More from Kigali

Another guy who’s with us a lot is Dr. Herbert Gitsi. He is also a young guy. Probably in his late 20’s. He’s finished medical school but has not gone into residency training to specialize. (Unlike the U.S., it is easier to get into medical school, but harder to get into a residency program. Whereas for us, once you’ve gotten into medical school almost all doctors enter residency programs.) I call him Dr. Herbert. In general, they refer to doctors as Dr. So-and-so using their first name instead of their last. In fact, some the doctors even have told me things like, “Call me Dr. Patrick. You probably can’t say my last name anyway.” They’re usually right.

Dr. Herbert works as a coordinator for the various residency programs and is the main liaison between the UC Denver and NUR folks for getting things setup. He’s also really nice and very genuine. He lives in Kigali, but unfortunately his wife and 3-month-old child do not. He does not see them very often. Fortunately, they arrived on Sunday for a visit and will be moving to Kigali in the somewhat near future (August, I think.) While driving from pace to place, Fils and Dr. Herbert like to ask us about the U.S. or tell us about Rwanda. They both have a good deal of pride in their country, especially Fils.

We end up talking about funny things like the fact that most if not all streets in a city in the U.S. have names and are paved. That virtually all houses are numbered. and that the mail comes to your house. Sometimes these things seem like amazing ideas to them, because Rwanda has not had a public tax system until recently and thus did not receive the benefits of improved roads, schools, etc.

However, the current administration (led by President Paul Kagame) does large public campaigns about Rwandan investing their future. This includes things like education and also includes things like taxes. There are billboards that encourage people to pay their taxes and how they’ll receive better infrastructure. More on this next time....