Today was a fantastic day, though it did involve a fair amount of genocide.
After grabbing a coffee at my hotel, I walked about an hour to meet up with my bike tour, hosted by Nuttin Todo. I met up with the guide, John and the other member of the tour, Dan from Ireland. Dan is maybe ten or fifteen years older than me and is on a mission to visit every country in Africa – he’s about halfway through. After our tour, he was heading to the airport to fly to Burundi, and eventually on to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro. I want to be like Dan.
We set out on our lovely e-bikes and spent the morning touring the city. We couldn’t do the “normal” tour route because of road closures due to the UCI cycling championship (more on this later). We went south to the Nyamirambo neighborhood, then stopped for a bite on a pedestrian-only “food street”. These were created during COVID, to allow for more outdoor seating for restaurants, and they’ve been a huge success.
During our food stop, John gave us a recap of Rwandan history post-1884 (when modern Rwanda was created at the Berlin conference). John explained how the Belgians (who took over from the Germans after World War I) implemented a system which turned the Hutu and Tutsi identities from social classes to ethnic groupings. Prior to that, a Tutsi who lost their wealth could become a Hutu and vice versa. The Belgians froze those identities and made them hereditary, issuing identity cards and creating government records to categorize the population.
John walked us through the various “minor” genocides of the 20th century which culminated in 1994. It wasn’t until the end of the tour when John shared his own story – he was born during the genocide, and his mother was killed when he was about 10 days old. He was left to die, but his eldest sister was able to get to him and keep him safe with some “good Hutus”. He spoke of his own anger growing up, and how he’s overcome it – “we’re all Rwandans, I love everyone”. It was all very powerful, and a really special tour experience.
As a bit of an aside, the biking was also fantastic. The roads climb and dip, twist and turn, and although there’s plenty of traffic, it’s all very ordered and respectful of bicycles. I was glad for the e-bike though, as some of the hills are very steep. We covered about 10 miles total and got back in time for John to head to the airport.
I decided to head for the Campaign Against Genocide Museum, which is in the parliament building (scene of some of the most dramatic fighting early in the 1994 genocide, when Kagame’s forces were pinned down). The walk there took me into the route for the bike race though. The UCI Road World Championships are being hosted in Kigali this week, and this afternoon was the Women’s Elite class. I got to see a lot of action over the course of the afternoon, and it was super cool. I know nothing about bike racing and how things like team strategy play into the overall outcome. What I do know is that biking 100 miles and climbing 10,000 feet in just over four hours is totally bonkers, and it was really cool to watch.
The museum itself was a little disjointed – I was glad John had given me a better explanation. After the tour, one of the employees took me up to the rooftop of the building, which offered great views out over the city.
Leaving parliament, I walked over to Inema Arts Center, a gallery and cafe run by some lovely brothers. One of them is just back in Rwanda after a number of years studying information systems in the US. Our current administration had him spooked about sticking around, and the dramatic shifts in employment due to AI also has him questioning his career path. We commiserated over both issues. We also spoke about the startup scene in Rwanda and east Africa in general – as with much of the world. the lack of capital is the real constraint. There are lots of great ideas and successful small businesses, but scaling is incredibly difficult without deep capital markets, something US businesses take for granted.
Around 5pm, I wandered back to my hotel, stopping to watch the last lap of the race. Later, I watched the end of the race via the YouTube feed, to understand a bit more about how it all worked. After recharging my phone and myself, I walked to a restaurant down the street for a lovely dinner of roasted goat, then called it an evening.
After my first full day here, I can say without hesitation that this is a lovely place – the people are incredibly friendly, the landscape is beautiful, and the city is spotlessly clean. I’m not sure I’ve ever been anywhere with as little litter. There are harsh fines and penalties for littering, but there’s also a pride-in-the-country ethos, including a monthly “cleanup day”. While watching the race, I saw a piece of paper blow across the course and onto the ground. A kid ran over, picked it up, and walked it over to the trash. Cool.
Wonderful description of a very interesting day.