The Joys (??) of a Big House in Kigali

As we mentioned before, the house we are renting in Kigali is large, but wonderful!  It is easy to find (which means a lot in a city where there are no street names or addresses), has reliable water and electricity, and multiple rooms grouped into small suites of two bedrooms and a central bathroom.  Mimi and I have adopted one suite on the second floor, with a large bedroom and adjoining room we converted to an office, which leaves us with basically five free bedrooms and two hide-a-beds!  Even with this space, all beds were filled to capacity just last week with visiting doctors, an Anglican priest and his wife, and a drop-in hospital director.  Mimi was in her glory!  One wonderful feature of all of this is that the living spaces are varied and large - a large covered veranda on both floors, a large living room and dining room, and a family room on each floor as well. 

All of this comes with some downsides, which we have also been experiencing in spades these past weeks.  First of all, each door and many cabinets have a separate lock, which means that we are the proud custodians of at least 150 keys, all unlabeled!  A locked door means trying each key until one is found that opens the door.  So far, we have had about an 80% success rate in finding the proper key, which means that there are still some mysterious locked cabinets and rooms! 

Another feature of a large, old house in Kigali is that we are the custodians of 4 water heaters, 7 toilets, and very makeshift wiring, much of which was not working when we moved in.  So, over the past month, we have become very good friends with an affable plumber, who listens patiently to our tale of woe and is generally available within a few hours.  We have have at least 3 minor inundations from plumbing failures, and currently replaced one burst water heater, adjusted 3 more, repaired almost every toilet, and replaced a pressure regulator and shut-off valve in the outside water reservoir.  The sinks in one large bedroom are still waiting for major repairs.  In addition, we have a roofing contractor here for the 3rd time to try to deal with major leaks in 3 different bedrooms, and we keep a bucket and scoop available for each tropical innundation, which during this rainy season means almost every other day.  With all of this unexpected water on our floors, we have been very grateful that there are few carpets, and that the floors are all composite cement which simply needs to be mopped. 

However, in spite of this, we enjoy the flexibility and space, and the freedom to use the house for multiple guests and events.  Mimi has made the house into a cozy home, and we are loving it.  We were just informed that there is a new owner of the house, which apparently invalidates previous leases under Rwandan law, and so we are waiting to see what this development will bring.  We are learning to live a day at a time, just as the Rwandans do, and so we will continue to enjoy this house a day at a time.  Below are a few pictures to give you some visual impressions.

                                          Cal and Mimi in Kigali - January 2011

                                          Hundreds of Keys!

                                          One Half of the Veranda

                                          Upstairs Family Room (with John Pitzer relaxing)