Kigali City Tower

I could have chosen many many sites in Kigali to write on. I could have chosen Hotel des Mille Collines, or the Kigalia Genocide Memorial Center. But while searching, I found something that represents Kigali in the present, more so than anything else. Kigali City Tower is one of the only skyscrapers in Kigali. It sticks out like a sore thumb, standing far above everything around it.

The largest tower (on the right), is the Kigali City Tower, standing far above anything else.

The building itself is not active yet, since it was only recently built. They are currently finalizing leases with retailers, banks, and offices before opening it. But this anticipation is exactly what this building represents. To me, it represents the anticipation of Kigali as a city for the future. It's a beautiful building, both in the day time and at night.

The tower at night.

The tower during the day.

The building plans to house absolutely everything, from a supermarket, to movie theater, from a mall, to a bank, from offices, to a restaurant and nightclub.

The floor plan for Kigali City Tower.

Quotes from the main website (http://www.kigalicitytower.com/) make the building seem like the future economic, cultural center of the city.  The tower "isn't just the most attractive and comfortable office and retail development on the market today. It also provides an unprecedented level of technical efficiency to give our tenants an environment that supports productivity and excellence - regardless of the type or size of the business." To the people who built the building, and probably for many others out there, the building "stands for hope - in a city rapidly becoming of the most prosperous, cleanest and fastest-growing metropolitan centers on the African continent." The contractors, financiers, and supporters of the tower is surely anticipating the building to be a game-changer in the "new" Kigali. (Note: All quotes taken directly off their website.)

A futuristic view of the retail area of the building. Bourbon Coffee stands at the base, which is actually a Rwandan-based coffee shop (it is NOT a commercial coffee shop), and has multiple locations in Kigali, and the only location outside Rwanda is in Porter Square, Cambridge!

Finally, as I mentioned before, the building was chosen in the center of the city, "strategically," according to their website. However, it is hardly in the true center of town, but rather the center of the commercial district. Using Google Earth, you can see it very clearly.

The commercial district with the Kigali City Tower and its area clearly outlined.

The bigger picture: Kigali as a whole, with the tower on pin-pointed.

Kigali on the Internet

Kigali is portrayed as a beacon of hope and future prosperity in many websites online. While perusing all the websites, words like "economic center" and "future" keep on popping up. Though there is still wealth disparities and many problems in Kigali, from just googling Kigali online, I would not have guessed. The images on most websites and even on Google Images to be of the financial district, with large, high-rises and a few skyscrapers here and there. Kigali seems to be looking forward all the time, though with the amazing Kigali Genocide Memorial Center as one of the top hits, one cannot forget her bloody past. But nevertheless, Kigali has come very far over the past twenty years, something that astounds me every time I think about it.

A futuristic depiction of what Kigali hopes to be.

The first website I chose was an obvious one. It is the Kigali City website (http://www.kigalicity.gov.rw/). Here, you'll find news updates, basic and random facts, city profile, members of the government, and even job opportunities. Though it does not look as streamlined as most US city websites, it does function similarly to any other city website. In fact, it reminds me a little of www.boston.com. On the website, the city if portrayed in mostly a positive light in its history and description. There is a small blurb about the genocide, but only that there was one, giving absolutely no detail of it whatsoever. It discusses the future of Kigali and how it is quickly becoming the premier city in East Africa, if not the continent. There are news articles that are not always positive, but for the most part, they are. For example, some of the current headlines are "Masaka residents welcome road construction" and "Kigali starts public hygiene campaign in schools." It portrays the city as progressive and proactive, which is not much different from all the other websites. Kigali also seems to have an active sports culture, hosting an East African Local Authorities Sports and Culture games last year. The websites paints Kigali as a well-functioning, happening city.

The second website is a much different perspective, though still a very positive one. It is a website for expats in Kigali (http://www.livinginkigali.com/). This website makes Kigali seems like an irresistible, exciting and active place, all the time. They discuss the cafe scene; review the restaurants, bars, and clubs; provide a centralized list of volunteer opportunities, best places to shop; give tips on spending and money management; etc. It's a haven for expats, and it even makes me want to drop everything to live in Kigali. The homepage depicts people of all races interacting with each other. It truly makes Kigali looks like an amazing city.

The third website is something very very specific. It is blog of Kigali Restaurant Reviews (http://kigalirestaurantreviews.blogspot.com/). I chose this website because it depicts a very specific niche of Kigali, but it also provides a very personal take on it since it's a personal blog. Though it describes very little of the functionality of the city, it does show that Kigali has a lively restaurant scene, something that I would consider a luxury. Not only that, but to have a sustainable blog, it means that there are plenty of restaurants in Kigali to review and that there are new ones arising often. That gives a sense of a bustling city, and an entrepreneurial one.

