Return to Rwanda, via Kigali

After three fantastic months of vacation in Paris, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, DC and New York, I’ve returned to the African continent with a renewed sense of energy and purpose. In light of Rwanda’s transition to English, the Maranyundo Initiative is expanding its English tutoring and teacher training services to include other schools in Rwanda, including the FAWE (Forum for African Women Educationalists) School for Girls in the Kayonza district, as well as the Biyimana School of Sciences in Gitarama. This year I’ll continue my work as a language mentor at Maranyundo and these schools, in conjunction with our teaching coach, Kate, and two new English language mentors. In order to more easily access these schools, we’ve moved from our faculty residence in Nyamata to a new residence in the Kicukiro district of Kigali.

Even in a few months time I’ve noticed many changes in Rwanda, especially felt in Kigali. First of all, the landscape of the country is several shades greener than it was when I left, which marked the end of the dry season. Many of the premier billboards in Kigali, such as the Mutzig (Rwandan beer) advertisements have kept their image constant, but changed wording from, for example, Le Gout de la Reussite to The Taste of Success – demonstrating a marked difference in the country’s official language. Other changes I’ve noticed include increased access to telecommunications – more internet cafes with functioning computers and internet, and (in Kigali) a handful of coffee shops that offer wireless connections. While MTN and Rwandatel are still the main cell phone service providers, marketing and competition for telecommunications has also increased, specifically for TiGO, which offers cell and internet service through USB modems that connect easily to PCs and Macs. Even in some of Kigali’s grocery stores, every week brings new surprises. City Center’s Simba supermarket, for example, now sells not only food products, wine, liquor and household cleaners, but also party goods, electronics, furniture and even DVDs...however questionably authentic the version may be. Another neighborhood grocery store, Ndoli’s, has gone from selling cereal like Kellog’s Corn Flakes, Frosties and All Bran (manufactured in Dubai) from $12/box to around 5, and now sells not only the British (Kenyan manufactured) varieties of Cadbury’s chocolate, but also Toblerone, Snickers, Mambas and Twix! Markets seem to have grown exponentially in the past several months in Rwanda, particularly on imports from the Middle East and China.

Among Rwanda’s Vision 2020 goals are to boost its GDP sevenfold, find paying jobs for half of Rwanda’s subsistence farmers (who currently comprise 90% of the adult population), and turn the small, landlocked country into an African center for technology and services. According to the CIA World Factbook, Rwanda’s 2008 real GDP growth rate was a remarkable 11.2%, ranking number 7 out of 217 countries! As far as I can tell, this jewel of a country is on its way to meeting its aspirations.
Kate and me with Maranyundo's history teacher, Lydia, at her dowry ceremony in her home village, bordering Uganda