Grand plans for a new permanent market are under way in Rubona Center. Most of the welding for the metal door frames and windows is being done right outside of Dativa's milk shop - the milk shop that used to be the best location, being the first shop one passes when entering the center from the direction of Agahozo Shalom and Ntunga, the closest sector with a paved road. The welding makes a loud noise and looking at welding is like Superman looking at Kryptonite or, well, human beings looking at the sun. Welders in Rwanda wear only sunglasses. "Does Davita, the owner, mind?" I asked another customer. "They asked her if she minded," I was assured, "and she said it was fine." They have now moved on to weld in a different location, and in their place are long tree trunks with workers hitting the tree trunks really hard with the back of shovels until the bark comes off. At first I involuntarily mentally scoffed, "That has got to be the most inefficient way to take off bark." But the hitting really hard does seem to remove large chunks at once.
After the workers have gone home I have seen small children hitting the trees hard as well, taking the bark off. I am not sure why they are doing this - if it is just playing-professional-bark-remover or because they want to bring the bark home to burn. 
So the long tree trunks are slowly being transformed into long beams, either to hold up
the new market building or perhaps to add new electricity wires - they are the same types of beams I have seen for this purpose in other locations.
There are permanent markets being built all over Rwanda - in Ntunga near by, in Gisenyi, and on the way to Gisenyi. Some seem to be actual buildings, but others are dozens of rows of permanent concrete blocks which serve as tables outside, underneath a metal roof held up by beams. On the right is a photograph taken by another blog called Off to Rwanda Again.
The completed permanent markets have a distinct classiness. Rather than items layed out in small bunches on plastic sheets, the fruits and veggies on the permanent blocks are stacked in nice parallel pyramids, cost more, are more varied, and are are of better quality - or seem to be of better quality because of the nice parallel pyramid stacking. I imagine this is because the permanent markets I have seen are found in cities, closer to wealthier shoppers. Time will tell if rural permanent markets will offer similarly tasteful (in both senses) displays.
A few months ago, while sitting in a milk shop right outside the open market that is around every Tuesday and Friday, a woman was sitting with stacks of coins and bills on the table, while two young men, perhaps in their early 20s, stood next to her, arguing with her. They were pointing to a paper with dozens of names written on a neat hand-drawn table on a pad of paper, with numbers next to each name. She was giving them some money and they were arguing or negotiating about something related to this money. She looked very boss-like, had serious looking glasses in a rural area where almost nobody wears glasses, and she wore a bright cloth turban that makes some woman look distinct and important. I desperately wanted to know Kinyarwanda at that moment. I only understood the numbers, the word "Faranga" for money, and the many different forms of "go" and "come" and "here" which are sprinkled throughout all conversations but which don't help me because I can't understand the grammar well enough to make sense out of these building blocks of language. They eventually sighed and left the woman, who rolled her eyes at the shop keeper and began complaining about the two who had just left. The feeling in the air and the tones in everyone's voices were one of heated business negotiating, and was distinct from other conversations I have listened to; but it went well with the building of a new market.
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