REFLECTIONS : Down with fortified flops!

Nyarutarama, that part of Kigali that has been dubbed akajagari k’abakire (disorderly housing estate of the rich), presents a sad spectacle of the effect of modernisation. Only a few years ago, it was a beautiful expanse of gently rolling hills that were covered in long grass, grass that seemed to dance and sing in the wind. The only problem was its inaccessibility, as the road to the golf course in its precincts offered a big headache in travel. In fact, it was just an impassable track that seemed to have been designed specifically to punish anything that left fumes in its wake. Today, every available space is a seat for an elegant, concrete building. Together, the buildings are sprouting by the minute, gobbling up every green plant. Where those houses are not sitting, in place of plants concrete walls are competing for height as they try to outdo one another in barricading homes against any possible intruder. A network of clean tarmac roads, lined with beautiful flowers and carefully tended trees, winds its way through these concrete barricades, but what you see beyond those flowers and trees are only those ugly, concrete obstructions. Beyond the barricades, you can hardly catch a glimpse of any of those elegant residences, let alone any surviving grass. My quarrel, of course, is not with the elegant buildings. My quarrel is with those walls that have turned Nyarutarama into a concrete jungle. Why do the residents of many areas in Kigali find it necessary to barricade themselves in impregnable fortresses? I’ve heard of a house that is so safe that it cannot be touched by any intruder or natural disaster. In fact, it is said that the house cannot even be bothered by the threat of a nuclear, much less a biological or chemical attack! Yet, it is not enclosed even in a plant hedge, nor does its gate bear a poster warning of “Fierce dog!” or threatening that trespassers will be eaten. It sits on an abundantly exposed promontory in solitary majesty and yet it is the safest residence in the world. The house, says Yahoo! News, was built in 2002 by someone called Corbi. Corbi’s stock-in-trade is designing “integrated systems with detection, deterrence, defensive and offensive options.” Equipped with all the deluxe creature comforts such as a lift, luxurious rooms, gourmet kitchen, office, wine cellar, a home theatre et al, the house is located high on a hill above Los Angeles in USA. In the unimaginable event that an intruder manages to breach the extensive exterior security measures, “which include comprehensive surveillance abilities,” it is said, “there are two hidden panic rooms and two architecturally invisible ‘safe cores’”. The safe cores consist of entire sections of the residence that “can be isolated from the rest of the home and where the home-owners can retreat in complete safety – not to mention luxury.” The outside threat will mean nothing whether it includes a natural disaster or a hardcore génocidaire armed with a nuclear bomb. Completely nil, even if the génocidaire were to enlist the support of a hurricane! So, tell me, good people of this spotlessly clean city, why don’t these tiny tycoons of Nyarutarama, and elsewhere around Kigali, build such mansions and give us some breathing air? Then we can see the meticulously manicured lawns and well-groomed trees not only on their compounds but also where these forbidding walls have been erected, and enjoy our truly fresh air. Of course, if you mentioned the price of the said residence, our miniature moguls would weep in shame, because the picking tab for that futuristic fortress is $7.25 million! To them, such sums of money are the kind that donor “partners” give to “fellow developing countries” as soft loans. In the final analysis, however, the whole brouhaha about safe residences is nothing but horse-feathers. During our youth, our “residences” cost our labour and nothing but. Because, what price can you put on just picking a few twigs, erecting them, tying them together and then covering them with grass and, voilà, a residence to beat all residences? And if you think I am only engaging in gobbledygook, just take a few hours and go see what the residences of Rwandan kings used to look like in Nyanza, some 70 km south of Kigali. Alternatively, you can go farther south to Butare and visit the museum, where you’ll be able to judge for yourself the kind of lifestyle they led. That’s when you’ll see the luxury they enjoyed while at the same time living in harmony with nature. We used to be at the mercy of beasts of prey but, what the heck, isn’t it the meaning of eco-balance? While we think we have the liberty to depend on plants and other animals, we should not deny the other animals the right to depend on us. And so it was that you’d be sleeping cosily in your grass house when a stealthy hyena sneaked in and picked you, sleeping mats and all! The rest was bon appétit to the hyena – and bye to you! ingina2@yahoo.co.uk