Western Province

With uniform helmets, yellow coats and in well-defined lines, motorcyclists will rush to ask anyone who is bypassing their queue whether they should offer any services.

The Kibuye roundabout is always filled with great noise as these motorcyclists tend to convince customers to hire their bikes.

"Ndagukaturira dada,” they say, which means ‘I can reduce on the price sister,’ is the most heard phrase for they believe most of their customers are ladies who can’t risk trekking these hilly areas. 

Compared to other cyclists in Rwanda, the ones in Kibuye earn large amounts of money, simply because the topography and landscape is so demanding.

In the case of job preference, most Kibuye residents regardless of their academics and experience end up becoming motorcyclists.

"One year after campus at Butare I became a motorcyclist for it was the only way to earn a lot compared to my office job, where I was earning Frw150,000” says Fauste Gatare.

Not only are motorists rich, they are also cheap. It is not uncommon to be unable to reduce fare even as low as Frw100.

"I always pray hard that I get the very same cyclist to take me to Nyeigabo for the place is so steep,” Eugene Musoni says.

Musoni is a daily client who goes to Nyeigabo primary school to teach.

Though some places are just a call away, no one dares footing to them just because of the hills.

"Hills alone can’t be a decent description, perhaps ‘peaks’ can work,” commented Robert Agaba also a voluntary worker in Nyeigabo.

While special hire vehicles, taxis and motorcycles are used to charging money in relation to the distance, in Kibuye it depends often on the altitude of the place.

The Bethany Hotel, two miles away from town, costs Frw300 to drive to.

Kanyabusaji, not even a mile away, is Frw1000.

"On a good day I make Frw15,000 and that’s when I haven’t gotten many clients to very hilly areas like Karongi,” says Dady Mbungira.

Through his job, he has managed to place an outstanding saloon in Kibuye. 

Not only he but even others are well-off and very proud of their work.

"I pay my three children’s school fees on time  and they are students at Home Catholic, a private school,” he says. 

Not only is it difficult to drive on motorbikes to higher places, but it can be dangerous at times as well.

Stones that characterize most of the roads put bikes at risk and need servicing every now and then.

During the rainy season some areas get too slippery.

"With the sharp turns and corners, I would rather starve than work in the rainy season,” says Dady.

Motorcyclists tell different stories of how they have survived death during the rainy season, especially at the bridges when they almost collide with loaded buses from Cyangugu
But still, money, like, and of course work, go on.

"We can stand all the hardships because the profit is tangible and outweighs the losses.,” says Dady. "Thanks to the hills and stones.”

Ends