Deconstructing technology and construction in Rwanda

 

The shower head is very loose. Water going everywhere... No problem, position yourself accordingly, anywhere in the bathroom

I often think of Germany as a country where everything ‘works’, where everything is built strongly, is very functional and made to last - windows open perfectly, doors lock tightly, cars are well made. A long history, an underlying ideology and a matching lifestyle go along with this reliable, functional and anxiety-free Life coping device.

Here, in Rwanda, I have seen three sporadic examples of German technological efficiency. A lot of the drinking water made available to the population of the hills where I live comes from the work of German engineers who have channelled water from the Nwinge natural forest to some community water outlets. You could not provide much better help than that! Example two is the construction of Rusuzumiro primary school – unlike many Rugerero classes that are often dark, dirty and unconducive to healthy learning, that school benefited from German building and the classrooms are strongly built, lots of good windows (that open perfectly), brick walls can’t get dirty, cupboards were included in all classrooms. A spacious office was built for the headm,aster. Example three: a very fancy Porsche four wheel drive, driven by a Rwandan mum taking her children to school in Kigali. Wunderbar!

Things are usually built differently in Rwanda. Building material, construction processes, final fittings, sturdiness and expected lasting expectancy are much lower than in Hamburg. Durability, reliability are more elusive concepts here. ‘Cheap’, ‘Made in China’, ‘Short-life expectancy’ are the pillars, the foundation upon which a lot is built around here...

When I went to buy a mobile phone for the Abana volunteers, I was given an option: ‘authentique’ or ‘pirate’? Huge price difference! The same applied to batteries, CD player. When I needed to buy a new spark plug for my motorbike, I was told that ‘pirate’ ones were available in Muganza but only worked for a couple of weeks. Not many people can afford ‘authentique’ . Abana volunteers can, many Rwanda people can’t even afford ‘pirate’ goods...

So I find that when it comes to having a relationship with western, muzungu items of ‘modern comfort’ – such as good windows, door handles, cupboard locks, table sturdiness, mattress density etc. I have to revise my conditioned standards and do some rethinking...

1.      I am not in Hamburg

2.      Who said that corrugated iron roofs were not meant to leak?

3.      Why can’t most Africans afford buying strong Sweedish car made with the sturdiest steel when they provided most of the raw material to build that Volvo?

4.      What does Africa has to contribute to Humanity in terms of technicality?

I will only say a few things about item 4...

Africans have contributed a lot to the human ability to interact and adapt to their physical environment... Their main offering in my view is their ingenuity to make things last... One example, the taxi van I take from Muganza to Butare would have been thrown to the tip in Germany many years ago... Yet it is still going strongly on this incredibly bumpy and dangerous road. Mechanics are insuring that the engine runs well, that there is just enough ‘cushionary’ function in the shock absorbers to make the journey humanely possible. The dexterity and total intimacy of the driver with his vehicle makes it possible for this old van to go forever. The van carries about twice its allowed capacity...

Another contributor to African technicality is the African’s fearlessness when it comes to fixing broken things. Everybody believes he is an expert and nothing is impossible. The generator has stopped working, five men and boys are fighting to have a go at fixing it.

After a heavy rain quite a few roofs at the school start letting a bit of rain in... I ask Papa Jacinth about those traditional huts after huge storms. Don’t they leak?, I ask. No they don’t he says. They are rethatched every year and they do their job... All women and children have mastered the art of making string from a few blades of tall grass and can bind anything together before transporting it on their heads... It seems that there is a common thread (excused the pun) among all this... Most technical sophistication that has been imported from Europe via colonialism and post-colonialism does not really work here, as if it had not been properly shared, transferred... Dumping the cheapest, lowest quality material on this continent does not help either.

Traditional ways are more reliable, more deeply engrained in the local psyche, soul and hands...