Blogs from Ville de Kigali, Rwanda, Africa - page 17

I know that Rwanda as a country has more to offer than being the country where an atrocious genocide recently took place, but it's really hard to look at the country and not immediately associate the genocide with it. The Bradt guide book on Rwanda lists a UNICEF National Trauma survey of '95, which stated that: :: 99.9% of children witnessed violence :: 79.6% of children experienced death in the family :: 69.5% witnessed someone being killed or injured :: 57.7% of children witnessed killings or injuries with a machete :: 87.5% saw dead bodies or parts of bodies One of the main reasons that I wanted to go to Rwanda was b/c I wanted to see for myself how a country can move on so quickly after a genocide, and how two groups that ... read more

After the National Park we spent a few days travelling through Kenya to the Uganda border. I'm happy to report that crossing the border was fairly uneventful and it did not take long before we were emerced into the green countryside of Uganda. Here we took a ferry ride on Lake Victoria to Ngamba Island, which is home of to a Chimpanzee Sanctuary. Many Chimps over here are killed for their meat and the babies are often exported as pets, so it was great to see that a safe place had been created to help with there survival. We watched the Chimps having lunch which was highly amusing and then Andreas from our tour accidentally dropped his camera batteries and one of the Chimps made off with an AA battery, trying his hardest to bite it ... read more

Hey folks This is going to be a very brief entry, as I want it to just be visual. I am just going to attach a whole bunch of pictures, in hopes of conveying a small part of the beauty of this county. I have resized all the photos to be smaller so that they upload more quickly, but if you would like a full sized (3 megapixel) copy of a picture, email me at baalwolf@gmail.com and tell me the photo title(s). Thank you all for your comments and messages. I have been informed that "Petite Chirurgie" means "small surgery", which the Anderson clinic does not do. Feel free to pass on the link to this blog to whomever you like, as the reason that I am writing it is to inform as many people as ... read more

since arriving in rwanda i have seen countless mass graves and memorials on the side of the road, where 10's of thousands are buried. the mourning color in rwanda is a deep purple, and as soon as you see that color in the distance, you know what's coming. it's a common color. kigali is home to the "official" the genocide memorial. it's devastating. besides being a mass grave for approximately 250,000 bodies and growing, as bodies are still being discovered throughout rwanda (in fact, just the day before my visit they had brought in a newly found body), it's a museum about of the history of the country and genocide. it is done thru showing photos, short films and testimonials, skulls and bones, and clothes. you really start to understand how planned it was. the museum ... read more

well, i've been here a week now and so far it's been quite an experience. rwanda is a strange mix of ambition on africa time. so things get done and there's a drive to get things done, but it takes a lot of pushing, service in most places is terrible, and miscommunications are the norm and can lead to a lot of frustration (mostly for me, doesn't seem to bother them). there are frequent power outages in the cities and if your hotel doesn't have a generator, which mine does not, you can be in the dark for hours, which i have. but cell phone reception is incredible. i can't use my cell phone in my living room in brooklyn, and here i am in the middle of a village with no electricity, barefooted kids running ... read more