After having been born, bred, educated and otherwise spent the first 24 years of my life in Galway (Ireland),
I decided it was time to broaden my horizons and undertake (for no good reason) a round the world
trip on my own. The diaries and journals from that time - June 1999 to December 2000 - are available online.
After a brief return to Ireland, I spent some time at the Swiss Federal Institute in Lausanne,
where I made loads of great friends and I have hopes of returning to someday.
Three years after leaving Switzerland, I find myself in Rwanda years later, wondering why I am still here while
simultanously being indecisive about my next moves. Orginally I came to Rwanda a British based Non Governmental Organization,VSO.
Since then I have worked with various Government Ministries and carried out some consultancies. As of Jan 2006, I am working in the
Kigali Institute of Science and Technology(KIST).
some stats...
Switzerland:
Total area: 41,290 sq km.
Pop: 7,318,638.
Birth rate: 9.59 births/1,000 population.
Total fertility rate: 1.48 children born/woman.
Life expectancy at birth: 79.99 years.
HIV infection rate in adults: 0.5%.
GDP: $231 billion. GDP - per capita: $31,700.
Population below poverty line: not available.
Internet users: 3.85 million.
HDI Rank: 10.
Rwanda:
Total area: 26,338 sq km
Pop: 7,810,056
Birth rate: 40.1 births/1,000 population
Total fertility rate: 5.6 children born/woman
Life expectancy at birth: 39.33 years
HIV infection rate in adults : 8.9% - 13% (exact recent figures unavailable)
GDP: $9 billion
GDP - per capita: $1,200
Population below poverty line: 60%
Telephones - main lines in use: 600,000 (note - 90% in Kigali)
Internet users: 20,000
HDI : 158
Sources: CIA Factbook, HDI values from UNDP homepage. Human Development Index (HDI) takes into account many factors such as education, poverty levels, disparity in wealth, to ascertain the level of human development for a country. Current Norway is rank 1 in the HDI and
the lowest ranked is Sierra Leone at 175. GDP figures based on purchasing power parity. Internet usage figures are from 2002.
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