You-gone-da

(This post is super long. I apologize/warn you in advance...)

Once upon a time, I boarded a chariot led by a sparkling white steed to the land of majestic Uganda, the Pearl of Africa.  The time was eight o’ clock in the morn on September the twenty-fourth when Sir Celestine of Kigali declared “Alas! The chariot doth appear!” We all boarded the chariot, and began the journey to the Nyabugogo station, where the Jaguar bus was exuding exhaust as it waited for us to check our luggage and find our small thrones.  After the chauffers checked our ports of passage and billets de bus, the next leg of our journey commenced.  When the sun was almost to the highest point in the center of the sky, we reached the border of the lands of Rwanda and Uganda.  (okay, as fun as this was, I’m stopping now because I can’t give the full details of the story by talking like this.)

So yeah, at 11:30, our bus reached the border.  We had two forms to fill out, one for the Rwanda side, and one for the Uganda side.  Coming out of Rwanda was super simple, and then we took the short walk from one gate to the other, getting our passports checked on both sides, with tons of people along the road trying to get us to exchange our money with them.  Once we were in Uganda, we gave them that paper and our passports, got fingerprinted, got our passports stamped, and then were free to get back on the bus and continue on.  At this rate, we had been on the bus for about two hours.  As we continued, we expected to be on the bus for only 6 or so more hours.  And we really hoped it would only be that many, because our bus ride was a little bit on the scary side… Our driver was quite the speed demon.  He loved driving fast, passing other vehicles, and he may have run multiple motos off the street.  Our bus was really tall, so swerving around was a bit scary, and the horn had a few settings: normal, super beep, and a long one which had the song like quality of a merry-go-round and the sound of an old car horn.  First I called it freight train that we couldn’t get off, but Mikey accurately described the bus as feeling like being on the terrifying boat ride from Willy Wonka.  But, thankfully, we finally and safely arrived in Uganda at close to 9 o’ clock Ugandan time, so 8:00 Rwandan.  Unfortunately, due to traffic and just a crazy ride and borders and everything, a supposed 8 hour trip turned into an 11 hour trip. Rough.  We got to the Catholic guest house where we were staying, grabbed some dinner there, and headed to bed, exhausted after a whole day in the bus (most of which I spent sleeping…).

Tuesday, most of the group went white water rafting on the Nile River.  As cool as that sounds- and by cool I mean terrifying because I saw the pictures after- for someone who doesn’t know how to swim, aka this girl right here, I didn’t think it would be a good idea.  So the group of the 6 of us students plus two of our leaders were joined Mama Grace’s niece Stella and her friend Bobby to bring us around Kampala, Uganda for the day.  Let me start by saying Kampala is insane.  We live in Kigali here in Rwanda, which is the capital, and it is nothing compared to Kampala, which is the capital of Uganda.  Kampala has people who sell things to you while you’re in your car stuck in traffic, which is often, and people are just everywhere, and it’s a lot dirtier than Kigali.  There are also these giant birds that are everywhereeee called Maribou Storks and they are basically their equivalent of pigeons in the state.  They perch in the trees above you and it’s incredibly terrifying.  Kat, our SLC, described them as a mix between a vulture and a velociraptor. So anyways, we headed off to two craft markets: the first was with tents in a large lawn and the second one had like 40 little booth/garage type things.  The markets were actually a lot calmer than the one we usually go to here, as people weren’t saying “Sistah, sistah,” and pulling you over to their booths.  They also had a ton of really nice craft things, and I spent a whole lotta shillings (the exchange rate from dollars to shillings is 1 dollar to 2515 shillings, so everything sounded super expensive, but it really was really cheap).  All of the things in the markets were super beautiful; I can’t wait to show everyone the things I bought! Then for lunch we headed off to a mall food court, and let me tell you, Rwanda had this food court thing figured out.  You sit down, and all the places bring you their menus, and you go through and figure out what you want, and then it’s just like a real restaurant.  It’s minimal effort, which is like the American way, so I really want this to catch on in the US…  AND THEN WE FOUND REAL OREOS IN THE SUPERMARKET THERE! And then we went out for pizza and ice cream and went to sleep.

