A Thousand Hills

So Rwanda is amazing. Although I was only there for a few days, it is one of my favorite places I've ever been. It was so different than anywhere else I've visited this trip. Taking a bus from Kampala to Kigali (the capital of Rwanda), I was amazed by the beautiful scenery; it really is the Land of a Thousand Hills. Kigali is situated on a few of the hills, and the first thing I noticed was how clean the city is. Unlike Dar and Kampala that are littered with trash, Kigali is spotless. In Kigali, there are no street vendors like there are in Dar. Although I enjoy the street vendors in most cities, they really do give a place a somewhat chaotic feel. Kigali on the other hand was quiet and peaceful. People went about their business and were always friendly. In Tanzania, most people associate foreigners with wealth and can be quite abrasive trying to convince you to buy whatever they are selling, yet in Kigali, I never felt like a walking money symbol. The air is clean and the climate is perfect, and the city was refreshing.

We only had one day in Kigali. We wandered around the city trying to get a feel for things and really enjoyed what we saw. We stopped for ice cream at the Hotel des Mille Colinnes. It's the hotel that the movie Hotel Rwanda was based on, though the movie was actually filmed in South Africa. It's a nice hotel with a great view. There weren't many people there, and it had the same calm quiet feel that most of Kigali has. It's so hard to imagine a place like that being the site of something so chaotic and terrible.

"Hotel Rwanda"

We also visited the genocide memorial center. It is really well done and I feel like I could have spent an entire day there. I learned so much about the genocide that I did not know, like the fact that France signed a huge arms deal with the Rwandan army just beforehand. French troops also went into the hills around Kigali convincing many Tutsi in hiding that it was safe to come out. The troops left, and when the people emerged from the hills they were slaughtered. I also realized just how much of a failure the UN mission was. There were so many warning signs that were ignored. One anonymous man involved in the planning went to the UN and told them what was in the works. He offered to go public with all the information he had along with locations for training camps in exchange for his protection. The UN said they couldn't guarantee his safety, so the matter was dropped. Even after the genocide started, the amount of troops needed to evacuate foreign nationals was enough to stop it.

There was one section dedicated to the children who were killed. It was heart wrenching. They profiled a few children. There would be a picture of them along with their name, age, favorite food, behavior, and cause of death. I held it together pretty well until then; I was a mess. They also have a section dedicated to genocides worldwide. That was really interesting, especially considering I'd never learned about many of them in history class... Outside there was a beautiful rose garden surrounding mass graves. The whole place was done very well, and it's nice that something so beautiful and so educational was made to commemorate something so horrible.

Part of the memorial garden overlooking the city

Walking around Kigali, you'd never know that the country was ripped apart just 14 years ago. Now it is so peaceful, and it seems like a place that runs so smoothly. We were only in Rwanda for a short time, but after talking to people who have been there for longer, I feel like my first impressions were probably not too far off. It seems that now, people are first and foremost Rwandan, though they don't forget where they came from. There are still cases where people are arrested for trying to spread genocide ideologies, but most people have turned their goals to healing and improving the country, and it really shows.

When we crossed the border, it was the first time our bags were actually inspected by customs. They weren't looking for drugs or weapons, they were looking for plastic bags. Plastic bags are not allowed in Rwanda. They are making a huge effort to clean up the country, which is great. Also, plastic bags collect rainwater and create vectors for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It's amazing that the country has been able to move from the aftermath of genocide to keeping the country free of things like plastic bags. There are lots of rules in Rwanda, and even though some may need some work, they seem to be doing a lot of good. Urbanization is not so obvious there, and poverty in Kigali is not as prevalent as it is in other major cities. The rate of development in Rwanda is clearly much faster than in Tanzania or Uganda.

The view of from our hotel in Kigali

I absolutely loved Kigali. It's devastating that something so horrible could happen in such a beautiful and peaceful place. Although I'm sure the country will always bear the scars of genocide, the people have really come together to make Rwanda an incredible place again, and I can't wait to go back.