Blog and photos by Claire G.
Our time in Rwanda has already come to an end. We had an eventful ten days here! We started by exploring the beautiful city of Kigali. We admired its western characteristics such as paved roads, tall buildings, use of helmets and even Mexican restaurants. The next day we boarded a public bus (squished like sardines) to the Kigali Genocide Museum. We learned the history of Rwandas violent past and how they have pulled through from this. After an afternoon of exploring and adventuring we headed back to the hostel for an open mic night around a camp fire! Casey and I put our amazingly out of tune voices together and sang Wagon Wheel, while Mandy played it on her guitar.
The next day was Kate’s 18th birthday! We spent the first half of the day at memorial churches, learning and reflecting about the horrible acts that occurred here.These churches were supposed to be safe zones for fleeing Rwandas but they turned out to be a killing site. It was really difficult to actually be standing in these churches and trying to understand the magnitude of these tragic events. We spent a lot of time reflecting on what we had seen and sent our love and prayers to these victims before returning back to the city. In honor of Kate’s birthday we took her out to a local Mexican restaurant called Mezze Fresh (really similar to Chipolte) and then surprised her with a cake!
We had an early start the next morning, we had to catch a bus that would take us to Murumbi School, which is also a genocide memorial. Three hours later we arrived at our stop. From there we took bicycles rides to the school. Some of us really enjoyed the ride…Some of us held on for dear life (ME). We learned a lot about the genocide and we were able to see first hand how it affected the people of this country.
After an emotionally challenging couple of days in Kigali, we packed up our stuff to go volunteer with Grinka, a little while outside the city. Grinka is an organization that started by giving a cow to local single and struggling mothers in this village. Each time one of those cows gives birth that family then gives the calf to another family in need in the village. This cycle continues helping the village thrive. Our mission for the week was to build water tanks for some of these families. We split into groups and got right to work! We carried huge stones, mixed cement and shared lots of laughs with our families. After working hard in the mornings, our amazing contact Prosper gave us tours of different places around the village. We visited a nunnery/ orphanage for girls ages 9-18, attended a local soccer game, toured a heath center, and then hung out with high school students at their boarding school. A group of us spent our last afternoon visiting another nunnery/ orphanage! We played and cuddled with newborns and toddlers,we all wanted to bring one home with us! It was comforting to know that these children are really loved and taken care of by people who want them.
After a sad goodbye to our village we hopped on our bus and headed back to Kigali. Tomorrow we fly off to Tanzania and start many more adventures!
Sending my love and hugs,
Claire
