While Rwanda is much more developed than we expected, the driving style is what we call hectic. It is not as bad as Egypt, where it is some form of organized chaos, but it is still surprising we did not see any accidents. People walking and biking appear to not realize there is a shoulder to the road and instead cars pass by them dangerously close.
Sula, our driver, told us that it is cheaper for a company to hire people rather than trucks to move materials. They get paid more the farther they move the items. This was evident by the vast amount of bikes loaded to the max with potatoes, wood, and even bricks! Often these bikes were pushed by children.
Rwanda is a country full of hills. It’s actually referred to as the country of a thousand hills. When the workers load up their bikes with giant sacks of potatoes, they sometimes have to go downhill. They strap old pieces of tires to their feet for extra braking power. Sula does not like to be in front of them going downhill because they often cannot stop and run into vehicles.
Take a look below for our next post on our trip to Rwanda and Kenya.