The fourth website is another western perspective. It is the Lonely Planet website for Kigali (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/rwanda/kigali). I chose this website because this website perpetuates a lot of opinions about Kigali. If somebody chooses to travel to Kigali, the odds of them using a Lonely Planet guide is extremely high. This website gives some of the more practical things about Kigali, like how to get around, how to communicate with others, what cultural taboos are out there, and how to stay healthy and be safe, etc. Overall, it brings a certain reality to Kigali, stating that there is still crime in Kigali and one has to be cautious as you would traveling anywhere else. It describes Kigali as being a rather expensive country, relative to its neighbors. But yet again, it showcases a lively nightlife and suggests tons of activities to do.

The last website is another personal blog, but one of a Reuters reporter for Rwanda (http://kigaliwire.com/). Now I like this blog a lot because, once again, it gives a personal touch to Kigali, but also a somewhat more objective one, since it is from a reporter. But even more so than the words, I really appreciate the images. The images are beautiful, but not in the classic way. The blogger takes serious photos of real images, and shows them in a humanistic way. I really appreciate that touch. Additionally, he reports on stories he finds interesting, whether they show Kigali positively, or negatively. That is something few websites I found do.

10 Sources on Kigali and Rwanda

While researching Kigali and Rwanda, I noticed that articles and sources are dominated by the Rwandan Genocide. I found it fairly difficult to search for information about precolonial, colonial, and post-colonial Rwanda. It was very much dominated by the causes and history of the Rwandan Genocide, what happened during it, and the impact on it after the end of it. Thus, my sources are somewhat dominated by those topics. I did find a few sources on precolonial African, and in particular, Rwanda, that seemed very promising. I even found one really interesting article about the new Rwandan vision for the future. That is very pertinent to today because Rwanda is such a rising African superstar.


Below are 10 sources I found that seemed promising when studying Rwanda and Kigali.

Anyidoho, Henry Kwami. Guns over Kigali: The Rwandese Civil War--1994 : (a Personal Account). Accra: Woeli Pub. Services, 1997. Print.

De Lame, Dannielle. "(Im)possible Belgian Mourning for Rwanda." African Studies Review 48.2 (2005): 33-43. Web.

Des Forges, Alison. "Origins of Rwandan Genocide." Journal of African History 46.3 (2005): 550-51. Print.

Gondola, Didier. "The Land beyond the Mists: Essays on Identity and Authority in Precolonial Congo and Rwanda." Africa 81.3 (2011): 506-07. Print.

Kodesh, Neil. "A Decentered Vision of Precolonial East Central Africa." Journal of African History 52.1 (2011): 125-26. Print.

Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "Invisible Again: Rwanda and Representation after Genocide." African Arts 38.3 (2005): 36-39. Print.

Naftalin, Mark. "A New Rwanda?" World Today 67.7: 22-24. Print.

Newbury, D. "Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom." Journal of African History (2006): 145-47. Print.

Prunier, Gérard. The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. New York: Columbia UP, 1997. Print.

Zorbas, Eugenia. "'Keep Out of Our Affairs': How Kigali Manages Relations with Its Top Five Donors." International Studies Association (2007): 1-13. Print.

The History of Kigali

Kigali was originally part of the many ritual sites along the Nyaboarongo River, which included the Bumbogo, Buriza, and Banacyambwe. There, "cattle kings" lived and performed complex, magical rituals. Written word from the 16th century tells a story of King Kigeri Mukobanya, who conquered Buriza and Bumbogo. He was given Mount Kigali as his home by the King of Bugesera.

However, in 1885, the European superpowers congregated to carve out regions of Africa (known as the "Scramble for Africa"). Rwanda and Burundi were given to the Germans, though the Germans did not colonize Rwanda and Burundi as heavily compared to their European brethren. They had a form of indirect rule with a small European presence, which, given the other European countries, is rather unusual. To the Germans, Rwanda was known as a great breeding ground for cattle and even bees. Their soil was good for growing fruit and with the hills in the background, it was quite beautiful. In 1907, Germany set up their first European presence in Rwanda in Kigali where the Gakinjiro Market of the Cyahafi sector is today. In 1909, houses were built on where the Nyarugenge market while the military camp was built where the prison of Kigali is today. Finally, a small community lived where the field hospital complex of Kigali is today.

By World War 1, the Belgians declared victory over the Germans, thus inheriting Kigali. The Belgians did not like Kigali, and actually set up their administrative capital in Nyanza, where the traditional King of Rwanda lived. After the war, the League of Nations controlled Rwanda, but the Belgians were still operating it at the time. By that time, Kigali was the main administrative location for Rwanda. During this time, Kigali was actually rather small, and did not grow very much. But once it was selected as the capital of Rwanda after their independence in 1962 (because of its central location), the population exploded from roughly 6,000 people to over 150,000 by the 80s. It truly became the economic, cultural, and political center of the entire country.

The city population grew until the Rwandan Genocide, which began on April 6th, 1994. The genocide began with the ethnic tensions between the Tutsis and the Hutus. Approximately one million Tutsis and many Hutus were killed by the Hutu Militia, known as the interahamwe, and by members of the Rwandan army. A famous site is Mille Collines Hotel, which became a refugee site for many targeted citizens of Kigali. It was famously depicted in Hotel Rwanda (though that was filmed in South Africa).

