As I sit in the airport taxi to Kigali international airport, my mind is still unconvinced that Kigali is now considered East Africa's top city.
I have been here five days and I have spent the biggest part of it missing the more charming and lively Kampala. It is not a lie about the perfect green cover along the Kigali streets, the fully-functioning street lights, the decongestion and timely cleaning services.
But mine is a personal experience. When the plane ascends into the Kigali skies, revealing the well-organized housing units and farmlands, something tells me that there is something special about Rwanda that we should all copy.
Going to Rwanda:
My trip to Kigali is not a vacation but, rather, a conference on ICT for Agricuture. Being my first time in Kigali - not Rwanda - it turns into a memorable adventure. Fortunately or unfortunately, my trip falls on November 3, the day of the eclipse in Uganda.
For this reason, there is an unexpected delay in all flights by Ethiopian airways. My midday flight to Kigali is postponed until 8pm when the skies clear of the eclipse effects. If I had any anxiety for this trip, the eight hours of waiting left me extremely hungry and angry.
We finally leave Entebbe a few minutes to 9pm and reach Kigali at around 8:30pm local time. It is so short a distance that the airline sees no economic value in giving us even a glass of water. At Kigali International airport, no visa is required to enter Rwanda and unlike their Ugandan or Kenyan counterparts, the immigration officers sit out in small open kiosks.
The beautiful young lady just glances at my passport, takes my photo, stamps the passport and hands it back to me with a smile, coolly saying, "Welcome to Rwanda."
I proceed to the registration desk of my intended conference where they give me a talkative Josephe to chauffer me to the hotel. As he helps me with my bags, Josephe addresses me in Kinyarwanda but he gets shocked to learn that I am not Rwandese.
"But you look Rwandese," he quickly says. Anyway, that is what everyone says.
Josephe's English is quite poor but he can't afford to miss the chance to share his pride in Rwanda and how I will find Kigali interesting. He tells me of the nice roads, the clean streets, how they banned plastic bags, the nice food and charming ladies.
"We have the Car-Wash hangout where you meet many Ugandans and Kenyans," he says.
After checking in at Mille Collines hotel, the only thing on my mind is a shower and sleeping off the long day. For a difference, the sun here rises at 5am and sets at 5pm. My first day at the conference held at Serena hotel of Kigali is so eventful.
As the day progresses, it rains so heavily to create a very cold evening. I decide to spend the evening at my hotel where, one hotel aide, Jack, tells me that Mille Collines is the hotel that inspired the Hotel Rwanda movie. At the entrance of this hotel is a memorial stone for those that died during the 1994 genocide.
It rains again on the second day, but this does not stop us from enjoying the cocktail party at the Serena as we enjoy performances by Inzanzo Ngari cultural dance group.
You can clearly see the delegates taken-aback by the way these exceptionally beautiful ladies wriggle their bodies and then make waves with arms that leave you wanting to try it out as well.
The cold night out:
It is on the third day that I am forced to go out, having mustered the dynamics of the city. Though it is still the same cold nights, I don't want to miss out as my team, Arsenal, registers a memorable win against Dortmund. My new Rwandan friends had earlier told me there was a bar called Fantastic, behind Kigali towers, where I could have some fun.
Since the game is at 9:45pm, I first tour the city. Kigali is a decongested city and by 9pm, the entire uptown side is deserted; you cannot even get a boda boda. I walk my way to downtown without meeting more than 20 people. I meet routine army patrols and I am cautioned against passing near the gates of State House which also borders the National Bank of Rwanda.
I reach Fantastic bar at about 9:20pm. Its location should be an equivalent of Garden City but I meet a quiet and lifeless atmosphere.Inside the bar, there is some life and warmth, with more than 200 people in attendance. I am told it is a hangout for Kigali's middle-class. Being a football night, people are seated in clusters of teams they support (Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal).
I move slowly to join my Arsenal counterparts at the extreme end where a live band is also playing. These consistently play Lingala but at intervals they try out Ugandan music. Ugandan artistes would cry if they heard how these chaps murder their songs. A beer is Rwf 1,300 (Shs 4,550), a soda is Rwf 500 (Shs 1,750) while chips and chicken is Rwf 3,500 (Shs 12,250).
I try out their chips and chicken but I regret my decision. While the chips are ok, the chicken is half-roasted, dripping blood. It is hard to make friends on Kigali streets, but at least in the bar people talk to one another in the name of football.
The entire city has Wi-Fi - everywhere, anytime. Those with smart phones can be seen browsing football results, though not for betting reasons as many Ugandans do.
One girl tells me that people in Kigali tend to spend more time with their phones than their neighbours.
Pathetic cooks:
My conference programme for Thursday is a bit longer, extending up to 10pm. It is both the closing ceremony and the awarding ceremony to be climaxed with a dinner. Just like the other days, it rains in the afternoon and the entire evening is extremely cold. Today's dinner reminds me of the Rwanda food story.
If there is one thing I would not want to go back for - it is the food. Serena hotel is one of the best hotels in Rwanda. Unfortunately, the five days here, their chefs have a lot to add if they are to earn my credit. For starters, they do not at any one time, prepare African dishes and none of their foods or sauces can make you dare for more.
It is a similar story at my hotel; my first breakfast destabilized my stomach for two days. On Friday, I decide to do a self-guided tour around Kigali since there is no activity at the conference. As I roam the streets named by numbers, I meet one chapatti spot and I decide to pay Rwf 150 to have a feel of it.
For real, the rolex makers would make a kill if they invaded Rwanda, just for the chapatti business. I am told that many Ugandans have started restaurants and chapatti spots.
"It is true that the chapattis and katogo of Ugandans are very tasty," one lady tells me.
Unfortunately, I fail to locate any Ugandan-owned restaurant, since most of them are in the outskirts.
The beauty:
Kigali has lots of beautiful faces to offer. There may not be very many high-rise buildings in the city, but the evident construction works indicate a great city in the making. I only spotted two beggars on the streets, no signs of street kids and one betting spot downtown.
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The street vendors could be seen in the equivalent of Kikuubo but these hold their merchandise in their hands, ready to take off in case the law enforcement patrols come. Here, both a boda boda cyclist and passenger should wear helmets and you will never find three people on the same bike as the case is in Kampala.
If you happen to be in Kigali and are bored just grab a seat at a café in one of the shopping centres and let your eyes keep you busy - the girls are strikingly beautiful. On the other hand, you can just take a walk along the streets of this small but crisp-clean city.
The fountains at major roundabouts are amazing. It is equally touching to see how people respect the zebra crossings and how cars stop when someone is crossing - something that Ugandan road users should copy. For my slender stature, many believe that I am Rwandese and I easily blend in and walk freely with them. Some try to talk to me in Kinyarwanda but I don't understand anything.
Back home, Kampala greets me with the similar downtown hustle. As I try to get a taxi to my destination, I happen to pass by Nakivubo channel which has overflowing water due to blocked drainage. Then I get another reason to go back to Kigali where all drainage channels are clear and streets are swept every six hours.
I am told that every last Saturday of the month is a compulsory communal cleaning day where all businesses come to a halt and everyone is involved in cleaning of the city.
This reminds me of the famous statement made by President Paul Kagame: "Keeping our streets clean, keeping our homesteads clean, ourselves clean, is not something we need to go out looking for... It is something we have within ourselves, why not start from that? It becomes a culture; it becomes a way of life."
If developmental copying is not bad, then that is what we should be doing. Just skip their recipes.
