Radio Waves

Daily news keeps you busy.
I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been working at Contact FM producing our daily 20 minute newscast. Over ambitious and short on staff, the hectic days usually culminate into a frenzied few hours around 6 o’clock – as I imagine they do in any newsroom.
Nevertheless, I’m left without much to [...]

The land of milk and honey

All of the repatriated refugees shared something in common when they arrived in Ndego: they all desperately missed milk. Milk was the life force for many back in Tanzania, where they made their livelihood from raising cattle and selling milk.
When the repatriates first arrived in Rwanda, there were a few major adjustments. First, they had [...]

Securing a Future: The Development of Trades and Crafts in Ndego

Like almost anyone anywhere, the people of Ndego have dreams they long to realize. These dreams are particularly felt as it was not even two years ago they were forced out of Tanzania and arrived as repatriated refugees in Rwanda with little other than the shirts on their backs.
In Tanzania, most were cattle herders where [...]

Starting over alone: the life of a widow in Rugeyo

Brilliantly coloured skirts flap in the wind, hung on a string tied to the branches of two trees that stand about seven feet apart. Joy Kobusinge sits beneath one of the trees on a flat rock covered by a straw mat. The 48-year-old looks into the distance, past the plumes of smoke rising from her [...]

A Newfound Woman? Gender roles in Tanzania and Rwanda

Despite sharing a geographical border, women’s rights in Tanzania and Rwanda lie a world’s distance apart. According to several female repatriated Rwandan refugees who once lived in Tanzania before being expelled by the government in 2006, Tanzanian women are not as well treated as their Rwandan counterparts.
Stories describing gender-based violence and forced polygamy are common [...]

Building a life from scratch

Canizius Ukurikiyimana was only 19-years-old when he was forced to leave Tanzania and resettle in Rugeyo, a small village in Rwanda’s eastern province. He is one of many thousands of Rwandans who were expelled from Tanzania in late 2006, leaving almost everything he worked for and loved behind.

And for Canizius, this included his [...]

Journey to the Edge of Rugeyo

The day starts pretty early. By the time my colleague and I eat breakfast – usually a crepe-thin omelet and a chunk of hard white wonder bread – many people in Kabarondo, the village where we’re spending our nights, have already started their days. Women walk with large baskets of bananas trying to find some [...]

Bam!

Wow. It’s been over a month since I’ve posted, and for no good reason. I’m having such memorable and intense experiences both personally and as a journalist, but alas time slips through the fingers and I’ve had little time to reflect on them in the blogosphere.
So the first update: I’m no longer an intern for [...]

A day at the Saloon

My first week in Kigali, whether a passenger in a moto, a bus or a taxi, I was whisked through the streets with wide eyes and an open mind for all I might see. Hustlers on every street corner selling anything from a phone call, to a belt, to a brand new kitchen knife set. [...]

Ahem… Attention please, speech.

My next birthday wish will be to one day celebrate my birthday Rwandese style because here, there’s just a little bit more icing on the cake.
Let me explain.
This past weekend, I was lucky enough to be invited to a colleague’s house for his birthday, and it seems that there’s no better venue to witness how [...]