Into Africa : Tweets, earthquakes and a bus-driving hitman?

This is their story: "Learning to adjust our expectations to what is realistic in Rwanda has become a useful skill.

Our street children project is making encouraging progress, although sometimes it feels like sailing a boat into the wind, tacking first this way then that; always getting closer to the goal but never actually travelling in that precise direction.

The mothers of the children we are helping are now running a small restaurant and a shop. Not without some effort, they seem to have understood that they need to sell their stock, not take it home!

Now that the women are becoming used to earning money each day, we are working on getting them to keep some of it aside to pay for monthly costs like rent and security.

It is a slow, slow process.

Our project restaurant is located in a market controlled by a private company who look after the security. Normally, local residents pay a fee to a firm which patrols the neighbourhood at night.

In the market it is the security firm who pay the local authority for the privilege of protecting the area.

We were a little suspicious when the restaurant received a visit and a fine for 5000 francs along with a threat that if it wasn't paid at once the premises would be closed.

Fortunately, we were able to persuade them to take their padlock away. Shortly after, we noticed a similar visit being paid to another shop nearby where a small crowd had gathered to watch the entertainment.

Half an hour later a furious argument was still going on with the shop owners. These security people have to work hard for their money.

They were finding thin pickings that day.

For a small country, Rwanda has been making more than a few appearances in the international press recently. There seems little doubt that President Kagame has been making a concerted effort to raise the profile of his country in the media.

Last year he hired the services of a public relations firm and has since started up a Twitter account.

In a recent heated exchange on Twitter with journalist Peter Birrell, Kagame attracted the world's political commentators, some questioning his confrontational style and intolerance of criticism, others praising him for his innovative use of modern communications.

Kagame is a president who attracts adoration and distaste in equal measures.

Kagame's attempts to improve the image of Rwanda have not always yielded the coverage he might have been looking for.

There have been reports that MI5 and Scotland Yard have been involved in an alleged assassination plot by the Rwandan government against two of its citizens living in the UK.

In May, a Belgian bus driver, who also happened to be an ex-Rwandan intelligence officer, was apprehended at Folkestone Eurotunnel terminal having been identified as the hit-man.

After interrogation by counter-terrorism officers he was returned to Belgium. A report appeared a short while after claiming that the UK security agencies had been duped by a Rwandan opposition group based outside the country.

It is probable that we will never know the truth of the matter, but for President Kagame, if he was hoping to improve his public profile, not everything is going his way.

With the president using Twitter, his country is not far behind and optimism is building gradually for improved internet connections. Last year, a new fibre optic cable was laid across the country with the intention of significantly improving access speeds.

The cable connects with telecommunications company SEACOM's network that links to the wider world using an undersea cable coming ashore at Monbasa in Kenya.

Later this year a new branch connecting directly with Europe will be opened up from Mombasa, significantly improving connection times.

But if every silver lining has a cloud, Rwandan internet users are having to be patient before the good times arrive. Recently, one of the local telecoms companies, Rwandatel, had its operating licence revoked by the industry regulator.

Until then there had been three operators with Tigo, the most recent to the market, opening for business only last Christmas. The main player is MTN which is the major mobile internet provider and well-established across much of southern Africa.

With Rwandatel's demise, internet speeds at MTN have suffered as ex-Rwandatel mobile users join an already crowded network.

It is not only the new technology that is seeing change. Iposita, the Rwandan post office, has been causing some disturbance by moving its Kigali office into the centre of town.

It has to be said that their communications and PR were very good with regular text messages keeping people informed of progress. Unfortunately, the big day that the move was to take place was also the day that the builders started laying the foundations for the new office.

A few days later a text message apologised for the delay in rebuilding the post office box area (think bicycle sheds). The grand opening would now be another week.

With a particular piece of mail several weeks overdue, we went down there on the appointed day only to see the old boxes being carried across the court-yard to their new positions.

"Come back next week" the very polite lady in a bright yellow Iposita polo-shirt told us. Patience is something we are coming to be well practiced at.

By curious coincidence, the day that Iposita announced it was moving, so did the rest of Rwanda. An earthquake rolled through the country, vibrating the walls of houses, although not by enough to cause any damage that we are aware of.

To the north of the country is a chain of volcanoes which have been active in recent memory. For all that President Kagame may wish to Twitter otherwise, Rwanda is far less settled that he would like the world to think, if only because of the shifting rocks beneath our feet."