And onwards to Rwanda

[ This is an entry which I had previously circulated via email, not knowing whether I'd resume the blog. Since I have now decided to do so, I'm republishing this November 26th summmary from shortly after my arrival in Kigali. For those who are wondering "Kigali? WTF? How did you end up there and what have you been doing since you left Peru? When did you leave Peru? Why did you leave Peru?", the short answer is 6 months in California, 2 months in Las Vegas, now Kigali, Rwanda working for the Clinton Foundation. I'll come back to all these themes later! ]

13 days into Kigali life and it has flown by. I feel I'd better grab every experience by the horns else two years will go by in a flash and I'll look back wondering what I've been up to! I can't wait for some visitors to tell me they're coming so I can book a trip to see the gorillas! There's a trip prospectively happening in early January to Bujumbura (capital of Burundi). Two girls I've met here have recently moved to Buj and I figure what better reason to go to Burundi! I mean it's not like I'll be sitting later in life thinking, "where should we go on vacation, hmmm, Burundi is a good option". Apparently it's very different to Rwanda. There's a fairly spectacular beach there from what I hear, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Of course another likely trip in 2009 will be to Dubai to visit an old friend.

Work is starting to become a little clearer in its goals and responsibilities. I have a team of two and a half (two people full time, one person who works with me half of the time). One Kenyan and two Rwandese. Almost everyone I met when I came in September [for the interview] will be gone by Christmas, which is a little strange but I knew that was a possibility. So I have a brand new team. My boss is still the Swiss guy, Pascal, who hired me. He's a really interesting character who grew up in a UN family and who is very well respected within the Foundation and without.

Our dealings are entirely with the Ministry of Health, other NGOs working in the health field and the regional governments of the 30 districts of Rwanda. We had a meeting last Wednesday with the Permanent Secretary at the MoH, the number two person at the Ministry – she's quite the character. We were having a call with a large international NGO about getting some funding from them and she was impressively and amusingly firm in her approach.

On the personal / social side I'm in the midst of figuring out where I'm going to live. I'm currently living in the house of the guy who I'm replacing, but it's too far from everything. It's a pleasant if quiet neighbourhood but a 20 minute drive from the office. Ideally I'd like to be walking distance to the office, or at most a 5 minute drive. I will indubitably have to buy a car. Kigali is not a walking city. I've got two houses in mind, one of which is currently occupied by Guen and Felicia, two girls who currently work at the Foundation but who will both be leaving Rwanda and who have been extremely generous in welcoming me to Kigali. The other used to be occupied by the Minister for Education and is a grand place but a little off the beaten track.

Thus far I've found a tennis partner, a friend of Phil Bowen's who used to work at the Home Office and who now works for Tony Blair's initiative here. And Sunday afternoon is ultimate frisbee with a fun mix of Rwandese and mzungus (including some combination of the six Marines who are stationed in country to guard the US Embassy – they're pretty good). I might potentially take up Swahili but the jury's still out on that one.

Kigali is an amazingly safe place. After spending time in Nairobi where people live in barbed wire-encircled compounds, Kigali is surprisingly different. Even my female colleagues tell me they feel comfortable walking around at night and getting taxis home at all hours. Of course there's a cottage industry here set up just to serve the mzungu crowd. A bunch of taxi drivers whom everyone has stored in their contacts. Real estate agents who only deal with the high end of the property market. Stores which only the elite Rwandese and foreigners can afford. Although even the foreign crowd find the only decent supermarket in town to be excessively expensive. The difficulty is that Rwanda produces very little apart from coffee so even some basic food stuffs are imported. I bought five oranges yesterday and paid £4.60!!

Rent is going to turn out pretty cheap but other aspects to Kigali life will be surprisingly expensive. Thankfully it turns out that the US government is generous to people who earn their living outside the US and promise not to spend more than 30 days per year in the States: no federal income taxes!