When i just reached-and i was always asked my experience about the place-i would always respond i love it-indeed i loved Canada every inch-then i would also add "the people are extremely friendly and helpful" to which whomever asked the question would respond with disbelief. At first i never recognized the facial expression but later when i had a conversation with one of the senior journalists at the newspaper i worked it made perfect sense.
The lady journalist told me quote, " i don't think we are kind, we are just very polite. If you asked me a question i will answer you back as briefly as i can. This is much different from lets say Americans who will want to learn from you, ask you more about your place and tell you about themselves. They are more outgoing and welcoming even if their attitudes is most times misinterpreted. Well as we Canadians, we only answer back. We never talk to people."
It is probably because of that that "Thank you" and am sorry" are the two most spoken words in Canada according to a Nigerian acquitance.
That weekend i met a Nigerian youth born and bred in New York and studying in University of Toronto, he told me that Canadians are polite as a people and as a country, they keep to themselves should there be a stranger in their midst who might need directions they will not 'talk to you if you don't ask for their assistance.
This was a reawakening and a revelation, the Canadians i had met so far were extremely helpful and resourceful people, in fact more helpful than my fellow Rwandans i met in Ottawa.
When i arrived in Ottawa i was received by a university, he offered me a winter coat, gloves and walked me around to get used to the winter.On the other hand fellow Rwandans i met and with whom i would share a house for four days never offered any help as you would offer to a new arrival from you home country. It was only Collin Habba who in one case offered to take me and Fred to Lunch at Carleton and give a few insights into Canadian life. So leaving strangers to their own devices is not an entirely Canadian exclusive after all.
Still in Ottawa i reunited with two old comrades in David Kawai and Gary Dimmorck from the Ottawa Citizen, with these two men we had a long catch up to and catch up did we at Hearts and Crown a down town bar in Ottawa.
When i arrived in Toronto, i was received by John, who by many aspects is one of the best guys to hang around with. He gave me a map, another winter coat and introduced me to Emily whose vast computer knowledge would be very helpful to me forever. I also had a chance to have a first real birthday celebration in Toronto and i still keep the balloons in my room.
Any stranger needs to know how to get by in a new place and it is very helpful to find some old friends in a huge city like Toronto, in my case it was John, Debra and Drew.
From this experience i now know how difficult it is for tourists that come to African cities-with the added misfortune of dealing with crafty and hustling business people on top of many false friends.
There are no may maps in our cities postal addresses are left only senior government and NGO people as well offices here the city maps are everywhere while everyone has a post office box from which they are normally contacted by banks, employers, taxi drivers-for easy directions. So even if you get lost, if you know your post address someone can easily direct you. Compare that to my two neighbourhoods in Kigali and Kampala. When am directing people to m house i always tell them to stop where there's a big movie theatre in the case of Kigali and a catholic church in case of Kampala-and am an established journalist.
In Canada, the identity of an individual is determined by his physical addresses and in most case date of birth well as where where i come from it is the tribe and religion, here it is very common to be asked to present your identity papers when you are entering a night club or bar and in one case a security agent of the bar identified one man as having drunk much and asked him not to buy any more beers, the order circulated to the counter as well.
Kind Canadians? polite or "we don't wan to be responsible for any fuck ups'
Saturday, 7 February 2009
African dinner
Africans, we love to take time for some reason, the sun which is an ever present feature in many African countries and the one that has been used over many generations for determining the time of the day messed up the whole concept of time-atleast of now as i write this.
I was iinvited by an old friend for a meal at his place, he said i would spendthe whole day at his house, so i never bothered to eat before i came. Hoping i'd be in time for lunch, i arrived at his house by 12pm. It is now 9.pm and i have not yet had as much as a crumb in my mouth.
Whoever has been to Africa takes up this leisurely approach and lazy attidude towards lunch. It is addictive this contempt for time, last Christams i was invited by a friend from the west to have lunch at her place, by 7pm we had not had food yet, and when it finally arrived i had already lost the appetite to eat.
