People who know me well know that I have a passion for Rwanda. It is said to be a beautiful country, full of fertile plains and hills. The people are said to be a remarkable people. The history of Rwanda is a history of great intrigue, sadness and violence. It certainly isn’t a comfortable read, yet there is something incredibly intriguing about the country, and there has, over the past couple of years, been a growth in the number of Third Sector organisations working in the country, which has been very good to see.
I myself have been looking at finding a way of doing some work in the country for some time. As a technically minded person, I have always seen my skills as a good avenue for finding work in the country. A few months ago (before Christmas) I sent a chance email to a bureaucrat in the Rwandan Government, having looked at their website (it’s not much to look at, is it?). This being Africa, there are plenty of them. Anyway, I waited a few weeks and heard nothing in return. This didn’t surprise me. I forgot about it.
Anyway, in mid-February I finally received a reply. Over an exchange of emails, I took them through Sassenach CMS, a content management system I have been working on for a while and am currently re-writing when I get a moment. Anyway, the upshot of it, after a little to- and fro- of emails, the government have officially invited me to join their Internet Infrastructure team, which is their way of talking about their government websites and incorporates their drive to make more information available to people in Rwanda through the Internet, which will, hopefully, revolutionise communication and education in Rwanda once technology and Internet are more widely available in the country (which is, admittedly, a large and expensive job). The contract is for one year initially, with an option of extending the contract for another year after that, subject to final confirmation of a visa. I will also have to learn Kinyarwanda, the official language of the country. There is also a French graphic designer and coder who has been recruited to help with this project, and who will also help with translation into French. We are both expecting to start this, and move out to Rwanda, by around late July / early August as long as everything goes smoothly.
There is more information about this exciting new project on the Rwandan Government website (English version).
You almost had me going there. Almost. :)
I forgot what day it was yesterday,i fell for LOADS of things in the papers,and this
It’s not funny if you dont admit to it :P
It did seem rather unlikely that you were about to move to Africa – but up until then I was hooked!