This will be the first of a number of consecutive posts following my two weeks away from Musoma from 13 April when I left for Kigali. I finished my last post referencing a tour I had arranged for eighteen Australians attending the GAFCON Conference in Kigali who had added on a trip to experience and view the church in Africa. If you went to Kigali and thought you had been to Africa you would be seriously mistaken.
Most Africans live in rural towns and villages. In Tanzania 37% of the population live in urban areas according to the 2021 statistics. This is up from 5% in 1960, and 30% in 2013, so you can see that urbanisation has a long way to go, compared to Australia which had an urban population of 81% in 1960 and 85% ten years ago. Gross Domestic Product per capita in 2021 was US$822 for Rwanda and $1100 for Tanzania.
Kigali however exuded sophistication and prosperity unknown to me except in South African cities like Capetown and Johannesburg. As one US delegate at the conference commented he could have been in a resort in Florida, given the luxury at the Radisson where I stayed. Other delagates at the six other hotels would have experienced similar grandeur. However Rwanda has just 18% of its population in urban areas so compared to Tanzania it remains almost rural in all areas. Kigali does not represent how most Rwandans live. It is however more developed, its service industries have staff whose English is excellent and who appear to have had excellent training. The streets are wide and grand, there is no rubbish and more than one attendee compared it to Singapore. But if you go to Kigali, venture outside 10kms and see the real Rwanda.
“Focus on the journey, not on arriving at a certain destination,” is a quote by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as he was presumably as he was hurtling through space enroute to the International Space Station. The journey to Kigali started on Thursday when I left Musoma by Bajaji for the 8km ride to the bus station where I boarded the bus to Mwanza for an overnight stay. At Bunda I was joined by Alpha Lugoley, principal of the Bible College. Our stay in Mwanza was at the Anglican Guesthouse, basic but cheap at $AU12 a night with no hot water but a bed and a TV with one station and a fan.
The bus ride to Mwanza was uneventful. At $6 it is expensive for locals but there is no tax for visitors. The guesthouse provided the perfect stopping point and a meal was had at a local restaurant which is rented out by the Anglican Church whch has a number of commercial premises attached to its compound.
After dinner a stroll around Mwanza. Our accommodation is two minutes from Lake Victoria. We managed a sunset and a visit to St Nicholas Church which is the cathedral. The Diocese of Victoria Nyanza (DVN) was established in 1960 as the second Anglican Diocese in Tanzania when it was still part of the church of East Africa comprising Kenya and Tanganyika as it was then called.
Bishop Zephaniah Ntuza kindly loaned us a car and driver for the next leg of our journey to the Rwandan border with only petrol to reimburse him. Very generous.. A 5am start was necessary for what was to be a long day driving of fifteen hours with a border crossing included.
First stop was a ferry crossing at Busisi where we passed a new bridge being constructed. When completed in 2024 this bridge of over 3kms in length will allow all transport year round access to international destinations in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. Pictures tell a lot of the story of our journey to Rusumo Falls Border.
Enroute we passed the newest diocese formed in 2017 of Biharamulo so we stopped in for a toilet stop and to gree the bishop if he was in. It turned out there was a meeting in progress and a number of visitors from other parts of Tanzania were in attendance but the bishop did greet us.
After seven hours of driving including breakfast at a dodgy cafe (I had mild food poisoning in Kigali) we arrived at Rusumo Falls border in the rain.
The border crossing was fairly straightforward. One building that did everything. First to the Tanzanian desk to exit and have my passport stamped and then to Rwanda which now being a Commonwealth country allows free entry visas to citizens of the Commonwealth.
However I was not ready for what was to come.
rom Mwanza to Rusumo was 375kms and the seven hour drive was not surprising. However the passenger bus was we were told a few hours. Even Google maps hasn’t figured out African roads don’t have consistent driving conditions. The 154kms to the convention centre took eight hours by bus! And no toilt stops!
So focussed was I on the journey that I barely took any photos. My water ran out early on the trip (Oh how fortunate was that). We seemed to stop at every village enroute to Kigali and let me say the villages are not that far apart, to allow passengers on and off the bus. The slow trip could be sped up if tickets were issued on the bus. Each passenger receives a printed electronic ticket issued from an EFTPOS size machine which indicates th start and finish of the journey and the cost. This is no doubt an anti corruption measure which I remember being promoted when I visited Rwanda in 2014.
Arriving in Kigali, we had to find a taxi to transport us to our hotels ready for the conference two days hence. All in all a long but good day. Arrrived in The Land of 1,000 hills and a millions smiles. Dinner with Alpha and bed.
bula matari, breaking rocks, exploding myths, retyrement, retirement
AfricaEddie 