Movies, tennis, and more

I enjoyed a nice and relaxing weekend in Kigali with friends. On Friday night I went to the American Club which is a restaurant and club run by volunteers in the U.S. Embassy; and the venue for many social gatherings. On Fridays the Marines play movies on a big screen, and a dinner buffet is catered by La Lalibela (the only Ethiopian restaurant in town). Even though it is called the "American" Club, membership and individual events are open to Rwandans and others as well. There is generally a nice mix of people who come to movie night; and the food is delicious. This week we watched 1408; a psychological thriller/horror ghost story with Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack. I generally don't like scary movies; but this one wasn't so bad (not very scary actually). Most of all I enjoyed the company! I met some new friends through old friends and found myself with a whole group of ex-pat people who love it here and have planned to extend their time in Rwanda. Generally, I think most people find Kigali a pleasant place to live but I have come across some people who have been here a year or so and often complain that there is not enough to do and mention a number of challenges to living here (not very many imports, not a lot of variety in food and restaurants, not a lot of cultural events, etc.) I think this issue plagues my office here as turnover on the team is high and sometimes morale is low. I've been wondering whether it is an over-time issue (that people get bored over time). I've come to understand that it is personality driven; similar to whether people prefer living in a big city like New York or a smaller Midwestern city like Indianapolis. To be happy in Kigali I think you have to be interested in the activities that are available here; like entertaining in your home, learning new hobbies like gardening and cooking; trying new things like banana wine or the different types of coffee here; and taking day and weekend trips to explore the beautiful and peaceful countryside. I think the key (not unique here) is to surround yourself with positive people who are upbeat and happy here also.

On Saturday I went shopping in the afternoon with my friend Laurie. We started in the center of town and circled our way around most parts of town. It was fun to explore what kinds of household goods are available and how much they cost. We went in hardware stores, electronics, stores, clothing shops, and perused the many things for sale on the street. Here are some of my observations:

Clothing
There are only a handful of stores selling clothes; mostly locally made clothes, but I saw hundreds of people carrying handfuls of ties, jeans, jackets, shoes, purses, and selling them on the street. I've learned there is an extensive "used clothing" economy in Rwanda. Someone buys large quantities of used clothing from the U.S. or Europe by the pound to be shipped over here (graded and priced according to how "like-new"it is) and then individuals buy portions of it (ties, shirts, etc) and carry it around selling a tie for about a $1. This seems to be how the majority of people get their clothing here since newly made clothing ends up a lot more expensive! I have heard it is hard to formalize a business here because taxes are high.

Fruits and Vegetables
We found a street where there was big commotion surrounding fruit and vegetable sellers (avocados, mangoes, bananas, pineapples, bags of peas, etc). People were shouting in Kinyarwandan. After about 5 or 10 minutes there was loud cheering and it appeared the vendors were happy. My colleague suggested this may have been the authorities giving the vendors a hard time for selling on the street and after negotiating they were allowed to stay.

Electronics
We visited about ten electronics stores on the main streets of town. I was looking for writable DVD's which I ended up buying for $1 each. I was fascinated by the number of these stores all selling the same things (TV's, DVD players, computers, cameras). I realized that these small stores had small numbers of inventory; so if you added up the number of TV's there are probably only 200 or so for sale in all of Kigali. It's so interesting that the market for electronics is fragmented into these small vendors. Also, there are mainly worse-than-generic brands for sale. I guess maybe Toshiba makes their normal electronics as well as some off-label which they export cheaply to distributors in Africa? This was the case with some clothing as well but it is more obvious. Like a nice pair of Puma athletic shoes...but when you look closely it actually says Puna.

Other interesting commodities included mobile manicurists; people sitting on the corner doing someones nails. And being able to wrap a present seems to be a good skill here. On virtually every corner downtown, people sit with shoe boxes wrapped displaying their skill and for a small fee you can have them wrap something.

One of the amazing things about spending four hours downtown in Kigali is that we were never really bothered by anyone. Only one or two people followed us and repeatedly asked for us to look at their Congolese masks for sale or their maps of Africa. As always, we got a lot of stares, but it is not uncomfortable in my opinion. Also, we never crossed paths with any other foreigners until we went into the larger grocery store (where you can buy pricey imports). It was a very pleasant afternoon.

On Saturday night I went to eat with friends to Cactus Restaurant (an Italian restaurant) in Kigali. It was yummy. I ordered my typical choice of fish kabob which consists of tilapia and other vegetables grilled on a stick. Others ordered pizzas which they said were really good (with goat cheese, tomatoes, salami). In the middle of dinner the power went out for about an hour and seemed to be out over at least half of the city. We lucked out since we were at a restaurant using a wood burning stove and oven. So no delay with the food and they were well prepared with candles for power outages!

On Sunday I went to a tennis tournament sponsored by the U.S. Embassy; it was set up so that each American playing was paired with a Rwandan for doubles tennis playing. It was fun to watch. I did not play because I have only taken a couple lessons here and did not feel I would be very competitive on the team! Here are some photos.

I walked home from the tennis match with my colleague Donald. It was about 4 miles or so and was such a nice walk. Being here with so many Rwandans walking all the time, it is compelling to join them as much as possible and hit the hills on foot!

I had a number of great conversations with Rwandan friends and coworkers this weekend. I am continuing to learn a lot about people here, about their history; and developing friendships. On more than one occasion I've been asked about educational opportunities in the United States. Not surprisingly, many people here would love the opportunity to study in the United States. The only options for studying after high school here in Rwanda include a small University in Butare, and the Kigali Health Institute technical training for physician assistant type positions. Needless to say it is very competitive to secure a post-high school education and tough to find jobs here. I've been struggling with how to answer this question for my friends. I have asked many other Americans here how they respond as well; I even asked the Ambassador at the tennis match. In my response I mostly take some time to "de-mistify" life as a student in America because I sense there is some exaggeration about opportunities and wealth in America. I ask a lot of questions about what people like to study, how they studied in school, and what are their expectations for studying abroad. I encourage people to go online and look at schools or try to network with other Rwandans who are already in the states. These answers are not different than those you would give a young American student- work hard, do your research, cast a wide net, etc. The challenges come into play when you realize that not many Rwandans have Internet access at home; so searching for schools costs them by the minute. There is no public library in Rwanda. Also, many people do not have good grades from primary and secondary school because they lost their parents to the genocide, or left their homes for a refugee camp, or had to take care of younger siblings rather than attend class regularly. I have had moments where I consider whether I should help friends more directly; like pay for school application fees, or pay for a plane ticket, or something. I know that handing out money does not always help and can make for difficult situations between friends; and it's not that I have oodles of discretionary money! But I know that working and living in Africa has impacted my experience and understanding of wealth and good fortune, and makes me appreciate the benefits of being American. For me, there will always be a desire to help and give back.