Wednesday we were in a big group, and we did literally the same day again. So, I don’t need to write about that.  But that night we went out to a Mexican restaurant, where my food was so hot I burned the roof of my mouth and it blistered, and then we went to a traditional music and dance show.  They had dances and songs from Rwanda, Uganda, and other African countries, and there was even a bit of a comedy show thrown in when the dances were changing costumes.  The guy came up to me in the audience and asked me if I knew that I had a serious medical problem, and I said no, and he said of course, because you’re not a doctor! And then he shook his little maraca, and told me it was with my eyes, because I was wearing my glasses.   The dances were so impressive and interesting, and there was one point where three girls were balancing 6+ clay pots on their heads as they danced!  It was so incredible.  They pulled up a bunch of people from our group to dance in between their dances, and then we all went up on the stage and danced at the end (where my wrap skirt fell down- thankfully I had shorts on underneath). 

The next day, half of the group departed to their practicums in Uganda and the rest of us had another free day.  So, we did the exact same day again (at this point I was having déjà vu… same markets, same place for lunch, same walk…).  We arranged to have a taxi drive us to the market and then pick us up later, so at 3:30, we called Irene, who ran our guest house, and asked her to call our driver.  1.5 hours, 7 calls to Irene, 4 false alarms with other taxis, and about a million jokes and laughs later, Ben finally showed up.  He was stuck in traffic, and it took us forever to get home.  Unfortunately, we had strict instructions to be home by 6, and we left and got into traffic at 5, and still needed to find food.  But Ben led us through back roads and squishy trafficked roads, until we made it through and he announced “jam is finished!”  We let him know we needed food, and he stopped and ordered us Rolexes, which are capatti with egg on the inside. My first street food experience- and it was delicious. And only 2000 shillings! And then we saw cows walking down the street- #soafrica.  We got home, only a little after 6, and packed up and headed to the bus station.  We loaded up the same type of bus, where I had the unfortunate front row seat, which means my feet got stepped on and my legs got smacked as people tried to walk around me- key word tried. We left a little after 9 at night and reached the border at 4 am Uganda time/ 3 am Rwanda time.  Probably one of the sketchiest/funniest things in a while.  Don’t worry though- once someone said it seemed like a scene out of a zombie movie, we were sure to be on the lookout for them.  We got back on the bus, after the border folks checked we weren’t trying to smuggle in any plastic bags, and headed home.  We got back home at 6 am, and went right back to sleep in our beds, which was wonderful. And thus, the end of our journey!

Tomorrow, I head off with two other girls to begin my month long internship at the Center for Champions in Rwamagana, Rwanda, about 45 minutes out of Kigali.  There I will be the Evangelism Intern, but it sounds like I’ll just be helping with ton of projects they need done.  Simple version: Center for Champions is a program started for the street kids of Rwanda between the ages of 15-24 where they can live, get 3 meals a day, go to school, and be in a Christ centered environment.  I actually go to visit the center a few weeks ago for my NGO project I was doing, and I’m so excited to begin my time there.  I'll definitely be talking more about this and what is happening there in my next post. Prayers would be greatly appreciated, and I will be thinking of all of you in my prayers. Hope all is well!

The terrible Maribou Storks. I don't think you can understand
how bad they are because this doesn't show how long their
 legs are or their long gullet skin thing.
But here's one perched in a tree. 

The second craft market that we went to.. for three days... 

At the traditional dance show- The dancers balancing 5, 6, and 7
clay pots on their heads!

Mikey, Lindsay, and I at the dance show
(nice glasses Mikey...)

My first really stereotypical African picture-
Cow parade on the street while we were waiting for our street food. 

That time we got kicked off the mutatu...

