Amsterdam, Bikes, Canals and Ann Frank

Hey all, our flight from MSP to Amsterdam was fine. Cave slept for about 5 of the 8 hours and Kuntz read, watched movies, slept and listened to music. We arrived in Amsterdam at about 10am. After trying to get our boarding pass for the Nairobi to Kigali leg (they couldn't do that for us in Amsterdam either but told us not to worry. We could get it later) we found a locker, packed our carry on bags in and went to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is very excited about the Holland team doing so well in the Euro's (European soccer tourney). Amsterdam is a very international city. It has many people, many bikes and many canals. Lovely and beautiful. The weather was moderate but nice.

We walked for a few hours just looking around and taking in the beauty. This was Cave's frist trip to Europe and Kuntz had been to Amsterdam in 7th grade. We split two delicious sammys at an outdoor cafe. A hummus sandwich with veggies on a white roll and a mozzarella with pesto and tomato sammy. Delish! Cave had a Coke and Kuntz had tea. OBSERVATION: Europeans wear lots of scarfs and the men think that the fauxhawk is cool. Lots of hair gel as well.

Anywho...We then made our way to the Ann Frank house. It was really interesting to see the warehouse made hiding place that we had read about in her book. There were journal entries written on the wall in chronological order throughout the house.

One of the most moving things in the museum was an original patch of wall paper that had the height markings of the hiding kids for the months that they had stayed in hiding. Sad. It was about a 45 minute self-guided tour with videos, quotes, simulations, etc.

If you are in Amsterdam I would recommend it but don't go to Amsterdam just for it.

We boarded the train and went back to the airport. When we got there we check in and asked to counter guy if he could print us a boarding pass for our Nairobi to Kigali leg. He actually upgraded our tickets to Nairobi but told us he was unable to print the next leg for some reason. He told us of a secret way to bypass the endless line in Nairobi though. We will see. We had some time so we went and ate McDonald's.

When in Amsterdam...

Lates.

Kuntz and Cave

Getting there is half the fun!

Hey all, it has been an exciting and stressful week. Exciting to be going to Rwanda and stressful to get all of the details in order.

My mother-in-law arrived about 5pm today (to take care of my kids overnight) and so did Kuntz and his wife Kathy. We packed up their mini-van and after saying good bye to my kids we headed to the airport.

We are allowed 4 bags of 70 pounds (at $50.00/each over 50lbs). Our bags were 70.0 pounds, 69.5 pounds, 68.5 pounds and 58.5 pounds. Perfect. Some of the money that we raised at BSM went to pay the extra airfare. So far so good. We asked NWA to get our boarding pass for our Nairobi to Kigali leg but the were unable.

That is it. More later.

Kuntz and Cave

Here we go again!

Well, here we go again. Over the past 5 months, we have been planning, collecting, arranging and packing for our second trip to the Land of 1,000 Hills in the past year.

The reasons for going to Rwanda this year are much the same yet different than our last trip.

This year we are going to do more in depth research and exploration of the Genocide that rocked this country back in 1994. We plan to interview survivors, perpatrators and spectators of the genocide. We are taking a digital video camera and lots of questions in hopes of being able to create a unique curriculum to help expand people's understanding of the genocide.

This year we are going to arrange the details for the Rwanda.09 trip that will take place next summer. From hotel and guesthouse accommodations to arranging the gorilla trek, transportation and genocide memorial churches we want to confident upon departure that our student trip in 2009 will go glitch free.

This year (unlike last year) we are looking forward to being reunited with friends we made last trip. We are waiting to see our friends at Centre Marembo (the orphanage in Kigali that houses 30 orphans of the genocide and HIV/AIDS). With us we are bringing about 210 lbs of shirts, shoes, soccer uniforms, computers, printers, posters, underwear and a cash donation so generously donated by the students and families of BSM Junior High.

