Rwamagana

---

My home for the next 5 weeks is a reasonable sized village i'd say. There is a tarmac road running along the north end of town with the garages, bus station and hospital and then a 2km tarmaced loop around the 'village'. All the remaining roads are mud/dust tracks stretching for miles covered by coffee/banana/seetcorn plantations - each plot is not very large and could certainly not be used to serve any purpose other than selling at the local market.

There are mud/concrete houses scattered all around, people taking enormous pride in their home, sweeping and cleaning everyday.

The tarmaced route through the centre of town is lined with tailoring shops, bikonjes (small rooms to have a drink and snack), general shops (consisting of a 3x4m room and the back wall covered with anything and everything), hardware shops, the local cinema (!), a music shop, a sport shop (where i just noticed they sell skipping ropes!!), several bars and three internet cafes! Plus there are a few banks here too in fairly smart buildings, the rest are all concrete, one storey rooms. There is of course a market selling fruit veg clothes and charcoal which is covered and permanent.

A local bikonje can't really be compared to starbucks or the likes but instead is a small room, with curtain across the entrance, a few empty shelves behind the counter, a fridge, a couple of flasks full of tea and milk and a few jars full of snacks. Plus plastic tables and chairs for maybe 4-10 people. A guy came in after me and had his glass of hot milk (urgh) and then a cake. It tickled me cos the cake was the size of a big muffin and he stuck his fork in and picked it up in one go and proceeded to eat around the fork.

Walking through town people of all ages shout 'mzungu' - white person, and some children are very keen to touch you. very few ask for money or anything but instead say good morning (whatever time of day) but they are learning good afternoon and good evening slowly!

There is a football match on this afternoon so i'm going to go and spectate for a bit before heading home. I'll try and send some photos soon - but it takes a while and these computers are full of viruses and i'm a bit concerned i'll lose all my pictures!

---

Comments

[Dave]

The match!
Who won the match? What kind of surface was it played on? x

[Katy]

Football Match
How did the match turn out? Yes, please post pics if/when you can...it's nice to have a visual with the descriptions... ; ) sorry to give you a hard time, you know me! Love the updates, keep 'em coming! xxx

[RwandanInSweden]

bikonje= cold!!
Hey! i am enjoying reading your travelblogg. Couldn't help but notice you used the word "Bikonje" as the name of the nearby grocery stores. It sounds very funny to me, (Kinyarwanda is my language)- because bikonje means cold, usually cold beverages! Have a great time in my homeland, and thank you for doing what you do, God bless you!