Tuesday, February 15th, was the designated day for our venue committee to look at hotels and grill hotel managers to find the perfect venue for November’s International Interfaith Symposium in Rwanda. Six people, including myself, were prepared with a list of questions and eagle eyes to find a wonderful place that could accommodate 25+ Americans, serve our needs as a conference facility, dish up good food, and be reasonably priced.
What We Needed to Know
My list of questions included:
- What were the guest rooms like? Could they accommodate people sharing a room? And the bathrooms? What amenities were included, e.g. shampoo, soap, etc.? Were the rooms air-conditioned? Was breakfast included in the price? Was there wifi available in the guest rooms?
- What were the conference rooms like? Were they air-conditioned? Did they have the capacity to enable simultaneous translation? What equipment was available? What was included in the conference package? Would there be a charge for the meeting rooms if our attendees stayed at the hotel?
- Did the hotel have a pool? A health club? What services were available? For what fees?
- What were the hotel’s meals like, and what was the variety available?
- Did the hotel have a brochure? An on-line presence?
- Did the hotel offer transport to and from the airport as part of their amenities package?
- What would our price be for the cost of the rooms and meeting rooms?
Visiting – and Scrutinizing – the Hotels
We started with the Sportview Hotel because one of our committee members had attended a conference there and had been suitably impressed. Not so the rest of us. The biggest issues were that there was no elevator in a 4-story hotel and there was no air conditioning in the rooms. You may not think that a place could be hot in November, but unless there’s a pretty good cross breeze, Kigali can be stultifying at any time.
The next hotel was the Top Tower. Yes, a/c. Yes soaps and shampoos. Yes elevator. But the place wasn’t friendly and seemed to be overreaching despite their telling us that customer care is their priority.
We toured a total of four of the six on our list of hotels before we decided that the fourth hotel – the Lemigo Hotel – was exactly what we wanted and needed. In fact, the Belgian general manager (to whom I introduced myself) was stolen from another 4-star place in Kigali, the
Milles Colines, a famous hotel but not nearly as nice (and twice as expensive) as this one.
Several factors sealed the deal for me. First, it's owned by Rwandans, and is not a chain owned by an American or European conglomerate. Second, that manager switch thing. Third, The Lemigo not trying to be an American hotel, just a wonderful place with African touches everywhere. Fourth, the food (African, American and European) is outstanding
(a fact of which we made sure by having lunch there). Fifth, any place that offers cappuccino gets my bid. And fifth, the head accountant -- the person who negotiates the prices with groups -- is Zainabo's relative and she was one of the people on the committee! It's nice having someone in the business, whether one is in the States or in Africa.
The Lemigo has offered a very competitive rate for us and they’ve already e-mailed me their proposal. They have all the conference equipment we could ever need; the best symposium consulting firm has their office in this hotel; they bake their own breads and all of their food is organic; they have a pool, sauna, massage for $20 an hour, gym, and fresh squeezed juices.
The guest rooms have great showers, wonderful bedding, and loads of natural light. And have I mentioned the food? They have a special room in the hotel that has a pizza oven and a barbeque grill for parties. I’m salivating as I write this.
We didn’t need to see the other sites – the Intercontinental, the Milles Colines and the Novotel – to know that they couldn’t possibly offer us what the Lemigo Hotel does, or beat their price.
Buying Fabric
By 2:00, having finished that wonderful meal on the terrace of the hotel overlooking the pool, we felt we’d accomplished a huge job. But we’d planned to spend all day, and the afternoon was just beginning. No problem for Pauline! Her idea: let’s go buy fabric and have some clothes made!
Truthfully, fabric buying in Rwanda is one of my favorite things to do here. Walking into the fabric bazaars is like immersing yourself in a visual circus – stalls and stalls of stacks of cloth in every color and design you could possibly imagine, most of which come in bundles of
three pieces: one for the blouse, one for the skirt (most often a wrap), and one that doubles as a shawl or headpiece. Most of the best pieces of fabric have been printed in Cote d’Ivoire – the Ivory Coast – where the wax resist batik process has been handed down from generation to generation and whose practitioners are second to none.
Making choices between patterns isn’t really an issue because the fabric is very inexpensive. Depending on the pattern, where it’s made, and how many and how big the pieces are, you could spend as little as $3.00 up to about $18 for a bundle. Needless to say, being the textiles junkie that I am, I bought many different pieces. Just like I did last time. And the time before that.
Having Clothes Made
So what does one do with all of these pieces of fabric? Well, some of mine are still at home waiting to be turned into tablecloths and napkins, and quilts for my grandkids. But the majority of fabric purchased gets turned into African, or at least African-inspired, clothing. For example, I’d brought some cloth I’d bought earlier to a seamstress in the market the week before to have some shirts made for a friend. Sewing is one of the skills being taught to many women whose husbands were killed during the Genocide, and also to those whose husbands are still in prison. The conditions in which they ply their craft, as you might imagine, would be considered untenable in the United States or Europe – only foot-powered treadle machines are used because of little or no electricity; horribly crowded conditions with many machines going at once with only enough space between them to climb in to the bench; one old iron plugged into the only outlet, used on an unsheltered table by all the people sewing. Despite these circumstances, their work is outstanding.
During this particular afternoon, after we (over)bought more fabric, we went to a different seamstress and I was surprised to see the shop. The owner was a gentle giant of a man who dwarfed his machine, and his sewers were all men! This is pretty unusual in Rwanda, as more and more women are being trained to sew for a living. Pauline and I both got measured for the clothes he was to design and make, and, in turn, we told him what we wanted. For myself, I just wanted some simple tunic tops for summer in Kentucky ($8.00 each to make), with coordinating pants for a couple of them (an extra $5.00). And a two-piece “dressy” African outfit ($17.00). As I said to a friend, I’m not sure where I’ll wear that, but if I ever get an invitation to a Bar Mitzvah in Rwanda, I’ll be ready. Pauline asked for a couple of African two-piece skirt/top outfits. Oh, but he wasn’t sure he could have all of them made by the time we left. No problem – some of our Rwandan friends would be coming to the States in the next few months and could bring them along then.
By the way, he had them all finished, and finished beautifully, right on time! We’ve already decided that we’ll make a special trip to his shop after shopping for fabric with the Symposium participants in November – early enough to have the clothes ready for departure!!
Next:
The second – and most important – visit with the Twa.
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