First Impressions of Kigali

 A temporary transplant to Africa, Elise Webb, is getting her masters in Global Comparative Sociology from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.  She’ll be spending her summer in Rwanda as an international intern for SFCG,  studying the Participatory Theatre program and assisting our staff with building more online avenues for conflict transformation. As one-time actress, current social researcher, and new blogger this program could not have been a better fit. Look for more updates from Elise’s time in Rwanda and read about the work we’re doing there!

The spectacular view from SFCG's office in Kigali (by Elise Webb)

By Elise Webb

After an Ethiopian Airlines flight squished between a snoring ex-pat and a lovely woman who smelled of stale pepper, I arrived a bit dazed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Two more plane stops and I was in Kigali, Rwanda being greeted by an enthusiastic man holding a SFCG sign and wearing a grin.

I was hurried into a taxi, where the driver sat on the right and then drove on the right too, a confusing prospect for an American with a steady diet of British movies. We careened around corners, flew past pedestrians who were strangely in the street next to the sidewalk, and zoomed by “Saloons” offering “Pedicures and Manicures.” I was entranced. This is my first visit to Africa and the sights and smells were as exciting as they were overwhelming.   I have spent my first five days here just getting adjusted, to the time zones, to the anti-malaria meds, to the sounds, and the people.

Kigali is VERY green, with ribbons of red draping across the hills where the dirt roads meet the paved ones.  There are flowers along every fence and every wall (and there are a lot of walls with barricaded gates, yet friendly-enough guards) that splash purples, yellows, pinks and oranges into the mix. The sky looks impossibly blue, like a little kid drew it, and it meets perfectly, just like a drawing, with the avocado colored hills. At night on the rim of the city you can look down into the fruit bowl that is Kigali and imagine someone has lined it with Christmas lights. My favorite things to see so far are mothers walking toward me with baby feet poking out at their ribs. These tiny appendages are attached to generally knocked-out kids, and with their faces mushed into their mommies’ backs they seem like content little backpacks.

These first days in Kigali, I have met the most welcoming people. The staff at Search for Common Ground has taken me in and shown me how to get by (like where to find the best Bourbon Coffee) and a glimpse at the incredible work done here.  Just an hour after I got off the plane, I was working on an assessment report that illustrated the huge impact one of the radio programs had here in civic education, and I got a bit tingly with anticipation of the fantastic programs I would get to see in action this while interning.  I’m not exactly sure what Rwanda will have for me this summer but it’ll probably rock my world like a jeep on a red dirt road.