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!