Rwanda

My good friend Rob Pasick is going there to teach for a little bit, and I'm trying to get some handle on what I can tell him before he goes that's useful. His notes on the planned trip to Rwanda are here.

UPDATE 9/22/2006: Rob's wife Carino's Rwanda travel blog.

UPDATE 8/28/2006:

There's press coverage from the Detroit Free Press (UM's Davidson Institute Offers Hope to Ravaged Rwanda)

To that end, Kagame's government has signed a 5-year contract with the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan to provide leadership training to high-level ministers and department heads, plus help Rwanda create a Western-style collegiate business school in which Rwandan faculty can do most of the teaching.

and from Kigali's The New Times via allAfrica.com:

Ministers and Secretary Generals are to undergo training in a bid to build internal administration capacity and improve smooth management, the Minister of Public Service and Labour, has said.

Prof. Manasseh Nshuti told The New Times in an exclusive interview at his offices in Kacyiru on August 1, that the training to be conducted in September at RIAM (Rwandan Institute of Administration and Management), would equip the Ministers and Secretary Generals with the necessary management and governance skills. "Lack of training is a cancer that threatens the national fabric and hampers service delivery of countries," Nshuti observed.

He added: "We have decided to organise these trainings within the country because taking Ministers outside would be costly. All of us shall undergo training to improve on what we already have."

Anyone with direct information please let me know. Here's a few recent blog entries that I can see:

Installing Wireless Internet in Rwanda - from NextBillion.Net - on entrepreneur Greg Whyler's efforts to vitalize RwandaTel and invest in it through his Terracom communications company. He's bringing service to the country at $60/mo - much less than the previous operator, which charged thousands - but widespread access is expected to be limited by average annual incomes of as little as $200. There was a story in the Wall St Journal (sorry, no link).

Terracom has a Favorite Links page with Rwandan sites.

Business Daily is Rwanda's "pioneer online daily".

Rwanda-Link is Rwanda's "No. 1 Directory on the Internet".

Rwanda: Les aventures du Civiliste Guillaume is a weblog from an expat in Rwanda, in French. Links in that site's blogroll include Les Aventures de Ben et Ignace au Rwanda (in French), Rwandom (in French), Expat-Blog (directory of blogs by expats, in French, Spanish, and English), and Kirstivik (mostly photoblog, in Norwegian).

Butare Theological College (FTPB) is a Protestant seminary.

With student enrollment currently at eighty, the college has plans for continued expansion. It has recently constructed a large multipurpose building and is currently expanding its teacher housing. In additions to its program in theology, there are long-term plans to develop programs in education and development. Its most immediate needs are a greater number of permanent professors and a fund from which it can make regular purchases of books for its library. Since 1970 the Faculté has been the only Protestant seminary in the country, a beacon of unity and hope for all Rwandans.

Some reports on the cybercafe situation in Rwanda:

Details of local accomodations from the IP Symposium Kigali in 2003 (from the ITU): "a cybercafe will be made available for delegates". Lists local hotels.

The Rwanda Project at the University of Maryland.

Technorati Tags: africa, rwanda

Comments

[Eric]

Michigan State University is using its agricultural skills to help bring back the Rwandan coffee farms. More details about this wonderful program can be found at:

http://special.newsroom.msu.edu/rwandacoffee/

This website also has a link to purchase Rwandan coffee. I believe that Rwandan coffee may still be available at Beaners. I am currently brewing the stuff, and enjoying it. So, you can be a consumer, and help to rebuild Rwanda.

[Guillaume]

I'm the guy from rwanda.wordpress.com, working in Rwanda as a computer eng. for the Presbyterian Church. As you see, I know a few words of english as well ... if your friend need some infos, just ask her to contact me. Beware, I'm here only for 2 more months !
Good trip to Rwanda !