Runways to Road

“Rwanda?” my answer echoes back from me, with an audible hint of bewilderment. “Isn’t that really dangerous? Wasn't there a genocide?”. I reply with a knowing smile. Once upon a time I, too, had preconceptions and ideas about this faraway place.

DJ Kelvin picks us up in four-wheel drive from our base in Ruhengeri. The vivid orange dust and rusty silver of the markets and villages become increasingly diluted by the lush greens of the Volcanoes National Park. Kelvin fiddles with the radio and asks me to get him one of the CDs in the glove box. We talk music and he introduces me to various Rwandan artists as we are violently thrown around on the roads that resemble a quarry, with potholes large enough to lose whole vehicles.

The sheer volume of people walking along the roadside is incredible, crowds of them, wrapped in colourful fabric, laden with baskets, food, children, animals. They wave with genuine warmth and stunning smiles that hit a spot deep within your chest. I notice an extra amount of enthusiasm in the waves today, especially from the youngsters, which force me to make comment about it. Kelvin looks at me, “It’s me” he chuckles “They are waving at me. I’m on the radio and I sing songs”. So here we are in Rwanda, being driven by a local celebrity.

“Do you want to hear some of my songs?” he asks shyly. I pass him the CD and he talks me through various songs. “This one is about my mother and sister” he interrupts during one song, “They are both dead. In the genocide”. I stop and look at my new friend, not knowing quite how to react but he has already moved onto the next song. “This is one of my friends. He is in America recording with some rap artists there”, and we continue on, absorbed by the music and the land of a thousand hills.

When I think of Kelvin or Rwanda, I do not think of the Genocide. Before coming to this country or even when I talk to people now, that is the one word that consistently comes up. How do I explain that Rwanda is much more than that? Will my account of the cleanliness of the streets, the feelings of being safe and at home, the undulating countryside that melts away into the horizon, looking a Mountain gorilla in the eye, buying fabric at the markets sway peoples preconceptions? Sadly no, only experience will show you the reality or true face of a place. And the face of Rwanda for me will always be the beautiful people, like DJ Kelvin, driving amongst villages, jungles and volcanoes laughing and listening to music.