So what happens with time in Africa?
Why do we not respect a life of schedules and directions.
It happened to me the other day, this this thing about not having addresses and postal boxes, while i tried to open a bank account with a Canadain bank, an official asked me my personal or any postal address at which they could communicate with me, there was none and...phone call i have to go
I was iinvited by an old friend for a meal at his place, he said i would spendthe whole day at his house, so i never bothered to eat before i came. Hoping i'd be in time for lunch, i arrived at his house by 12pm. It is now 9.pm and i have not yet had as much as a crumb in my mouth.
Whoever has been to Africa takes up this leisurely approach and lazy attidude towards lunch. It is addictive this contempt for time, last Christams i was invited by a friend from the west to have lunch at her place, by 7pm we had not had food yet, and when it finally arrived i had already lost the appetite to eat.
So what happens with time in Africa?
Why do we not respect a life of schedules and directions.
It happened to me the other day, this this thing about not having addresses and postal boxes, while i tried to open a bank account with a Canadain bank, an official asked me my personal or any postal address at which they could communicate with me, there was none and...phone call i have to go
Friday, 6 February 2009
Ottawa to Toronto
Allan-the man that set up the Rwanda Initiative dropped me off on top of booking the bus ticket and also 'hooking me up' with a number of journalism students at Carleton at the Greyhound station where we met a Rwandan Canadian lady working as the in charge of the tickets, we made introductions but not much information was exchanged. She got me a student ticket and the bus ride began to TORONTO. Fours and you see flat lands, great roads and like the drive from Bujumbura to Kigali where you stop off at Nyanza for refreshment, here you also stop at a roadside restaurant and indulge. I had a roast beef bugger, very cold but nice and worth the 3.5 dollars it cost, with a glass of milk.
In Toronto i was recieved by John Honderich-the guy responsible for funding the Initiative, he had(s) a smile and a large heart that man.
More than anything, John has modesty and humility like none i have known, he gave a whole floor to myself complete with internet connection.
John lives where Toronto is most happening, just a few blocks on Yonge street and he drives a mavelous Lexus car.
There are so many other attributes to this man but i will always remember that he drew for me the route on the city's public transport system and when i was talking to somebody else about the route, she told me that it was possible that John had not taken the Toronto's public city transport system in years, yet the map and directions that John gave were very helpful, also how he cooked well and even did laundry for me. My Toronto experience will always begin with this reception.
And the fact that John considering his status always-i lived in his house for four days-made it very easy to tell him straight what i thought.
On that sunday i went to my first superbowl party at Robin's party in a Condo, it was a typical sports party with all the great guys in presence which as we have in EAC was about beer, food-chilly-salad, beer, conversations and beer.
I was on the side of the Arizona Cardinals and everyone else on i forget the other team because i hated ity from then, we had some bets and jOHN won all them,i think the guy has watched many superbowls. In between however because it was my first American football match and i never any rules apart from knowing the team with more points i was dozing off.
In Toronto i was recieved by John Honderich-the guy responsible for funding the Initiative, he had(s) a smile and a large heart that man.
More than anything, John has modesty and humility like none i have known, he gave a whole floor to myself complete with internet connection.
John lives where Toronto is most happening, just a few blocks on Yonge street and he drives a mavelous Lexus car.
There are so many other attributes to this man but i will always remember that he drew for me the route on the city's public transport system and when i was talking to somebody else about the route, she told me that it was possible that John had not taken the Toronto's public city transport system in years, yet the map and directions that John gave were very helpful, also how he cooked well and even did laundry for me. My Toronto experience will always begin with this reception.
And the fact that John considering his status always-i lived in his house for four days-made it very easy to tell him straight what i thought.
On that sunday i went to my first superbowl party at Robin's party in a Condo, it was a typical sports party with all the great guys in presence which as we have in EAC was about beer, food-chilly-salad, beer, conversations and beer.
