URAKIRE! TWESE! (*): Ndi umunyarwanda!

Kigali, December 22, 2013.

Never thought that I will write my first Rwandan Newsletter sitting/lying in my bed. My summer flu came early this year or is it late!?

The weather in Kigali was not particularly good this last week, and the mix of heavy rain/thunderstorms and sunny hot weather is detrimental for someone's health. So almost everyone in the house is coughing and sneezing and yesterday I had to pass to go for a wedding... staying in bed and I guess the program for today is looking pretty much the same.

Also the intense contemporary dance workshops are playing a role... I'm teaching in a huge hall that suffers from the hot vs. cold outside and as I make my dancers sweat I have to sweat myself too. The plan is to go and have a rest in Gysenyi, the second week of January but I think I should have start with it instead of teaching first.

The climate change here is also clearly perceptible. Four years ago I hardly had a rainy day, now I experienced exactly two days without rain since my arrival. A heavy thunderstorm this week caused a lot of material damage and the lost of four people. The open sewers turned into swirling rivers and this heavy rain causes a lack of running water because the tubing gets clogged in Kigali, I suspect through the mud, and also because the pipe system is not sufficient.

My days were very organized because of the teaching... preparing my class in the morning and teaching in the afternoon. Despite being tired we went out a few times in the evening.... experiencing a very good band in the famous Hotel Milles Collines while eating brochettes with Francoise, Egide, Tharcisse (IT Manager at Heineken Rwanda, lol) and his spouse, and another brochette evening with the children last Friday.

Rolande the oldest, almost fourteen now, was translating the whole week during the workshops and she did a marvelous job. Loris and Alvin filmed. Let me introduce you to Nounou the youngest... almost four and speaking fluently Kinyarwanda and French. She's smart, funny and beautiful.

The family's new house looked as a palace to me at arrival, but you can see on the whole territory of Kigali immense houses arising and people are even building small apartment buildings for renting on left over parcels next to their house. For one moment you can even imagine being in Tuscany as more and more roofs have that wonderful red clay color.

More and more streets are asphalted and clean. If you shouldn't know better you would think that Kigali is the capital of a rich oil country but all of this is the result of good management and good financial management. Every euro and dollar invested in this country is well spent.

About the dance workshops...Especially the dancers of the Kanombe company are willing to learn and very dedicated. Despite the distance they come every day and you can see the cohesion between them also with former dancers of the company who are also following the classes. After first talks last week I think I will accept to become their contemporary choreographer, creating one 'contemporary' dance every year as they really want to explore this next to their traditional dances. I could also invite other choreographers to work with them. They are very talented dancers but I also respect them a lot for their involvement in all kind of projects going on in Kanombe. They sing, dance and play the drums as if it is the most normal thing in the world and most of them have a job e.g. selling shoes in the streets of Kigali or being a plumber. Others are still studying. And then there is Joseph, he is a Rwandan athlete, dancing traditional and always the first to appear in my classes, he is playing the drums and teaches it to children, he sings and as I could also see last Friday he is a great standup comedian.

All of the Kanombe dancers were involved in the organization of the closing ceremony of the Holidays in Museums Program. As guest of honor I witnessed a fantastic show in the former Presidential Palace Museum as the result of a two week educating activity for children between 12-15 years about the traditional Rwandan way of life. It was all about traditional dance, sports, fashion, composing of poetry, art and special dialogues on the 'Ndi umunyarwanda' (I am a Rwandan) program.

With a lot of conflicts in Central Africa at the moment this Rwanda here is paradise, a paradise made by their own hands and always searching to increase their unity despite the horrible past. Artists and scientists from all over the world should come here to support this little country to become a beacon of light for the rest of Africa.