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On Unhealthy Work Environments
When I get asked these days at dinners or parties what I do, I laugh nervously and respond that I recently quit my job and am looking for something else. I get nervous because my interlocutor usually continues by asking why I left or what I am looking for in my next job – and…
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On Being a Professional Troublemaker
I have often been told that I am too direct – and how many people have I turned off by that. At work, I didn’t get promoted, at home I was the black sheep creating problems, and boyfriends broke up with me because I challenged them to become better. But I recently realized that what…
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Lonely beaches, local kings, and unexpected delicacies – On the Bissagos Islands in Guinea Bissau
When we left the tiny airport, the first thing that caught my eye was the metallic blue and white taxis. Despite being an older Mercedes model, most were in reasonably good shape – at least compared to the crappy old taxis in Dakar, where doors or windows often don’t work, and the interior is falling…
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Calming Places
These days, whenever I feel anxious about the current state of the world, I remind myself of my last visit to Japan in December last year, fifteen years after I did an exchange year with a host family and eleven years since I went back for an exchange semester. I hope this text encourages you…
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Eyewitness Account of an Unlawful Police Operation
The following is an account of a police operation I encountered in Nairobi. I apologize to my friends, who rightfully denounce my negative perspective in this narration. I do not want to encourage stereotypes and I have had plenty of positive experiences in Kenya. Unfortunately, this one strongly influenced me, so I have to write…
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Life in Kenya vs Rwanda
It’s the season of Kumbe Kumbe – when it starts raining, the flying termites are coming out of their mound and fill the streets like moths. With their disproportionally large wings, their contact surface for raindrops is too high, and I can see them tumbling and finally drowning in the gush of water rushing down…
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Recap of Rwanda
I am sitting at the tiny Kigali International Airport and recapping my time in Rwanda – the last two months have flown by while engaging in volunteering activities, organising events, and doing weekend trips. Even though my time was so short, I will surely miss the country and its people. Across Africa Rwandese are known…
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First impressions
It has been three weeks since I arrived at Kigali’s tiny international airport and first set my foot on African soil. Even though expats living here are telling me how much of an easy start into Africa Rwanda is, I have found myself amazed and sometimes also overwhelmed by how different it is from other…
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Setting the scene
What do you know about Rwanda? Most of my friends told me that they have heard about its genocide and could roughly point it out on a map – but did you know that Rwanda is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa, that it has the world’s highest representation of women in parliament, and…
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Maria Knodt 