After the genocide, the country did not reach its previous population again until 1999. Fortunately, the infrastructure was minimally damaged, so many of the buildings today pre-date the Rwandan genocide. Today, Kigali is one of the fastest growing economic cities in Africa. With their goals of becoming a middle-income country by 2020, Kigali has truly become a major site for investments. In addition, in the age of globalization, their close relations under the Clinton administration and up until today have truly improved their position in the global market.

Sources:

http://www.kigalicity.gov.rw/

An Introduction to Kigali

Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, established in 1962 along with Rwandan independence. It is the largest city with 965,398 (2009) residents. Geographically, it is quite hilly, surrounded by four major ridges and with a valley included. The major buildings, such as the financial district, is located on the ridges, while the poorer population lives in the valley. Roughly 70% of the city is considered "urban," with the city expanding slowly. Rwanda and Kigali are most known for their portrayals in movies like Hotel Rwanda (Rwandan Genocide). To many, Rwanda continues to be remembered for those reasons. Today though, Rwanda is developing at an incredible rate. They hope to be a middle-income country by 2020 and is considered an African country with stable governance. A famous site is Mille Collines, the hotel in which Paul Rusesabagina took in many refugees during the genocide. Kigali has many small water features running through it, which will be evident in the maps.

Above are screenshots of the different views in AfricaMap with the google function. In the following order, the first is hybrid, the second is the open street map, the third is the roadmap, the fourth is the satellite, and the last is the terrain. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. What I find particularly useful for Kigali is the terrain map because Kigali is so hilly. The hybrid, roadmap, and the open street map are great to visualize the infrastructure of Kigali and to see how the city was designed. Evidently, it's very non-gridded, and actually very French in style. They have many roundabouts it seems, which is a popular feature of the French.

Here are two very different example of Kigali. The first is the financial district. You can see the roads are much more gridded and wider. They're also very grey, indicating that the paving is much more recent and meant to last much longer. The buildings are larger and it definitely does not seem residential. Interestingly enough, there is quite a lot of green in the map, which makes me think that there is a culture of green design or beautification of the city. However, it's also very clear that that only happens in the wealthier areas of the city. Looking at the poorer region, you can see that it's much browner, and not gridded whatsoever. The buildings are smaller and much closer together, both indicating a residential area, but also a poorer area. But then, you can see that once you leave the neighborhood, there is a lot of space for agriculture, which lends me to believe agriculture is a large part of Kigali's economy.

Looking at the historic maps, you can see that Rwanda is not even recognized. It is also evident that the maps are not as accurate as the technology we have today. You can see that the water features are way off, and of course the borders aren't in existence.

I decided to show the malaria distribution of the entirety of Rwanda because otherwise, it would have been way too pixelated. One can see that Rwanda is not actually that malaria proved in comparison to many regions of Africa. The blue is lighter, and you can see in the southeast corner that it really gets worse. So the distribution of malaria is Rwanda is relatively calm in comparison.

Here is the city center on GoogleEarth. The center is closest to the financial district, and clearly closest to the area that they call "Place de la Constitution." It seems that Kigali has rather developed infrastructure. The roads seem to be paved well, and the roads are more gridded. There are many major roads that all lead to the center of Kigali. But I chose only some to point out that seemed perhaps a little more important than others, whether they seemed larger or their names sounded more important. Though you cannot see it, the Boulevard de l'OUA is a very long boulevard in Kigali.

So the five layers I chose were language family, Rwandan memorial sites, population distribution, religion, and WHO health centers. I chose the language family thinking there would be a lot of diversity, but there is actually none according to AfricaMap. I do not know how accurate that is, but like my previous post, I think language is much more of a gradient than strict boundaries. But according to AfricaMap, the language is Tutsi. 

The second is the Rwandan Memorial Sites. Obviously, there would be many since this layer is strictly Rwanda specific. The sites are concentrated in the city center, which once again makes sense. When it comes to tourism, you could expect most of the sites to be in an easily accessible area, and also in area that's wealthier so the country can attract more tourism.

The third is the population distribution. It is pretty clear that the density increases as you get into the center of the city. Though the map is quite pixelated, you can see the overall trend of an urban center. The city center is where the most concentrated, while as you leave the center, less and less people are concentrated.

The fourth layer is religion. Now this is where I was the most surprised. There are Christian, Muslim, and Ethnic religious centers. That I expected since I know those three are alive and well in Kigali. However, there was also a Hindu dot, which I was incredibly surprised about! After some research, I discovered that during Idi Amin's rule in Uganda, he forced out many Indians. Many of those Indians fled to Rwanda, and thus, Hinduism was established. I really had no idea and I find this an incredibly interesting example of modern day immigration.

Finally, the last layer I chose was the WHO health centers. I originally thought there would be a lot, but there apparently were only two. The first was to be expected, which is at the center of the School of Public Health. However, the other is in the Kamenjye Neighborhood. I'm curious why that is, and if that area is particularly afflicted with illnesses. I cannot find more information on this particular clinic.

Information on Kigali found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kigali