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Derk: On Assignment to Rwanda

Rwanda Traffic Jam

There’s an important international component to our work here at Commuter Outrage - comparing America’s crumbling infrastructure with others around the world, especially third world hellholes, to see how we measure up.

To this end, we’ve sent Lewis Derkins on special assignment to Rwanda, Africa. No joke - the lunatic is on the plane this very second.

Rwanda is most famous for the Death by Machete of 800,000 of its citizens over a decade ago. While the rest of the world sat and watched, roving gangs of Hutu (majority tribe) murderers scoured the “Land of a Thousand Hills,” hacking to death any Tutsis (minority tribe) they could find.

Since then, Rwanda’s population has bounced back - doubling to 10.1 million - the densest in Africa. Still, the country hasn’t invested much in its infrastructure. Of the roughly 12,000 km of roads, only 8% are paved. There’s no highways, mass transit, or anything else. No bike lanes either, although it’s very walkable.

Derk will spend most of his time in Kigali and the surrounding areas, examining Rwanda’s transportation, energy, and environmental state of affairs, as well as its political, social, and economic climate. He’s promised to jot down all knee-jerk reactions, and provide a full analysis.

If he makes it back alive, expect a long-winded rant next week.