mzungu - amafaranga!

I think I must have mentioned before that as a mzungu (foreigner) you get stared at a lot, and people usually ask you for 'amafaranga!' (money) - it's one of the things I struggle with most. and this weekend I finally turned the tables on that matter - and oh what joy!

so many things happened before and after this particular incident, but I won't go into details. on friday we set off direction akagera, the north, in two cars, fully loaded with anything and everything you need for a fun filled perfect weekend in the african wilderness. the spirit was high, the sun was shining, the weatherforecast amazing and both cars working. we left kigali early afternoon and were making good headway; stopped in kayonza to top up on fuel and then continued our journey along the shores of lake muhazi which was glistening in the sun, winding our way towards the northern part of the country from where we would enter the park and mission it up to the legendary mutumba hill, a.k.a. campsite no. 19 to set up home for the weekend. I was already daydreaming about a cold beer on the hill whilst watching the sunset over the lake, the full moon rising and the canopy of stars that I would enjoy, the fire-grilled brochettes and just the general peace and quiet which dominates akagera when my phone started ringing... 'do you mind turning back quickly, I've just totalled my car' - slam brakes on, screech tyres, take u-turn and bomb back up the road... heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, and yet, the mind surprisingly clear - it seems I am actually learning patience here after all!

I see vast amounts of people gathering round the sides of the road, I see a big bus by the side of the road and then I see the car of my friend lying on its side, on top of the ditch. I find a spot to park my car, get out and run over to the accident site, shit scared that my friend is stuck in his car. I knew he was lucid enough to call me, so at least he wasn't unconscious. but when he approaches me unscathed with not a scratch or a bruise on him I do send a little prayer upwards... I can deal with everything else.

the police is there, the car is loosing petrol, fast. we are worried that it might ignite and the car needed to be brought into an upright position as quickly as possible. but how do you lift a fully loaded samurai out of the ditch? I remembered that I had the towing cable, and so I suggested to the police that we try and at least put the car in an upright position. this was greeted with enthusiam; albeit not before a policeman marked the place where the car had lain with a banana. yes. a banana. you see, this is africa and resources are scarce and not every police officer carries chalk with him/her at all times, and when things have to happen fast, you have to be creative - and banana juice/gew leaves a temporary mark on the road until you can get your hands on a piece of chalk.

we pulled the car up and away from the road. it was a sorry sight to see brave and reliable annie that bruised and battered and broken. it made me sad. we lost a core family member. just like that. boom. on the other hand, apart from the total damage of the car, nothing bad happened. nobody got injured. and believe me, there were so many things that could've gone so wrong - it was really, really lucky!

anyway - the police then got on to measuring everything, taking notes, investigating the scene. in the meantime I pulled out one of the stools and sat down next to annie, chainsmoking and trying to get to grips with what had just ocurred. it's a bizarre situation. I held my phone in my hand and thought, now is the time where I'd have time to call people, let them know what happened. and although I wanted to talk to people, tell them, I felt incapable of doing so; wouldn't have known quite what to say, wasn't prepared for all the 'oh. my. god. are you ok?' exclamations. didn't want people to worry back home and most certainly didn't want half of kigali to get into their cars and rush out to where we were. instead I started manicuring my nails. because that's the kind of thing you do when your good friend's just had an accident and totalled his car - you need very simple, banal things to occupy your mind - the complicated stuff just overwhelms you.

we sat and waited, paced a bit, sat down again, drank warm water, I chainsmoked some more, then we'd exchange random comments; I think it was round about that point where I figured out that I would at least be able to get some good spare parts for my car. looking back I think, how could I? I guess you could call it optimism. at the wrong point in time.

eventually the police had finished with their measurments and handed over the documents to us; we were free to go home. we loaded urai with all the contents of annie - miraculously they fit! and still, people laugh about samurais... pfffff.
I sat in the car whilst my friend was finding a guy to look after annie until he could find a rescue truck to come pick her up; and of course I was being stared at by dozens of people. it makes me angry - there's nothing to see - someone's had an accident and hence two people are sitting by the side of the road, stunned, and waiting for the police - that's not really that special. anyway - I started to have had enough after a while and so I just looked at the nearest one and said: 'you have been staring at me for the last two hours, now, give me some amafaranga!' (usually it's the other way round and I am being asked to give money). to my great disbelief the boy sticks his hand in his pocket and pulls out a coin and drops it in my palm. *stunned* again... and within a fraction of a second all my anger and frustration just evaporated and I released some of the stress in a good, long and heartfelt laugh. that a rwandan would give a mzungu money... I'd have never thought that would happen! I gave him a mandazi in return and we all had a laugh together.