The next morning was we woke up at 4:30 am to catch a taxi to Kampala which took us to the bus stop for Rwanda. Auntie Peggy (speaker of the Lugazi town counsel, she's a big deal here) hooked us up with everything we'd need for this trip. She had someone waiting for us in Rwanda (Richard and Nadeen, both on town counsel in Rwanda) to take us around and show us all the things we'd need to see. She kept calling and texting us the whole trip to see how we were, she is totally like our little African momma. What would we do without her? Our bus ride was ridiculous, like seriously!
It was supposed to be nine hours, but we weren't so lucky. It was so uncomfortable and we were dying. They popped in a movie, cool the latin very dirty version of MTV. We kept asking them to turn it off, but they weren't having it so we just put in our iPods and tried to sleep. After a few hours it was time for a potty break. They definitely just pulled over to the side and let people get off (and this bus was packed with people). Thanks heavens I didn't need to go but it was hilarious to watch those that did. They had to go right next to the bus and basically everyone could see. Before people were all back on they started up the bus, they literally wait for NO ONE. Thank goodness everyone made it back on. After a few more hours we stopped again but this time no one was going to the bathroom. A few of the guys stood around staring at the bus and we eventually figured out that the bus was broken...sweet. We were stranded for 2 and a half hours. We sat outside and played scategories and watched them fix the engine with what else but tree branches. O man I couldn't believe they got the bus going again, the Africans are certainly resourcesful! When we reached the Rwandan border I really needed a bathroom the only one I could find cost 200 shillings but I had to go so it didn't really matter. (sorry for those of you reading this that don't really know me, this story was just too priceless to leave out) It was a latrine that smelled awful and was pitch black. I went in and tried to be in and out as fast as possible. I came out and Leslie went in she came out gagging. I told her to suck it up and get it over with. She opened the door to show me what she'd found.....a nice pile of deer poops on the floor. It was so dark that I totally missed the hole and went on the floor. Thank goodness I had just gone to the bathroom or I would have for sure peed my pants, I haven't laughed that hard in a good long time! After going through all the annnoying customs stuff we were back on the bus and on our way again. Richard met us at the taxi yard and those of us that had Uganda money exchanged for Rwandan Francs. I have no clue if I got ripped off or what, the money is just like monopoly money to me now with all this confusion! Rwanda is amazing and SO beautiful. I can't even begin to describe it. It was quite the step up from Uganda. People drive on the right side (left in Uganda), they have trash cans (Uganda is lined with litter and it reeks), and the landscape is to die for. Even people in our group who have been all over Europe agree that Rwanda is the most beautiful country on the planet, ahhhh I wish you could see the rolling green hill and lushness everywhere, it is unreal! As we were driving down the street it was so haunting to imagine what occurred on those very street only 14 years earlier. None of us had eaten all day so we decided to get food before we did anything else. Richard took us to a fun restaurant called Chez Lando. We were all so stoked and it smelled delicious. Then we remembered we're in Africa and service SUCKS, we waited for over 2 hours before our dinner even came and we were all SO grumpy. Dinner was okay but totally not worth the three hours we spent there. We got back and checked into our hotel, Chez Rose Hotel. There was 2 to a room and I was with Tori.
Back at home I would have hated the rooms, they were pretty rank, but here I felt like I was in a palace. I had a toilet seat (yep we for sure don't have on of those in Lugazi), hot water (amazing!) and my feet didn't hang off the end of the bed. We all slept like logs.On Sunday morning the hotel gave us a wonderful omelette and banana breakfast, great way to start the day. The took us to the Kigale Memorial Center. I seriously could write for weeks and weeks about this place, it was amazing. I have so much to tell you when I get home but I'll sum it up as best as I can. This place told us all about the genocide in 1994 there in Rwanda. As many of you know I have been so interested in learning/reading about the Jewish Holocaust since I was a young child, so this was the most amazing experience for me. We spent about 4 hours there and I will never be the same. Visiting that place was one of the moments that changes your life forever. I will never be the same again. We took some flower to one of the 14 mass graves they have (which altogether hold over 258,000 bodies).
It was so awful to see. No one was spared, Tutsi men, women and children were referred to as cockroaches and all were to be exterminated. They had so much information for us inside the center. Rooms and room dedicated to the genocide. One room was full wall to wall with photos of the victims, another had bones, another clothing, one devoted solely to the innocent children, some rooms had information, others played videos clips of survivors speaking. I'm so embarrassed how little I knew about this tragedy. I want to tell everyone at home about this. We must all become educated on the things that happen in this crazy world. It is important to never forget what happened and learn from the past so it never happens again. After that site our day was basically shot and we were all hungry so we got some dinner. We went to a buffet called Karibu. It was really inexpensive, fast and amazingly delicious (great combo!). After dinner they took us to see the Hotel Des Mille (Hotel Rwanda). 
It is such a beautiful hotel and amazing story. One of the survivors, Abias, took us around and told us his story. 
