I wish we had a hit calculator on this blog. We are sure it would be up to 8 by now!
Shout-outs to Melissa Abrams (always great to read your e-mails), Kitty Prentice our best new teacher friend at BSM, and Lisa Lenhart-Murphy (We thought about just exchanging pants not just underwear. We will see).
A special shout out to Zoe Cave. Zoe broke her foot on the last day of her arts camp at Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday. What a bummer to have to wear a cast all summer! I am thinking of you Zoebert and you are a strong girl who will be cruising around on your crutches in now time. I love you.
Here it is, today's big announcement: WE HAVE CHANGED OUR PANTS! They really could have gone several more days, but we thought we would consider the senses of those around us. Our new pants have both started out green. Stay tuned for changes. You know they will.
Silence, noise, we just can't win. We decided to change hotels after waking up after a fitful night's sleep at the Iris guesthouse. Hard boiled eggs were on the menu for breakfast at the Iris along with the usual, a dinner roll, some jam, and fresh fruit. The breakfast is included with the night's rate at the Iris. After paying for our room we stashed some of our luggage in the hotel's office and set out for a busy day. Our plan was to travel to the Genocide sites of Nyamata and Ntarama, two sites we visited last year. We wanted to get them on film. We would then return to Kigali to visit the Genocide Memorial and the Belgian Troop Memorial and then switch hotels.
Three hundred and fifty three days a year, Kigali is a busy and loud city. On one Saturday a month, Rwandans drop their normal routines to participate in the National Day of Community Work. All shops are closed, public transportation ceases, and people spend their time making Rwanda look more beautiful than it already is. Last year, we were very surprised at how clean and orderly Rwanda was/is. This is because of these monthly days of work and because Rwandans take pride in their homes and country.
Our plan for our busy day came to a crashing halt. Kigali was like a ghost town this morning. There were people here and there sweeping sidewalks and picking up trash, and that's about it. There was no traffic on the streets, no people, no yelling, no honking. It was very strange. We wandered aimlessly around the city trying to get out to Nyamata without any luck.
After an hour and a half, we ended up at the Belgian Troop Memorial. As luck would have it, the docent was just showing up and let us in. He was kind enough to show us around as James filmed the memorial.
On the night the Genocide started, the FAR (military arm of Hutu extremism) surrounded the home of the acting Prime Minister who was a moderate Hutu. She was assassinated and the nine Belgian soldiers guarding her were captured by FAR troops. They were tortured for hours before finally being killed. The Interhamwe believed that if the Belgian troops who were part of the small UN force were killed, the west would stay out of the conflict. They were right.
The Memorial honors their service in Rwanda and their lives. As is the norm in Rwanda, the memorial is a military barracks that has been left as it was in 1994. Bullet holes and blood stains in the walls, family writing on the walls and a small genocide "museum" in the back. This site is simple but adds a dimension to the story of genocide. (BTW-The site of this killing is just across the street from the 2nd most popular hotel in Kigali at the time of the genocide (the Dipolmat).
Finally after visiting the Memorial, things started to pick up again (the National Day of Community Work only lasts half the day). We made our way to the chaotic main taxi and bus station in Kigali at Nyarbogogo (See video from 2007 in the right side-bar). We secured a mini-bus to Nyamata. The town is about a one hour drive south of the capital. Once off at the main road we had about a 30 minute walk to the memorial.
The Nyamata Genocide Memorial has changed in the past year. On all of the pews inside the small church, the clothing of the victims of the massacre have been laid out for viewing. Bullet holes still let shining streams of light in through the ceiling and the blood soaked altar cloth still lies in its place. There is a memorial below the sanctuary to a woman who was separated from the group and raped innumerable times before being killed. Behind the Church are two crypts that hold the remains of many of the people that were killed. One of the crypts holds coffins and the other holds skulls and femur bones.
Even though we were here last year, the impact of the Memorial is no less moving.
We decided to take moto-taxis back down the road to the town of Ntarama. After the 5k moto trip to Ntrama we asked the moto guys to stay (the memorial was about 2 miles off the of main road and we were both hungry and tired of the heat--it was the hottest day in Rwanda on the coolest day in Minnesota) and did not want to get stuck in the small, small village of Ntrama.
