Domestic Living in Rwanda

There's a chicken in the garage, banana, papaya and avocado trees in the yard, and an herb and vegetable garden on the way.

Our "domestic" brought the chicken home a couple of weeks ago on his own initiative and feeds us omelets made from the eggs. Like most people in Rwanda we have a domestic. Even Rwandan friends who live in very small mud-brick houses have someone around to do basic chores. Ours cooks, cleans, does laundry, gardens, tends the trees and looks after the chicken. The other day our landlady brought over some seeds so he can plant carrots, eggplant, and a lot of other stuff we don't recognize. There are a number of other plants in the garden that he takes care of that we have yet to identify but that we think might be edible. Part of the problem is that our domestic doesn't speak a word of English or French and we don't speak any Kinyarwanda.

All this service and excitement costs us 30,000 francs a month, about $60. The average yearly income here is just over $200 per year, so he's doing quite well. He keeps coming in with new clothes, including a shiny red basketball uniform with a New York Yankees logo on it that he wears every day while doing his chores.