Photos for the Presidential Pooch

"I worry about that dog more than I worry about my own kids."

John Kayihura received the dog, a German shephard mix, as a gift from President Paul Kagame. John is one of hundreds of thousands of exiles who returned to Rwanda after the genocide in 1994. He grew up as a refugee in Kenya, and said the only jobs available to refugees were with foreign-owned tour companies. After working with safari companies in Kenya and Uganda, John returned to Rwanda and started Silverback's Adventures, a tour company that specializes in tours to see Rwanda's mountain gorillas.

Lucky for us, John needed some new photos to add to his brochure and website. So he provided a car, driver and guide and sent me and my friends Andrew and Jon out into Rwanda for a couple of days to photograph the country. Unfortunately he didn't need photos of the gorillas, but we still got some good stuff. Here's some of mine:


Sunrise over the land of a thousand hills.


I was told this is a field of "Irish potatoes," as opposed to the sweet potatoes and yams more commonly grown here.


I don't know what's in the pipe, but it was really early and he was really happy.


This guy is aparently some sort of benevolent feudal overlord of a valley to the north of Kigali. He buys all the produce of the local farmers and transports it to market in his own trucks. As a result the valley enjoys a level of prosperity higher than surrounding areas. Presumably they also enjoy this statue of their benefactor at the local truck stop.


These folks don't have access to the benefactor or his trucks, so they have to use their heads to get their goods to market.


Dressed for success.


Rwanda is pretty heavily forrested, leaves everywhere. I'm still not sure what makes these leaves so special that this girl wants to carry a huge bundle of them on her head for miles to get somewhere that's just as full of leaves as the place she's coming from.


Serious shopper.


Proud of his chicken.


Sweet potatoes on parade.


Bottle cap checkers. Rightside-up vs. upside-down.


One of the lesser lakes in Africa's Great Lakes region.


Rich volcanic soil in the north accounts for much of Rwanda's food supply, as well as the coffee and tea that are the country's primary exports.

Welcome to Kigali

Jon Vidar is the content manager for the Tiziano Project. Jon's first day in Kigali involved police barricades, an aborted Forth of July party, partying at the Hotel Rwanda, and Ewen McGregor.

The motorcycle taxi had to dodge three different roadblocks on the way to the airport, and the ten-minute ride turned into thirty. Fortunately Jon's plane was an hour late, so I didn't miss him.

The last Saturday of every month is national cleaning day in Rwanda, and all businesses must stay closed. Everyone has to stay home and clean. The whole country is on lockdown until 11 a.m. The last Saturday of June was a holiday weekend so the cleaning was postponed to the following weekend. The motorcycle taxi that took me to the airport wasn't supposed to be on the streets. Airport taxis have a special dispensation and are allowed to take new arrivals into the city. Jon and I were stopped multiple times on the way to the hotel, but each time the driver pointed to the muzungus in the back of his cab and got through. After he dropped us off he sighed and resigned himself to an hour of napping until the cleaning was finished.

This all sounds harsh, but Rwandans and even the most jaded ex-pats see the measure as a positive one. Rwanda is still working to rebuild from the devastation of the genocide of 1994. The government insistence on order and cleanliness establishes a precedent that the rest of the country follows.

We waited at the hotel until the city started moving again and headed down to the coffee shop (there's only one). After getting ourselves sufficiently caffeinated we noticed that there was some sort of commotion out on the patio. We looked out and saw people crowding around to get their photos taken with Obi-wan Kenobi himself, Ewan McGregor. I've only been out of L.A. for a few weeks, and the movie star thing just made me groan. But Jon looked at me and said, "I gotta do it." So we got in line and I took a photo of Jon and the Jedi.

So we left the coffee shop and went over to the home of the American ambassador for a late Fourth of July party. We were looking forward to seeing our tax dollars at work and getting some free food and drinks courtesy of the ambassador. Only we got there and found the ambassador gouging the good citizens of the U.S.A., charging about three times local prices for beer and burgers. We were also out of cash, and all the banks were closed for cleaning day. With a certain sense of relief, we were forced to concede that we had no choice but to leave the party, and went in search of a Western Union to get some cash.

After all that the only way to finish off the evening was to go see Daddy Casanova's reggae show at the Hotel Mille Collines, the famed Hotel Rwanda, where Don Cheadle saved countless well-dressed Hollywood extras from being screen-murdered by countless poorly-dressed Hollywood extras. With past tragedy as constant backdrop a reggae show including renditions of La Bamba and Dire Straights' "Walk of Life" can be a bit disconcerting. Jon was brutally exhausted and was only weirded out for a few minutes before he started falling asleep. I had no such luxury, but the show was actually a lot of fun.

Sunday we rested. And it was good.