About those Expectations

Husseim, maybe we can talk about this, you are pretty much the only one who knows that this blog exists and I think you would understand.
Since I came here I have noticed that attitudes can change. You get used to random children just touching you and shaking hands with you in the middle of the street, women singing songs out loud on the bus, or adults simply starting to dance in the middle of a meeting.
I read one of my previous posts again and saw that I had been complaining about a six hour delay at the airport...I don't think that I would still write that on my blog if it happened to me today. I've learned that things can even be on time if they come late, you just need to expect them to be delayed.
People in this part of the world amaze me...the other day my mum sent me an e-mail and a part of it was;
Work- as if you didn't need the money
Dance- as if no one was watching
Sing- as if no one was listening
Love- as if no one had hurt you
Live- as if this was paradise on earth
When I read this I thought: "Wow! True, that's what I need to do!" Until I noticed that most people here seem to live their lives like that...and where does this lead you? Is this really it? I've decided that there must be more to this than just the above...
So, yeah, attitudes DO change! When I happen to read what I just wrote in a couple of months I'll probably wonder what on earth I was thinking.... I wouldn't actually be surprised though if I already think that tomorrow.

Kigali-Rwanda's Capital

Home Sweet Home

It's been about 5 months now since I arrived in this beautiful country and it's only today that I'll tell you something about its capital and my new home, Kigali.

At this point I should probably mention that I had written a post about the same topic previously but I found it to be insufficient so I deleted it again.

Kigali is a relatively small city with population estimates ranging from around 600.000 to 1.000.000 inhabitants...don't ask me how they came up with such a wide range of possible numbers but it kind of suits the rest of the country with a population between 8.000.000 and 10.000.000 inhabitants. You can safely say though that no matter which of the numbers is correct it is going to be too many people. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa with an ever growing population and Kigali makes no exception. In some parts of the city like the predominantly Muslim quarter Nyamirambo (which is very close to where I live) you will sometimes have 2.000 people sharing a small space of 1 km². Considering that most of the houses here only have one floor, you probably wouldn't be surprised to hear that people share beds according to the shifts they work. That means that one person sleeps while the other one works and when the person that was working gets back home they switch.


This is one of the central mosques in Nyamirambo. The picture was taken from one of the many hills that make up Kigali.

However Nyamirambo is also one of the liveliest parts of town with a sort of Middle-Eastern atmosphere; Amazing spirit and definitely an amazing place. It’s also the place where we…meaning my two ‘permanent’ flat mates and I…do our shopping on the weekends.

We live in one of the better parts of town by the way. The place is called Kiyovu and is right in the center of town. That has it's advantages as you could probably imagine. However I think we are the only people who actually live in the Boulevard de la Révolution, the rest are office buldings, embassies and hotels.
The guest house that we inhabit is part of the office compound that we also work at which kind of comes in handy when you don't like getting up in the morning.















We are actually very forunate to live in the place that we live in; we have electricity ALL the time because we have a generator, we also have running water and can even have hot showers, we have a fridge, and EVEN a WASHING MACHINE (which is an absolutely amazing thing to have in Rwanda)! Other volunteers that we hang out with are not quite as fortunate; some have to travel for 1 1/2 hours to get to work, have no running water, no proper bathroom and NOBODY has a washing machine.

We also used to have a great garden.



Until they turned it into this...



There is so much more that I could be writing about this city, but I also want somebody to actually read this. I'm sure you'll find out more as I continue my blog.
To finish with, just a few more pictures...


My office...


My Street...(that must have been on a Sunday because it's usually not that empty)



My hill...it's the one in the background.

My Dear Friends.... I'm BACK!

I was inspired to finally continue my blog. I'm not sure what it was that motivated me, but I think it was Husseim who just started his very own blog recently.
Now I only need to figure out what to write... I already added a slide-show to the page with some of the pictures I took over the past months.

Actually there are some good news!
I'm finally about to get my visa! Hopefully by the end of this week. What a mess! The Rwandan immigration office kept asking for more and more documents, but finally after one of our drivers threatened them, they got everything they wanted now...except for the money! They raised the cost for a one year visa since last month from 250.000 FRW to 400.000 FRW (which is a little more than 500€). I really want to know who makes those prices. That's crazy! That's more than the average Rwandan earns in 2 years.

And it's Sarah's birthday today! Happy birthday Sarah! I'll see you later ;)...even though you'll probably never get to read this.