Well, things have been a little slow in Africa since classes have wound down.  Slow like going to a coffee shop with couches and all falling asleep there.  On the 13th, we presented our group projects for Pastor Anastase's Peacebuilding class, which marked the end of that class.  The next time we had a class was the 21st, when we presented our NGO's for our Development class with Dwight, which was also the end of that class. So basically, school has not really been a thing for a while... (Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'm learning lots and getting good grades! :] )  So, since we've had like, a million free days in the past two weeks, we've kind of worked through all of our normal Kigali activites.  So this Saturday, Madi told everyone that she wanted to go on a hike at Mount Kigali, which was only 2 mutatu rides away.  She had very little details, but on what would otherwise be a lazy Saturday, it sounded like a great idea.  So after lunch, Madi, Aleaha, Kassi, Stephanie, Meagan, and I suited up and headed off for our hike!
Everything is always an adventure in Africa, but I really think this one might be the craziest, and yet most hilarious one we've had so far (although, there was that one time Kassi got the volleyball stuck in the tree at the Mamba club and Ross tried throwing up a water bottle to get it down until the workers took over by throwing sticks and baseball sized rocks...). We started off by going to our typical mutatu stop, where any good adventure should start, and getting on a mutatu for Nyabugogo, which is the big bus station which has mutuatus and buses that go to more places than the ones you can catch where we live.  The ride there was funny- the conductors of the buses are very competitive about getting passengers, and so when we pulled up to stop with another mutatu and there were people there, our conductor and the other one had quite the competition.  We didn't end up getting the passengers on our bus, because the other conductor slammed our door shut as he led the people to his bus.  It was a great bonding moment as the whole bus laughed at the situation. When we got to the station, all we knew is that we wanted to catch a mutatu to Nyamirambo, and as we looked around, we quickly realize that it wouldn't at all be easy to find that bus in the giant mass of buses and people.  Thankfully, a man came up to us asking where we wanted to go, led us right to the mutatu we wanted (which we would have neverrrr found), and shook our hands and wished us a good journey.  Thus begins our second mutatu ride.  The rough thing about this one was that we didn't exactly know where we were going... our plan was to get off after the mosque and stadium, but we never really saw those.  So we were driving and driving and eventually all the other passengers got off and it was just the 6 of us.  The guys seemed very confused by us, so I tried "We want to go to Mount Kigali" to which I got "I don't speak any english." Darn.  A few minutes later they pulled over and kicked us out, even though Kassi tried "NO, just a little more, we want to go there!" while pointing to a mosque ahead, but alas, they kicked us off. But hey, we rode a long ways for our 200 francs!
This is where our journey begins on foot.  We walked towards the mosque, and then saw three roads we could follow. Problem.  Thankfully, we found this guy that spoke English, and headed the way he pointed us. Eventually we were getting nowhere, so we started on a "path" through this little neighborhood and around houses.  The houses are so close together and we didn't know where to go at paths kept ending, and so we were joking about ending up in someone's kitchen awkwardly.  Then we got pointed to a real road, walked uphill for like 20 minutes, and then decided to go up another neighborhood towards a mountain.  People were coming out to see us (including a man without a shirt yelling yaway! which the children thought was hilarious) and when they realized we were extremely aimless, they started leading us up paths.  I was surprised throughout the entire day with how helpful everyone was.  Whenever we looked a little lost, or just a little white, people were more than willing to go out of their way to help us.  I feel like that's not really something you find back home.  Eventually we picked up a few kids, who asked if we wanted to go to the forest, to which we responded YES, and they led us there.  On the walk, we ended up attracting at least 20 African children and one small African puppy. They led us up this straight up path of dirt and rocks, which was so exhausting.  The little kids were like running laps around us- climbing trees while we rested and doing the hike in bare feet or rubber flip flops.  At one point, Kassi and I were so tired and held out our hands and said HELP! and two boys pulled us up a bit of the walk.  Again, so helpful- and a nice tow truck!  The views were beautiful- I obviously attached pictures at the bottom. After two hours of walking, we finally made it to a dirt road and started heading back into neighborhoods.  We found the stadium, quickly grabbed a mutatu to the bus station, and a nice man there helped us find our Kimironko mutatu.  We got home to a delicious meal by Aidah after a long day of walking, speaking three languages, waving to and shaking hands with adorable children saying "Muzungu! Muzungu, how are you?," riding mutatus, spending only 750 francs, and seeing even more of beautiful Rwanda.  Another great adventure here.
Tomorrow morning we're off to visit Uganda for a few days! Can't wait- I'm sure you'll all hear about it friday in a new blog post! Here's some pictures:

I took this one of the five other girls plus our little pack of
children at the very beginning of our hike up.

Views of beautiful Rwanda from the mountain.

So many houses!

View from the "top"

The six of us at the top plus some of our "tour guides" taken
 by one of the children.

