The month of May is the holiday after the first term of school here in Uganda. Thankfully I'm a teacher so it means I get to take that holiday . This month Kristina (SALTer) and I have traveled/will be traveling together to Rwanda and then parts of Uganda. We have just completed our first week of travel during which we spent time exploring the city of Kigali, Rwanda. As we were traveling south I couldn't help but assume that Kigali would be very similar to Kampala: noisy, dirty, and in general just like an East African city. Boy was I wrong! When we arrived at the bus park of Kigali I was shocked at the organization of it all. The chaos was kept to a minimum. Then, as we moved around the city a bit more, I was very impressed with the cleanliness of it all. I should have known, considering the people at the border confiscated all plastic bags before entering Rwanda. The grass was neatly manicured and there were women sweeping the street all over the place. But of all these things there was one that surprised me the most. The fact that the cars in the city (and there were multitudes) all followed the road rules was absolutely shocking to me! In Kampala, when you step into the street, you run the risk of being "knocked" by a taxi, lorry, motorcycle, or bicycle. You literally take your life into your own hands when you try to cross the road. Cars are going any which way while bodas (motorcycle taxis) dodge between the cars. But in Kigali when you touch so much as your big toe to the white stripe of the zebra crossing, the cars halt and kindly wave you across. At first I was very confused, thinking maybe they were stopping to let a local dignitary cross. Or, I thought, they have seen the president and are stopping out of respect. But all of those thoughts were wrong. The cars were stopping for me! I really could hardly believe it. I started feeling like a movie star every time I attempted to cross the street. But, alas, I am back in Kampala where I realize I am no movie star and if I'm not careful I'll just be a pile of road kill (perhaps that seems a little dramatic but after Kigali, I think I'm suffering from culture shock)
Peace,
eh