The Switzerland of Africa
on Thea's Blog (Uganda), 03/Jun/2010 19:20, 34 days ago
Just come back from a mind-blowing trip to Rwanda. I first sensed something odd when I stepped out of the bus park in Kigali to find a moto driver (that’s a boda boda to you and me) not only wearing his own helmet complete with visible licence number, but also proffering a matching green helmet for me. I was tempted to scoff “ha, I don’t need one of those, I’m Ugandan!” but I quickly learned Rwandans don’t think it’s funny or cool tobreak the law. Indeed they take the law very seriously. I was astonished by the neat queues of traffic waiting patiently at the traffic lights. I was dumbfounded by the cleanliness, the neatness, the lack of street hawkers (they’re illegal), the coifferred box hedges and roundabouts covered in flowers. It was amazing, wonderful and somehow disconcerting.Over the next few days I began to pick up wafts of the mild scent of Big Brother that hangs over the streets of Kigali and perhaps explains the Swiss-style adherence to orderliness. The state is not especially visible, although the army does pop up now and again. But if you allow your imagination to wander you can convince yourself of a paranoia-inducing presence, watching and listening. People are careful about what they say in public places and nobody wants to be caught doing something they shouldn’t.But, then again, it isn’t hard to blot out the mildly sinister atmosphere and instead be wowed by the speed at which things are moving forward in Rwanda. Kigali has changed hugely since I was last there in December 06. French Riviera-esque villas have sprung up in big suburbs around town. Someone has filled in the pot holes and built quaint, cobbled residential streets reminiscent of Provence. While I was there, the state passed a social security bill to support the poorest farmers. Because it’s Rwanda, this money won’t be secreted in to the pockets of greedy officials as in other countries I could mention, but will really help those who need it.And Rwandans, it seems, are rapidly becoming empowered, confident, opinionated capitalists. I largely formed this impression at an inspirational speaker event that my friend Maia had squeezed in to our action-packed schedule. (We also managed to fit in a hash, a university tour, some future job prospecting and dancing till 4). The speakers themselves, flown in from across Africa and the US, were an inspiring bunch, but it was the organisers and audience, many of them young returnees from the States, who really caught my imagination. If this sassy, smart, driven, opportunity-grabbing group of 20-somethings are representative of the new generation, and if the state continues with its impressive developmental strategy, Rwanda one feels should have no problem fulfilling its goal of become a middle-income country in a decade’s time.So, lifted, excited and full of hope for the future of the continent, I began my journey back to Fort Portal. It didn’t take long for the Rwandan spell to be broken and for Uganda to come back with a bump. Or rather a series of bumps. The first bump being the completely unnecessary hour-long queue at immigration orchestrated by aggressive and incompetent officials. The second being the hour-long tour of Mbararain a taxi that refused to leave until there were two people crammed on to every seat. But at every bump I was also reminded of why I love Uganda so much. Each inconvenience elicited embarrassed apologies and groans of shared frustration from my Ugandan travelling companions. Even the good-spirited driver was apologetic as he circled Mbarara for the sixth time looking for passengers. Everyone I sat next to on the 3-bus, 14-hour journey wanted to engage me in initially shy, polite, curious conversation. The stoicism, the patience and the good humour of people here is phenomenal, as is the friendly interest in and acceptance of outsiders. If only Uganda could take a leaf out their Rwandan cousins’ book and start investing in a meaningful development agenda. We live in hope.