Cameras are restrictive- Languages are not

This weekend we went off to Lake Kivu in Kibuye, Rwanda.  We started by taking a 3 hour bus ride there. Mmm, was that nice.  Going down super windy Rwandan roads at 60 miles per hour with Rwandans sleeping on your shoulders and then ending up completely nauseous- that is the life let me tell you! But we got to our hotel- Hotel Golf- and found some definite positives and negatives.  Positives: beautiful view, right across the street from the beach, pretty good food.  Negatives: Sink and shower in our room didn’t work. Water is not a guarantee apparently.  The first day, I walked around with some girls and took some pictures, then we had dinner, and I played Dutch Blitz with Kim, Lindsay, and Ross.  Two Rwandan guys came up to us and asked how to play, and so we ended up trying to teach them how to play, which was really funny, and then they taught us how to play some version of poker. I really had absolutely no idea what I was playing, but I know that we won once and I got a lot of high fives for putting 7’s down, which are apparently higher than aces in their game…

Saturday, we woke up, had breakfast, and boarded two boats to go off to an island to hike.  This island has tons, and I mean TONS, of bats on it.  The sky was just full of them flying around, it was absolutely insane! We started off under them, and as we hiked up the mountain we ended up on their level, and then above them.  They were so loud and really cool.  When we got to the top of the mountain, it was absolutely incredible.  I took a boat load of pictures, but you can’t even begin to capture how beautiful it is with a camera.  I ended up feeling really frustrated because I couldn’t do the view justice, but I really wanted to capture it for everyone to see later.  Our teacher from our peacebuilding class, Pastor Anastase, organized the weekend for us and came along, and he hiked up the mountain in dress pants and dress shoes.  He’s such a great guy.  Then we came down the other side, and there was pretty much no path at all.  We were like puling branches aside, ducking under bushes, and fighting off trees to get back to our boats.  Lots of pulled haired and bumped shins, but I made it out alive!  We then boarded the boats and headed back.  On the way back, a piece of paper flew out of our boat and into the water.  Our  boat circled it a few times, tried to move closer to it, and then before we knew it, our driver was pulling off his pants and belly-flopping into the water to get the paper.  He swam pretty far out, but didn’t appear to come back with a paper, which was sad.  The other boat said their driver thought it might have been his permit to drive, which would be super unfortunate.  It was a strange moment in my life.

Then we got back and had some lunch and decided to play volleyball.  Pastor Anastase showed us to this sand court which had no one around, but by the time we were done playing, there were a ton of children running around, lots of people watching, and a bunch of Rwandans playing volleyball with us! It was so much fun, and it was really great to play alongside some Rwandans- even though we didn’t speak the same language, hand gestures, high fives, and laughter goes a long way (as cheesy as that sounds).   It was really cool to have something to be able to connect with them on, since we couldn’t connect through our words.  Pastor Anastase came along to play too, still in his dress pants and shoes, and was one of the best ones there.  That man never disappoints.  Then a bunch of us went to swim in the lake before heading up to dinner.  I got over my fear of jumping into lakes after jumping in at camp and getting a nasty bump/scrape on my leg, and it was probably the cleanest, and definitely biggest, lake I’ve ever seen.

Sunday we woke up and headed off, 23 in a mutatu, to church! There’s a beautiful custom here in Rwanda to share songs with your visitors.  You sing them one or two, and it’s expected that they will sing you one or two back.  I think it’s absolutely beautiful, and so joyful as well.  When we got to church, both the children’s choir (so precious.) and the adult choir sang us a few songs each.  Since pastor is fluent in English and Kinyarwanda, he would tell us what the songs were about after.  It was really awesome to just enjoy the beauty and joy of the music first, and then hear what the message of the songs were, about following God and the promises He’s made to us.  We sang “I’ll Fly Away” and “There’s no one like Jesus.” They also did introductions of all the visitors in the church, including us, which was really personable and cool.   Then the pastor began his sermon, and Pastor Anastase translated for us.  There were so many adorable children wandering around and coming over to where we were sitting, which was a bit distracting, but I still got most of the message! Then we left, had some lunch, and headed on home.  But before we left the restaurant, that owner gave us a friendship basket full of fruits as a sign of the gratitude for the love they felt that we showed them over the weekend.  It was really touching and just showed the amazing character of the people here. 

