Rwanda 2011: Day 1-3

---

Day #1 (Monday, Nov 14th) started at 4 am with waking and double checking that I had everything. I am pretty sure I left something at home (like the parts of a first aid kit I was putting together). We got to the airport just after 5 am and got checked in. Somehow I managed to check in Christina using my reservation. This caused some issues, so the ticket agent had to help us.
After that was resolved, I had to ask to check my two bags. Christina had already checked her bag when I checked her in at the kiosk. The agent let me check 2 bags without charging for the second bag. She did ask another worker if the second bag was oversized (which it was - $100 fee) and he just shrugged and loaded the bag. All-in-all I think I was spared $200 in fees - Thank you, Lord!
The flights were uneventful, except for the lack of sleep - mostly Jim's. We were out of water at the Brussels airport waiting for the bus to the Africa terminal so we took our malaria pills with yogurt. We had forgotten to take the pills Monday morning, and did not want to miss another day. We arrived in Kigali around 8 PM. We made it through immigration without any issues, but then had to wait a while for the luggage. It looked like we were missing 2 bags since nothing more was coming down the chute, but after several minutes more bags started coming down the conveyor belt, and we got everything. The oversized box of LED lights for the clinic arrived intact!
The "customs agent" asked me what was in the box. I said "lights" 2 or 3 times, and then pointed at the ceiling lights, and he said, "OK" and we were through. We exchanged a bit of money to pay for the ride to our hotel, bought some minutes for my Rwandan cell phone, found our driver, and were at our hotel by 9:30 PM (this was actually 11:15 Tuesday morning Vancouver time!) We showered and relaxe4d for a short time, then went to sleep. I slept pretty darn good, but Christina was a little restless.
We awoke on Wednesday (day #3) and got dressed slowly. We went out to see about breakfast and found that our hotel did include breakfast. This is where Jim needs to learn about contentment, suffering and trusting God. I was sitting there grumbling internally that all I was getting for breakfast was bread, butter and a small banana. Just when I realized that this was more than a lot of people have for breakfast every day, the eggs arrived. breakfast was filling.
We called our driver and arranged to go to the Mille Collines for lunch. Americans probably know the Mille Collines better as Hotel Rwanda. We ate lunch at a table right by the pool that had prevented 1000 people from dying of thirst during the genocide. Then the rain started to come and it came down hard. We were mostly protected by the umbrella, but when it lightened up, we took the opportunity to move under better cover at the outside bar. We had walked from the MC to go to the ForEx to exchange some money (better rate than the airport) and back before lunch. We were thankful for God's timing, since there was no rain while we walked (or we would have been soaked to the bone). Rwanda is a cash culture, there is no such thing as a credit card, and most places do not take US dollars.
This evening will be filled with more relaxation.
Tomorrow we will visit two of the genocide memorials where massacres took place and things have been left "untouched". This is a good reminder of what we are ALL capable of doing apart from the grace of God.
Ciao for now!
Jim & Christina

---