Weekend in Nairobi with Noni

I traveled to Nairobi for the weekend to visit Noni and her family. The first thing I noticed is the heavy traffic all around the city. It took an hour and a half for the taxi to reach Noni's parents apartment.

We passed many people selling things on the side of the road. They said this is a common livelihood for Kenyans.

Noni's apartment complex had a gate and a guard like most places in Nairobi. This sign was on the gate. I learned this meant no honking to get the guard to open the gate.
Here is Noni, her mom, and her dad in their apartment. They were excellent hosts; very generous and kind. I hope to return the favor when they come to Washington DC sometime!

When I arrived, their apartment was lit with candles because there is currently a water and electricity shortage in Nairobi. They learned this week that they would not have electricity on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. I wished I had packed my flashlight! They have a generator they charge on the days they have electricity, and can use for some hours of the day on the others. Nairobi uses water for electricity and has not had enough rain to sustain the energy needs. Apparently, this happened in the 90's too. This is a great hardship for residents who need to run their refridgerators and stoves, not to mention TV and internet!

Shortly after arriving we went to a nearby Lebanese restaurant in their neighborhood. It turns out this restaurant used to be Noni's childhood home. The owners and staff knew Noni and her parents well. They showed me how the bathrooms are where Noni's bedroom used to be, and the bar is where her sister's room was, and we ate in their living room.

It was a really nice house with a large front yard and back yard. It must be surreal but also cool to be able to frequent your family home as a restaurant.

After dinner Noni and a friend of hers took me to Mercury bar. It was great to be in a modern lounge listening to music and watching people mingle.

The next day we started out with breakfast at Java House, which is a large coffee house chain in Nairobi. I loved the fancy coffees and yummy food. I took this picture from the balcony.

I caught Noni sitting pensively at the table.

After breakfast we walked around a mall called the Junction. I bought a number of goodies at the Nakumatt which is a large grocery/home goods store a little like a Walmart.

Although I didn't get to visit any of the famous game parks in Kenya on this trip, later in the day we visited a giraffe center where we were able to feed the animals.
We saw their slimy tongues eating the hay out of our hands.

There were funny signs warning us of headbutts and overfeeding the giraffe.
Two of the giraffe's were named Laura and Lucy.

There was a "zoovenir" shop on site, and I posed with the Maasai warriors. One of them was looking at me! I learned the Masaai are an indigenous tribe in Kenya and Tanzania. They were warriors and one of the most well known groups in Africa. Over the weekend there were many opportunities to buy Masaai blankets, shields, masks, and these statues.

After the giraffe center we went to Karen Blixen's house and museum (the author of the memoir "Out of Africa"). I saw the movie a long time ago, and touring her house was an interesting reminder of her story. She owned over 6,000 acres of land in the early 1900s where she unsuccessfully tried to grow coffee and successfully wrote many novels. The official guided tour talked about her as a brave woman who came alone to Africa to get married and that she employed hundreds of people and made sure they finished school and had other opportunities. We had some of our own discussions of how the other story told is that she may not have treated the locals so well, and she may or may not have actually bought the land. The good and bad impact of colonialism was an ongoing theme in our discussions over the weekend, as it often is when traveling around Africa.

There were many gardens surrounding the homes she owned on this land. We had lunch in one of the gardens at a very pretty cafe. There were weddings in the gardens when we visited her house.

This is The Karen Hospital- a private health facility near her land. The neighborhood is named Karen and seems to be a very upscale area.

As we drove around Nairobi on busy crowded streets, seeing a herd of cows crossing the road was a common site.

I liked this sign advertising a hair salon, a wonderful pub and butchery and place to eat grilled meat.

This was a roadside fruit and vegetable market; also a common site.

On Sunday we visited the Masaai market outside of the YaYa mall. Noni negotiated the price of two scarves for herself and a colorful Masaai blanket for me. I also bought a beaded necklace, a beaded belt, and African Obama fabric.