We entered the memorial and were met by the docent. We remember her from last year. When we asked if we could film inside the memorial she told us only outside.
Ntrama was the site of a massacre of 5,000 Tutsis. The members of this village fled to the church when the Genocide started and waited, locked inside for 3 days. When the Interhamwe arrived the found 5,000 Tutsis hiding in a place about the size of an SA. The gates and windows were locked. The Interhamwe threw grenades into the windows killing many. When the survivors tried to flee from the church they were hacked by machettes (If you had money you could pay to be shot with a gun).
Inside the memorial (see the side videos of our 2007 trip where we filmed both Nyamata and Ntrama) clothes have been hanged from the rafters and personal effects like pens, rosaries, eye glasses, etc. are on display.
As stated before, seeing if for a second time has just as much impact as last year.
After leaving the memorial we negotiated with the moto guys to take us to Kigali. We originally decided we would take a mini-bus but since we were in the middle of nowhere we had better secure two motos.
For about $10 were were able to get a ride, via moto, 20k into the center of Kigali and we were stopped by the police only once (We know that our moms are not too happy to hear about all of this moto talk. What can we say, we are rebels!). This was a good deal since we were more than happy with paying only $10 and both moto guys, from the small village of Nyamata, were over-top-happy to get $6,000 rwf.
On the Office Michael Scott calls that Win-Win.
We arrived the Iris Guest House about 3:30pm, got our bags and took a cab (TaGeeSee) to the Isimbi Hotel in the noisy, busy central part of Kigali. It will cost us half and will be not quieter.
We have been invited to eat at Chez Lando with Greg from Ruhengeri.
We plan on checking out tomorrow as early as possible and checking into the Milles Collines Hotel (we hope early enough so we can eat the free breakfast buffet).
Take care and keep thinking about us (Bueller, Bueller, tumbleweed, cricket, tumbleweed, Bueller...)
Amahoro.
Kuntz and Cave
Shout-outs to Melissa Abrams (always great to read your e-mails), Kitty Prentice our best new teacher friend at BSM, and Lisa Lenhart-Murphy (We thought about just exchanging pants not just underwear. We will see).
A special shout out to Zoe Cave. Zoe broke her foot on the last day of her arts camp at Cretin-Derham Hall on Friday. What a bummer to have to wear a cast all summer! I am thinking of you Zoebert and you are a strong girl who will be cruising around on your crutches in now time. I love you.
Here it is, today's big announcement: WE HAVE CHANGED OUR PANTS! They really could have gone several more days, but we thought we would consider the senses of those around us. Our new pants have both started out green. Stay tuned for changes. You know they will.
Silence, noise, we just can't win. We decided to change hotels after waking up after a fitful night's sleep at the Iris guesthouse. Hard boiled eggs were on the menu for breakfast at the Iris along with the usual, a dinner roll, some jam, and fresh fruit. The breakfast is included with the night's rate at the Iris. After paying for our room we stashed some of our luggage in the hotel's office and set out for a busy day. Our plan was to travel to the Genocide sites of Nyamata and Ntarama, two sites we visited last year. We wanted to get them on film. We would then return to Kigali to visit the Genocide Memorial and the Belgian Troop Memorial and then switch hotels.
Three hundred and fifty three days a year, Kigali is a busy and loud city. On one Saturday a month, Rwandans drop their normal routines to participate in the National Day of Community Work. All shops are closed, public transportation ceases, and people spend their time making Rwanda look more beautiful than it already is. Last year, we were very surprised at how clean and orderly Rwanda was/is. This is because of these monthly days of work and because Rwandans take pride in their homes and country.
Our plan for our busy day came to a crashing halt. Kigali was like a ghost town this morning. There were people here and there sweeping sidewalks and picking up trash, and that's about it. There was no traffic on the streets, no people, no yelling, no honking. It was very strange. We wandered aimlessly around the city trying to get out to Nyamata without any luck.
After an hour and a half, we ended up at the Belgian Troop Memorial. As luck would have it, the docent was just showing up and let us in. He was kind enough to show us around as James filmed the memorial.
On the night the Genocide started, the FAR (military arm of Hutu extremism) surrounded the home of the acting Prime Minister who was a moderate Hutu. She was assassinated and the nine Belgian soldiers guarding her were captured by FAR troops. They were tortured for hours before finally being killed. The Interhamwe believed that if the Belgian troops who were part of the small UN force were killed, the west would stay out of the conflict. They were right.
