Archive for the ‘Rwanda’ Category
"She left out the ladel! We're sending her back and getting a new wife."
One of my Rwandan friends is getting married soon, and it turns out that getting married here requires a lot of stuff. The wife, my friends explained, brings a whole bunch of things collectively called ibishyingiranwa. What sort of things? Oh, you know, woman-things. Like pots and pans and spoons and forks, “all the things [...]
Rwanda and Congo: It's not what you think
In the last week, everything here has changed. Rwanda and Congo, former enemies, are the statecraft version of best buddies. Congo invited Rwandan troops across the border to chase Rwanda’s most hated rebel group, and in return Rwanda arrested one of its alleged erstwhile allies… Here’s a story I did about the arrest of the [...]
We thought we had it bad…
Okay, so gasoline is still kind of a pain in Kigali, but it’s getting better, and I don’t really drive, so I’m disallowed from complaining. Especially when, to the country to my left, a friend doing primate research is facing a more severe shortage: The real dire situation, funnily though, is with toilet paper. It’s [...]
The grammar of being abroad
When abroad, there are some things you say, in your native tongue, that you’d never say in your native land. Today, a mzunugu friend of mine bumped her head against something. “Oh, sorry!” I called. This is what Rwandans say when a person trips or falls or smacks her knee into a table. I know, [...]
Ode to Africa Bite
No, this is not a restaurant whose name is also an imperative sentence. “Bite” is Kinyarwanda for, loosely, “What’s up?” And Africa Bite is my favorite lunch joint in Kimihurura the neighborhood where I stay. You can slop as much food as you can carry, on a giant, thick clay plate, and get a Fanta [...]
New Year's resolutions
The money kind. Those are the news in Kigali today: Rwanda is looking to capitalize on investments in two of its now-famous business sectors–coffee and tourism. The country hopes for $60 million more in coffee revenues, and $20 million more from tourism, which is centered mostly around those oh-I-just-want-to-hug-em gorillas in the Virungas. Tourism exploded [...]
I am a freelance journalist and multimedia producer who covers human rights, Africa and foreign affairs. [