We indulged ourselves while in the big city for the weekend, including getting our hair done.

Fun at the salon!
On Saturday night we ate at a sushi restaurant.

We really enjoyed it.

On Sunday we saw the movie "The Proposal" and then returned to Java House to meet up with Noni's friends.

I enjoyed visiting where Noni grew up. She pointed out her primary and secondary schools and her old hangouts. Nairobi is a fascinating mix of modern ammenities like movies, malls, bars, and a variety of cuisines; along with rural Africa characteristics like cows and goats everywhere, everything for sale at the side of the road, poverty, and general hard lifestyle.

I never felt unsafe over the weekend but we knew that car jackings and other crimes are common in Nairobi. We were careful not to drive far at night and in general people advise against driving alone at night. Most places we went were guarded with gates and guns. I liked Nairobi very much and could imagine it would be a very interesting place to live. The people were very friendly and learning Swahili greetings was fun. Though I think the crime, traffic, and energy shortages would be challenging to deal with as a resident.

Expo in Gikondo

Kigali has a new Expo area in the Gikondo neighborhood which hosts International Trade Fairs a few times a year. My friend Steve went to the fair with me today. It cost 500 francs to park and 500 francs to get in. (About $2)


There were many booths of local businesses, government agencies, and sellers from around East Africa. It was very crowded, but fun.

This was a booth advertising environmentally efficient diesel.

This was a model of "modern agriculture" displayed by a local fruit juice company. Showing a miniature store surrounded by pineapple, passion fruit, and strawberry plants.

Like most fairs there was a kids areas with swings and a bouncy castle, as well as many beer, fruit juice, and food kiosks. People were lined up to eat these goat brochettes.

This woman, named Shelter, sold me this blue dress from Tanzania for $15.

I was very entertained by the live infomercial booths describing amazing fruit and vegetable slicers...

and fruit blenders.

I ran into four other Rwandans I knew at the fair- small world here in Kigali! It was a fun Sunday supporting the local community.

BBQ at the Car Wash

There are often goodbye and hello gatherings for the transitioning expatriates living (temporarily) in Rwanda. Sadly, my friend Noni is leaving in two weeks after 2 years in Rwanda, so there are many fun gatherings planned to wish her well.

On Sunday evening we went to Car Wash, an outdoor restaurant with affordable nyama chomo (grilled/roasted meat) by the kilo and car washing!

We ordered a table full of pork and goat nyama chomo!
I couldn't resist capturing the hanging meat on film. (Sorry vegetarians!)
One of our team members, Steve, organized the gathering for Noni. He even called ahead to make sure they had enough pork for 20 people and that it would be slow roasted before we arrived!
One of the managers offered to be a photographer for me. This place has great service, a lively ambiance, and the food is delicious.

The Official Kigali City Tour

I returned to Kigali to continue working through the end of September. The work is challenging as usual, but I feel different because there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I know the last couple months will fly-by.

August through October is the busiest time of the year here in our office as we closeout this year's budget and plan for next year's programs. We typically have a surge of temporary staff to help during the "season".

A couple of our visiting team members invited me to join them for the"official" Kigali city tour, which costs $20 and leaves twice a day from the Office of Tourism and National Parks. Not surprisingly when we showed up for the Saturday 8AM tour (after having called to arrange it) there was no tour driver available. I say not surprising, because one thing you learn quickly in Rwanda is to be patient and not expect that service or products will arrive on-time or in the way you would like! That sounds harsh, but truthfully is a good lesson to learn and I have come to appreciate it. So, instead we took the tour on Sunday afternoon. The three of us traveled around Kigali for four hours in this bus with one other tourist from Canada.

Our driver, Tim, was pretty good at reciting stories and facts about Kigali sites.
First we stopped at the Genocide Memorial of Belgian Soldiers at Camp Kigali. This is the location of the massacre of 10 Belgian UN Blue Berets which happened on the first day of the genocide. Under the command of Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, they were deployed to guard the house of moderate Prime Minister Agatha Uwilingimana when soldiers invaded the home and transported them to this location where they were killed.