I was on the side of the Arizona Cardinals and everyone else on i forget the other team because i hated ity from then, we had some bets and jOHN won all them,i think the guy has watched many superbowls. In between however because it was my first American football match and i never any rules apart from knowing the team with more points i was dozing off.
George in TORONTO
Toronto Tamil community dismisses intimidation allegations
subhead
BY GEORGE KAGAME
David Pooalapilla an official with the Canadian Tamil Congress has called allegations of intimidation and extortion directed against the Sri Lankan community in Toronto as an abuse of Canadian values and insulting to the freedom of expression in the country.
In a telephone interview, Poolapilla who was responding to the allegations stated in a news conference called on Tuesday at the Marriot Residence Inn by the Sri Lankan United Association of Canada, SLUNA as fabrications. One Haska Rathnamalala a senior member of SLUNA alleged that the Tamils were a ‘large’ political group in Canada with widespread influence and was extorting money from the Sri Lankan community in Toronto. SLUNA also showed a video shot showing one man who had allegedly been ordered to close his shop.
Poolapilla said that everyone that participated in the pro Tamil peaceful demonstrations in Toronto last week was there on their own accord and “were not forced.” He added that for SLUNA to say that the demonstrators were coerced was “insulting the Canadian freedom of expression and values because there were over 140 different organizations involved including public corporations and we cannot force all those people.”
He also said that the video shots that SLUNA has showed were misplaced as they are supposed to be presented to police authorities instead of the media. “Canadian police is definetely among the best in the world and they would deal with such cases of intimidation instead of SLUNA. This is total fabrication against the LTTE (Tamil community in Toronto.” He was however very quick to disassociate his organization from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
subhead
BY GEORGE KAGAME
David Pooalapilla an official with the Canadian Tamil Congress has called allegations of intimidation and extortion directed against the Sri Lankan community in Toronto as an abuse of Canadian values and insulting to the freedom of expression in the country.
In a telephone interview, Poolapilla who was responding to the allegations stated in a news conference called on Tuesday at the Marriot Residence Inn by the Sri Lankan United Association of Canada, SLUNA as fabrications. One Haska Rathnamalala a senior member of SLUNA alleged that the Tamils were a ‘large’ political group in Canada with widespread influence and was extorting money from the Sri Lankan community in Toronto. SLUNA also showed a video shot showing one man who had allegedly been ordered to close his shop.
Poolapilla said that everyone that participated in the pro Tamil peaceful demonstrations in Toronto last week was there on their own accord and “were not forced.” He added that for SLUNA to say that the demonstrators were coerced was “insulting the Canadian freedom of expression and values because there were over 140 different organizations involved including public corporations and we cannot force all those people.”
He also said that the video shots that SLUNA has showed were misplaced as they are supposed to be presented to police authorities instead of the media. “Canadian police is definetely among the best in the world and they would deal with such cases of intimidation instead of SLUNA. This is total fabrication against the LTTE (Tamil community in Toronto.” He was however very quick to disassociate his organization from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
PROTEST: Thousands rally at Sri Lanka consulate
By JUSTIN SKINNER&
GEORGE KAGAME
Thousands of Tamil Canadians and supporters packed the street in front of the Sri Lankan consulate on St. Clair Avenue West Wednesday night to protest what they call a genocide of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.
The crowd gathered on Sri Lanka's Independence Day, 61 years after Sri Lanka was freed from British Imperial rule. Rather than celebrating the country's independence, however, the crowd braved the cold to take part in a candlelight vigil to call for an end to the war that has been taking place in Sri Lanka.
With chants erupting calling for justice and peace, the crowd took up a large swath of St. Clair AVe. and spilled up Yonge Street.
Neethan Shan of the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils said February 4 was, in fact, a sad day for the Tamil community despite their home country receiving its freedom.
"61 years ago, we were passed on from one oppressor to another," he said. "We were much better off under (British rule)."
