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Dispatches from Ruhengeri, Northwestern Rwanda

I am in Rwanda in Central Africa visiting my husband for two weeks. Here are some impressions and several photos, brought to you courtesy of Frank's incredible computer persistence.

"Talking about a Revolution"

After breakfast this morning, Frank and I prepared to set out on a walk to his office, but as we emerged from the front gate, we found CARE's car and driver were waiting for us.  Much to my surprise and amusement we got into the SUV to hear Tracy Chapman's "Talking about a Revolution" blasting away on the radio. Somehow, the words "the poor people are going to rise up and take their share" have a different sense of urgency here…

Pink uniformed prisoners

Frank is living at the ER (or Episcopalian Resthouse) which is a very pleasant place with a lovely courtyard, cool high ceiling-ed rooms, and comfortable beds. Near to the Resthouse is a prison, and today I could see some of the prisoners out walking the roads in their faded pink uniforms. Somehow they looked like school uniforms for girls but, alas, it is a lot more serious than that. I am not sure how many tens of thousands of Genocide-related prisoners there are in Rwanda (100,000 maybe?), but they say if they continue to "process" them through the justice system at the present rate that it will take 100 years. Not a very cheerful prospect.

We clothe the world

Ever wonder where all those t-shirts go? Well, you guessed it: Africa. Already today I spotted two t-shirts from the University of Washington and one from Spokane. This crazy assortment of t-shirts is worn mostly by the men, however, while the women still mostly wear more traditional dress. The fabrics worn by the women are wonderful, but ironically most seem to be produced in Holland.

Muzungu! ("white people!")

Yesterday Frank and I arrived in Ruhengeri after a beautiful (and not TOO bumpy) ride through the Rwandan countryside. After arriving at the ER, we took a walk around Ruhengeri with JD, Frank's new friend. We climbed up one of the hills on the edge of town to get a nice view of the city with the hazy outlines of volcanoes in several directions. As we proceeded through the town, bands of small children followed us shouting "Muzungu, muzungu!" They seem to be more curious than trying to beg (at least for the most part), but it IS odd to be the object of so much attention. Oddly reminiscent of our family's trip to China 20 years ago.

Ren shan, ren hai (Chinese for "people mountain, people sea")

Even in Ruhengeri, a relatively small city of 70,000 people, people are everywhere. The constant flow of humanity is quite remarkable and overwhelming at times. People seem very friendly here which makes for a strong contrast to what I remember from my time in Zaire. Although a former Belgian colony (and thus French-speaking), many people seem to speak English here. As Frank points out, we are only 10 miles from the Ugandan border, and there are people in Ruhengeri from other parts of Africa.

Food

So far the biggest daily challenge appears to be finding places to eat. There are certainly a number of restaurants here in Ruhengeri, and most of the food I've eaten in the past 48 hours has been quite good, but it takes a long time to establish that what one has ordered is, in fact, available that day, and then even longer for it to be served. Eggs, bread and fruit for breakfast and meat/beans/peas/carrots for dinner. It IS an adventure most of the time, but we are in no danger of not getting something to eat.

Which brings one to the point of the dual economy here. It IS very hard to accommodate oneself to the fact that ones meal, however modest, is almost certain to cost 3-4 times the average daily salary of a Rwandan. And that 1.5 liters of bottled water costs a day's wages. These things are truly hard for me to get my mind around. Of course, most Rwandans are subsistence farmers so their "salaries" don't tell the whole story but in any case, 64% of Rwandans are said to earn less than a dollar a day. That is, we are still magnificently rich by almost any comparison.

Dian Fossey's Gorillas

Finally, Frank convinced me to go see the famous mountain gorillas near Ruhengeri (made famous in part by Dian Fossey). We spent about one hour walking and climbing up into light jungle with a small group of tourists and then, there they were! We got to see six gorillas–one male, two females, and three juveniles/babies. Of course, the young ones worked hardest to amuse us with their antics. It was very exciting!

August 7, 2003

Subscribe to TravelBlogs Posted by Katherine McDermott on August 7th, 2003 in Articles.