Five years ago when I first arrived in Rwanda, one of the more striking differences between Kigali and Kampala was the time frame—not the one-hour time difference, but how much the people in Kigali valued their sleep.
In Kibagabaga where I lived, businesses didn’t open before 8:00 am at the earliest and would close early, often as soon as the birds began to settle down for the night—unless it was raining. Weekends and public holidays were an entirely different story.
So when I accepted a trip to Nyungwe recently, my first thought was, “Where will I get a moto that early?” Despite having visited Nyungwe the previous year, I couldn’t pass up the chance to return to Africa’s oldest rainforest—especially now that it was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list.
Since it was a school trip involving picking up students from Huye, and we were setting off from Kigali, it meant waking up in the wee hours to stay on schedule.
To my pleasant surprise, I used Yego cabs (one of the popular ride-hailing services in Rwanda), and there was a driver at my door by 3:45 am to take me to Nyabugogo, where I was to meet the rest of the team.
On our way, I was astonished to find out that we (the driver and I) were not the only ones on the road at that time. A handful of people were up and about—motorists, cyclists, keep-fit fanatics, and pedestrians.
Reaching Nyabugogo, the bus park was bustling as though it was midday, the streets alive with vendors, hawkers, buses, cars on the go, and the homeless—this was news to me; I had never imagined Kigali to have people sleeping on the streets. Tales of an early sleeper, indeed.
As the clock struck 5:44 am, we were in Murambi, and the vibe here was no different from what we left in Kigali. Kabgayi too—through my window, I saw a salon open with someone getting a haircut. “I love this new Rwanda,” I muttered, mostly to myself.
Kigali’s transformation in the recent years
In Rwanda, constant factors such as safety and cleanliness are the icing on the Kigali cake. However, as the lifestyles of Kigalians — night/party life, customer care, dress code, language, etc — have evolved, the city has turned into a busy hub. As someone coming from a bustling city, I am both at home and worried that these beautiful aspects of life here might vanish with this vibrant surge.
I don’t want to be a ‘Cassandra’, but have you been downtown lately? The once effortless walk to the bus park is now a tug of war as you try to dodge the motos, hawkers and fellow pedestrians. Don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for these people’s jobs, but my concern is the crowd they attract.
For people working around the Kigali Car-Free zone, the Imbuga city walk is such a beautiful spot for relaxation and unwinding after hours of replying to emails, phone calls and texts. Not forgetting the coffee and snack stalls. Regardless, have you noticed how crowded it often gets?
Spending a lot of time there every day, I have noticed the increasing majority of people are seldom taking a breather. Some can spend almost an entire day on the benches. A worry that might introduce—if not already there—pickpockets if the crowd is not reduced.
Despite a significant display of discipline among Kigali youth, a thing that makes my assumptions sound gibberish, I believe we all, at one point, came across the videos of what transpired at Amahoro stadium in June—there’s no way the culprits were ‘old’ people, right?
Begging is categorised by the National Rehabilitation Service (NRS) Rwanda under ‘forms of delinquency’—conduct that does not conform to the legal requirements or moral standards of the Rwandan Society. Whether this law is still valid or not, I’ve spotted quite a good number of beggars while going about my daily duties in Kigali, which was not the case before. As a Christian, I’m all for helping the needy, only that at times it gets a little ‘too much’, especially if the person involved is able-bodied.
Of late, spotting trash (other than the leaves from the lush trees) is the new normal. Whilst the City of Kigali is doing a prodigious job when it comes to keeping the city clean, the spirit of not littering is slowly leaving our DNA. Shame!
Ultimately, let’s not allow the statement: ‘You know a city is developed when it’s chaotic’ apply to Kigali. Like Sanny Ntayombya wrote in The New Times: “If we are able to properly educate our children and give them a sense of ownership of not just government property but the entire country, then we shall not fall victim to the African infrastructure curse”.
As for my fellow foreigners, allow me to teach you a famous proverb from my local language: ‘When you go where they eat dog meat, you eat the same’ (loosely translated), hence, let’s refrain from contaminating the Rwandan culture of safety and cleanliness–word has it that we’re responsible for this unpleasant change.