Shan said Sri Lanka should be excluded from the United Nations and should not be allowed to have a consulate in Canada until it stopped killing Tamils. He discounted the Sri Lankan government's claims that the violence is a war being perpetrated by both sides.
"They may call it anything else, but what they have is nothing more than a war on Tamils," he said.
For many of those who took part in the vigil, the violence in Sri Lanka hits very close to home. Jeyam Krishna, who moved to Canada over 20 years ago, still has family in the war-torn country.
"My relatives are there and we don't hear any news about them," he noted, saying information trickling out of Sri Lanka is often supplied by the Sri Lankan government and filled with bias.
"So many innocent people are losing their lives in the war and I don't know how my relatives are doing," he said.
JP Jurarajah also has family in Sri Lanka and, like Krishna, he is unable to track down their whereabouts or learn of their welfare.
"There are no independent stories coming out of there, so we need to get some government pressure there so that we can know the real story," he said.
Speakers at the candlelight vigil spoke of the need for an end to war and called on the Canadian government to take action and do what it can to push Sri Lanka to end the killing.
James Clark of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War said his organization would not stop speaking out until the violence in Sri Lanka ended. He said the acts being perpetrated against Tamils were unconscionable, with hundreds being killed over the past few weeks.
"This is not justice and peace; this is terrorism and it has to stop now," he said.
He added that Canadians should all show their opposition to the actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan government.
"The issue of justice and peace for Tamils in Sri Lanka is not just an issue for the Tamil community, this is an issue for all Canadians who want peace and justice," he said.
The statements made at the protest ran counter to claims made by members of the Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA) at the Marriott Residence Inn on Tuesday. At that conference, members of SLUNA said the violence was the result of an ongoing war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"There's no genocide in Sri Lanka, just killings as a result of a war on both sides," said Sri Lankan-born peace activist Noor Nizam at that conference.
Sinhalese-Canadian student Shan Perrera concurred, saying that the LTTE was using propaganda to turn international sympathies against the Sri Lankan government.
"(LTTE) are the wealthiest and most ruthless terrorist organization in the world," he said.
- with files from George Kagame
GEORGE KAGAME
Thousands of Tamil Canadians and supporters packed the street in front of the Sri Lankan consulate on St. Clair Avenue West Wednesday night to protest what they call a genocide of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka.
The crowd gathered on Sri Lanka's Independence Day, 61 years after Sri Lanka was freed from British Imperial rule. Rather than celebrating the country's independence, however, the crowd braved the cold to take part in a candlelight vigil to call for an end to the war that has been taking place in Sri Lanka.
With chants erupting calling for justice and peace, the crowd took up a large swath of St. Clair AVe. and spilled up Yonge Street.
Neethan Shan of the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for the Relief of Tamils said February 4 was, in fact, a sad day for the Tamil community despite their home country receiving its freedom.
"61 years ago, we were passed on from one oppressor to another," he said. "We were much better off under (British rule)."
Shan said Sri Lanka should be excluded from the United Nations and should not be allowed to have a consulate in Canada until it stopped killing Tamils. He discounted the Sri Lankan government's claims that the violence is a war being perpetrated by both sides.
"They may call it anything else, but what they have is nothing more than a war on Tamils," he said.
For many of those who took part in the vigil, the violence in Sri Lanka hits very close to home. Jeyam Krishna, who moved to Canada over 20 years ago, still has family in the war-torn country.
"My relatives are there and we don't hear any news about them," he noted, saying information trickling out of Sri Lanka is often supplied by the Sri Lankan government and filled with bias.
"So many innocent people are losing their lives in the war and I don't know how my relatives are doing," he said.
JP Jurarajah also has family in Sri Lanka and, like Krishna, he is unable to track down their whereabouts or learn of their welfare.
"There are no independent stories coming out of there, so we need to get some government pressure there so that we can know the real story," he said.
Speakers at the candlelight vigil spoke of the need for an end to war and called on the Canadian government to take action and do what it can to push Sri Lanka to end the killing.
