Dear Editor,

I am not a complainer but it would be distasteful to go back home without mentioning some of the things I just found too unpleasant to let pass during my stay in Rwanda.

I was dismayed by the Rwandan habit of speaking their local language in the presence of foreigners. This is very disrespectful and I would wish that it did not happen as much as it did.

I have no problem with the language but it’s the context to which it is spoken that I now question. I was appalled by the fact that many shops and travel agents employ attendants who can barely speak any foreign language.

If their target is foreigners, then their losses must be huge. Motorbikes dominate the transport industry in this country and the fact that this people’s language of communication is Kinyarwanda, is very inconveniencing.

I suggest that if Kigali is to grow as we all hope it should, then there is need to embrace the rest of the world and try to accommodate as many foreigners as we can.

This won’t happen if we remain in our cocoon that is the local language. Learn English and Swahili. These are East African languages.

Concerned Kenyan in Kigali