Africa

Day 2

We began the day by getting up early (or what we thought was 6:00am). Something, we forgot to do when arriving in Rwanda, was to change our watches. It was one hour behind. So instead of getting up at 6:00am RWANDAN time, we got up at 5:00am. We had met a lovely Irish couple the night before and we had invited them along to tour the city of Bature and the Genocide Memorial in Gikongoro. We got up at 5:00am (haha) and we're privileged enough to capture a picture of the sunrise. :) Amazing!!! The day was a full one, with 5 hours of travel (in local transportation-i.e. matatus and buses) both ways, but totally worth the trip.

Our sleepy yet cheery (?) morning smiles

We had the privilege of walking with local townspeople on our way to the Gikongoro Memorial. The old man in the purple jacket tried his best to communicate to us in his broken English. It was priceless.

We also were greeted by 10-15 village kids begging us for money or to take a photo of them. This little guy just liked holding my hand....;)

Upon arrival at the Memorial, we entered the location and I could sense a sort of erieness and haunting feeling. The memorial has 8 rooms full of chalked bodies and bones for you to walk in and see. It's probably one of the most horrible things I have ever experienced. The smell was something that I can't even begin to describe. This past summer I watched a documentary about a Canadian Triage doctor who was in Rwanda during the genocide. And he had visited this memorial when the documentary was made. I was grateful I saw it, but it will not be a place I will revisit.

Later on in the day, after eating some lunch in the center of Bature, we head off to the National Musuem of Rwandan History. We found some pretty interesting exhibitions there including an entire section on the "making of the loincloth" to the national and tribal traditions in Rwandan history.