This Global Home | Day 3: Rwanda
My name is Caroline. I grew up as a TCK (3 years in England, 8 in Ethiopia) which absolutely shaped my worldview and passions. I went from graduating high school in Ethiopia to college in Virginia convinced I could not live in American long-term, but time and friends and experience (aka the Lord’s hand at work!) made me realize it could maybe happen. I met and married Will, also a TCK, and after a few years as teachers in Orlando, Florida, we moved to Kigali, Rwanda, a year ago to teach at Kigali International Community School (KICS). (If you’re interested, you can read the long version of this whole story here.)I teach middle and high school English, and so you might not be surprised that I love words – both reading and writing them. I also love travel and exploring, and in particular exploring the places we live. Will and I are always all about finding fun cafes or the best places to eat, and if we have to do teacher work over the weekend, we’ll be doing it at a cute local coffee shop.Rwanda is a tiny country in the very middle of the continent that has overcome a horrendous history with so much resilience and grace. It is still developing, but things are growing and changing at an incredible rate, so it has a very “up and coming” feel. As a city, Kigali is much less frenetic and much cleaner (Rwanda banned plastic bags a few years ago!) than many other African cities I’ve spent time in. (I grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and after a few weeks of living in Kigali I realized one major difference: I hadn’t seen a single animal on the streets!) The whole country, including the city, is built on a series of hills. This means that almost everything has a really great view, and there are a lot of indoor/outdoor restaurants and coffee shops where you can enjoy it. We love living here!Connect with me: BlogInstagram
When we first arrived in Kigali a year ago, we went straight from the airport to our new house, which looked like this.
It took us several months, a lot of learning, and a
lot
of effort (pretty much nothing is a straightforward process and a simple errand can turn exhausting quickly), but we have slowly turned it into a place that feels much more like home. However, there are definitely still quirks!
The living and dining room was the first space that we really made an effort in first – having it painted, getting picture shelves made then hung, and hanging up the art pieces that make it feel like home. We’re hoping to be able to host a lot more this year!
When we arrived in this house, we found it had the biggest kitchen space-wise – but just the one tiny stretch of cabinets. We sent a picture of an Ikea island to a woodworker and he made this for us. Then a group of men carried it
by hand
about a kilometer to deliver it to us.
Our kitchen is definitely quirky. It floods every time there’s a big rain and the oven has no numbers on the dials – just a big flame picture and a little flame picture. We had a visiting friend bring an oven thermometer from the States so you at least know what temperature you’re dealing with, but essentially you don’t control the oven – the oven controls you.
This is quite a large house – two stories, three bedrooms! – for just the two of us. Upstairs, we have our room, a guest room and then a room that is practically empty except for my wardrobe and dresser. We call it my “dressing room.”
Confession: I took these pictures on a day that our house worker, Irene, came. She is very good at the tight hospital corners and tying up the mosquito net all fancy-like. She only comes two days a week, and I can 100% guarantee that things would
not
look the same on a day when she had not just cleaned!
We live in one of the most “neighborhood-y” neighborhoods in the city. The area is called “Vision 2020” and was built as a model neighborhood of sorts for Kigali as it grew. Even still, everyone still has their own gate and fences between homes – even though the houses are attached! We don’t have our own guard because there’s neighborhood security, so every time we come home in the car I have to jump out and be the gatekeeper. We live in the same neighborhood as our school, though, and we love being able to walk to work.
We jokingly refer to the drop down to our actual house as “our cliff.” Those red poles in the foreground in the last picture are so that our car does not roll down it into our house! It’s a quirky set-up, but bringing back the lights and a grill from the States this past summer has made our outdoor space much more enjoyable. I also had a corn hole set made for Will’s birthday (trying to explain
that
over WhatsApp to the carpenter was pretty hilarious – but apparently it is not the first corn hole set he’s made!).
All in all, we are happy to be making our home in Kigali, Rwanda. Even before we met each other, my husband and I both wanted to teach overseas, so it is crazy and beautiful (oftentimes emphasis on the crazy!) to be living this out. I hope you enjoyed seeing our home!
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