Originally posted: 18 Aug, 2017
After Kenya and Uganda we crossed the border into Rwanda. Crossing the border was an interesting experience as Rwanda has banned plastic bags since 2008. Our guide told us earlier in the trip that we either needed to throw out all our plastic bags or conceal them for the duration of our stay in Rwanda. If one plastic bag was found then the whole truck and all our luggage would be searched.
After getting out of Uganda and stamped into Rwanda we all had to pull our hand luggage off the truck to be searched. Once it was searched a plain clothes policeman came on the truck and walked up and down the aisles looking at our seats and the shelves. Afterwards he asked for our lockers to be opened one by one so he could check the luggage. After 6 lockers were opened he decided all was okay and he left the truck – phew!
We continued on our way and I noticed the change immediately from Uganda to Rwanda. The streets were CLEAN! Hardly any litter anywhere! So far throughout Kenya and Uganda it has been constant rubbish all over the streets. This is in part because as well as the plastic bag ban the president has also made the last Monday of each month a Clean Up Day. Everyone is expected to go out to the streets and pick up litter, quite incredible really!
Shortly after passing the border we got to the Genocide Museum, we only had an hour at the museum which was hardly enough time!
The genocide was a horrible part of the Rwandan history and the museum gave a fantastic overview of what had happened. Unfortunately due to the lack of time I had to skip some parts, but I’ve already decided that I am coming back to Rwanda so when I do I’ll be sure to come back to the museum.
The roots of the genocide began when the Germans colonised Rwanda. When they arrived they created a class system between the local people despite them having previously lived in harmony. The three groups that were separated were the Tutsis, Hutus and Twas. The Tutsis made up the elite 10% of the population (measured by if you owned more than 10 cows), the Hutus were the majority of the population (owned less than 10 cows) and the remaining Twas were only 1-2% of the population (not much was said about the Twas so I don’t know much else about them).
As time went on it wasn’t just the wealth that separated the Tutsis and the Hutus it was things like what jobs they could have and even physical appearance such as the shape of their nose. The Tutsis ended up being in a powerful position while the Hutus were oppressed. As time went on the Hutu Power Movement started to emerge, and part of that was the fight against their oppression. Plans began to be formed to take “revenge” on the Tutsis which essentially was the foundations of the genocide. The President was out of the country when things were reaching their peak and he announced he was flying back to Rwanda with the President of Benin to defuse the situation.
On April 6, 1994 the plane carrying the president was shot down, an hour later the genocide had started. Hutu’s were given the instruction to kill all Tutsis, whether they were family, friend or neighbour. They were told to do it in a way that would cause the most pain so majority of the deaths were caused by machetes, hammers and blunt objects.
There were a few videos throughout the museum that gave survivors testimonies of what they experienced. A lot of them had seen their families murdered in front of them by people they had known their whole life. There was one boy who had watched his godfather who was a Hutu kill his brother and sister. By the time the genocide was over, 100 days later, an estimated 1 million people had been killed.
There was a section that spoke about the lack of international and UN intervention, despite constant cries for help. There were promises of aid that were never followed through. In the end it was the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by the current president Paul Kagame, who came in and stopped the genocide. At this stage I had run out of time and had to race out of the exhibit so I’ll need to do some reading on the topic.
I was able to have a quick look at some other parts of the exhibit, there was a room that had details about child victims, a room with hundreds of photographs of victims, a room filled with bones and clothes of the dead, as well as that there was another area that had information on other genocides in the world (Holocaust etc). I had a quick look outside at the wall of names, still under construction and the mass graves.
We had been told we had to be back on the truck at 11:15am so I rushed the last part of the museum. I was trying to find the group and headed towards the café where my guide, driver and cook were sitting. They were finishing a meal and I asked how much time we had and they said 15 minutes. Asked at the counter how long guacamole would take to make and they said 5 minutes, yes!
Ordered a fresh pineapple juice and guacamole and called home on the WiFi. The guacamole came out, sooooo delicious! I smashed it down, checked the time and had 2 minutes to get back to the truck. Legged it to the truck and saw our driver waiting for me to get on, when I got on the truck I noticed that people seemed a bit angry, I decided it probably wasn’t the best time to mention the amazing guacamole I had just ate.
I found out later that there had been confusion with the time to be back on the truck. Some people had got back exactly at an hour and were upset that they didn’t get more time at the museum, others showed up 30 minutes later who had lost track of time, apparently people were yelling at each other and a lot of people got upset.
Then you had me running to get back on time (well apparently half an hour late oops), full stomach, loving the guacamole life, happy to speak to the family! I have no idea what happened with the time situation and I wasn’t going to let it upset me! Spent the next 2 hours driving to Kigali sticking my head out the window waving at kids on the side of the road and taking pictures of the scenery!
We pulled into town at about 3pm, across the road from our accommodation was a stadium which our guide said was a political rally and it would be safe to check out but just keep a distance. Eli, Megan and I walked over to the stadium, as we got closer we noticed there was a choir and singing and dancing. Not what I would expect of a political rally?
We were approached by a guy who works for the bike tour company that Intrepid uses, he told us it wasn’t a political rally but a Sunday church session! Him and another guy kept telling us to come join in, we kept declining and said we didn’t want to interrupt. Three others from our group showed up and we decided to go sit down for a while. The guide cleared a spot on the benches right near the front and for the next two hours we joined in! Such an amazing experience!! Apparently every so often a group of churches get together for a big Sunday service as a part of rebuilding and moving forward from the Genocide. We saw three different choir groups, one from the city we were in, one from Congo and another I can’t remember where from.
The music was amazing, the crowd was singing the whole time and getting up and dancing every now and then. We ended up with about 20 kids sitting all around us, and when I pulled out my phone to take photos of the choir I ended up spending the next 30 minutes taking selfies with the kids who were fascinated by the screen! I had kids stroking my hair, two girls bickering over who would sit next to me, and a little cutie next to Megan that wanted to wear her sunglasses.
After an hour of being there a woman came up to tell her story, the guide gave a very brief summary which was essentially that she had been a prostitute and an alcoholic, and after years of problems she had been reborn and found God, all I understood throughout her speech was the odd Hallelujah from the crowd.
We left at about 5pm with our ears ringing! One of those amazing spontaneous experiences you can have overseas. It was a nice way to end the day after the genocide museum, the rest of the night I was on such a high.
Great way to spend the evening before the Gorilla Trek!
