Hotel Rwanda

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So, the movie Hotel Rwanda is based on Hotel des Milles Collines ( a thousand hills because Rwanda is the land of a thousand hills). But, it is one of the swanky hotels in Kigali and has received new found success and popularity after the movie, kind of wierd, I know. But, they have free live music and karaoke by their pool on thursday nights and I think I may be attending. It is strange that this hotel is one of the most populat places in town, as a hotel and as just a hang out place (they have a pool) because of everything that has surrounded it. But, if you think about it this is one of the most hopeful places in the city because this is one of the only places where there weren't mass murders or atrocities committed.

We met the Prosecutor General or the Republic today which is basically the equivalent of the Attorney General. Yeah, kind of a big deal. It was very itneresting, he just spoke to us a lot about the legal system of Rwanda and how everything changed after the genocide and the legal strucutures that were made in order to prosecute the perpertrators of genocide. The genocide in Rwanda and prosecuting the 'genocidaires' presents a very interesting international and national law example (for the three lawyers who I know read this wink). After the genocide, only 12 lawyers were still alive so, Rwanda had to devise a justice system in order punish the over 100,000 people who committed the genocide. For Rwanda, they devised things called the Gacaca Courts, which I am going to on Sunday( the trials are still going on). The Gacaca courts are made up of a panel of elders in each district or community who are nominated and then given some training in the Gacaca law. There are so many things I could say abotu the Gacaca courts but basically, they were put into place so that teh genocidaires were charged and tried in public in the communities in which they committed crimes and then they are forced to serve their sentences and community service(all those convicted have some sort of mandatory community service) in these communities. So, it was a way of having justice, peace and reconciliation all at once. There are problems with it and everything that it has supposed to do it has not always done but, as most Rwandans say- what other options were there? Then the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)is a very interesting and controversial subject as well. This tribunal has been taking place in Arusha, Tanzania and that is what we are going to see when we go to Tanzania. The ICTR is used to punish the people who were in positions of extreme power and who were responsible for planning and executing the genocide and most of them were arrested outside of Rwanda. Okay, anyways, another discussion I can have when I return. But, we have been learning about those this week and we have had lectures from other experts in the Gacaca courts and the ICTR and the Unity and REconciliation committee so, it has been a very interesting and internatiional law filled week. I am attending the Gacaca courts this weekend in the village that I am staying because my homestay father is one of the judges of the local Gacaca court. This is a voluntary position that people do to help the community, it is not their jobs. (just fyi)

I do not think that I will have a chance to blog much in the next few days because I am going up to the Northwest part of Uganda, right near the DR Congo to a place called Gisenyi. It is liek the vacation spot for Rwandans because it is on Lake Kiyu and you can swim there and there are beaches. I am really excited. It will also be nice to get away after last night when I was eating dinner in my homestay and I bit down on quite a large rock and had to control myself not to throw up after I took the rock out of my mouth and placed it on the table. Then, this mornign I was lucky enough to wake up to the sound of something (read:small animal ie. rat) trying to claw through my walls or myceiling or something. Yeah, so it will be quite nice to get away. On Monday we go to Tanzania. It is crazy to think that I will be home in exactly 2weeks. Get ready NY.

Peace and Love from Kigali
I'll think of all of you at Karaoke tonight! 😊

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