my ATM has a first name

it's A-n-i-s.

Actually, there are no ATMs in Rwanda. None that work, anyway.

The way you get cash is you write a paper check (remember those? we used to use them before electronic bill-paying) to a guy named Anis, who has a hardware store downtown. In the back of his hardware store he has a huge safe of cash.

This seems normal to me now. Getting ushered into the back room of a shop to get handed stacks of bills from a huge safe. And the largest bill in Rwanda is worth less than $10, so it does tend to be stacks of cash.

Oh, and credit cards don't work either, so remember to buy your plane ticket out before you get here. Or I'll have to introduce you to Anis.