Down Came the Rain

Fucksake. What a week. It's been raining since about the end of September. We totally skipped the short dry season. Now we're getting pelted by the most incredible storms. I mean thunder and lightning on continuous play for hours. Had to call an electrician to disconnect my doorbell as it keeps going off when it rains really hard. One night it was going until 2 a.m. It's been unbelievable. I like a good storm, but these ones have been a bit scary at times. There's no sign of it letting up and it's really getting in the way of day-to-day life. I don't have a car, so go everywhere by public motorbike. I got caught out the other day and sat through an hour-long meeting dripping quietly in the corner. When it rains, you're stuck indoors. Horrible for both work and social life.

As well as flooding, the preparations are afoot for coronavirus. I find it ridiculously ironic that for years I've been convincing students and tourists that it's safe to come to Rwanda, despite the Ebola outbreak in neighbouring DRC, and now I'm worried about going to the UK because they're all looking a bit plaguey at the moment. I was just about to book my tickets home for my biennial Brit-fest, but my finger is hovering over the 'confirm' button. In the past 24 hours the rate of infection in the UK has more than doubled from 40 to 85. There's a useful live map here.

There's more coronavirus in the UK than there ever was Ebola in Rwanda - which never had a single case. It's definitely not at panic proportions yet, but I'm not sure international airports are the place to hang out right now.

The preparation in Kigali has also stepped up a level since Ebola. For Ebola, there were public signs and Serena Hotel in Gisenyi (near the border) built a sink outside and made people wash their hands before entering.

For coronavirus, T2000 shopping mall has built a sink outside and every bank, shopping centre and ministry department douses you in alcoholic hand rub before you can enter. I went into town yesterday and washed my hands three times in the space of 30 minutes.

Photo by Everest Ankunda Luck
T2000

So far no cases in Rwanda. Hoping it stays that way as I reckon moto helmets could be a chief cause for concern. You're provided with one when you get on the bike, and dozens of people can wear the same helmet in a day. 

Anyway. Moving on.

This article hit the news yesterday: Changing Face of Kigali. Some of the oldest and best-loved clubs in Kigali have disappeared over the past few weeks, namely One Love and Carwash. Cadillac, where my friend once met Ewan McGregor and I spent my first ever night out in Kigali, went a couple of years ago. Famed for playing videos of lions mating on the walls... weird, but we were mostly too drunk to notice. The floor was carpeted with fluorescent squiggles that looked like a can of silly string had just vomited. One Love is where another friend met her future husband, and I met Sameer for the first time at Kigali's inaugural Rock Night. Still, I don't blame One Love for that.

There's a sense that the Kigali of yesteryear is disappearing in the wake of progress. Lot of smaller places I still remember that have been and gone, like High Noon in Kisimenti - the only Wild West-themed bar that didn't sell alcohol, two amazing little tilapia joints, one in Kisimenti and the other in Muhima, the original city centre bus station which has also been levelled, the original Ndoli's opposite my first house, and I have this weird half-memory of a big wooden structure called Oxygen with blue lighting, but I might have dreampt that.

Ho hum. Times they are a changing.

Talking of new things, my lovely friend has just opened an office. The powers that be have a really hard time with the concept of consultants working from home, so most people are forced to spend money on an office just to prove they know how to sit at a desk. Mostly, I think it's because those powers spent loads of money opening offices and nobody moved into them, because it doesn't make financial sense, so now they're trying to strong-arm people into filling the void. I'm not sure, but whatever the reason, she had to get a big sign printed and stuck on the wall. It looks very impressive, and I'm very glad she's staying, so we celebrated with a massive magnum of fizzy pop. It took two hands to lift and you could have used it as a weapon. I knew it was risky as wine here can be very hit and miss. In the UK you can buy a fairly reasonable bottle for five or six quid, but you can spend thirteen on a bottle here and it still tastes bad. Most of the brands I don't recognise. I presented it saying, "It might be awful, but there's a lot of it." Turned out to be fabulous. We had a right good night.

Fuzzy Dog

Fuzzy Lights

Scene of the Crime

This is also a strange week for me as I finished training at the ministry last Friday. No more getting up at 6 a.m. to get to work by 7:30 (I need a lot of coffee). Had a fantastic final session. Lots of sweets to hand out and fun with story-telling dice. Really good group and the feedback far exceeded my expectations. It can be hard to tell what people think of training sessions because Rwandans can be quite reserved, it's not a culture where people are vocal about their opinions, so it was nice to get to the end and discover that they had really enjoyed it, even asking for longer sessions.

My Training Room

Session on Definite and Indefinite Articles

I shall leave you with this picture of a snail sheltering from the rain and hope that we don't get washed away before my next post.