Usually at least once a week I eschew the comforts of vehicle or taxi-bus and walk home from CPR. At my age, the 7.5km takes an hour and twenty minutes. Over terrain that takes me down several hundred feet to the valley that separates Kimihurura from Gikondo, then back up to the top of the hill on the other side this isn't an easy amble.
Even so, my weekly exercise pales beside the efforts of some of the locals. The principal teacher at Kinamba school has a young child and walks two hours into school and home again each day. We met a lady recently when out visiting members of the congregation with our minister Julie. This lady walks into the church each Sunday. Her house is ten miles out of Kigali!
One of the compensations I have discovered along my route, just after I have started the climb up Gikondo hill is some company along the way. This little lad can only be about three years old and runs after me to reach up and take hold of my hand. He is quite happy walking along beside me (even at two feet six he hardly needs to trot) until I stop at the next corner and tell him to go home. Perhaps he thinks he is taking me to his home, or more likely, hoping that I will take him to mine!