The building is a disturbing reminder of the weapons and violence.

Next we traveled to the Kigali Memorial Centre(Gisozi), which is a very well-done museum about Rwanda's past, present, and future related to the genocide in 1994. The exhibit includes 2,500 personal interviews, 25,000 personal profiles of missing victims recorded, and over 2,000 photographs of victims.

There is a really beautiful view of Kigali behind the Memorial Centre.
And there are four acres of pretty gardens to explore.
This is also the burial site for over 250,000 victims of the genocide.
From there , we drove around many of the neighborhoods in Kigali.

Including near my favorite grocery store called Simba- it's big!

And around the Roundabout Nyarugenge; the one with the fountain in downtown Kigali.

We drove past the popular roundabout near Kimihurura where nearly every married couple in Kigali takes a wedding photo near the fountain.

We also went to Nyamirambo, which is a lively, low to mid-income part of town where there is a small cinema and a large mosque.

Here are other views of Nyamirambo from the balcony of the cinema.

We rode through Nyarutarama, which is the newest part of Kigali with very large, new homes. And we stopped at Caplaki, a small village of artists stalls where handicrafts are sold.

There are many, many places to get your hair done but rather than "Salon", they are called Saloons.

In the heart of downtown Kigali, one of the mini-marts is named Obama mini market.

Also downtown, there are lots of opportunities to buy pre-wrapped boxes (empty!) for all of your gift-giving needs.

President Obama Visits Ghana

President Obama's recent visit to Ghana created a buzz around Africa, and many in Rwanda want to know when he is coming here. The Rwanda daily newspaper reported that Ghananians had been asked to refrain from any burials because of President Obama's visit...I doubt he would have supported that! This photo was sent from colleagues in Ghana...

Obama speaks of hopes for Africa

(from BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8145762.stm)

US President Barack Obama, on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, has said Africa must take charge of its own destiny in the world. Mr Obama told parliament in Ghana during a one-day stay that good governance was vital for development. Major challenges awaited Africans in the new century, he said, but vowed that the US would help the continent.
The US president's trip came at the end of a summit of eight of the world's most powerful nations, held in Italy. Ghana was chosen as the destination for the president's visit because of its strong democratic record.

After his speech, Mr Obama headed to Cape Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th Century. He was accompanied by his wife, Michelle, a descendant of African slaves, and both of his young daughters. People crowded into a public area outside the fort to greet Mr Obama, with those unable to get a place in the throng climbing onto nearby roofs and filling balconies just to catch a glimpse of the US leader. Speaking after a tour of the fort, Mr Obama said the fort should be a source of hope as well as repository of painful memories. "It reminds us that as bad as history can be, it's always possible to overcome," he said.

Earlier in the day, Mr Obama spoke to members of parliament after a breakfast meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills. He wore a broad grin as he was greeted at the podium by a series of rousing horn blasts from within the hall. "I have come here to Ghana for a simple reason," the US president said: "The 21st Century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Ghana as well." Delivering a message that "Africa's future is up to Africans", Mr Obama conceded that the legacy of colonialism had helped breed conflict on the continent. "But the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants," he added. He praised Ghana's own progress, governance and economic growth, saying Ghana's achievements were less dramatic than the liberation struggles of the 20th Century but would ultimately be more significant.

"Development depends upon good governance," Mr Obama told legislators. "That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. Expanding on his message, Mr Obama said four key areas were critical to the future of Africa and of the entire developing world, citing democracy, opportunity, health and the peaceful resolution of conflict. "Africa doesn't need strongmen, it needs strong institutions," Mr Obama told his audience.
"No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny." He pledged to continue strong US support for public healthcare initiatives in Africa, and called for sensible use of natural resources such as oil in the face of the threat of climate change.