It was unbelievable and I'll have to give more details at home. He and his family lived there for two months along with 1,000 other refugees. his son was born in room 216. It was such a frightening time and they couldn't ever leave their room (in two months he only went out of the room 3 times). They even got so desperate that they had to boil the pool water to use for cooking. Ah his story was amazing. On the way back Lauren, Jackie and I rode with 2 Rwandans (Jovis and Jonathan). Their music was hilarious, we were for sure all singing Sexual Healing full blast, such good times! We were all running low on funds so we tried to find an ATM but none of them were international. I hate not having money.Monday morning we had some more breakfast and hit the road. We went to the ATM first thing and took out a bit of cash for the day. We stopped at a Rwandan craft shop and got some awesome souvenirs. Then it was off to a Rwanda history museum. That museum was a little boring, but still cool to see. We got back in the car and then it was off to one last memorial site called Murambi Memorial Site. The story of that place it SO sad. They gathered a community of 50,000 Tutsis and told them to come to this school for protection. After starving them to make them weak the Hutu rebels came to attack. The Tutsis had no protection and were so weak. In two hours all but 4 were killed (with weapons provided by the French army). They dug a mass grave and buried all of them in it, covered the grave and the following day the French army came by and played volleyball on top of the mass grave.
One year later (post genocide) the bodies were excavated and preserved. They put all the bodies in the rooms where they were slaugheted and they now stand as a memorial. We were able to go in room after room and see the bodies. 
It was so unbelievably hard to see. Some were still dressed, you could see their final expression, you could see how they were killed (some by machetes, others gunshot, other beaten to death, and other awful forms of torture). We were fortunate enough to have two survivors give us tell us their stories. 
The man was shot in the head played dead, he moved in the night until he reached Rwanda. The woman was Hutu, but married to a Tutsi. She and her child were saved because of her ID card and a soldier sick of killing. There are so many more details, but no time to share right now. Both of them lost their entire family, community and everything they have ever known. They're stories touched my heart so deeply. Family is everything in this life and I am so grateful for mine. Life is so precious, NEVER EVER take on moment for graned! That experience definitely left me tearful all day. The ride home was pretty quiet and we all tried to take in all that we had seen that day. When we got home we went to the Karibu buffet again, delicious yet again. Richard came to dinner and thanked us for coming and presented us with a movie and book about that genocide, he is so amazing and we were so lucky to have him showing us around. He made this trip unforgettable. We all were out of funds and so things got crazy trying to pay the taxi, we never found another international ATM so nobody had money. It took forever, but we finally got everything squared away and people were all indebted to each other and now we were really absolutely bone dry on funds. Everyone went to bed pretty early that night except me, Jackie and Tori. We stayed up with the night guard at our hotel and we all watched the movie we were given about the genocide. It was so sad, but very good to watch. We slept for about 3 hours and then got us at 4:30 am to get our taxi to the bus yard. The hotel people got up early just so we could eat before we left (such amazing people here in Africa).This morning our taxi was super later and so things got very hectic. We got there and our bus was driving away (and remember they wait for no one). We barely made it on (like they were on the road). After a while a man in front us had to go to the bathroom and he for sure just whipped it out and peed on the floor and that happened to go right on Ashley's foot, poor girl! I had to keep my bag on my lap that entire nine hour ride, ugh! We got to the Uganda border and found another lovely surprise.
Our visas were single entry, which means we needed $50 US dollars to get into the country and remember that none of us had ANY money. I then remembered that my OCD comes in handy, I'd put away some shillings and US cash in case of an emergency. I decided that getting across the border definitely qualified as an emergency so I whipped it out. I had no clue what money was how much or anything, I just threw it all on the countered and begged him to let me across. He was so annoyed that I gave him all different types of money but we finally figured it out. Some other people had emergency money as well and so all but 3 of us made it across. the bus was driving away and we barely got on. David, Corbin and Ashley were left and the plan was for them to take a taxi to the nearest international ATM get money and get on the next bus. I felt awful driving away and watching them fade off in the distance. It was so stressful and hectic and the ride was terrible. This time I was lucky enough to experience peeing on the side of the road for the world to see, awesome! Jackie was next to me and totally sat on a poison oaklike bush (her butt was on fire the rest of the ride). We finally got to Kampala at 5 pm. We waited an hour for our taxi and we were all starving and in the worst mood. Once it came it took us to Garden City Mall. We got some dinner and then came here to the internet. The three that got left are about 3 hours behind us so were just chillin here til they come. I can't wait to get back to my home in Lugazi, it has been the most insane day ever. We were certainly never forget our adventures in Rwanda. I'm so grateful I was able to go on the trip, I am forever changed!
1 comments:
Wow,
Sounds like one thing after another. I am surprised that mom and I were not with you, were the ones that bring on the bad luck. I am glad you made it past the border way to go!!! I can't wait to here your stories about rwanda
Love,
whit
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