A Day in Kigali

A day in Kigali...is finally over...sigh

Today started out as any other day, very early. Lately I have been waking up naturally around 5:30. Solomon and I caught a ride to Kigali today at 6am on an escapade to buy supplies for the arrival of more chickens on the farm. One of the best things about getting up early is that you get to see the sun rise over the Rwandan hills. The past few mornings, the sun has also been joined by a thick fog. We hopped into the car and headed to Kigali. Our first stop was the bank. We got there an hour before opening. I didn’t eat anything and was hungry. Solomon asked a few people where we could go to get breakfast. The only places they mentioned were hotels. I kept telling Solomon to tell the person that we want the cheap Rwandan places and not the fancy muzungu places. We finally found a place and got money from the place.

Our first visit was to BrasAfric to get a quote for a grinding machine to help in making the chicken food. We got on the back of a moto taxi. Before we got on I asked Solomon if the drivers know where the place is located. Everyone ensured me that they know where it is located. An hour later we were still searching for the place. Our search took us past the Canadian Embassy…a good 3km from the actual location. Everyone we meet thought they knew…this is very common in Rwanda where people say yes and they really have no clue. I finally got the number of someone who works there and he pointed me in the right direction. We actually past the place on our initial moto ride. Solomon and I decided to split up in order to get everything done. I went to BrasAfric and Solomon took all the sacs that we brought to the wood market to get filled with wood chips for the floor of the chicken house.

From the moment I stepped into BrasAfric, I was appalled by the lack of customer service. The lady at the front spoke English real well and was part of the department I was buying in but didn’t know anything about the product. They brought out the technician who was the only friendly and nice person in the whole place. He showed me the machine but said we need to go to a different store of theirs for the motor. I think the lady was happy to get rid of me but I’m not sure what I did to make her mad. When we got to the other store, the grinder were on display but broken with dents….sure makes you want to buy them…right? The technician said that we could buy one of the broken machines and then he’ll fix it. If we’re paying that much money, not sure I want to buy a broken machine. I did enjoy hanging out with the technician. We was impressed with my use of Kinyarwanda. When the second store didn’t have what we needed, it was back to the first store. Another women came in that was ruder than the first lady. I asked for some information on 2 machines that looked very similar to me but were very different prices. No one in the store could tell me the differences. I asked for the proforma invoice which states the price and they refused to give me one. They said I must buy and then they can tell me the price. I kept telling them how can I buy it, if I don’t know the price? Finally the man who I talked with on the phone arrived to help save a little credibility for the place. This man even gave me a ride to town and apologized for the way I was treated by those ladies. He says that it happens to many customers and many complain about them. How can a company keep employees like that? Especially in Rwanda where it’s difficult to find jobs. I went to another agro machinery store called Tasha. It was a much better experience with a much better product. They had no trouble giving me the proforma invoice. So, which company do you think I’ll go with?

I met back up with Solomon and we headed to a place to buy water drinkers. They were all out and insisted there were no places to find them (except for 1 grocery store) in all of Kigali. I heard this story from many of my endeavors to Kigali. There are places to find everything that you need. ..the challenging part is just finding those places. Next we went to the place where we’re buying the heaters to give them an advance. It’s not as easy here as going to a place to buy the heaters. They actually have to make them from scrap metal.

Our next adventure took us to Nyabigogo. We called the truck driver and he said that he would meet us in 30 min. We decided to visit a friend of ours who owns a seed store. He was not there but the people in the store told us where to get the water drinkers! An hour later, the truck driver was not where he told us he’d meet us. We called him and he said that he was too busy to come even though we called him the day before and told us he was on the way. He said that he’d send a friend that never showed. We finally found one. We were at the store were we buy ingredient to make chicken food. I asked all the questions to know when the prices are high and low. It was very helpful but different from what others told me. I guess I should have just asked the seller to begin with.

Next we went to our house in Kigali to pick up luggage from the group visiting from Tuffs University. We went back to the wood market to get our sacs of wood chips. I was bombarded by 20 Rwandan women shouting, muzungo…hello…give me money. It was too overwhelming and annoying. I even called a Rwandan friend to ask how to say, leave me alone. I saw a lady who is related to someone at my village and I was relieved to go sit with her. At the wood market we went to buy a scale and wire. I think I taught these men a lesson…don’t sell someone a scale who is also buying something by the kg. You buy wire by the kg and they gave us 5kg. I told them I want to test out the scale and weight the wire. I found they were giving us only 4.5kg! Don’t think they’ll try that trick again. I even tried to weigh Solomon and everyone was laughing.

Finally it was back to the village after a very long day. When we arrived, we were greeted by all the farm workers cheering. It was a great arrival. The workers were singing and dancing as we drove up. It was already 1.5hr after they usually leave. Some climbed into the truck and began to unload. There were close to 100 sacs. They all got into an assembly line to put the sacs into storage. I even got into the line and they began to cheer even louder. Boy to really love interacting with the farm workers.