Samoa Observer's young journalist Gutu Faasau writes about his travel. He is a youth delegate from Samoa to the United Nations Women Delivery program in Kigali Rwanda in East Africa. As a scholarship recipient, he will join thousands of other delegates from all over the world and connect with them during the Conference in Kigali from the 15^th to the 21^st of this month. 

Kigali, Rwanda is a much more developed country than I initially thought. The people are always on the move and hardly ever idling about.

On every street and motorway there are people constantly sweeping up leaves and weeding the public gardens.

Every day we take a shuttle to the conference sites and when passing by every street it is almost impossible to see any rubbish anywhere.

One evening I decided to walk back to my hotel from the main conference site. This was a chance for me to walk alongside the locals and explore some of the shops on the streets.

As I strolled through town I had unknowingly caught the attention of many of the locals who seemed to smile awkwardly at me when I waved and said hello.

As I reached where I believe was the heart of town I had attracted a large crowd who followed me through the street.

I was surprised to see them with their phones out taking photos of me made me feel like some kind of celebrity.

I noticed more of the locals looking my way laughing and waving me down for pictures. It wasn’t until one of them asked me about what I was wearing that I realized that they weren’t used to seeing the traditional Samoan formal wear like the I’e faitaga. A bright pink elei shirt and a ula.

One of the local women taking a video of me with her phone was shouting out loud “Fashion, this is Fashion!” and proceeded to follow me through the street.

I took this chance to pause, look around, do a 360 degree turn showing off my beautiful Samoan clothes and then hurriedly scurry towards my hotel that wasn’t far off.

The local that approached me questioned my attire and was amazed at how confident I was walking around in what he thought was a woman’s skirt.

He said that it was unusual to see a buff man walk around in a skirt while smiling and waving. He said that this wasn’t culturally accepted in their country, but because it was new to their eyes and because I was walking around town in confidence, it was a strange and funny sight for everyone.

It is quite funny to think that I was probably the talk of the town or of many households. The story of a very strange man wearing what is considered normal in my own country.