No Comment

Interesting

Les motos

As of today, all moto-taxis (motorcycle taxis) are banned from Kigali city. Presumably this is because they are considered dangerous and apparently were used by criminals.

With a limited bus system and few people who can afford a car, motos (with fares starting from 200Francs/30 Euro cents) were the main source of transport for many people in Kigali. Until today.

Development Aid Controversy

It is worth remembering that while some people may think that development aid workers are out there to save the world, the real picture is never as clear cut. Development aid is becoming increasingly controversial, and many (or even most) projects have done more harm than good. On balance however, I am still of the opinion that the development community is learning (and the project that I am working on is an example of that: a public-private partnership programme for the development of the private sector). Development assistance is simply too important in a world of rising inequalities and social problems for us to cut back on aid. But, the mentality of "all aid is always good" is one that the developed world needs to give up for good.
(for those of you interested enough, you can read a comment of mine on another blog)

Road to Murunda

These pictures were take during a visit to Murunda (in the West of the country).

Going South (part 2)

One more week in Germany

My posessions are packed into 19 boxes and I'm more than ready to finally leave Germany. I'm also looking forward to having a permanent home again in Rwanda for a while.

My new GTZ contract officially begins today, so next week I will be at the head office near Frankfurt for a week of introductory presentations, contractual issues and meetings. Then in 8 days, I will at long last fly out to Kigali.

For those of you who still haven't figured out where Rwanda is, these maps are for you :-)

One great tragedy is that my flight is on the evening of the world cup final. That was some VERY bad planning on my part!

Addis Ababa

In Addis (see photo) I had a meeting about a possible job in Rwanda. In a rather surprising turn in my life, I now have a job in Rwanda, starting on the 1st July (contract to be signed in the next weeks). It was an offer too good to let pass. I will be working on setting up village electricity grids using small-scale hydro. Now I am back in Munich, trying to sort everything out in time for my move to Kigali. Life is hectic, but I'm looking forward to the new job and new country.

Go North...

As some of you may know, I am soon returning to Germany for a brief period. At the moment, little is certain about the next few months, and a lot is possible. Next week I will be in Addis Abeba for a couple of days on business. After that I will be in Munich for a short while. I'll keep you all posted...

Adventures with petty criminals

South Africans love to complain about crime. With an almost morbid fascination, they will compare shocking stories of themselves, friends or family falling victim to criminals. Admitedly, South Africa has a high crime rate. It is certainly not the most dangerous country in the world (think of the DRC, Darfur or even Rio’s favellas) but it has the crime rate that you could expect with African slums and rich European-style suburbs being within a 20 minute walk of each other.

So, following in the South African tradition, here are my modest experiences with crime. As a rich white foreigner who likes to hang around central Cape Town, I seem to be targeted more than most people.

My first experience with crime was simply a smashed car window. Unfortunately for the thieves, there was nothing to steal- not even a car radio- so they stole nothing. The car was a fully insured rental (not Joanna), so all the only consequence for me was that I had to spend the morning in a South African police station. I spent almost an hour queing under a sign that said “Please be patient. We are understaffed.”

The second experience was less pleasant and more bizarre. In the middle of the day in crowded street of Cape Town, about 3 young teenagers walked up next to me and told me to give them all my money or they’d kill me. I turned around and saw three lightly-built 13 year-olds without anything even resembling a weapon. So I told them no. They continued trying to convince me until the end of the street, and then gave up.

The last time was similar. Except this time I was with Daniela and they actually bothered to show me a knife (and then immediately put it in their pocket again). I must say that they weren’t very convincing thieves (also in their early teans and not very confident). They got 30 Rand (about 5 Euros) off me.

Not bad for 3 months in the Western Cape. I guess I must have “stupid tourist” written all over me.

The Cape from above

I flew to Johannesburg (again) for a meeting. The Cape is a beautiful landscape to see from the air- especially in comparison to the urban sprawl of Johannesburg. But as you can see, the Capetonians need to do something about their air pollution problem.