Small stories from a big world

  S aturday morning. It is a bit cloudy and cooler than yesterday. Ideal to work in the garden before the sun burns too hard. I hear some birds whistling in the bushes. Nothing else. Not the sound of the heavy traffic on the connecting road across the valley. Not the voice of the woman who passes by in the street, loudly praising her goods which she carries in a basket on her head. No children playing. I hear no snatches of the gliding exercises with which the choir of a church a little lower on this hill warms up the voices. No drums or percussion either. It is silent. It is the last Saturday of the month. It is umuganda. Umuganda refers to community work that contributes to the development of Rwanda. Every last Saturday of the month, economic life falls silent from 7:00 to 11:00. During this time, everyone has to work in their community: cleaning, helping to build a school, constructing terraces, fighting erosion, you name it. The system has existed since the last century, when

At the end of June, the Commonwealth Summit (CHOGM) took place in Kigali. More than 30 Heads of State met in Kigali. The Prince of Wales, Charles and Camilla, were also here as representatives of Queen Elizabeth. A great logistical challenge for a small country like Rwanda. And it all went well. No incidents. In the run-up to the summit, Kigali paid a lot of attention to improving its infrastructure. Suddenly, bus shelters appeared everywhere. Many roads were given a facelift, holes in footpaths were repaired and shoddy construction sites disappeared behind metres and metres of canvas advertising Rwanda's tourist assets. Perhaps the biggest challenge was getting the many roads -earmarked to ensure efficient flow of traffic during the summit- ready in time. Some roads were built, others were doubled in width. The latter also happened to a connecting road between the hill where I live and the next one. I never knew that road to be busy, but it is the fastest connection between th