1) Quality of Repairs – Every summer, we do a family trip to Quebec, and every year without fail we experience construction on Highway 20 or 40 near Montreal. Often in the same exact spots as the year before. The accepted local theory is that the contractors the Quebec government employ do enough of a job to demonstrate the required improvement but a shabby-enough job that there’s guaranteed work to be had for the next summer. At our guesthouse in Rwanda, we have two bathrooms. For the 3 weeks we’ve been here, both toilets have been functioning for about 50% of the time. And neither are very complex toilets. The plumber has been here several times and keeps installing new parts, removing old ones and trying new techniques. And he keeps coming back. I’m pretty sure he’s made his way to the top 3 of Teste’s speed-dial.
2) Multitasking –In North America, many pride themselves on their ability to multi-task and parallel process even though it’s been scientifically proven that it’s much more productive in the long-run to complete one task before moving to the next. I, for one, am constantly multi-tasking, often to the chagrin of my wife and co-workers with about 20 windows open on my laptop while talking on my blackberry. In Rwanda, mothers take multi-tasking to another level, especially those with young children. Breast-feeding in public is accepted here. I’ve seen women breast-feeding while
· Learning English – Yes. I’ve tried to teach a woman to read while her boob was out
· Accepting a goat – we actually have a photo of a woman accepting her goat from us while her child was accepting her milk
· Begging – we haven’t seen many beggars here but she was one that was hard to ignore
· Digging in the field – many village women here dig in the fields as their source of income and last week one woman did her job while lying on her side and breast-feeding her child. She used one arm to stabilize her child and her second arm to extract weeds. A truly impressive performance.
3) Inexplicable love of James Taylor by people that I admire: My first encounter with James Taylor came when I lived in Boston and discovered that my boss at iBasis, Brian, was a huge fan. Brian is an amazing guy, calm but has a great energy about him, has a great family, is a big sports fan, is well-traveled and very likable. And he was in his mid-30’s when I worked for him. So you’ll understand why I simply can’t wrap my head around his fascination with such a drab, monotone performer whose songs are completely interchangeable. Fast forward 10 years. As we’re driving to the goat market today, Teste puts in a tape and James Taylor comes on. I chuckle to myself thinking it’s a mixed tape that’s not exactly starting off with a bang. But then song after song of frivolous folksy foolishness drone through the car speakers and I come to the chilling realization that Teste is also a James Taylor fan. I looked at him with a pained look, but his head was swaying and I didn’t have the heart to tell our lead goat negotiator that he had terrible taste in music.
4) Security : As Canadians, we’re privileged to have many rights, one of which is a secure place to live. The furor around the violence incurred during the recent G20 summit in Toronto helped remind us how lucky we are to have the comfort of security. We don’t have a lot of enemies as peacekeeping is part of our ethos. In general our police and political leaders are not known to be corrupt and we can carry on with law-abiding lives without being interfered with. This is not the case in many African countries, as those responsible for maintaining civil safety and security are the same ones that compromise it. Many people here have told me harrowing stories about Nairobi (fondly known as Nai-robbery) and Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). One of the reasons Cathy (the founder of the preschool) loves it in Rwanda is because of this security. She’s free to do what she wants and help with development here without having to worry about kickbacks, random violence or threats. This security is what earned President Kagame close to 95% popularity in recent elections. Rwandans experienced a long period with an absence of security as recently as 13 years ago, but have rebounded exceptionally well and progressed past their pre-genocide peaks in many facets due to the state of stability they currently enjoy.
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