YESU ASHIMWE! (Kinyarwanda for PRAISE THE LORD!)
Daisy Makalliwa
Posted: 9 August 2023
We gathered at the hotel reception at 6am on Tuesday morning with Liliane - a lawyer working with Lawyers of Hope (LOH) and Juves - the founder and director of LOH. Once we got in the car with our driver Bosco, Juves led us in a short prayer for journey mercies.
We were embarking on a 3 hour drive to Rambura sector, located about an hour's drive near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The further we went from Kigali, the cooler the weather became, and as we drove through the beautiful city of Musanze, about an hour away from Kigali, it suddenly felt like being in the British summer with the highest temperature reaching 19 degrees celsius. We also discovered that Rwanda has a predominantly and stunning mountainous landscape. Liliane joked, "they say that Kigali is the city of a thousand hills; but I disagree, I say that, it is the city of a million hills!" She is probably right.
Rwanda has a highly advanced traffic policing system. We drove passed some parked police vehicles and Juves explained that the vehicles had computers in them that would bring up the status of each car that passed it, to check whether they have an updated MOT status, valid insurance etc. Any traffic offender would then get an instant text massage requiring them to pay a fine or the officers would apprehend the offender, depending on the seriousness of the offence. Rwandans also take advantage of their green landscape and plant CCTV cameras on trees. Therefore, Juves could not restrain himself to play backseat driver - a good one at that - to ensure that Bosco followed all the traffic rules.
We stopped for a tea and coffee break where the team enjoyed African ginger tea and Rwandan coffee. Daisy and Liliane introduced the team to boiled maize (similar to boiled corn on the cob), which the team enjoyed with their hot drinks. In the car, Daisy and Liliane debated whether Rwandan coffee was better than Kenyan coffee, to the team's amusement. The team reserved their final judgement for when we got to Kenya at the end of the week and tasted Kenyan coffee. We then spotted some sugar cane - one of Daisy's favourite things to eat in Africa, and she made us stop to buy some to enjoy later.
We arrived at Rambura at around 9:15 am. Dressed in smart cargo vests with LOH and LCF logos printed on them, the LOH paralegals and the beneficiaries (members of the community who had benefited from the services of LOH) were sat in a beautiful gazebo waiting to meet us. We found out that LOH paralegals are members of the community of any age and experience who are trained to volunteer and educate the community on their legal rights, and to assist them along their journey to achieve justice or resolve any conflict within the community.
We began our meeting by singing songs of worship in Kinyarwanda. Chelsea then brought a word of encouragement and we prayed together. The paralegals then began sharing their work and highlighting specific cases. The beneficiaries also shared personal and moving stories of when paralegals have helped them resolve a family conflict for example, or helped them ensure that their marriages or births of any children are registered, so that they can exercise their legal rights; for example, their rights to child maintenance and succession.
After a delicious buffet lunch at a nearby cafe, we drove to a neighbouring location to attend a paralegals' training session on succession rights. We were well received with dancing, joyous singing and ululation, as is customary with Rwandan culture. The paralegals greeted the community with a motivational local chant. They displayed a great deal of knowledge and understanding of the law as they delivered their training, which was uplifting for the team to observe.
When the training was over, we enjoyed the beautiful view from the mountain top at which the training was taking place, and reflected on how difficult it may have been for Rwandans to flee their country across the border to the DRC during the genocide war in 1994 - considering the numerous mountains in the region and wild animals in the forests. The team was grateful that we were witnessing a transformed and united Rwanda.
Exhausted, we jumped into the car and began our journey back to Kigali. We stopped for a little break about an hour away from Kigali, which was an opportunity for Daisy to introduce the team to another East African delicacy - roasted maize (similar to barbecue corn on the cob). The team enjoyed this with the variety of soft drinks that Rwanda has to offer - Fanta pineapple/ blackcurrant/ lime on top of our usual soft drinks choices, and we chatted about some favourite foods across our six different cultures.
Ten minutes after we entered the car, we heard the voice of our backseat driver again, "Bosco! Bosco! Bosco! Bosco!" We had ran over police stop spikes on the road and punctured a tyre. The spikes did not seem too visible at that time of the night. So, 30 minutes after our accident, another vehicle ran over the same spikes on high speed, and thankfully, only escaped with a punctured tyre.
As the tyre we were using was impossible to find in Rwanda and had to be imported, Bosco went to repair the tyre at a nearby garage while we waited at the side of the road. About 45 minutes later, the traffic police officers helped the girls on the team to obtain a lift to a neighbouring town - Nyabihu and then take a taxi back to the hotel. Jon and Michael remained with Juves and Bosco to help get the car fixed. Jon expressed that he had the best mobile phone reception of his time in Kigali at the location of the accident, and so, he was able to communicate to the girls throughout. Once our tyre had been repaired, the boys helped the second driver who had been involved in the same accident to replace his tyre, and then proceeded to Kigali.
In the end, though this was an unexpected and unpleasant experience, we had God's favour and protection, because the accident could have been so much worse.
