back from rwanda...sweating in uganda

so... long story short. rwanda was super. it started out bumpy, bumpy; figuratively and literally: the 10 hour long bus ride was rough and not speaking french was tough and trying to find an affordable hotel was complex. when we crossed the border from uganda to rwanda at 7 am it was so cold we could see our breath. it was misty and cloudy and you could just make out the green hills and valleys. it was kind of like home. we arrived in kigali, attempted french, and took very safe, very fast pikis (with helmets) we ended up in remera a little ways out of the city center. (kigali pronounced chigari is very spread out) we found a lovely place called hotel tech with a very helpful manager, pascal, who helped us iron out all of our transitional wrinkles. we made friends with some teachers down the street (who happened to be ugandan) who were preparing for the start of the new school year. they happily assisted us as well. we found the ORTPN (some acronym for the tourist information) and signed up for the city bus tour and found directions to see some churches where genocide had happened.

the genocide memorial was everything I thought it would be and more. i was very impressed by the way the museum was set up. The ambiance and metaphor in the physical space added to the emotional impact of the facts and stories presented. We learned that the genocide museum was built on one of the largest mass graves in the city, which continues to grow as people come forward to admit that they killed people in 1994 or after and want the bodies exhumed and buried properly. The museum continues to document the genocide and attempt to identify victims.

one of the stops on the tour is at camp kigali in the city center where 10 belgium officers in the un army were killed by rebels early in the genocide. the cement block building was left as is and has many many bullet and grenade holes throughout. the front room documents other genocides that have taken place in modern history. I was suprised to see
North America
1492- ...
14 million killed

and

South America
1500- ...
15 million killed.

I was never taught in school that the formation of our country resulted in an ongoing genocide. Yay Beligians for pointing out the little known obvious. Of course, later in the day, we learned that the early colonial Belgians started the racial taxonomy of Hutu being short, dark-skinned people with wide noses and Tutsi people being tall, light-skinned people with long noses with the churchs' support and promotion of propaganda over the next hundred years forcing vague physical appearance into motivation for massacre. I guess the moral of the story that I took away is that there were no clear good guys and bad guys and bad things happen when we all let them happen. Its no one's fault and every one's fault.

Back in Uganda...things are hot and dry and prices are going up at the market. I am happy to be back at the mzungu mansion; unhappy to be sweating so much again after cool, cool Rwanda. We went dancing again last night with the Acholi ladies. Foot stomping in the dust is so much fun. Somehow being surrounded by 50 laughing Africans of all ages, and knowing they are laughing at you is very funny when you are attempting booty-shaking line dancing.
I went to teach the boys again this morning. I missed them last week. They just get cuter and cuter as time passes. They had their interviews for school and were accepted into grade levels. Just three more weeks and they'll be going to school. I hope to visit some ladies I haven't gotten to visit this week. I think some Walukuba time is in order.

I hope you are all well and having fun in your respective lives. I'm going to go swimming at Jinja Nile Resort, its like Mexico without the Mexicans: expensive food that isn't so good, but the pool is really clean.

have fun.