Well, hope you enjoyed my weekend in Kibuye, because I sure did! Here’s some pictures- there's a ton- it's impossible to pic just a few!

This is the view from our hotel when it finally
cleared up the last day. So beautiful. The dock
at the bottom is where we swam.

The boat we took parked at bat island.

\

From the boat ride to the island- I think it's beautiful that you
can see the different layers of hills as different shades.

Sky full of bats! Insane.

Walking up the mountain- still with the bats...

At the top! Ahh, so beautiful.

Most of the group, plus our fantastic Student Life
Coordinators, and the wonderful Pastor Anastase at the
top of the mountain.

                                     

View of some islands and hills from the top

Another view

Hills on the boat ride back

WOO! Excited to be in Africa and on the top of a mountain!
Thanks to Kat for this picture!

Azizi Life!

So this past Saturday I had one of the most amazing days of my life.  Our group participated in a program called Azizi life, which is basically a day in the life of a Rwandan woman.  The women host you for a day and show you their lives, and then you can support their craft by purchasing their handiwork in the Azizi office.  (To learn more! Visit http://azizilife.com/) We left the house at 7 and drove an hour to the Azizi office.  The drive was absolutely beautiful.  I never will get sick of the rolling hills of Rwanda, and driving through them for an hour was breathtaking.  Once we arrived at the office, we had a quick meeting and then drove ten minutes to the community we would be in for the day.  When we arrived, we were greeted by wonderfully welcoming women and tons of little children.  We split into groups of five, each accompanied by a translator, and met the women we would be with for the day.  The first thing we did was get all suited up in our head wraps and skirt coverings.  Limited range of motion, not too comfortable, not too cute.  Then, we got our hoes and went out to cultivate their land.  On the way, our translator Janine saw a snake in the path and attacked it with her hoe into many tiny pieces.  RIP little green snake, you showed bravery in the face of much violence.  They asked us if we had cultivated before, because apparently we were doing well, and I think it was strange for them when we all replied that it was our first time.  It was really funny because we had the water bottles put half way up the hill and were using them as motivation to hoe all the way up the hill.  After that, we cut grass to feed to their three cows, which was a lot of fun actually.  They looked like little captain hook hands that you just sawed the grass with.  Then we made little hat things out of banana leaves, tied our grass piles up with some sort of plant, and carried them on our heads back to the house.  They make it look so easy, but since we’re not seasoned pros yet, we had to use a hand to stabilize our grass bundles.  Then we went with them to fetch water.  The walk was a lot farther than I was expecting, and they have to do it multiple times a day when they do laundry.  We each took a small canister and filled it up, and then hiked back up hill with it. Once we got back to the house, we shucked bean pods, and talked to the women through our translator about families, life in general, and growing food.  It was really interesting to see cultural differences.  For example, they asked us how many siblings we had and we ranged from 1-3, and when we asked them, they ranged from 7-11.  Then we shared lunch with them of cassava root, beans, and a huge plate of at least 15 avocados.  Lots of food, and we ate it with our hands!  Something that I really admired was that it was all food they grew.  They grow the cassava root and beans, and they have a giant avocado tree outside their house.  They were also really surprised to find out that while we grow a lot of corn near where we live, we eat way more than just that- whereas they only really eat those foods that they grow.  So many beans and avocados.  I finished my half of an avocado, and was promptly handed another half. It was tough getting it down, but they were so giving. Then after lunch we got back together as a large group and were taught how to weave necklaces.  It was the coolest process ever! They cut this stalk of a plant, peel off the outside layers until they have primarily the fibers of the plant, then they scrape off the rest of the greenness of the plant until they have the white fibers left.  Then they dye them, and use them to make jewelry.  We got in small groups and made pendants, which was such a blast.  (My teacher said it looked like it wasn’t my first time doing it. BOOYAH.)  Although we couldn't understand what our teachers were saying, it's really cool to see how far gestures, smiles, and laughs go.  We then got ready to go, but not before playing with the kids and having a dance celebration with the women of the community.  They sang songs and danced and smiled, and pulled us into the circle to dance with them.  They were so loving and made you feel like a dear friend, plus it was tons of fun.  There, we got the chance to buy some of the crafts and goods that the artisans make from all different communities, which was awesome to know who made them and that we’re supporting them.  It was an amazing day of learning about another culture and what their everyday life looks like.  They were so warm and compassionate, and a lot of fun as well.  Such a wonderful day in Africa. Here's some pictures I took plus the first one and the last three from Cosette and Emmie because my camera died (Thanks!). I might add more pictures later, but these give you a pretty good idea of the day!

