There are two homilies seemingly identical that have shaped my understanding to see things differently in the recent past, especially as I get to travel to meet different individuals and experience new horizons. “Akanyoni katagurutse ntikamenya iyo bweze” loosely translated as “A bird that doesn’t fly won’t tell where there is harvest” and “Ubwenge burarahurwa” which can be translated as “Wisdom cannot be harnessed from within”, are two unique historical lines. I cannot think of the right English phrase that best connect the two, but simply understand in this sense that the two describe the fact that experience is the best educator. On my recent trip to Russia, I met a female friend called Olga. As we were on a bus travelling from Obninsk, one of the country’s cities, we had quite a long conversation. “Russia was a closed society few decades ago that even crossing the border as a female Russian was not allowed. People were hungry, but that is not the case today,” she told me, ostensibly admitting that her country was a conservative society. Olga and I were openly having a casual conversation about how our countries are sometimes perceived by those who haven’t been there before simply because their opinions have been shaped by the entertainment, media or other influential industries. The same stereotypes that people have towards Russia are quite similar to those stereotypes that people have towards Africa, especially those who have not been on the continent. After the conversation with Olga, travelling across different parts of the country and meeting foreigners who are already living there, my judgment will never be the same. Hollywood has a way of promoting certain narratives that demonise nationalities and that has been clear in very many ways. They have a way of making sure that our screens don’t run out of these narratives. The American movie industry has particularly been portraying Russia as some sort of horrible country and it has overly showed Russians as villains: From a brutal former KGB operative in The Avengers to the Russian evildoers in A Good Day to Die Hard. That has influenced how most people across the world perceive the country. In fact, when I told friends that I was going to Russia they asked me if I had surely thought about it. Well, beyond the political relations between the US and Russia as well as Russia and other countries, there is more to the country and its people. It is that side that many people perhaps don’t know. When I landed at Domodedovo Moscow Airport I genuinely had a few frustrations when immigration officers kept us waiting for many minutes, which I personally found unnecessary. Alongside other friends whom we had traveled together had to wait for more than 30 minutes at the airport as the immigration officers were verifying our travel documents. That was frustrating for someone who had flown for more than 14 hours. However, when we were cleared to proceed to our destinations, it was in a blink of an eye before we started seeing a different face of Moscow and other Russian hospitality. From the person who welcomed us at the airport to the hotel reception workers and our tour guides, Russia never really disappointed me like I thought it would be as portrayed in movies. Moscow city First things first, as a first time traveler to this country, all I was looking forward to see was snow since I had travelled during the winter season. As we travelled from the airport to our accommodation, everyone was wowed by the stunning beauty of Moscow and particularly the snowy roads. It was the beginning of the long journey to explore the day. As we took a rest, everybody was talking about what to look forward to the next day, and that was the city exploration. The next day we hit the road straight to the city centre, had lunch at a Russian restaurant, and headed to the iconic and famous Red Square. The Red Square is an open area which serves as a marketplace, festival grounds, and gathering place. During the Soviet era, it was used as a parade ground for displaying the might of a military superpower. The square area separates Saint Basil’s Cathedral and the Kremlin, Russian President’s office. The Kremlin, which comprises cathedrals and palaces, is one of the most important parts of Russia as a nation. During the early decades of the Soviet era, it became an exclusive enclave where the state’s governing elite lived and worked. In front of one of the museums, the State History Museum, sits a monument of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, the most decorated general in Russias history. One of our tour guides, Maria, told us that Zhukov played a key role in freeing the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations from the Axis Powers and was there to conquer Berlin. The towering red brick great, tall Kremlin walls is the most visible work of architecture in the centre of Moscow. The mighty towers have protected Moscows heart since medieval times. That heart is still famous that natives believe is the beginning of the foundation of Moscow. A so-called symbol of that heart sits just in front of the Red Square. Tourists and locals pose for pictures and its a kind of basic principle to throw coins if you chose to stand at that heart to take a picture. Locals believe throwing coins offers blessings, but in real sense, its a way of helping those who live on streets. In front of Moscow’s heart were Christmas markets since it was a festive season. Moscow is known for marking the festive season that you are likely to find many shopping malls and other markets busy. From here, we took a bus and went to drink some coffee to make sure that we survive the next couple hours of winter. Just opposite from where we grabbed coffee was the Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov’s office. When I told our tour guide that Lavrov was in Rwanda earlier this year, she became so curious to know the kind of business that was going on between the two countries. That sparked another conversation about what Rwanda and Russia was up to. I told her that there was some flourishing relations between Russians and Rwandans and at the heart of it was constant exchanges between politicians to explore mutual interests. At the heart of the growing relations also was the efforts for the two countries to work together to develop nuclear industry – reason I was in Russia with a few people from Africa to learn more about the