Current Events and My Kigali Discoveries

This past week had some intense moments and I want to touch on them, but not make them the only focus of this post. Though I appreciate the seriousness of these occurrences, I’m basically just taking it one day at a time here and making the most of the positives. First off, I am sorry to report that there was a grenade explosion in a Kigali bus station called Nyabugogo on July 26th. From what I know, 3 people were killed and approximately 30 injured. To be honest, I am so out of the information loop here that I probably would not even have known about it if I had not received texts and emails from the Peace Corps detailing the incident and ways to stay safe when visiting the capital. Upon hearing this, I also took the initiative to sign up for travel alerts from the US Embassy in Rwanda, so although I was sad to hear this news for the victims and their families, I do not currently feel unsafe. 

Second thing to note is that there have been some incidences of violence on the Rwanda/Democratic Republic of Congo border recently. I’m not even going to get into the history of this, as it’s a complicated situation that I only loosely understand, and may try to address later in a more extensive blog post. For the moment though, you can find info about the current situation by clicking here for a CNN article I came across. Right now, I’m training in the central part of the country, and my future site, although located on the Western border, is separated from DRC by a very large lake called Kivu. These border incidents are occurring in the North Western part of the country, and not in the area where I am living or will be living later.

Lastly on the sobering news front, Peace Corps gave us the opportunity to visit the Kigali Memorial Center last weekend. In addition to a series of mass graves encased in concrete, the museum site consists of an exhibition chronicling the events surrounding the 1994 genocide. It was an intense experience to visit this memorial and to learn that there are over 250,000 people buried at this site alone. 

There was also an exhibit that discussed other genocides that have occurred throughout world history. The memorial spoke volumes about how far this country has come that they have taken such steps to educate the public and prevent this type of atrocity from happening again. That being said, I have to say that prior to coming here, it was hard for me to imagine how a country that has seen so much turmoil could get back on its feet again. I imagined Rwanda being a very serious place where lightheartedness might be hard to come by. However, I've realized that it's quite the opposite. So far, I have seen in Rwanda a sense of progress and hope that is really fantastic. Although I know there will come a time when some Rwandans close to me may begin to open up about their experiences in a way that may be difficult for me to hear, on the surface it seems that people do not let their past hold them back from promising futures. People go to work, they attend school and church, they invite friends over for dinner, and just live regular lives. And there is such a great sense of community here that people are always generous with their greetings, smiles, and in the case of children, fist pounds. So to close off this post on a lighter note, I’ll talk about the experience I had in Kigali after our visit to the memorial and the pleasant surprises I found there.

Treat #1: A trip to the annual Rwanda International Trade Fair, which showcased some of handmade crafts/goods produced across Africa, booths for local banks and phone companies, Slap Chop-esq gadget demonstrations, and more. I was especially amused to come across this Barack Obama wall tapestry. Score.

Treat #2: A double-decker cheeseburger. ‘Nuff said.

Treat #3: Discovering that there are stores in Kigali that look like the photo below. Check out the variety! I bought myself a notebook with lined paper, which is a rarity here (most notebooks in Rwanda have graph paper) and I gifted myself a pretty sweet travel mug as well. This last one is important because it seems that the concept of getting coffee or tea "to go" in this country does not exist. You have to drink your beverage where you buy it, or B.Y.O.Thermos. lol This store even sold electric tea kettles and fluffy pillows. You better believe I’m getting one of each.

And on that note, that's all for this post. Have a great weekend, folks.