Crossing the boarder into Rwanda was quick, free, and organized. Yes, I said organized. Four of us, Johannes, Josef, Pim, and I, fit like Tetris in Johannes and Josef’s land cruiser. Through the tinted windows and high shelves I could see a glance of the immensely green rolling hills that make up Rwanda.
This is how you travel when you hitch a ride with 2 wonderful Germans in their land cruiser that is equipped for their drive from Germany to South Africa.
Genocide:
Johannes, Josef, Pim and I arrived in Rwanda just in time for the 19th anniversary of the Tutsi and moderate Hutu genocide throughout Rwanda. We made it our goal to pay tribute to all those who had lost their lives and we visited numerous memorials, mass graves, sites of massacres, and museums. Upon entering the first memorial which was a church where tens of thousands had seeked shelter and none had survived, couldn’t help being overcome by sadness and horror. In
front of me were all of the clothes from all of the victims. The roof still had the holes from the thousands of bullets and the sculls of hundreds and bones of thousands lay before me. After emotionally exhausting ourselves while visiting all sites we could we returned to the hostel to sleep before the Walk to Remember the following day. The Walk to Remember was amazing to see the masses of people that came to honor their country. Men, women, children, students, Rwandans, Mzungus came and gathered at the parliament before walking to the olympic stadium where there a ceremony in remembrance.
The number of lives lost is inconceivable to me, how split the nation had become is unthinkable, but most importantly how Rwanda has united is nothing but inspiring. There is no talk of Hutu or Tutsi and although at times I struggled to think that many people walking around me had participated in the mass killings I had to stop myself and realize that there was much more behind the genocide than cold blooded murder. At the Kigali Genocide Museum where I spent about 5 hours reading every text, listening to every audio, and analyzing every picture, I learned about so much more than deaths. I learned about much of what led to this rapid division in a country that had happily lived together for centuries prior to 1994. I learned of the strength of manipulation, fear, and the desire for power. After going through all of the information about Rwanda before, during, and after I made my way upstairs to all of the rooms which briefly discussed other genocides from around the world. The Balkans, Germany, Namibia, Syria, Cambodia, and so many more. All due to power and control.
“The day the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” -Ghandi
After spending much time in Kigali and around the surrounding areas the fearsome foursome packed back into the car to see the rural areas and Lake Kivu. Driving through Rwanda sure is easy on the eyes but may be a little difficult on the back due to rainy season mixed with minimally driven dirt roads. Thank goodness for our land cruiser equipped with 4 wheel drive, metal plates to assist others who have gotten stuck, GPS to find another route due to a collapsed bridge, and one amazingly safe off road driver!
Lake Kivu is BEAUTiful! Besides the fear of dying a slow death from the CO2 that is released from the lake at times and the minor discomfort being in sight of the Democratic Republic of Congo the view is from a movie. Johannes, Pim and I woke up with our mind set on taking a small wooden boat and paddling to a seemingly deserted island for a snack and some slack lining. We inquired about the cost of the boat (free you’ll understand why shortly), packed a mango, bread, honey, nutella, and some juice, grabbed the slack line and were on our way… Well… Almost. Upon reaching our wooden boat we found a bit of water in the bottom that gracefully flowed in and out with the waves. “Umm boys, the weather doesn’t look great and the boat seems to be no safer than paddling while sitting in a strainer.” The boys ignored my voice of reason and began bailing out the boat-ish piece of wood. Once the bailing was done they put on their life vests, packed up the boat-ish thing, and gave me the look. “Don’t worry… The hole is stuffed with toilet paper!” Awesome! Since I didn’t see any crocs and my life vest was bright enough to be seen from the US i climbed on board (or climbed on the board). Johannes sat in the back with a 1/2 paddle, Pim in the front with a paddle with half a handle, and me in the middle with a cut jug. Yep… To constantly bail the boat-ish thing. After reaching the middle point of our journey and almost dropping the bail jug twice I tightened my grip and realized the lives of Johannes, Pim, and myself lay in my hands so I increased my bailing frequency and continued on. About 10 meters from the island paradise a man in a wooden boat with only a smaller hole in it and a full paddle came up to us and told us to switch boats. “Now? Right here only 30 feet from out destination?” Yep. So we complied and sketchily began transferring our food, camera, slack line, and selves from a rapidly sinking boat to a less rapidly and more tippy sinking boat.
We safely reached the island, set up the food and slack line and spent the entire day relaxing while my accident prone self attempted to walk across a 1 inch line suspended 4 feet off of the ground. No broken bones… This time! The day ended with a bit of rain (I think I am now a professional at bailing out water) and a ridiculously beautiful rainbow.
Pim and I are now back at home in Uganda and Johannes and Josef are continuing their journey south. Pim and I had a fairly uneventful 10 bus ride until we missed our tiny village due to the fact that was 4:00 am, pouring rain, and the windows were foggy. We got dropped off at the next village and in retrospect were a bit naive when deciding what bus to take. Two Mzungus dropped off at 4:00 am on the side of the road in rural Africa is not a safe mixture. After standing by the only light and open store (liquor store) for 40 min our trusted boda boda driver arrived to drive us home in the pouring rain and dark night.
I am now on few hours of sleep and changing my focus from vacation to back to the medical centre and maternity ward. I am back to the quiet, slow life, familiar faces, kind of familiar language, and the beautiful Lake Victoria.
thepresentlife 