Right when we arrived-the cutest little girl
 ever and me.  Best laugh and tons of fun.

Views from the walk to the house.  So beautiful, I can't
do it justice.

We made it to the house!

Angelique, one of our hosts, and her father tying beans
together to hang up and dry.

My group for the day-
Mikey, Lindsay, and Kim (plus Mitch)

Just casually cultivating Rwandan land...

Learning how to weave with my teacher.

A group of us with some of the kids! So precious and fun.

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

One of my favorite lines from a worship song lies in Hillsong’s Hosanna, and reads “Break my heart for what breaks Yours.”  It’s a line that I’ve spent much time thinking about ever since I’ve first heard it.  It’s about asking God to break our heart to see the pain of His people, the rest of the body of Christ, our brothers and sisters.  And sitting here much later from the time that I first heard this line, I feel broken hearted for God’s people.  Let me explain…

            As I said before, I was a camp counselor this summer.  I readied myself for long days with little rest and tough chats with campers.  Looking back, I had no idea what was in store for me.  Having 4 weeks of cabin camps with late middle school/high school age campers, I had some amazing, yet heartbreaking, conversations.  I began to see a glimpse into the pain that many of God’s children deal with daily.  At times, it was really tough.  I remember crying to a friend one weekend saying I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders from just hearing about so much pain and confusion.  I had to constantly remind myself that it wasn’t about me and that God is greater than any and all of our pain and problems.  Little did I know this was just the beginning of the process of God breaking my heart for what is breaking His.

            Right now, I’m studying in Rwanda- a land rich in beauty, but a land plagued by pain.  As I’m sure many of you are aware, in 1994 Rwanda went through a devastating genocide.   Millions of people died, and many watched as their families died in front of them.  Through our peace building class, we had the opportunity to visit 3 different memorials, and it was one of the toughest things to see.  It’s hard to walk through the streets of Kigali where we live knowing that this happened on this very soil 18 years ago.  It’s heartbreaking to look at everyone over the age of 18 and know that they had to have been affected in some way by the genocide.  It’s something that everyone in our group has been wrestling with, and wresting God with.  And out of it, I have such a broken heart for the pain of the people here.

            Rwanda is also a place of great poverty and hunger.  Here at our house, we have a bible study focused around poverty in our world, and in Rwanda, and with it we have small groups.  This past week, the reading talked about spiritual disciplines and what you can learn from them, such as fasting, watching, living in solitude, living simply, etc.  My group decided we would spend the week fasting from lunch and spending that time praying and talking together, in order to begin to try to understand more deeply hunger in this world.  As I’m sure you can guess, God used this opportunity and my vulnerability to break my heart for those who go hungry.  It was hard to get a real view of hunger, because we knew when our next meal would be coming, but I still had my eyes opened to so much.  For example, the meaning of the words “hunger” or “starvation.”  When I was skipping lunch my stomach was growling and I wanted to say I was hungry, but I really thought about that word.  How often in my life have I been waiting for dinner after lunch and said, “I’m so hungry!” or “I’m starving!”?  When it’s been 6 hours since your last meal, you’re not hungry.  We expect food, and that’s why we get “hungry”, and some people have no idea when their next meal is coming.  I also learned about how much God can fill us when we’re hungry for Him.  There’s a deep hunger that resides in all of us, and it’s something that only God can fill.  We need to search for Him, and He will provide.  Yet, some people don’t know Him, and don’t know His power, which should break our hearts.  So I felt so much for people who are spiritually or physically hungry, and also was able to see just how blessed we are, and that we don’t deserve it even in the least. 

