Rwanda: The land of a thousand hills

Monday 15^th January marked the day we had “completed” our first country, Uganda. We had spent a final couple of days in Lake Bunyoni, near the Southern Ugandan town of Kabale. Rick’s University friend, Will Symes joined  us for a couple of days of feasting and resting (I hope it wasn’t too arduous for him) and Amhagara Island provided the perfect setting: swimming, good food, a steady supply of beers and some stunning birds (no really, the avian kind). 

Early morning speedboat

We left Kabale with refreshed legs and for most of the morning we clipped along comfortably pondering what Rwanda might hold for us. We had been told that things were very different, the people were more reserved, public services workedand there is no such thing as a bribe! We had heard of a driver who was stopped for speeding, the police officer suggested he could be let off with a bribe, which took full advantage of. On arriving home the driver reported the behavior to the local police chief, who promptly sacked the policeman.

One thing was fairly clear though, in the “land of a thousand hills” the terrain remained much as we had left it in Uganda, both sharing the western Albertine Rift of the East African Rift Valley. As if we needed reminding of this, soon after the border we wound our way up a steep sided valley to the thin airs of a 2000m pass. Thankfully, this was to be the last climb before the entry into Kigale City, which also happens to be perched on a hilltop, and the welcomed hospitality of a friend from my recent Tropical Medicine Diploma,  Jean-Luc. Over the following two days Jean-Luc went out of his way to make sure that we were rested , very well fed and given a fantastic tour of the city. If he ever fancies a change from medicine he would do well as a Kigale City guide!

Surprised Rwandans

It’s fair to say that Rwanda did provide some refreshing differences from Uganda. The city of Kigale is busy with new businesses, reflecting one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It’s busy diversifying into an IT centre, and providing a home for financial services in East Africa. New Hotels and high-rises are popping up monthly in the centre – in the 3 month space of the diploma Jean-Luc noted a few new arrivals. What differentiates it from other East African cities is the order and cleanliness as it does this. The city aims to stop using Matatu’s within the next couple of years, replaced by a hop on/off bus services. The streets are near enough spotless and the city greens are well trimmed, with no one daring to set foot upon them. The waves of growth are also clearly spreading beyond the capital city – as we travelled the road the Tanzanian border at Rusumu, new homes,  health centres (accompanied by over 90% coverage of national health insurance!), banks and Centres de Sante (community centres) lined the road.

The challenges it has overcome to get here have been remarkable. Jean-Luc kindly took us to the Rwandan Genocide Memorial. Set amongst a rose garden and series of mass graves, the memorial is a reminder of a difficult and sad time for Rwandans and is designed to ensure that there will never be a repeat the massacre of 1 million innocent Rwandans. The experience left us silently shocked and pondering how these events could have happened. Sadly, as Jean-Luc reminded us, the current situation in South Sudan shows that the lessons are still to be learnt internationally. The long history of the Genocide is steeped in the creation of Colonial divisions (the original definition of Tutsi by Belgians Colonialists was any person who had more than 10 cows), and European actions (bank rolling a $12 million dollar arms deal late in 1993 for the Hutu government) and inactions (failing to intervene despite ongoing reports of genocide).

Perhaps with this memory in mind the government has taken a forceful approach to controlling any security breaches. As we cycled into the city every 400m we passed a stern-faced, fully armed police or army member. Jean-Luc mentioned that this was a response to a series of grenade attacks over the past year. It’s not something that the people like seeing on the streets, but that they have gotten used to.

So as much as the countries did share similarities in climate, geography, people (we found no evidence of reservations as children and adults shouted “Mzungu” excitedly at the passing cyclists) and a complex and violent history (Amin in Uganda is reported to have imprisoned and killed hundreds of thousands), the more recent histories have diverged. Uganda moved taken a softer African Socialist approach while Rwanda has chosen to retain control through a Conservative approach. Behind each is the leadership of one man, in Rwanda, Paul Kagame who by the end of his 7 year tenure will have been leader of the country for effectively 23 years, a similar record to his next door neighbour, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. How these countries progress over the coming few years will be interesting to see – both hold great potential but the routes to unlocking these will clearly be very different.

Weaver birds nesting

The cycle out of Kigale to the Tanzanian border was, much like the country itself, small and intense. Both days had their fair share of shorter and longer hills, though the general move was to a more arid landscape. The birdlife of East Africa continued to fascinate us – many of the winter migrants occupied the rice farm lands and on our  final night in Rwanda we were joined by a huge Ground Hornbill. We reached the impressive Rusumu falls after winding between old volcanoes that dotted the landscape, no doubt equally impressive 3 billion years ago during their tumultuous formation. After just under two weeks we had “completed” two countries, we the next was not going to be so easy…

Rusumu Falls