We also are looking forward to seeing our good Friend Bosco and his family in Ruhengeri. Bosco is a good man who has 8 children by birth and another 4 because of the genocide. We look forward to sharing goat brochette with our friend. We hope to surprise Bosco with clothes, shoes and medicines for his family and we hope to pay Bosco's rent and school tuition for the next 2 years.

We hope to be able to blog everyday like last year (see the right hand column for our addresses).

Thanks for checking in with us and feel free to send us an e-mail or comment below the blog entry of your choice.

Amahoro!

Dave and James

Minnesota Nice To Rwanda

Minnesota Nice to Rwanda!

Mr. Kuntz and Mr. Cave would like to thank all of you for your support for our Minnesota Nice to Rwanda drive. Our hope was to collect a bag of clothes and a few hundred dollars to bring to our friend Bosco and the boys at the orphanage Centre Marembo.

When all was said and done we collected over 400 pounds of clothes, computer equipment, and other personal hygeine products and $2,500.00!

We have been overwhelmed by the response and the generousity of the BSM community.

Dave and James

Habimana J. Bosco’s Family | Ruhengeri, Rwanda

Our friend Bosco & his wife Damarse have 12 children (8 by birth and 4 they adopted after the genocide). Bosco is a hard working man who is kind and gentle to his family and friends. Bosco is full time employed as a taxi driver and makes about $300.00 a year.

Centre Marembo | Kigali, Rwanda

Centre Marembo is an orphanage for about 30 boys who have been orphanged because of HIV|AIDS and the 1994 genocide. CM provides school, a place to stay and structure for kids who otherwise would be on the street.

Pre-trip Reading and Immunizaitons

We know that the Rwanda 2009! trip is over a year away but on this site you will find listed the mandatory pre-trip reading (schroll down a bit and look to the right) and the required immunizations (See below). Please have these shots completed by the return of Christmas break.

Hepatitis A
Typhoid
Meningococcal meningitis
Influenza
Tetanus/diphtheria
Yellow Fever (Mandatory with international health certificate)
Measles
Pneumococcal
Polio
Malaria

Announcing Rwanda.09 | June 5-22 2009

Teachers Dave Kuntz & James Cave, in conjunction with Benilde-St. Margaret's School are pleased to announce "Rwanda: Land of 1,000 Hills" or Rwanda.09.

Rwanda.09 is a course that offers students high school credit while examining the culture and the genocide that rocked this small east central African nation in 1994.

As part of this course students will have 10 hours of classroom time in the spring of 2009 and 14 days of direct experience in Rwanda. Students will spend half of the time in Rwanda immersing themselves in this beautiful, and interesting culture. The cultural experience includes in part a mountain gorilla trek, brick making, eating local cuisine, and seeing the beautiful countryside.

The second half of the Rwanda.09 experience will be spent examining the genocide. Visits to the Kigali Genocide museum and several churches that have been preserved as memorials will be included in our study.

If you are interested please pick up information in room 123 (Mr. Kuntz) or room 129 (Mr. Cave) and attend an informational presentation (3 to choose from) in March or May.

Don't miss this truly once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Amahoro! (& Thanks for following)

Well, this is it. We are wrapping up our blog entries. This has been a trip beyond description on many levels. The things we learned and now understand about the Genocide take us way beyond any of the books we have read or films we have seen.

We have met some incredible people whom we will remember forever, and had experiences that may shape us and our way of thinking for the rest of our lives.

We want to thank all of you who have followed our blog and sent us e-mails of support, encouragement and questions. We are very surpised that there was so much interest in this trip.

We would like to thank Caren Hansen for all of her help with this blog, especially fixing and correcting for us.

Lastly we would like to thank our families, especially our wives and children. They have been patient, supportive and flexible. Even though we are sorry to have to leave, we anticipate the hugs we will recieve and give in a few days.

Please check back to this site in a week or so. We plan to post photos from the trip.

Amahoro!

Kuntz and Cave