Election Day

Last Friday there were local elections held throughout Rwanda.  Mayors, Supervisors, Deputies, and the like were up for election and I am pleased to say that Rwanda is a country that takes the privilege of democratic voting seriously. 

Unfortunately for me because I was only half aware that there were elections at all, except for some rumblings on the VSO information mill that work may either be cancelled or delayed, I headed out to work at 6:50 a.m. as usual as I never could ascertain whether a lie in would be appropriate.  The morning was lovely and the first cool and foggy morning here with people quietly appearing out of the fog and disappearing again as they passed me on their way to town.  It was a welcome change in this usually hot, dry, and dusty place where it is often already 80 degrees by 7:00 a.m. 

As I walked to work I suspected the mill must have been onto something as there were fewer bike taxis ringing their bells, no students making a run for it, and less “action” in general.  Arriving at work I further suspected either a cancellation of work or a delay as other than one or two other employees standing around with hands on hips and doing a lot of looking around no one was about. Sending text messages to all the right people brought me no results so after waiting a decent forty minutes (fair-right?) I headed home. 

Walking home I noticed that a crowd was gathering at the local soccer field and I tried to find ways to stall and hang about to see if some event was about to take place. I bought an apple and some bananas at one of the little shops, tried to get some answers in broken Kinyarwanda, but basically was still unsure if work was on or off.  However, not wanting to miss an opportunity for a cozy morning of reading and tea at home (it was a mere 73 degrees) I quickly gave up and somewhat reluctantly headed back home, choosing tea over, “getting the scoop”.

Shortly after arriving home a text came in that the true and factual election day story was that government offices would be working on a delayed start to give people a chance to vote, and that my presence at work would be expected by 9:30.  All right, back it is, and after a quick tidy up of the tea and a sorrowful goodbye to the last sixteen pages of the book I was reading I began my walk back to work. 

In the mere 40 minutes that I had been home the quiet, foggy streets were still a bit foggy, but no longer quiet as a steady stream of adults were making their way into town.  It was like small rivers of people pouring in from the countryside.  Really.  It was sort of like so many Hollywood movies where the music swells and with purpose and good will the town’s people flock into help the hero or heroine save the day.  Rounding the corner to pass the soccer field it was much more obvious that indeed this was the place where the actual voting was taking place and not some other interesting occurrence.  People were lined up at various outdoor tables waiting to vote while laughing, talking, and generally having a good time on this election day.  I hesitantly walked down to take a few photos, but felt a bit self conscious and so only took a few shots from far away and did not capture the little rivers of people making their way to vote at the local soccer field or the many very, very old people making their way into town with some part of their family or perhaps a neighbor dressed to the nines and making a day of it.  It was really a splendid event to have witnessed and an affecting one, in fact, turn was reported to be at nearly 95%.  Impressive.