Postcard from Rwanda: First impressions
It’s tidy. Singapore-level spotless.
Communities get together on the last Saturday of every month to pick up rubbish. Even the popular President, Paul Kagame, joins in when he can, I’m told. As do other leaders.
I arrived on the Thursday before the last Saturday in August and there seemed to be very little to pick up.
Good habits breed better habits.
Order.
There’s a communal discipline in Rwanda.
Drivers stop at pedestrian crossings.
Smokers, if there are any, don’t smoke in public spaces.
It perhaps serves as a means to move on from the past and to mitigate any cause for irritation and disquiet between Rwandans.
Focus.
There’s a clear understanding here that this small and landlocked country on this vast and rich continent has relatively little in the way of natural resources and minerals, so that it has to level up its secondary and tertiary economic sectors.
One of the first facts I learned while leaving the airport was that Volkswagen had started assembling vehicles in Rwanda. There were plenty of VW badges on Kigali’s roads.
The tertiary sector, of course, includes tourism, which is why I am here at the invitation of Red Rocks Rwanda and Red Rocks Initiative for Sustainable Development (“GT” Partners) and the Rwanda Development Board (RDB).
My first five days will be with … continue reading in full and for free at The “GT” Travel Blog.
