Excerpt from The New Times, the main English language newspaper in Rwanda:
“Household electronics should not be a priority acquisition for those with a limited source of income. It is a bad financial move to buy items that take money from your pocket and continue to suck out money to maintain them. A tv will increase electricity bills in addition to the monthly subscription to the pay tv provider. It is preferable to acquire productive assets like buying a hen or goat or cow [ do they make flat screen cows?]. After a few years, these assets will yield enough money to acquire the electronics that every urbanite so much desires.”
And where, pray tell, would said urbanites house the much touted blue chip livestock?
Hello from the comfort of my 5 star cocoon!
I’m beginning to feel like I live here, but I know I don’t (as I never get turn down service at home!). The hotel feels a bit like the movie Casablanca - everyone is a foreigner, and all seem intently focused on some sort of project. Every single person is in a meeting with someone else, and it seems as if they are all talking about the Clinton Global Initiative or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So-and-so recently gave up investment banking for early retirement so they could put their time and resources into building a village school here. The couple at the next table had Bill Clinton over for a parlor session when he was back in their native Arkansas to help with their efforts in higher education in Kigali. Mr. X and Mrs. Y wouldn’t think of bequeathing their stocks to anyone other than the Gates Foundation ... Everyone else seems to be a displaced resident from the US Embassy, an NGO aid worker, on the 5 star safari circuit (with Rwanda being the gorilla in the mist stop), or part of an Evangelical group that is doing outreach and comminity building in this African nation. Anyone that is not part of the aforementioned groups is casually discussing their recent business dealings in Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya, or Burundi (who knew that there WAS such a place?). A bit different than the geography soup that I’m used to hearing daily - Aruba, Venice, Hawai’i, etc. - and very cool!
The other thing that’s kind of funny is that the entire hotel, including the grounds, is wi-fi, so every single person is walking around with a laptop, typing quickly between meetings, or checking emails, etc.. A whole other culture, and new to me - I haven’t stayed in an upscale ‘business’ hotel in some time - funny!
Today was a work day, and I got picked up at 9am. It has been lovely here today, 80 degrees and sunny, dry, and clear, so it made getting into my black clothes very easy! My colleague Sifa and I had a long morning meeting with the local architects who are working on the project ... they are warm, gracious, and generous, and we have a lot of work to do this week! We conducted our meetings in French and English, switching back and forth as necessary to clarify concepts and get the meaning across...
We went for coffee and a panini (yes, that’s what I said) to a spot overlooking the many hills - as mentioned the city has the topography of Jerusalem, but the look of San Diego or Coral Gables (but more worn, of course) ... lots of broad boulevards, but small scale buildings that look as if they could be raised and replaced with huge office blocks - it’s already starting to happen as Kigali lurches forward. At our lunch spot (Bourbon Café) the inhabitants, all connected to the internet via wi-fi again, were incredibly dressed - slick, sharp, and formal - quite unbelievable (think Iman gone Rwandan!). I KNEW I should have packed my white patent shoes!!! Alain came back to get us, and did I mention that he is a carbon copy of Will Smith? No joke! Fresh Prince!
Back at the hotel, I worked all afternoon on the terrace overlooking the grounds and the pool, and even ‘IM’ed’ with Jane sporadically - I feel like a pre-teen!
I had a nice dinner in one of the hotel’s open air restaurants (and saw a few mosquitoes, may be malaria ridden by the end of all this!). All of the tourists were dressed in nativer Rwandan clothes (a cross between South African and Indonesian batik), while all the Rwandans were slickly outfitted in Juicy - the Serengeti is always greener on the other side! Linda Rondstadt’s Blue Bayou wafted softly through the night air, feels like I’m living a soft rock commercial (although I am a fan!).
LOL
Harley
“Household electronics should not be a priority acquisition for those with a limited source of income. It is a bad financial move to buy items that take money from your pocket and continue to suck out money to maintain them. A tv will increase electricity bills in addition to the monthly subscription to the pay tv provider. It is preferable to acquire productive assets like buying a hen or goat or cow [ do they make flat screen cows?]. After a few years, these assets will yield enough money to acquire the electronics that every urbanite so much desires.”
And where, pray tell, would said urbanites house the much touted blue chip livestock?
Hello from the comfort of my 5 star cocoon!
I’m beginning to feel like I live here, but I know I don’t (as I never get turn down service at home!). The hotel feels a bit like the movie Casablanca - everyone is a foreigner, and all seem intently focused on some sort of project. Every single person is in a meeting with someone else, and it seems as if they are all talking about the Clinton Global Initiative or the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So-and-so recently gave up investment banking for early retirement so they could put their time and resources into building a village school here. The couple at the next table had Bill Clinton over for a parlor session when he was back in their native Arkansas to help with their efforts in higher education in Kigali. Mr. X and Mrs. Y wouldn’t think of bequeathing their stocks to anyone other than the Gates Foundation ... Everyone else seems to be a displaced resident from the US Embassy, an NGO aid worker, on the 5 star safari circuit (with Rwanda being the gorilla in the mist stop), or part of an Evangelical group that is doing outreach and comminity building in this African nation. Anyone that is not part of the aforementioned groups is casually discussing their recent business dealings in Uganda, Mozambique, Kenya, or Burundi (who knew that there WAS such a place?). A bit different than the geography soup that I’m used to hearing daily - Aruba, Venice, Hawai’i, etc. - and very cool!
The other thing that’s kind of funny is that the entire hotel, including the grounds, is wi-fi, so every single person is walking around with a laptop, typing quickly between meetings, or checking emails, etc.. A whole other culture, and new to me - I haven’t stayed in an upscale ‘business’ hotel in some time - funny!
Today was a work day, and I got picked up at 9am. It has been lovely here today, 80 degrees and sunny, dry, and clear, so it made getting into my black clothes very easy! My colleague Sifa and I had a long morning meeting with the local architects who are working on the project ... they are warm, gracious, and generous, and we have a lot of work to do this week! We conducted our meetings in French and English, switching back and forth as necessary to clarify concepts and get the meaning across...
We went for coffee and a panini (yes, that’s what I said) to a spot overlooking the many hills - as mentioned the city has the topography of Jerusalem, but the look of San Diego or Coral Gables (but more worn, of course) ... lots of broad boulevards, but small scale buildings that look as if they could be raised and replaced with huge office blocks - it’s already starting to happen as Kigali lurches forward. At our lunch spot (Bourbon Café) the inhabitants, all connected to the internet via wi-fi again, were incredibly dressed - slick, sharp, and formal - quite unbelievable (think Iman gone Rwandan!). I KNEW I should have packed my white patent shoes!!! Alain came back to get us, and did I mention that he is a carbon copy of Will Smith? No joke! Fresh Prince!
Back at the hotel, I worked all afternoon on the terrace overlooking the grounds and the pool, and even ‘IM’ed’ with Jane sporadically - I feel like a pre-teen!
I had a nice dinner in one of the hotel’s open air restaurants (and saw a few mosquitoes, may be malaria ridden by the end of all this!). All of the tourists were dressed in nativer Rwandan clothes (a cross between South African and Indonesian batik), while all the Rwandans were slickly outfitted in Juicy - the Serengeti is always greener on the other side! Linda Rondstadt’s Blue Bayou wafted softly through the night air, feels like I’m living a soft rock commercial (although I am a fan!).
LOL
Harley
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