Blogs from Kigali, Ville de Kigali, Rwanda, Africa - page 11

Getting There During our 11-hour layover in London the People-to-People group that is sponsoring our delegation to Rwanda arranged for us to have a tour of the city and a lunch of fish & chips. Here are some photos, mostly from our tour bus. However, we also managed to see the city from the Eye of London, sort of a giant, very slow ferris wheel from which you can see for many miles. We saw many of the famous places in London, including the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, and too many others that I simply can't remember due to the incredible case of jet lag that I had at the time. Here are some of the pictures. ... read more

Since I wasn't expecting the following to happen, I didn't have my camera on me, so you will just have to imagine this in your head. It goes like this: Last night I bunked down at about 1030pm (yeah, WAY earlier than my normal bedtime back home, but its up with the sun and down with the sun (ish) here due to my lack of electric lights). I was woken up around 1130 by the sound of music. Yes, the hills were alive with the sound of music! No, I'm not talking about Julie Andrews in her gray dress singing her heart out; I'm talking about loud, awful North American dance music being blared out of a sound system (a good one, I thought) nearby. So I drag my sorry butt out of bed, put on ... read more

Hey everyone - I am back in the States now, safe and sound, and I'm finally posting about the rest of my trip. The computers were too slow there! For the second half, we continued to do interviews and work at the Village of Hope. We also took time for travel and sightseeing, and learned about some of RWN's work outside Kigali while we were at it. So here goes. One of our first travels outside Kigali was to a place called Butare. Butare is noted as the district with the largest number of fatalities during the genocide, and there is a rather infamous memorial there that we all went to see. We also visited the history museum and did some craft shopping at a co-op there - I bought a lot of stuff made out ... read more

There’s a lot of subjects that I feel its right to say something about while I’m here. Important topics, that need to be given real thought and consideration, before you’d have a genuine insight into the country and it’s people. Race, Poverty, Religion, Happiness, Grief, Community, Loneliness, Genocide, Compassion, Hope, it’s all here in abundance and very close to the surface. It seems that when you strip away the superficial in people’s lives, TV, Celebrity, Fashion, Money, Choice, all that remains is the important stuff. But even after 5 weeks in Rwanda, immersed in the culture, I think I still need more time before I can begin to do justice to any of the weightier topics. Therefore I think it’s best if I start at the lighter end …and work my way up, gradually. Rwanda… If ... read more

"Doucement! Doucement! Il y a un trou!" "Gently! Gently! There's a hole!" Such was my trip to and from Gikongoro. Washboard dirt roads with potholes, ditches, rivulets and log bridges, all of which I had to go over at no more than 10-15 km/h. Thus did my first village trip without Chris begin. It makes me wish that he was still here because he always insisted on driving. Trust me, I didn't argue against this insistence very much. More like, not at all. But I should start at the beginning. The Days After Chris began at noon on Tuesday July 17th, when I took Chris to the airport to catch his flight home. The rest of the day, nay, the week passed rather uneventfully, mostly taken up by making budgets of the money we have left, ... read more