JB at the Bank of Kigali

Rwandan ATM’s do not take foreign visa cards. Thus spending cash for the year plan was thwarted early on. So, Tuesday our field director Kelly Jo took the whole group to the bank to open accounts.

This is not as easy as you might think. There are many steps involved

1.  Wait in line for 20 minutes to exchange money so you have Rwandan Francs.

2. Sit down and wait for 30 minutes to speak with a bank representative. Get bank booklet and account number.

4. Go back to line and wait for a teller again to deposit money.

5. Come back 2 or 7 days letter to get checkbook. You will wait 3 months before you are eligible for an atm card (but you probably wont get it). to access your cash, you must write yourself a check and cash it.

Except… I decided to prolong the process and my experience went horribly awry. I had successfully completed steps 1-4 when I decided to listen to my new friend Mitesh. He is a former private equity guy from BofA and insisted the exchange rate at the forex bureaus was far superior to the banks. So after the bank, we went to forex and I exchanged all my spending money for the year. She handed me 80 bills!! (the highest denomination is RWF is 5000). So, with Mitesh as my bodyguard (A word on women-we walked back to the bank my sack full of money burning a hole in bag. I was sure everyone could see right through my bag  and right at the pile of cash.  So I walked down the street with a bullseye on my back and a big red arrow over my head.

by the time we got to teller, I was sweating with nervousness. Then, we got everything wrong. I didn’t fill out the deposit slip right, I didn’t count the number of each denomination bill… so We are standing at the counter, counting stacks of money and now I am hysterically giggling from embarrassment, The more nervous and foolish I felt, the redder my face got and the more I giggled. But now it is done. I also have a Rwandan cell phone now! its 250-078-551-9361. (not sure about the second 0) Call me everyone! You can also text me but I can’t text out yet.

Pictures tomorrow.