Orientation

It was so fantastic to get such a thorough introduction into the country, the culture, the language and the people we’d be working with. Our two supervisors, Claire and Willy are by far two of the most kind people we've ever had the privilege of meeting. Claire repeatedly told us that she ‘wants us to feel no stress’ while we’re here and that our hearts were so valuable to them. She gave us all sorts of tips on spending money, how to spend it, how much to expect to spend, etc, as well as instructions on what to do when we're not feeling well, how to get around and what to visit.

Claire gave us a one hundred year history of Rwanda leading up to the genocide and forward. We later learned that she had lost some of her family and she had been on the run on her own for a very long time before coming back to the country. I cannot explain in words how inspiring it is to hear her story and then realize that a she has come back and her job is to make this country a better place and manage the volunteers that come here to help.

We went to lunch at this wonderful hotel restaurant, Chez Lando. It’s our main geographical marker here in our neighborhood - the taxis can find it! The food. The food was amazing. We both got mango juice with some weird delicious cinnamon aftertaste. I had chips (fries), and a chicken kabob which came with so much meat I could only finish one of them! One of the girls had a fruit salad that I can only describe as being touched by God. We learned about an amazing little fruit called the ‘tree tomato.’ It looks a bit like a plum with a shiny red peel.

The next part of our visit was the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Since we chose to come here and learn what there was to learn, we don't feel it's fair to subject everyone to what are definitely disturbing descriptions of violence. If you'd like to read about our visit to the museum, you can read on, but if not, skip the next few paragraphs. The experience was incredibly moving for us, but this is a country that was ripped to pieces not long ago. Everyone here over the age of 2 can remember what happened - it's going to be an unavoidable part of our time here. What we saw in the museum was sometimes very graphic, sometimes very disturbing and always, incredibly sad. If you feel touched to do so, the museum takes donations online (http://www.kigalimemorialcentre.org/old/helping/index.html).

The museum is staffed by survivors of the genocide and contains about 300,000 bodies of genocide victims who were given a proper burial at the memorial. For many families, this was the only peace they were able to get after the tragic deaths of their family members – a proper, Christian burial. One of the most touching parts of the museum was the children’s section. Full disclosure – I thought it was of child survivors of the genocide so I walked in with a big smile on my face, looking at the beautiful pictures of children; the first plaque I read said this:

Name: David

Age: 10

Favorite Food: Milk & Cookies

Last Words: “Mama, UNAMIR will come for us”

Cause of Death: Tortured to death.

Then this:

Two Sisters

Ages: 6 & 7

Cause of Death: Killed by a grenade thrown in their shower.

Then:

Name: Thierry

Age: 9 months

Cause of Death: Hacked apart by a machete in his mother’s arms.

I cannot explain how impacted I was by this. There were almost 30 children’s profiles in this section of the museum. To us, the death and mayhem that occurred in the city we’re living in now seems incomprehensible. The thriving city we live in with smiling people, shouts of “Muzungu, Muzungu!” (that means white person-more on that in a moment) and the kindness we’ve experienced – just didn’t seem to reconcile with what happened here so long ago. In Kigali, the genocidaires were given thousands of names of Tutsis and at a predetermined time, they were to begin killing all Tutsis on the lists with the goal of killing 1,000 every 20 minutes. Much like the Nazis, the brains behind the Rwandan genocide had plans and strategies and ravaged a population. I was – I cannot come up with another word, so I apologize if this is too strong – appalled at the stories of some of the church leaders who invited Tutsis into the churches saying they would be safe, and then surrendering all of them to the genocidaires to be killed. But then, as I turned the corner, I saw the stories of many who hid Tutsis in their home to protect them. My favorite story was of a woman who was known as the ‘town crazy lady’ came to the door as the mob approached and acted like the crazy lady they all thought her to be and scared them all away! I thought about how heroic all these people were and how such small actions made the difference in the lives of millions.

We took a walk in the beautiful gardens outside where the bodies of the genocide victims were finally laid to rest and chilled a little. It was a lot to take in.

After that we went downtown to the UTC (United Trade Center) to exchange money and buy Rwandan cell phones. Muzunga, as we mentioned, means white person. People here aren't saying it to be rude or mean - it's like they're excited to have correctly identified you. They say it the same way you would say "Giraffe! Giraffe!" if one were to walk down the street. The guy who sold us our phones was great - he accidentally called the cheap phone the Muzunga phone, because its white, and we each bought one. We're going back to practice English with him, and he's going to help us work on our Kinyarwandan (universal Rwandan language, of which we can now say 4 words).

We rolled in to the house around 7pm for dinner, which was some awesome baked fish (Tilapia we think- but not like Tilapia in the states. Tilapia that is thick and sweet and comes from Lake Victoria!), pasta, chips and grilled veggies. They truly feed us so well here, its crazy!

Then we and two other volunteers decided to go to the bar behind our house (no literally, there is a bar in our backyard) for one of the famed Primus beers. These costs 800RwF (roughly $1.50) and are the size of a 40oz – AND they are really good! The bar didn’t have tables, instead there were small bungalows dotting the courtyard and you sat in one at a table with chairs. The bungalow next to us got all excited about the Muzungas and one reall brave guy came and politely introduced himself. Another, Isaac, originally from DRC, came and asked to take a picture with us (yes, we are also like giraffes in the sense that we are exotic zoo creatures) after asking if we were allowed to take pictures with black people. We assured him we were. THEN – the lights in the entire bar, block and district went out. The guy from the next bungalow leaned over, smiled and said, "This is Africa!" T.I.A. friend. We finished our beers by candlelight and went back to the guesthouse.

It’s been crazy, but so incredible! We’re genuinely having the time of our lives here. Get excited for the market update – you won’t believe the bounty we found at the market and then what we got to do afterwards with one of the coolest Rwandans we’ve met to date!

All our love,

The Manolos