A busy first weekend

I arrived in Kinihira Friday. Saturday I walked 50 minutes to the nearest market town with R., the scientist’s houseboy (she’s on leave in the US). Gakere isn’t much, but it’s got more going on than Kinihira - there’s actually fruit for sale, there’s a butcher shop and a bar that sells brochettes, and some of the milk bars actually sell sambusa (in Kinihira it’s just bread and donuts). There are a lot more houses, but still no power. R. makes great company - he’s incredibly smart and eager to improve his English but also a great Kinyarwanda teacher. Although he’s 24, he still has a year left of secondary school - he’s been working to save money for it.

Today was Inauguration Day. Apparently each umudugudu was given 50,000RWF ($90) to celebrate - in Kinihira the entire sum seems to have been applied to sorghum beer, with maybe a few Fantas. There’s got to be at least 25,000 imidugudu in Rwanda - that’s a lot of beer money!

In the afternoon I joined R. in his reading group. He admitted 10 kids to the yard and we read a picture book to them, R. assisting my attempts to translate. More kids peered at us from behind the fence. Afterwards I passed out crayons (thanks Auntie K + Uncle C!) so the kids could draw a scene from the book. The book was about a tree that’s to be cut down in the Amazon, and the reasons the various forest inhabitants give about the tree’s importance. The snake’s plea was ineffective here: he said his fathers and his fathers’ fathers had lived in the tree. 16 years ago this village didn’t exist, so the importance of an ancestral home has little resonance in Kinihira.

Elections

Spotted, on the way to use the internet on July 27, a small rally of about 100 people for an opposition candidate. Couldn’t tell which one, but it wasn’t the RPF colors.

For a description of what it’s like to be at a political rally here, check out this blog entry.

I spotted another one on Aug 4 in Nyanza, this time with loud music, t-shirts, and maybe 200 people (I didn’t get too close). Kigaliwire attended an opposition rally and blogged about it.

Today was the actual election, and it was pretty quiet. Most offices were closed and the streets were relatively empty. I played a game while walking around town - “spot the polling station.” Each cell had its own, and Gisenyi has about 10 cells. There were stations at the mosque, the catholic church, the university campus, and a big high school. Voters were dressed in their Sunday best and lined up with their ID cards ready; according to news articles they use thumbprints to vote behind curtains and then drop the “anonymous” ballot in a ballot box.

The president visits Rubavu

Disclaimer: As per Peace Corps policy, I have no opinion on the coming elections, the political parties, or the candidates. Here I’m simply relaying what I’ve seen around town in the buildup to the election.

On Tuesday I heard that the president was coming to town for a campaign event. Wednesday I was having lunch with a group of travelers who were interested iny seeing him, so I started asking about details on their behalf. We must have asked five different people who gave us five different answers – he’d be here Thursday morning, or afternoon, or Friday, the only agreement was that he’d be in Nyundo, a sector 20 minutes down the road to Musanze/Kigali. One person said he was in Gisenyi right then (Wed. afternoon), down by the lake. We all laughed at the lack of consistent answers. While I was asking around, I also had to dodge a parade of trucks, their beds full of people decked out in RPF gear.

Finally a consensus emerged: the president would be speaking in Nyundo Friday morning. Offices in Gisenyi would be closed and transportation would be mostly tied up bringing people to the event. Yesterday I spotted army cars and even a tank at the gas station by the market; rumor had it the president spent the night at Serena. Not long after 6am this morning I heard trucks drive by outside blasting music. When I emerged (to take advantage of my morning off with a little language tutoring) countless people were walking in the general direction of Nyundo, decked out in either their Sunday best or t-shirts bearing the president’s face (or both; t-shirts substituting for tank tops underneath the fancy one-shoulder dresses). Most motos are flying RPF flags and many taxi buses have Kagame posters on their back windows. Along with the ubiquitous t-shirts are paper RPF hats.

My friends who attended said it was a lot of waiting. There were songs, dances and skits throughout the morning, and the president finally spoke briefly at 2pm.

Signs of the election

A couple billboards spotted around Kigali (pictures are through matatu bus windows, sorry) and a recent magazine cover.

Promoting participation in the coming election

Rwandans will vote for president on August 9. As a PCV I can’t share my opinions on politics, but I can write about the procedures and the government’s efforts to promote participation. This election awareness logo is popping up on t-shirts everywhere. It incorporates the date of the vote, colors of the Rwandan flag, and a thumb that I assume represents the ink that will mark those who have participated.

Primaries began last month for the ruling party, the RPF. Following Umuganda on the last Saturday in April, the governor and mayor of Nyanza spoke to the assembled crowd about the organization of the coming elections, informing them of the schedule and encouraging them to participate. From what I can gather, each umudugudu voted on two candidates, before advancing to subsequent votes at the cell, sector and district levels before provinces voted on the two candidates (I posted about Rwanda's administrative organization here).

Current president Kagame won the national RPF primary. According to the New Times (Rwanda’s main paper), the national election commission said "As far as we are concerned as the electoral commission, we are not informed of any opposition." However, the campaign officially spans from July 20 to August 8.

In addition to speeches at public gatherings such as umuganda and numerous radio messages, Rwanda is conducting rather unique get out the vote efforts. Barbers and moto drivers, Rwandans who come in to contact with high volumes of captive customers in their lines of work, have been trained to conduct get-out-the-vote outreach with their customers. Pretty creative!

If you are interested in learning more about the upcoming election, much has been written and many perspectives exist. I recommend googling for more information; Peace Corps prevents me from saying more.