industry. Tomsk, Russia’s frosty city In fact, the following day after the city tour, we boarded a plane for a four-hour flight to Tomsk from where our big agenda of the trip was to take place. This is a city that accommodates some of the educational institutes and centres that shape students who later work in nuclear industries. But before delving into this, I want to say that I had never frozen like that before in my life. When I was in Russia, I had tried not to cover myself with all the scarfs, winter shoes and so on. It was impossible to do that in Tomsk because the weather was always somewhere between -12 and -14. I jokingly told some of my friends back home that whoever said people cannot live in refrigerators was wrong. My Tanzanian friend Edgar John reminded me that people back at his home town in Dar esSaalam were burning. The big question from my friends was, how people survive such winter beyond just wearing warm clothes. How do they warm their houses? Well, that perhaps gives a peek into the high demand for power in this nation. To power houses in a country that experiences a lot of winter and to particularly warm them, it requires a lot of energy. This is why nuclear energy is important for Russia. The country is one of the world’s largest producers of nuclear energy. Estimates show that electricity generated in nuclear power plants represent 18.7 per cent of all power generation in the country. Rosatom, a state atomic agency, is currently working with developing countries to lure them into acquiring the nuclear technology to develop their barely existing nuclear industries. A trip that was facilitated by Rosatom saw a group of engineering students who won the “Atoms Empowering Africa” competition together with scientists and representatives of the media visit Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) and Tomsk Regional Oncology Centre. At TPU, Russia trains students to become future nuclear industry workers. They learn everything from nuclear physics, medicine, chemistry, and the economics of these industries. The school is equipped with some of the advanced facilities like reactors that students use to perform research, cyclotrons, and radiation therapy equipment used for other educational purposes. Students like those who pursue medicine have opportunity to get hands-on skills at Tomsk Regional Oncology Centre, which serves as a platform for them to carry out research projects and conduct internships. After two days of enduring the winter and learning how Russia has become one of the global players in the nuclear technology market, we flew to Moscow and drove two hours to Obninsk. Nuclear energy Russians believe Obninsk is the “science city” because it is here that the world’s first nuclear power plant sits. The city is also home to the Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering of MEPhI, one of the top best schools in the country. We had a trip to the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant and from the experience and the lessons, it was easier to say that this plant shaped the world’s perception of using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The plant was commissioned by the Soviet Union in June, 1954 and operated successfully for almost five decades, until it was closed on April 29, 2002. Since Obninsk was home to the Institute of Physics and Power Engineering, it was no surprise that the Soviets chose this spot to build the plant. What’s interesting was to learn that during the height of the cold war, the plant was not built with a military goal in mind, but rather its purpose was the generation of electricity and the facilitation of research. A trip at the Nuclear Power Engineering of MEPhI in the same city showed me that Russia is still strategically positioned to be one of the world’s leaders of nuclear industry in the next many years. The school has invested in building some of the most advanced laboratories that equip students with the right knowledge and prepares them to be nuclear scientists in the future. We had a chance to have a roundtable conversation with some of the African students studying here, who throughout our interactions, were keen to come back and contribute to shaping their industries back home. Indeed, that’s the kind of investment that African countries aspiring to build nuclear industries should be. There has been arguments about whether Africa needs nuclear technology with critics going against the idea, but my experience has shown me that Africa may not necessarily prioritise nuclear technology for energy production, but for other purposes like medicine. Anyway, before I could leave Obninsk, I had spent nearly three days without taking lunch and that is because on the menu, fish, lamb, and pork meat were kind of staple. Since I am personally not into any of that I had to bear double survival – winter and hunger. A group of African engineering students, scientists and members of the media in Russia. A shopping mall in Obninsk. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu During the winter season many parts of Tomsk are frosty. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu IPPE. Moscow is a beautiful city during the night. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu Moscow during the night. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu Obninsk is not just a science city, it also offers some other lifestyle options. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu One of the blocks of the Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering of MEPhI in Obninsk. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu Russian Foreign Affairs Ministers Office in Moscow. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu Saint Basils Cathedral is one of the iconic establishments near Red Square. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu The author poses outside in the snow in Tomsk. The author poses with Maria, one of the tour guides in Moscow. The author. The Kremlin Wall. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu The magnificent view of the Moscow River. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu Vehicles covered in snow park out in Tomsk (Siberian region), one of the coldest cities in Russia. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu While Russia is cold during the winter season, the weather is not extreme in some parts of the country. / Photo by Julius Bizimungu
