In Kigali

After two days of travel, we made it to Kigali yesterday. Our bags didn't make it from Nairobi, which was a little worrisome, but luckily made it on the next flight just a few hours later. We were bumped to an earlier flight in Nairobi and the customer service lady went out, found our bags, tore off the tags, then later took out new tags. The level of service was amazing to us when we saw that she had literally found our bags taken off the tags and brought them to where we were located.

We are staying at the AEE Guest House, which is very nice and located in a compound in the city. Yesterday, John, the coordinator for AEE, took us around the city. Kigali is very clean and there is a lot of building going on. He even pointed out land that he said has been purchased by Bill Gates. It is completely fenced off, so we aren't sure exactly what is being built/planned for the site. Everyone here is very friendly and have gone out of their way to show us around.

Today we went with Dale and a driver to the Genocide Memorial. It was very intense and emotional, seeing the mass graves that hold 258,000 people and the future graves for the people that they are still finding. One million people killed in 90 days is not something that I can comprehend, nor can I understand how it was allowed to happen. The world failed Rwanda and I feel like I should apologize, but don't even know what to say. The hardest thing to read and view at the memorial were the pictures and stories of the children who were killed. They had pictures, the child's name, how old they were, their favorite food, best friend, something about their personality, and how they were killed. They were all hard to read without an outpouring of emotion. One was for an 18th month old was killed as she was thrown up against a brick wall. It was intense and is something that I will never forget.

The memorial went through Rwanda's history, the genocide, and after the genocide. Many wonderful things are happening now, but this event is something that is still with them. They talk about it frequently and many of the people that we have met fled to Uganda during that time. They tell about coming back and bodies being everywhere. They had many friends and family who were not able to flee and did not make it.

Even though their recent history is tragic, they are creating a new future for Rwanda. They are beautiful and very friendly people. They are proud of their country, ashamed of what happened in 1994, but are working together to make it a good place for their children as Rwandans. There has been a lot of work done to help with reconciliation. Our friends Tracy and Greg Stone, who are also from Seattle, started Rwanda Partners, a group that focuses on reconciliation. We hope to see them this weekend, as they are also in Rwanda.

We're headed to Volcanoes National Park tomorrow. I have a cold and am hoping that I can still visit the gorillas. If not, my friend Denise will go and tell me all about it! Hope you're all doing well. Take care!