            Pain is hard, but God is good.  If we’re not open to learning about and feeling the pain of God’s people, our brothers and sisters, we are spiritually dead.  You don’t need to come to Rwanda to learn about hunger and pain, although it’s sure helping me.  Just be awake and aware to what God wants to teach, and be hungry for His power and might.  And don’t be afraid for Him to break your heart for what is constantly breaking His.

Week Two!

End of week 2 in Rwanda! It’s crazy that tomorrow we’ll have been here for two weeks.  Sometimes it feels like we just got here, and other times it feels like we’ve been here forever.  Saturday and Monday of this past week, we visited some genocide memorials, which was really tough.  Saturday we went to a place in Kigali which was more of a museum telling about the genocide and then also mass graves.  Monday we visited two churches which were actual places where many people died.  The churches were filled with clothing from victims and you could see bullet holes and big holes in the walls from grenades.  The second church we went to had 45,000 people buried in the mass graves, and you could go down and see them.  It was very terrible to see and extremely emotional for our group, but truly necessary to greater understand Rwanda as a whole.

Last Sunday, a few of us took taxi’s (my first taxi ride ever!) to a sports club in Kigali to play Ultimate Frisbee.  There’s this team that plays Sunday afternoons and two mornings a week, so we joined their practice.  It was a really fun mix of natives, muzungus from America, some French and English, and probably others that I didn’t mention.  We played three games, and it was a load of fun.  Then this past week I went to the market, ran at the track and played Frisbee at the stadium with Lindsay, played outside our house in the thunderstorm with some girls, played a lot of Dutch Blitz, Speed Solitaire, and Skip Bo, did some homework, and hosted a quiz night with my friend Kim with a mandatory participation policy for the group. Last night we set up a sheet and a projector and had our first movie night- The Lion King!  So Africa.

For my development class we’re taking here, we have to interview NGO’s in Africa and see if they’re doing what they say they’re doing and if development is taking place.  So Friday, Chelsea and I headed to African Evangelical Enterprise for our interview.  BUT, it wasn’t really as easy as we thought it’d be, and we had quite the traditional African Experience.  We didn’t know where we were going, so Mitch, one of our student life coordinators, came with us.  Originally we were supposed to call the man we were interviewing with and he was going to tell our taxi driver where to go, but then we found out that he was at a bank right near our house.  So we walked to the bank, couldn’t find him, called him, and found out we were at the wrong bank.  So we walked to the bank and found him, and he told us we could go wait in his car while he finished up his banking.  The three of us got in the car, and everyone happened to notice three muzungus were sitting in a car.  So first two beggars came to the window, which was really sad, and then this guy tried to sell us a necklace from the window.  The guy kept saying “It’s nice!” and Mitch just responded through the window “I really doubt that’s gold.” Then this guy that worked at the bank came to the window with a huge gun and was like “You need to move your car, the bank car needs to park here” and we were like “ooh, this isn’t our car, we’re just sitting in it.”  All around hilarious.  So then our friend showed up and drove us to our interview, which was really interesting.  They do a ton of work in the community with outreach and he was all about empowering the community, opening their eyes, and showing them that they are able.  He said that they give them knowledge and not money, because that’s the way to combat poverty, which I really thought was important and inspirational.  Then we went to leave and were going to grab a taxi, but someone happened to be leaving their office compound, so we jumped in the car and they dropped us off near our house.  An interesting day for sure.

This morning we took a taxi to African Bagel Company for some breakfast and hanging out (our taxi kept stalling and he had to turn the car off and on while driving 3 times... an interesting drive...).  The food is delicious, and its like muzungu headquarters, which is a strange change of pace to what we’re used to.  It’s nice to get out and about and adventures are a great time.  So hope everyone is doing well! Talk at you soon!

This is a shot I took last week from our road that I just absolutely love.
Such a beautiful view!

This one and the next two were all taken on the way to
the memorials.

This is a picture from ABC Bagels- you can really see both
what a cool place it is with its outdoor seating in the lawn
and also how many white people were there!

Chelsey, Andrea, Meagan (girls from our program who I took
the taxi adventure with) and me outside ABC Bagels. (I look
like a fool in my sunglasses. Oh well, still a cute picture I think)

Got this from Kassi's blog (Thanks Kassi!) of her, Lindsay,
Kim, and I playing outside in the thunderstorm.  I'm
obviously rocking the double thumbs up.