Blogs from Kigali, Ville de Kigali, Rwanda, Africa - page 8

We had just over 10days in Rwanda and started by visiting the genocide memorials in and around the capital, Kigali. It might sound really macabre but having read a few books about the genocide over the last couple of years it's this that drew me to come here - and I'm really glad I did as despite the short time we had all in it ended up being one of my favourite African countries. The genocide followed the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane crashed at Kigali airport under suspicious circumstances on 6 April 1994. Within hours a campaign of violence spread from the capital throughout the country. In Kigali the presidential guard initiated a campaign of retribution, murdering leaders of the political opposition and beginning the slaughter of Tutsi's and moderate ... read more

After another couple of long, bumpy, hot, dusty, hand waving days on the truck it was time to cross the border into Rwanda. Everyone was on the gorilla countdown and getting excited about doing our trek to go and see the mountain gorillas in the wild, Dian Fossey styles. Rwanda is a stunningly beautiful country. It's really hilly and all the hills are lush and covered in crops, the people are super friendly, and it's difficult to believe the horrific genocide which took place there no much more than 10 years ago. We did a stop off in Kigali to visit the genocide museum. It was emotionally draining, as you would expect, and the truck was quiet on the way to that night's camp site. If you're reading this and think I'm rushing, I am. We ... read more

Muraho from Kigali So you might have guessed that Muraho is hello in Kinyarwanda. I landed in Kigali last night after a pleasant 10 hour flight from London via Brussels despite being stuck in a middle seat. I read "Water for Elephants," which was recommend to me while I was in Dublin, it was great, I also recommend it. There was also some horrible movie with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon about this guy who is a die hard Red Sox fan, anyone else seen it? It was just really really bad. Anyway, I landed around 7 and it was still warm out which was great after the weather London has been having the past few weeks. The border guard was probably the nicest I have ever encountered, welcomed me to Rwanda etc etc. J and ... read more

we leave monday morning at like 5am for arusha, tanzania. i'm in an internet cafe trying to work on my paper that's due tomorrow, but i'm managing to avoid it by spending time doing other things... like typing this out. the keyboard is totally throwing me off because the enter and shift keys are shaped different - super annoying. i went to church today for the second time in many many years. the first time here i went to mass with my family (they're catholic) and the service was in kinyarwanda - it was interesting but really really hot. i spent the 4th of july at hotel de mille collines (aka hotel rwanda) - it was beautiful there, super fancy. um what else - i live right by the airport here in a nice house. yesterday ... read more

Hi Again!! Jess I;ve officially kicked Matt off blog duty hahahaha.... OK so: We are now back in Uganda after about a week in Rwanda. We went to the genocide memorial centre in the capital, Kigali (which is the most civilised city we've been to thus far; the moto-taxi drivers all wear helmets and people obey the speed limits!!), which was incredibly emotional. The first floor gives amazing details and stories on the genocide - how it happened, what went on during it, the aftermath.... very hard to watch but really interesting. The second floor was devoted to education on other genocides that have happened around the world, and then there's another room (and this sent me over the edge) that is just full of pictures of children who passed away during the genocide, along with ... read more