Arrival in Rwanda

After catching my connecting flight in Addis Abba, I finally arrived in Kigali just after noon. After breathing a sigh of relief at the arrival of my lugguage, I was greeted by two other interns, Marissa and Ally! I was able to eat, take a shower and settle down at the guest house, where I stayed until moving into my house. A few hours later I was zipping on the back of a "moto" heading to the UK embassy's weekly pub night and then having dinner out in a beautiful backyard of one the many restaurants.

Less than 24 hours in the country and I was attending a conference on the quality of the resolution process with respect to land disputes. The conference was a perfect introduction and summary of the current dispute process dealing with land conflicts (expropriation, succession, repossession of land by returning refugees etc…). Much of the findings of the two academics presenting were basic judicial procedural principals that are commonly found in our legal system in Canada (evidence that my boring administrative law class was actually relevant!) What I love the most is that the current legal system in Rwanda was implemented with the view of being accessible to the people. The current problem facing the government seems to be in reforming the system in order to make this accessibility effective for the people, particularly the poor.

I was also encouraged by the fact the entire conference was conducted in French and I understood! I appreciated getting my feet wet so quickly and was even more happy for the much welcomed rest over the weekend, which has been used to organized my living arrangements.

I am awestruck by the beauty of the place. It is lush and developed. The people are beautiful and young and healthy looking. They say that Kigali is about 20 years ahead of Africa; however, the rest of the country is unfortunately about 50 years behind. As of yet, my experience in Rwanda has been limited to Kigali and it has been absolutely wonderful. I feel safe. All my needs and my luxuries are being provided for. The food is sufficiently diverse and they have the “bestest” avocados ever!

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