Went to a Chinese Market, a Bootleg Video Store, a Black Market Money Exchange and Discovered I Don’t Have a Ticket to Leave Kigali This Weekend…..

…..I did a short two-day recertification class Monday and Tuesday and had a student from Togo; one from Ghana, and a local Rwandan. They were a good group and in some ways it was basically a two-day drive around the city just reviewing stuff they already knew. We went up by the national soccer stadium and shot some photos there and just kind of cruised around town. Nice way to earn a living….

After the second and final day, we took to the two from Ghana and Togo to visit the Genocide Museum and I somehow ended up being the guide since I had been there before. About half-way through, the guy from Togo broke down and couldn’t finish it so we made it a quick visit. From there we went to a Chinese market so they could get some things to take back home with them. It was kind of interesting—the Chinese are everywhere over here (and in all of Africa). Africa has all the natural resources and minerals they need for their industrialization and they are really investing heavily over here. Almost all the sports stadiums in Africa were constructed, and paid for, by the Chinese as well as a lot of the government office buildings. The Chinese market wasn’t “official” but just another example of the growing influence they have over here.

Before we went to the market, one of the students needed to exchange money and the bank at the Embassy was closed and the hotel has terrible exchange rates so we went downtown and he went into a Black Market Money Exchange. They are semi-legal, or semi-illegal, depending on how you look at it. Officially they aren’t supposed to exist but unofficially nothing is ever done about them. I imagine there are some payments under the table somewhere. The one we went to was downtown and you entered through a door with an electronic lock and buzzer then walked down a long narrow hall that was lined with, believe it or not, sheet metal. At the end of the hallway were two “teller” booths completely enclosed in one-way glass with the reflective side facing you. You put your money in a slot and a pair of hands took it and returned the local currency. At no time could you see who was on the other side—and I presume, you could never identify them. I thought about taking a photo then it dawned on me that might not be a real smart idea.

That same student wanted some CD’s from several African singers so we went to a “video exchange” store. Now that I think of it, I’ve never seen a music or video store in Africa and the reason is that everything is bootleg over here. The store had all but one of the titles and the price was right, so while we stood there they burned copies of the titles in stock. It was about $2 per CD—about what a rental would cost in the States—and he gets to take the CD’s home. They also do the same with videos—I’m sure if I wanted a copy of Gone With the Wind, they would pull it up on the computer, burn me a copy, and send me on my way. The problem for Americans, however, is that there are several international formats for music and videos and most of those won’t work on players or computers in the States.

The second recertification group arrived and we started Wednesday. There are four of them and it was a surprise for me at the hotel Wednesday morning when we were waiting to be picked up—I knew all of them! We had trained together two years in Ethiopia and they were also a good group and we’ve had a good time the past three days. One is from Djibouti; one from Madagascar; one from Gabon; and the other from Ethiopia. More and more I’m beginning to run into people I’ve worked with before.

Wednesday I took my tickets to the travel office at the embassy to have my reservations confirmed and learned I don’t actually have a ticket from Rwanda to Kenya—which is not a good thing. Somehow when my tickets were purchased for this trip, the one leg from Kigali to Nairobi was left out of the billing so I had to buy a ticket on my credit card. I think everything is ok now but flying in Africa is always a stressful experience and this doesn’t help. Unfortunately I have to spend five hours layover at Nairobi and that’s considered the nastiest, dirtiest and most dangerous airport in Africa. On my first trip, in 2004, I had two guys try to snatch my brief case.

Since the embassy closes at noon on Fridays, we had a little time to take this group around town and, for the third time in two weeks, I ended up at the Genocide Memorial. There is a small chapel in the center of the museum and this time I just got them started on the tour and waited for them in the chapel. I turned the flash off my camera and shot pictures of two of the stained glass windows. Everything about this place is sad but these two windows seem to say it all—notice in both of them the preponderance of human skulls. The top picture has a reclining cross in the center and the lower right corner also has skulls but the lower left corner contains machetes.

At one point I went outside and struck up a conversation with the guard outside the front door. He was wearing a black military-style uniform and was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle and the clip was actually loaded with ammunition. I asked him if they had any real problems and he told me that it’s not unheard of that survivors or family members of the victims to visit and get so overwhelmed that they storm out—sometimes looking to strike out at anything or anyone they see.

After visiting the museum, we stopped by a Rwandan craft market where they sell tourist souvenirs and I negotiated a couple of items with one of the ladies there. We both negotiated hard and I probably paid more than I should have but the old saying is “if you leave happy, you got a good deal.” She let me take a picture of her in her shop before I left. A true entrepreneur……….

My job in Kenya next week involves the US Center for Disease Control and it’s the first time my company has worked with them anywhere so this is a pilot project and I’m not sure what to expect. Because of the travel involved, tomorrow will be somewhat stressful but once I do make it to Kisumu, I’ll be able to relax and then spend Sunday as a layover day. If I have Internet access, I’ll be posting after I get there. Maybe I’ll be able to get out and look around Sunday; maybe not……..