Rwanda

After spending time in Fort Portal, Kirsten and I hired a car to take us to Rwanda! The ride to Rwanda was incredible. I could ride through Africa for the rest of my life and probably never get bored. Our driver was really cool and was playing all types of random music—Celine Dion, Ugandan hip-hop, American Christmas music hahaha. I also had a lot of time to just think while we were driving. It was crazy to think of all the pain, all the struggle, all the heartache mixed in with the community, love, and beauty of Africa. I also just tried to make myself remember that I was crossing into Rwanda. As a child, I watched the movie Hotel Rwanda and promised myself that I would go there one day to see the country with my own eyes. And then just last semester in school, I wrote one of my final exams on the Rwandan genocide. Today was the day that I would stand in Rwanda with my own two feet! I was trying to let it sink in and appreciate the once-in-a-lifetime experience I was about to have. I found myself with my eyes glued to the landscape…trying to remember every detail of the African hills. I felt like I was searching for answers. Like if I stared long enough at the landscape, I would somehow understand the challenges and struggles of development and globalization in East Africa.

When we crossed over the Rwandan border, Kirsten and I sat in the car listening to the soundtrack from Hotel Rwanda. I guess I expected the landscape to change…I was looking for signs of genocide, struggle, and sorrow. But it looked exactly like Uganda and Kenya. Rwanda was beautiful and peaceful. When we finally got into Kigali (the capital city), I was completely blown away. Kigali was actually the most developed city I had seen in East Africa. The level of development was so weird to me because I was just blown away by the fact that genocide had happened just 16 years before.

We met up with one of Kirsten’s friends from high school who was working in Kigali for the summer. She was amazing and let us stay in her apartment! We went to lunch with her and then went to see the actual hotel that the movie, Hotel Rwanda, is based off of. Standing at that hotel was one of the most interesting moments of my life. That movie had such a huge impact on me…and I had somehow gotten myself to Rwanda, to the very hotel that inspired such compassion in my soul. After the hotel, we went to the Nyamata Memorial. This memorial is a church where 10,000 Tutsi people were murdered during the genocide. That memorial shook my soul and broke my heart. I was standing in a room full of the clothes of the people who had died…and it just all seemed too much. 10,000 people is more than the population of Vanderbilt University. All dead at one time. I can’t even begin to imagine the suffering, the sorrow, the pain. I was confused when I first left the memorial. I kept asking myself how these people continue with their normal lives…how was I supposed to walk out of that memorial and just start laughing and talking again? How does a nation recover from genocide? How do people learn to trust and forgive? But life goes on…and 14 years have passed. I have so much respect for the forgiveness and the development that the Rwandan people have been able to achieve. The memorial was overpowering, haunting, evil, and yet provided me with a hope for the future…a hope for humanity.

That night, Kirsten and I found a restaurant to eat at and watched the World Cup. The United States lost to Ghana…and even though I was disappointed, it was really cool to see the celebration of the people. Dinner was also great because I got to reflect a little with Kirsten and process our tour of Africa. It was great to see so many places and things, but we also were both overwhelmed with experiences and emotions. I am so happy that she was there to just process, laugh, and reflect with.