Nov. 1 to 4: Rwanda - Country of a Thousand Hills

We got on a bus from Bukavu (Congo) to Kigali (Rwanda), on Sunday, Nov. 1, exactly one week after arriving in Bukavu. I must say I was in significantly better shape leaving The DRC than I was when I arrived! With very little trouble at the border, we got on a clean, relatively new mini bus on the Rwanda side of the border and began our journey to Kigali. It took approximately 6 hours and the ride was smooth and hassle free...oh ya, except for a man on the bus who was having the same trouble I had a week earlier. He opened the door of the bus to throw up but didn't quite make it...some ended up on the inside of the bus door (dangerously close to my brand new, $350.00 backpack). I couldn't see what was happening from where I was sitting but I could hear what I thought was more vomiting so I asked Lizanne, who was in the seat across the aisle, what was going on and she said he was wiping my bag and "I'll tell you later".

For the next half hour I had visions of my bag being covered in vomit and I was NOT impressed. Luckily, the bus then ran out of gas :) so we all got off while waiting for the probnlem to be resolved. At that point I was able to inspect my bag and see that it was fine. Lizanne explained that he had not, in fact, been throwing up again and that he was wiping my bag because a tiny little bit may have ended up on the bottom of it when he had been sick earlier. Phew - disaster averted!! The gasoline arrived and we were on our way.

We drove through Nyungwe National Park, a beautiful forest and primate habitat. Lizanne saw some colobus monkeys (black with a white "mane") scampering about by the side of the road, but I didn't see them because they were on her side of the bus (and I was asleep). The scenery after that was spectacular! I have included a few pictures that I took while whizzing by but I was not able to get any really good photos of the truly amazing hills that we saw. It is quite visually stunning how they are all divided into sections for agricultural purposes. From a distance it creates a beautiful patchwork effect of various shades of green and brown.

We arrived at our Inn - Auberge de la Caverne - where Morag has stayed before. After showering and dressing, etc. we went out for a nice dinner at Chez Robert. We decided to walk, as it was not far and Kigali (ironically) is considered a relatively safe city, even at night. We weren't 5 minutes into our walk when a very tall, thin man (most certainly Tutsi) walked past us in a slow and kind of "odd' manner. Once he was a few feet ahead of us he quicky pulled something out of his back pocket and held it out to his side in an obvious way. I immediately realized it was a sharp object of some sort (a knife or scissors).

I alerted Lizanne and Morag and we stopped walking. We quickly decided to hail a cab and then a couple young men came by and asked what was happening. As we were explaining the situation, the man turned around and started walking towards us. The young men stayed with us as the man with the sharp object walked past. I felt quite tense and apprehensive because I didn't know what was going to happen. He just slowly walked past the two young men, donning his (what I now realized was) gardening shears as we sort of "cowered" behind them. Luckily a cab pulled up and we jumped in. As the cab was turning around, he began to walk towards the car and we were all kind of saying "Please hurry, go, go" to the driver as we fumbled with the locks, trying to ensure we were safe. It was a bit of a scary few minutes. Upon reflection, I surmised that, being Tutsi, he may be experiencing the long-term effects of untreated trauma. I suspect there are many Rwandans (Tutsi as well as Hutu) living with the impact of the genocide that occurred in 1994.

Monday was Morag's birthday so we went out for really good Indian food. Morag was in desperate need of a pedicure and a hair coloring so she did that while Lizanne and I spent the day wandering around Kigali, which is a well organized, clean city, by African (and, to some degree, even Europen standards). Here is a photo of a the town centre.

Here we are, after dinner, at our inn.

I painted Morag's toenails before we went out for dinner.

On our last day in Kigali, Lizanne and I went to the Genocide Museum and Education Centre. We spent three and a half hours there, as it was very well done and quite informative. I was moved to tears more than once. I already knew a fair bit about the genocide (having read Shake Hands With the Devil and a few other articles) and I still learned so much. They also included an exhibit about other genocides that occurred throughout history, i.e. the Nazi Holocaust, the Germans' attempt to wipe out the Hereros tribe in Namibia (by poisoning their well water - more about this in my next post) in the early 20th century, the Turks' attempted ethnic cleansing of the Armenians , as well as a few others. It was very interesting and, of course, shocking. No matter how much I try to grasp it, I really don't understand the whole mentality that goes with the desire to wipe out an entire ethnic group in order to "improve" the condition of another group. It is a deeply disturbing and incredibly perplexing phenomenon. The final part of the exhibit, which was dedicated to the children that were killed in Rwanda, pretty much put me over the emotional edge. It was very specific and personal. There were approxiamtely 20 or so children featured, ranging in age from 15 months to 13 years old. For each child, there was a photograph and a short "biography" that went something like this:

Name: Joseph

Favourite food: Peanut butter

Favourite drink: Orange Fanta

Best Friend: His mom

Personality: Quiet and well-behaved

Cause of Death: Hacked by machete

It was HEARTBREAKING!!! I stepped outside the museum and cried for about 5 minutes...

Coincidentally, when we arrived at our hostel in Johannesburg a movie called Shooting Dogs,about the Rwandan genocide, was being shown, so I watched it. It appeared to be a British film and had that indie-film feel to it. It was quite graphic (appropriately) and very powerful. I highly recommend it. Hotel Rwanda is also an excellent movie but its focus is narrower, examining the true story of the manager of Hotel des Mille Collines who saved thousands of lives by providing safe harbour to Tutsis and moderate Hutus who were being targeted by the "genocidaires". We wanted to have lunch at the hotel but it was closed for renovations. I snapped a few pictures.

I could go on and on about Rwanda, because I found it beautiful, tragic and fascinating, especially in terms of how far it has come since 1994 (plastic bags are banned in the entire country!!!), as a model for Africa.