.

Since this blog is subtitled Moving from Brussels to Kigali, and because I don't think I'll have frequent updates about Rwanda for a bit, I'll concentrate on life in Belgium for now.

July 21 is Belgium's national holiday, and we went with some friends to the Gentse Feest - Ghent Festival - for the night. It's basically a huge street party, a cross between a state fair, outdoor concert, and Foxfield. A great time, but Sunday morning we got up and drove to Oostende on the coast to run a 10km race. The weather was perfect and although it was tough to get started, I finished in 55:55 which is fine by me, and seems like a lucky number.

Rwanda Facts: A Thousand Hills

Rwanda is known as "Le pays des milles collines" which means the land of a thousand hills. Despite knowing a fair amount of random facts and Africa-related trivia, I didn't know too much about it before researching this job. I'm sure most of the world's first thought is the 1994 genocide, but apparently things are quite peaceful and stable now. Some facts: Population 9.9 million, land area around the size of Maryland, making it Africa's most densely populated country with over 1000 people per square mile. Bordered by Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and Congo. Famous for the gorillas living in the Virunga National Park (with six extinct volcanoes). Located just south of the Equator, at an elevation of 1500m, meaning the climate is high 70s/low 80s year round.

From Belgium to her colonies...

Well, if you are reading this you probably know that I have been offered a job in Kigali, Rwanda. I have to make a final decision quickly, think about how to tell my current employer, and am a bit overwhelmed that all I need to get done - breaking my lease, packing (again!), getting shots, saying goodbye to Belgium, etc, etc.

I decided the best way to stay in touch will be through a blog, so this is really just a test post, as I am years behind in this phenomenon. More to come soon.

Come visit,
garron