Abdoul Kwizera is a 4th year Finance student at the Kigali Independent University (ULK). But apart from times like these, when he is sitting his final exams, he is better known by peers as a tour driver and guide, and actually spends more time taking tourists around the country than on the university campus.

Kwizera works with Action for the Promotion of Cultural and Humanitarian Tourism (ACHUT)–Rwanda, a small local NGO that arranges tour packages and itineraries with a humanitarian and cultural bias. Before, when it was still called STS Karisimbi, the company specialised in appropriate travel packages around East Africa. That is when Kwizera found himself a job as a tour driver in the company. At the time, it was situated in Musanze, where he met the manager in 2005. "I met him (the manager) and he told me he wanted to lease my tour car, and we’ve worked together since then.”

He was lucky that at the time of the opening, he already had good driving skills and knew something about motor vehicle mechanics, having been an apprentice at a friend’s garage in Kigali. This worked in his favour at his new job, but there were a few problems to worry about: the first was his little knowledge of English, a fact that ensured he could not be of help to tourists when out in the field.

Another problem was the new terrain to explore in the hills and valleys of Musanze, a part of the country he was not very familiar with, having grown up in Kigali.

When he eventually became familiar with the roads and features in the wild, he, ironically started feeling inadequate in his job. His biggest handicap now was his lack of good spoken English, a fact that made it hard for him to climb through the ranks. One day, he just decided that he would talk whatever little English and French he knew with the tourists he drove, until he improved. It is what he did, and three years down the road, in 2009, he was elevated to the position of a driver guide.

"I used to utilise the time when we were on the road driving to the parks to talk with the tourists. Apart from the tourist attractions which they come to see, tourists like to have a person who can tell them everything and answer all their questions about the country. They want to hear the local language, to enjoy the local food and local dances. Tourists appreciate when things are explained to them on site,” he adds.

Good job

Kwizera says he plans to keep his current job after he completes university in October. And he is all praises for it: "This is the job from which I generate money for my upkeep and school needs without overworking myself. It also favours my school schedule because my work usually starts in the morning and ends in the evening, from which I head straight to school. I revise and attend discussions on weekends when there are no clients to guide.”

Another thing the job has earned him is contacts and connections with tourists from around the worl, which has further helped him better his English and French.

"Through this job I have learnt something called Public Relations. This simply means the humility you must have when dealing with people, and how to handle strangers. I learnt that tourists generally have a good heart. Wherever I have gone with tourists, I have seen them trying to reach out to people who are disadvantaged.”

As a person who drives different tour groups frequently, many of Kwizera’s friends envy him for the perceived perks of the job that he enjoys. Tour guides like him often receive tips in the form of money or other valuables from tourists as a gesture of appreciation for a job well done. But while some tour guides have talked of having made a fortune from a really good tip, Kwizera’s luck is yet to come. "The size of the tip usually depends on the group you are driving, but on average you will get between Rwf15,000 and Rwf20.000. If your group is comprised of young people and students, don’t go expecting any tip though,” he cautions.”

"It’s possible to work and to study”, he says to fellow students who may need to take a leaf from his experience. "With the right attitude to work, any student can keep a part-time job on the side. The only problem is that many students look down upon such jobs as driving thinking that they are shameful.”