Annual Review Meeting

March 2010

Bengt Ove Turesson, Olof Svensson and Martin Ohlson visited the department of mathematics at the National University of Rwanda (NUR). The goal with the visit was to join the review meeting for the ongoing SIDA/SAREC-funded project and also to meet and get to know the people working at NUR.

During the last week of March 2010 a small delegation, consisting of people from department of mathematics at Linköping university (LiU), visited the department of mathematics at the National University of Rwanda (NUR). The small delegation was Bengt Ove Turesson, Olof Svensson and me, Martin Ohlson. For all of us it was the first time in Rwanda and Africa. The goal with the visit was to join the review meeting for the ongoing SIDA/SAREC-funded project and also to meet and get to know the people working at NUR.

Since I had to go back to Sweden a couple of days before the others I had another flight schedule. I arrived to Kigali at noon, hence I had an extra afternoon to spend there. Dr. Froduald Minani picked me up at the airport and drove me to the hotel. Sky Hotel was a funny experience and we had to get used to the difference between the Swedish and African standard.

The afternoon in Kigali, I took a long walk in the town. It was a nice walk and I think I have more to explore there. In the evening Bengt Ove and Olof arrived and we had a dinner together and discussed the coming week.

The next day, in the morning, Dr. Froduald Minani picked us up and we drove to Butare (or Huye as the name of the town is nowadays).

All of us realized how hilly Rwanda is and how many different kinds of plantation there is, bananas, rice and so on.

We had a good car but nevertheless we got a flat tire. Just a couple kilometers before Butare we stopped to fix it. People gathered around the car. Some of them were very helpful and fixed it all, but even more of them were just there as visitors. The roads in Rwanda is not in the best condition but the road between Kigali and Butare (approximately 130 km) is surprisingly good if you compare to some roads in for example Kigali. The wheel was quickly replaced and we could continue our travel to Butare where the wheel was handed in for reparation at a gas station.

We arrived to our hotel, Hotel Credo. The hotel appeared to be much better than Sky Hotel in Kigali. Hotel Credo is located between "downtown" of Butare and NUR with walking distance to both.

NUR is a nice university located in the outskirt of Butare. The university consists of one big main building and several small buildings serving as separate office spaces. There is a library (which is also under development financed by the SIDA project) and the working environment seems to be really good. Indeed, a major problem is the band with for the internet connection. One subproject of the SIDA project is the ICT (Information and Communication Technology). It seems like the infrastructure for internet is good at the university area but the problem is the communication into Butare and also into Rwanda in general. This is an important topic which was discussed during the review meeting.

The review meeting for the SIDA project took place in a conference room located in the main building. From the beginning the meeting was planned for two days but the participants decided to shorten the meeting to one day. At the meeting every subproject (ten different, for example applied mathematics, education, environment, library, medicine or peace and conflict) had a plenary presentation followed by a discussion and questions most from Robert Nygård, the one in charge from SIDA. The meeting was interesting and some new ideas came up from the discussions. Since we stayed at the same hotel as Robert we had a lot of interesting discussion with him before and after after the review meeting. I think both he and we learned much from that and we hope our cooperation with SIDA will be wider in the future.

The objective of the SIDA project is to train the staff at NUR to Masters and eventually PhD level. Staff from LiU and the department of mathematics have been involved in the master program and have taught several courses at NUR. During the fall and the spring staff from LiU also have been supervising master students in their master thesis work. All three of us had ongoing works and did supervision. The department of mathematics at NUR has a nice lecture room with new computers. Some things (like the whiteboard and lighting) can be replaced but overall it is a good room. The day after I left Butare, Joseph Nzabanita (supervised by Magnus Herberthson and Bengt Ove) presented and defended his thesis. Joseph and Japhet Niyobuhungiro will now start their PhD studies in Linköping.

During our week in Butare we also had the time to visit the National Museum of Rwanda (located in Butare). This is a nice museum and accordingly to the guide book this is on of the best museum in east African history and culture. The museum is well worth a visit.

My flight back to Sweden was a night flight so I had to spend the last night in Kigali. I am very happy about it because I had now the opportunity to visit Marcel Ndengo and his family. Marcel was back home for a short visit and had the same flight schedule as me. The dinner they invited me to in their home was the best food I had in Rwanda. This was my first visit in Africa and Rwanda but definitely not the last one.

Martin Ohlson, Department of mathematics, LiU