UGANDA & RWANDA: East Africa finally got a little better... and then I saw a man get STONED

UGANDA:
Getting off the bus in Kampala shocked me. What do you mean there aren't 50 taxi drivers harassing me when I get off the bus?! It's peaceful?! And I can even walk through a busy market in the center with out people shouting at me, following me or striking up conversation for money?!!! I LOVE YOU UGANDA!!!

Sure it's still East Africa and there are no roads, the buses stop all the time, you're crammed into small corners for hours, but at least there is some peace and when I tell a taxi driver or vendor that I'm not interested they leave me alone! People are NICE and relaxed! I couldn't believe it. After having it so bad in Kenya and Tanzania, even Uganda seemed like the best place on earth.

Kampala was a nice East African city to be in. That was followed by Lake Bunyoni with its many islands and tranquility. My final stop was Kisoro where the hostel owner taught me and a few others to African drum after a long day climbing a volcano to see the virugna volcano range going into the DRC and Rwanda. Unfortunately, it started hailing and raining when I got to the top so I didn't get the best view. Too bad my guide and the guy behind me with a huge gun couldn't protect me from that!

RWANDA:
As I headed to Rwanda, I passed through one of my favorite villages to date. The women wore designs and colors some villages only put on for tourists. They carried their adorable babies in the back like backpacks when they walked around and even when they worked.

Although I heard mzungu (white person) yelled at me more times than ever before, I tried not to let it affect my opinion of the village and instead concentrated on how shocked the babies looked to see me, someone so different.

When I got to the Ugandan border, I had to wait for the customs agent to finish his never ending lunch and come back to stamp my passport. I then crossed to the Rwandan side and once again couldn't believe my eyes: ROADS! REAL ROADS!!! And transportation with air conditioning that's DIRECT and doesn't stop to pick people up!!

My first stop was Gisenyi, on Lake Kivu, but I think you need to be at a resort or nice hotel to truly enjoy the beauty and peacefulness. Staying at budget accommodations and walking by the lake wasn't worth more than a few hours, especially when I realized I couldn't comfortably lay down and relax because young boys couldn't stop staring at my skin color and shouting MZUNGUMZUNGUMZUNGUMZUNGU!

From there I went to visit my friend Benna in Kigali, which is my favorite East African city by far. Even though people don't know street names and there aren't really addresses, everyone is nice. The city has trash cans, super markets, fast internet, restaurants, cafe's, taxi and moto taxi drivers that provide helmets and charge you real prices written on a piece of paper...There is even talk of customer service among the bus companies! UNREAL!!! Yes, normally I like to "experience and see" different places, but after doing just that in East Africa, I'd had enough and sitting at an equivalent of Starbucks sipping an iced chai late was one of the happiest moments I've had since I got here.

I went to the genocide museum and a church (Nyamata memorial) where Tutsi's hid thinking the Hutu wouldn't kill them in a holy place. They were wrong. The Hutu and Government Forces broke down the door and massacred everyone with machetes, grenades, and rifles.

I won't go into the details of what happened like I did with Cambodia, but if you aren't aware, please look it up. What happened here is horrific, but I must say, Rwandans have worked hard since to be "Rwandans," not Hutu's or Tutsi's. They have walked away from the events to build a better future and have gone through one of the most thorough processes of justice at every level. In fact, a gachacha tribunal (where people speak out about what they did or saw in front of victim's families and villages) was going on the one day I wanted to visit an orphanage, thus preventing me from going because no buses ran there!

That said, I find Rwandans a lot more positive and open than Cambodians, many of who had a hidden dark side which is probably directly related to their not having much closure after what happened.

Speaking of dark sides or events, let's talk about how I watched a man get stoned....

COMMUNITY JUSTICE:
My bus in Uganda hit a person or car. I'm not sure because no one could speak English well enough to explain it to me.

Either way, the bus stopped. There was screaming and fighting among some men. Next thing I know, I'm looking out my window at about 10 men picking up giant rocks (and cow dung on a few occasions) and throwing them hard at my bus driver! I was shocked, scared, confused and had no idea what to do, but I couldn't look away for long.

Luckily, they didn't kill him. In Nairobi, they do. If you're caught stealing, they pull over, beat you to near death, tie you to a tire, pour paraffin on you and light you on fire. By the time the cops get there, you're dead and they don't really care because you're a thief. Oh Africa...

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