A picture is worth thousands of words... So to begin with my first picture from Rwanda is a photo of Soeur Josephine, my Rwandan gardian angel... I meet her at my guest house this morning and we work out together the 'to do list'. (see picture 1)

I thought the shopping would only take a couple of hours... WRONG! I came back to my guesthouse at 5:15 completely exhausted and with the warm thought that we will need to finish the shopping together tomorrow...


In some parts of the world, people drive to the supermarket, get a big trolley, fill it with goods in less than one hour, rush to the shortest queue, pay their dues to a yawning cashier, usually say thank you and good bye and then drive home. A weekly routine for millions of people. Safe, predictible, uneventful, bordering boredom, as far as I am concerned.
Shopping with Sister Jopsephine in dowtown Kigali is another scenario...
What did we write on the 'to do list'?
1. Two CD players for the classroom at Rugerero
2. Do some grocery shopping - basic, staple food for my kitchen at the cottage, in Rugerero
3. Go to Macmillan publishers to check the availibility of teaching aids for teachers in Rugerero
4. go to ORTPN (the Rwandan office of tourism) so I can back a visit to the Mountain gorillas in a month or so...

Easy, I thought, with my white, western European brain. Wrong! I did not factor in Soeur Josephine's pitbull bargaining drive, I did not take into acount that I was shopping in downtown Kigali, where thousands of men and women make a meagre living selling single items such as phonecards, atlases of Rwanda, eggs, bananas, mushrooms etc. (see picture 2)

I was expecting to have time to meet Dr. A in the afternoon once the business of shopping had been taken care of... No way, Jose. I had to tag along Soeur Josephine, who must have checked the quality of the rice in at least 5 or 6 bags before buying any (or didn't she?).
Most of the shopping was done in a little store, where each single item (salt, washing powder, oil etc) was checked thoroughly (use-by date etc.) before being deemed too expensive to seal a deal. Bargaining would ensue and eventually each item was put into a huge hessian bag. This process took about 90 minutes (but felt like an eternity to a helpless witness like me). 90 minutes of eternity before the battle the additions started. Neither Soeur Josephine, nor the young merchant could come up with the same total owed. (see picture 3)


After a few recounts, through various mathematical models, they eventually clinched the deal.
The same white, western European brain would assume that both parties would really resent each other after such a long battle. Wrong again... They parted smiling at each other and shook hands with genuine warmth.

Many people at the market place in Kigali look happy... (see picture4)

... or a bit lonely, perhaps. (see picture5)

One thing is sure, I will sleep well tonight!

Soeur Josephine, tu es mon ange gardien, meme quand tu fais les courses a Kigali!! (see picture6)