The Memorial honors their service in Rwanda and their lives. As is the norm in Rwanda, the memorial is a military barracks that has been left as it was in 1994. Bullet holes and blood stains in the walls, family writing on the walls and a small genocide "museum" in the back. This site is simple but adds a dimension to the story of genocide. (BTW-The site of this killing is just across the street from the 2nd most popular hotel in Kigali at the time of the genocide (the Dipolmat).
Finally after visiting the Memorial, things started to pick up again (the National Day of Community Work only lasts half the day). We made our way to the chaotic main taxi and bus station in Kigali at Nyarbogogo (See video from 2007 in the right side-bar). We secured a mini-bus to Nyamata. The town is about a one hour drive south of the capital. Once off at the main road we had about a 30 minute walk to the memorial.
The Nyamata Genocide Memorial has changed in the past year. On all of the pews inside the small church, the clothing of the victims of the massacre have been laid out for viewing. Bullet holes still let shining streams of light in through the ceiling and the blood soaked altar cloth still lies in its place. There is a memorial below the sanctuary to a woman who was separated from the group and raped innumerable times before being killed. Behind the Church are two crypts that hold the remains of many of the people that were killed. One of the crypts holds coffins and the other holds skulls and femur bones.
Even though we were here last year, the impact of the Memorial is no less moving.
We decided to take moto-taxis back down the road to the town of Ntarama. After the 5k moto trip to Ntrama we asked the moto guys to stay (the memorial was about 2 miles off the of main road and we were both hungry and tired of the heat--it was the hottest day in Rwanda on the coolest day in Minnesota) and did not want to get stuck in the small, small village of Ntrama.
We entered the memorial and were met by the docent. We remember her from last year. When we asked if we could film inside the memorial she told us only outside.
Ntrama was the site of a massacre of 5,000 Tutsis. The members of this village fled to the church when the Genocide started and waited, locked inside for 3 days. When the Interhamwe arrived the found 5,000 Tutsis hiding in a place about the size of an SA. The gates and windows were locked. The Interhamwe threw grenades into the windows killing many. When the survivors tried to flee from the church they were hacked by machettes (If you had money you could pay to be shot with a gun).
Inside the memorial (see the side videos of our 2007 trip where we filmed both Nyamata and Ntrama) clothes have been hanged from the rafters and personal effects like pens, rosaries, eye glasses, etc. are on display.
As stated before, seeing if for a second time has just as much impact as last year.
After leaving the memorial we negotiated with the moto guys to take us to Kigali. We originally decided we would take a mini-bus but since we were in the middle of nowhere we had better secure two motos.
For about $10 were were able to get a ride, via moto, 20k into the center of Kigali and we were stopped by the police only once (We know that our moms are not too happy to hear about all of this moto talk. What can we say, we are rebels!). This was a good deal since we were more than happy with paying only $10 and both moto guys, from the small village of Nyamata, were over-top-happy to get $6,000 rwf.
On the Office Michael Scott calls that Win-Win.
We arrived the Iris Guest House about 3:30pm, got our bags and took a cab (TaGeeSee) to the Isimbi Hotel in the noisy, busy central part of Kigali. It will cost us half and will be not quieter.
We have been invited to eat at Chez Lando with Greg from Ruhengeri.
We plan on checking out tomorrow as early as possible and checking into the Milles Collines Hotel (we hope early enough so we can eat the free breakfast buffet).
Take care and keep thinking about us (Bueller, Bueller, tumbleweed, cricket, tumbleweed, Bueller...)
Amahoro.
Kuntz and Cave
2 comments:
Hi, guys - just wanted to let you know that although we may be quiet as far as the comments go, there are people who are reading your entries every day! (I'm guessing I don't speak just for myself here!) Thanks so much for posting them -- it is amazing to hear about what you two are experiencing while we're here leading our everyday lives. Stay safe, and keep writing! :)
...Answering your call for comments: thanks a ton for writing so in-depth about all your adventures! It all makes me VERY excited for next year...it's really going to be the experience of a lifetime.
See you in September! ...Oh wait, August...
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