Nicholas Aster's Blogs
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KivuWatt: Powering Rwanda and Averting Disaster
One of the more vivid memories of my childhood was hearing about the 1985 disaster at Lake Nyos in Cameroon. In case you forgot, Lake Nyos was naturally super-saturated with dissolved carbon dioxide and other gasses. When disturbed by an earthquake, the lake literally “fizzed” out millions of tons of CO2 like the opening of a soda can. Being heavier than air, the CO2 spilled over the lake’s banks and down a valley suffocating over 1700 people and countless animals over the course of an hour or two. Anything that wasn’t a plant died.Do you smell gas? The KivuWatt Methane extraction platform off the shore of Gisenyi, Rwanda in Lake KivuIt turns out there are two other lakes in the world which have smiler saturations of gas and therefore share the potential for this kind of disaster. One is another minor lake in Cameroon...
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Remaking a Sustainable Rwanda: Photo Essay
I’ve collected some of the most interesting moments in my recent trip to Rwanda in a photo essay. Some of these 68 photos are simply atmospheric ways to give you a glimpse of the country, some are stories unto themselves. Some are connected to things I’ve recently written or will follow up on soon. Sit back and enjoy the following to start your week: Nicholas Aster traveled to Rwanda on an IRP Gatekeeper Editors trip. Follow his Rwanda posts on TriplePundit.com.
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A Brief Look at Rwandan Coffee’s Empowerment Potential
Rwanda Trading Company's sign in Kigali.In most coffee-producing countries, you’re hard pressed to find anything better than Sanka at a restaurant or hotel. Ironically enough, the good stuff all gets exported. Rwanda has made it a point to eliminate this stereotype by serving excellent local coffee at any opportunity and promoting Rwandan coffee through official and private means. James Dargen is director of procurement and sales for Rwanda Trading Company, a year (or so) old coffee producer in Kigali who are now responsible for more than 15 percent of the country’s coffee exports. The company came into existence by buying out a failing state-owned export firm and rebuilding it into what has become a fast growing ambassador for Rwandan beans. James sat down with us last week to talk a little bit about how coffee is improving lives beyond just waking up in...
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Engaging Community in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park
Sabyinyo group's beta silverback sneaks outside the park for lunch.Yesterday morning I spent about an hour with Rwanda’s most famous denizens, the mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park. It was a surreal experience that’s hard to put into words. But what was almost as interesting is the interplay between the conservation needs of the park and the needs of Rwanda’s far more numerous species: homo sapiens. It’s a classic balancing act between the economic needs of the people and the need for large scale conservation in general. Rwanda’s population of 11 million is growing at an alarming rate. Even in this relatively remote corner of the country, there are people everywhere. Crowds of children line the road waving and smiling, and people, homes and intensely cultivated fields are seen in all directions. It feels more like a constant small town...
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Rwanda: A Sustainable Singapore of Africa?
On Kigali's clean streets, helmets are mandatory.I’ve been in Rwanda for scarcely 24 hours and an astonishing array of contrasting stories and experience has already unfolded. Upon arrival, I was immediately struck by the compete lack of third-world stereotypes I’d been prepared for. Stray dogs, trash, begging children, clogged streets, aggressive vendors and potholes are nowhere to be found. Instead, an orderly and clean city has unfolded in front of me. Folks seem busy doing business and the place is crawling with foreign investment. Construction activity and signage announcing the presence of pretty much every NGO in the world is everywhere you look. Indeed, Rwanda’s successful transition from the worst place on earth to Africa’s crown jewel of stability and economic growth in less than 20 years seems vivid and real. But as my newfound colleague Andrew Meldrum writes, there is a �...
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Rwanda Bound, Departing for IRP Reporting Trip
I’m excited to be departing for Kigali, Rwanda, today along with 11 writers and journalists as part of the two-week long International Reporting Project’s Gatekeeper Editor Trip for Fall 2011. It goes without saying that this will likely be one of the most interesting trips anyone from the 3p team has attended and I’m extremely honored to participate. Our group will be meeting with a host of organizations, academics and politicians to discuss many aspects of the post-genocide reconstruction of Rwanda, and development in general. Although the trip will cover a variety of topics, I’ll be delving into such areas as sustainable development, micro-enterprise, eco-tourism, and coffee. I’ll be doing my best to write a dispatch as close to daily as possible, and welcome your questions and feedback! Nicholas Aster, the founder and publisher of TriplePundit.com,...
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