James Clark of the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War said his organization would not stop speaking out until the violence in Sri Lanka ended. He said the acts being perpetrated against Tamils were unconscionable, with hundreds being killed over the past few weeks.
"This is not justice and peace; this is terrorism and it has to stop now," he said.
He added that Canadians should all show their opposition to the actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan government.
"The issue of justice and peace for Tamils in Sri Lanka is not just an issue for the Tamil community, this is an issue for all Canadians who want peace and justice," he said.
The statements made at the protest ran counter to claims made by members of the Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA) at the Marriott Residence Inn on Tuesday. At that conference, members of SLUNA said the violence was the result of an ongoing war between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"There's no genocide in Sri Lanka, just killings as a result of a war on both sides," said Sri Lankan-born peace activist Noor Nizam at that conference.
Sinhalese-Canadian student Shan Perrera concurred, saying that the LTTE was using propaganda to turn international sympathies against the Sri Lankan government.
"(LTTE) are the wealthiest and most ruthless terrorist organization in the world," he said.
- with files from George Kagame
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Montreal to Ottawa
What are Black Canadians called? Or there's no such a thing.
Anyhow,i have decided to name them African Canadians, so an Afro Canadian suggests that we use or wait for a bus. Unfortunately we cannot find the stand of the bus. Montreal is suffering from what i now know is the winterstorm. Snow is falling in torrential ammounts, the wind is blowing and imagine there's rain too. We have tickets for a train and the time is fast approaching, our bags cannot fit into a normal cab and an Arab guy decides for us to rent his limousine, charge 50 dollars. There's no worry about being charged the wrong price, we board the bus to Montreal/.
That is about the only glitch i have so far from the change of Africa to the west. My only problem of the winter so far also.
Since then it has been a smooth ride. At the train station in Ottawa we were recieved by Prof Allan Thompson with his cute little black dog called, George i think and he drops us at what is known as the Rwandan embassy in Ottawa where COLLIN, Arthur and Ignatius stay. We were received with good tasting Canadian beer. The beer here is cheap, but only if drunk from home, in the bars its a complete rip off.
For all its features, Canadian culture promotes interaction among persons, for example a glass or bottle of beer would cost 6.5 Canadian dollars in a bar while 10 dollars will get you a 12 bottle pack to take home.
Today i made my debut at the TCN i don't have an assignment yet but yesterday i attended a news conference organized by the SLUNA, they are a Sri Lankan group that supports the governmment in its fight against the Tamil Tigers, so now from listening to the BBC about Tamil i now have some experience about that conflict too.
Anyhow,i have decided to name them African Canadians, so an Afro Canadian suggests that we use or wait for a bus. Unfortunately we cannot find the stand of the bus. Montreal is suffering from what i now know is the winterstorm. Snow is falling in torrential ammounts, the wind is blowing and imagine there's rain too. We have tickets for a train and the time is fast approaching, our bags cannot fit into a normal cab and an Arab guy decides for us to rent his limousine, charge 50 dollars. There's no worry about being charged the wrong price, we board the bus to Montreal/.
That is about the only glitch i have so far from the change of Africa to the west. My only problem of the winter so far also.
Since then it has been a smooth ride. At the train station in Ottawa we were recieved by Prof Allan Thompson with his cute little black dog called, George i think and he drops us at what is known as the Rwandan embassy in Ottawa where COLLIN, Arthur and Ignatius stay. We were received with good tasting Canadian beer. The beer here is cheap, but only if drunk from home, in the bars its a complete rip off.
For all its features, Canadian culture promotes interaction among persons, for example a glass or bottle of beer would cost 6.5 Canadian dollars in a bar while 10 dollars will get you a 12 bottle pack to take home.
Today i made my debut at the TCN i don't have an assignment yet but yesterday i attended a news conference organized by the SLUNA, they are a Sri Lankan group that supports the governmment in its fight against the Tamil Tigers, so now from listening to the BBC about Tamil i now have some experience about that conflict too.
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