is it just me or are there layers of insecurity?

everywhere i go, i meet people in rwanda who think that the country is very secure. there are no more night time raids in the hills. the economy is doing well. “i know longer fear to go home”. rwandans from all walks of life are joining in the chorus of security.

i was reminded earlier this evening of the complexities of the meaning of the word ’security’. in butare, where i live, there are rolling power blackouts. this is caused by a number of factors, the two bigs ones being lingering drought and regional politics. so i’ve rented a flat with a generator so i can continue my western existence, what i call my bubble. i retreat to my bubble every evening, having spent the day in the hills interviewing rwandans about their life before and after the 1994 genocide. the bubble broke when the generator ran out of fuel.

in broken kinyarwanda, some swahili and a bit of english, i asked my night guard to take a taxi-moto to the petrol station to grab 5 litres of lisansi (kinyarwanda - petrol). here is my first eye-opener. i have a guard, who i pay and take care of. his daughter is ill. i know about his difficulties, his problems. i know nothing of his joys or hopes.

i wouldn’t have a night guard in canada. i suppose his presence is a bit of a make-work project in that he is unarmed, and there is really nothing anyone could do if someone decided to break into the house. with curfews, and armed military patrols, there are not too many people walking around anyway. if i was to suffer a ’security breach’ (sorry, lingo from my former life with the United Nations!), it would likely be military men anyway. no one else can walk around with out raising an eyebrow.

second, my guard has a counterpart. the gardener. the gardener position is also a make-work project. the woman from whom i rent the house requires as part of the lease agreement that i keep emmanuel on staff. ‘ok, i say’. now emmanuel lives about 100kms from butare, in gikongoro. this means that he spends the whole week at home with me in butare. ok, well, i spend half of the week in kigali. emmanuel goes early on saturday morning and returns early monday, having spent the weekend with his wife and kids. so i have 2 men at home most of the time. if emmanuel was more economically secure, perhaps he could work closer to home….