Balance, Boy Bands, the BBC and Ben

There does not seem to be a word for “affirmative action” in Kinyarwanda. The word “gender balance” is used to describe everything from the quota systems in government to the policy of accepting girls into secondary school with lower marks. I have heard “Gender Balance Values” referred to as GBV. Despite the efforts at “gender balance” on the part of the government and many educators, many of the family representatives in the weekly debate made the following points: It is not good to empower women because they need to take care of their home and children; It is not good to empower women because they need to wash the baby and if they are empowered they will work all day; women should not be empowered because when they move to the city they do not have the same capacity as the men have to do work; there is no point in empowering women because they can get into secondary school with lower marks anyway; and, finally, women should not be empowered through the ability to get into secondary school with lower marks because it is not fair. These remarks were all made by different students, both male and female. One girl said that the affirmative action for acceptance in to secondary school was not necessary – girls were capable of getting in without extra help, and the fact that they could get in with lower marks only made women seem less capable than they were. This was a fine argument, at least compared to the other ones. The girl immediately after her responded that, if girls could not get in with lower marks, many girls may not bother studying in primary school.

The councilor, eager to persuade the students to accept that women are equally as capable as men, pointed out that the president of Liberia was a woman and so was Condoleezza Rice. The former had lots of children, the councilor pointed out.

Speaking of children: I have heard many Rwandans and Ugandans complain that “we never really have disposable income” because the moment they get a stable salary that more than covers their basic living expenses, they must support siblings, nieces and nephews and other relatives – pay for their school fees, paper and pencils and books for school, and even basic living expenses.

The other day, I was speaking with some staff members. One told me why he decided to have only one child: “After calculating our total expenses and the expenses that we would invest in our future children, we found out that, in order to have two children, we would need to be making twice our current income just to survive and pay for basic school fees. This is without having a cell phone.” He raised his cell phone up.

A girl I met on the road gave me her cell phone number – which she insisted I dial immediately so she could have mine and, as is standard, call me and hang-up dozens of times until I call her. Anyway, when I did try calling, the number was disconnected. Apparently, the cell phone is shared by the family, and different family members have their own SIM card. I asked a boy on one of my walks if his family had a cell phone. “No” he answered, “we don’t have a phone, we have a radio.” Families often choose between a cell phone and a radio, because they cannot afford both. Just like young men walk around with radios blaring, many who have radios on their cell phones will put the cell-phone radio on out-loud. But – and excuse me for my cultural imperialism – I am so happy that the norm of listening to music on headphones is becoming more popular as people buy more and more cell phones which, thank the Lord, come with ear-buds. Because, though Rwandan music is very good, not all Rwandan music is very good, and not all radios are static-free. Though, sometimes, the loud radio idea is cute – one family, seeing that I was passing, switched to the English BBC channel as they were laughing and waving to me, sitting around their out-door smooth sandy patio, listening to the radio as a family. There are two girls, both very polite and adorable, who, on their way home from school, come skipping up to me in their bright-blue uniforms every time I pass a particular house. They point to my headphones and ask to listen. So I crouch down and put the headphones on each girl, they listen, give me a thumbs up, and then continue on their way.

I am still waiting for mp3’s to catch on – they will, they must. You can transfer songs from one cell phone to the next, so surely everyone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone (who knows someone?) with enough internet access to download some songs. I know, most cell phones can’t play mp3’s, but mp3 players can be as cheap at a few dollars so surely more cell phones will provide mp3 players.

There is something exciting, though, about the radios as a collective little theater that everyone can experience together. I just learned – after way to long – that one of my roommates plays the character on a Kinyarwanda radio drama on the BBC. She is somewhat of a celebrity which, considering how together and smart she looks all the time, does not surprise me.

A lot of music sounds way to much like N’sync, which also means everyone, regardless of your knowledge of Kinyarwanda and regardless of how much you like boy bands, finds themselves annoyingly humming the songs in the shower. One singer, Tom Close, chose his name because it sounded like Tom Cruise – “r” and “l” are often interchangeable and confused in Kinyarwanda, so someone that says Tom Close might, indeed, be confused for Tom Cruise. At least I think that's why he chose the name. Maybe his critics told me that as a joke. Of course, those who see themselves as more mature and sophisticated don’t listen to the lovey-dovey high-pitched, techno fun. They listen to, among others, Ben Rutabana, who sings about politics and, unlike Tom Close, needs to live in Belgium. “He has a lot of problems with politicians” I was told by one fan. At least, I was told he lives in Belgium.…or somewhere. I can’t find any information on him on the internet from after 2000, only his music and music videos on youtube.

About youtube and other sites where non-computer people can do lots of things: I am teaching one student how to upload videos and build a website. He is in the computer combination and knows all about programming, but has never learned how to upload a video on youtube or built a simple website. This does not particularly surprise me – computer sciences these days seem to be very theoretical. He hopes to be an artist someday, so maybe putting some works up online can be a start.