Fumigation Fiasco

Our community recently scheduled a fumigation to help prevent malaria, originally set for Friday through Saturday, July 18th to 20th. Unfortunately, things didn’t go according to plan.

The contractor hired by our Homeowners Association (HoA) apparently underestimated the scope of the job. They didn’t bring enough staff to carry out the fumigation within the scheduled timeframe, so the process was abruptly canceled.

My wife and I had already made arrangements to be away from the house during those three days. We booked and paid for a local Airbnb for the weekend and also hired a cleaner to handle the post-fumigation cleanup. Since my wife is swamped with work, we wanted to avoid the hassle of dealing with it ourselves.

After we checked into the Airbnb and confirmed everything with our cleaner, we received a message from the HoA announcing that the entire fumigation process had been canceled. Naturally, my wife was furious—and rightly so. We had spent a significant amount of money to plan around the original schedule, all of which now felt completely wasted.

The HoA mentioned they hoped to resolve the situation and reschedule the fumigation for around Tuesday. Then, very late Tuesday night, we got another message: fumigation would resume Wednesday, and they asked residents to confirm updated availability. With such short notice, we couldn’t respond right away. We had to coordinate again with our cleaner and decided to request Thursday so we could take Wednesday to prepare the house.

On Wednesday, we were told that exterior fumigation would happen that night. However, by Thursday morning, we learned that not all homes had been treated. Apparently, they would continue spraying exteriors Thursday night. Based on the messages we received, it seems likely our home was one of those missed.

Despite the confusion, we managed to reschedule for Thursday. As I write this, I’m sitting at Baso Pâtissier, waiting for the indoor fumigation to be completed at our house. Later this afternoon, I’ll return to help our cleaner wipe down and sanitize everything touched by the chemicals.

Hopefully, today will mark the end of this long, frustrating process—at least until the next round of fumigation rolls around next year. Living in Rwanda continues to teach my wife and me valuable lessons in patience, flexibility, and adjusting expectations when things don’t unfold as planned. Delays and miscommunications seem more common here than what we’re used to, but we’re learning to navigate it with grace.

Update:

I got home around 3 PM only to discover that the fumigation team had just finished as I was pulling in. Which meant the three-hour waiting period before reentering wasn’t already done—it was only just beginning.

I left the house at 9 AM thinking the process would be well underway or even finished by the time I got back. Instead, we won’t even be able to start cleaning up until around 5 or 6 PM.

So, change of plans. My wife and I are going to grab dinner out tonight and come back later—hopefully to a mostly aired-out house—once our cleaner has tackled the bulk of the mess.