Rwanda is not a country for ice cream lovers, despite what I
would consider (at least in our two months here) weather to warrant some frozen
treats. However, for the determined, there is one ice cream shop in the whole
of the country. Nearly three hours from the capital of Kigali sits the
university town of Butare, home to Inzozi Nziza ice cream shop. Yes, we did
travel this far for some ice cream, and you can bet we got a large.
Inzozi Nziza, or Sweet Dreams in Kinyarwanda, is a unique
venture. Brain child of a local woman, the shop was backed and opened by Blue
Marble Dreams, the non-profit arm of Brooklyn’s Blue Marble Ice Cream. Not only
did they have to import a soft serve machine, but there is only one person in
the country who can fix it.
Vanilla and chocolate soft serve, topped with nuts, fresh
fruit, granola, sprinkles, or raw honey (my personal favorite), the ice cream
was as delicious as you would expect.
In addition to selling soft serve, the restaurant serves
omelets, sandwiches, pastries, cakes, and fruit juices. It also provides the
community the valuable service of training local women to become entrepreneurs,
an important skill in a developing country.
A bit of a trek for ice cream (admittedly, we were seeing a
couple of other things as well, we’re not crazy people), but a worthy,
delicious project.
