Kigali Update

So I haven’t blogged in a couple of days and I figured I should fill you all in about the past few days in Kigali! This weekend was pretty relaxing with some cool trips downtown to Bourbon Café (think Starbucks does Rwanda), one of the local fabric markets, and an artisan village right outside the city where I managed to pick up some cool things (I am hopping that I’m going to be able to fit everything in my suitcase…wishful thinking at its finest). On the way back from the village, we were spotted by about five or six naked Rwandan kids who had been swimming in a little stream nearby. They threw on their clothes and came sprinting after us yelling “Muzungu! Muzungu!”, an endearing term for white people that seems to be thrown about whenever we're walking around Kigali. We made it back into the city where we grabbed lunch at this little café downtown that has an unbelievable avocado, ham, and chili mayonnaise sandwich…its absolutely ridiculous.

Yesterday was another amazing day! In our morning class we discussed the feasibility and ramifications of international intervention in instances of genocide. Unfortunately, history tells us that genocide is typically abhorred only after the fact and that practically nothing is ever done to prevent genocides or shorten their duration and/or impact. Therefore, it seems absolutely necessary that the international community dedicates itself to actively preventing genocide and, when genocide does in fact break out, using all means necessary to bring it to an immediate end…it is our moral (and perhaps legal) obligation to do so. Interestingly, our afternoon class, taught by a Rwandan professor, was about the international response, or lack thereof, in Rwanda specifically…it is absolutely appalling that the international community new so much yet did absolutely nothing to prevent or stop the massacres.

After class, a bunch of us decided to head down to an orphanage/school to play some basketball and soccer with some Rwandans we had met around our guesthouse. We obviously got there during recess because there were a ton of 2nd graders hanging around. We ended up teaching them how to play Frisbee and they taught us some little Rwandan foot dance/game (I’m bringing it back to the States…its gonna be the new thing). It was so awesome just playing with these kids (all of whom were orphans) and talking with them about Rwanda, sports, and school. We ended our night at a little local bar/restaurant that is right down the road from our guesthouse. I got two delicious goat kabobs, a fried potato, and two beers for less than three dollars…not a bad deal in my book.

So, overall, I’m loving Kigali. The people here are amazing, the food is delicious, and I’m still amazed at how beautiful this city is. That being said, being here is tough sometimes. There are so many daily reminders of the atrocities that occurred here in 1994. There are the bullet holes that still pockmark the Rwandan Parliament. There are Rwandans without hands, arms, or legs. And, maybe worst of all, every day brings a new horror story about the genocide. And yet while I find it so difficult to watch and listen to it all, I can’t even begin to comprehend what it would be like to live it.

-Luke