Kigali

I am currently sitting in a coffee shop that could be mistaken as a Starbucks drinking a white chocolate mocha and eating a chocolate baked good. This is great for a few reasons, 1) It's functioning as a small break from Africa to organize my thoughts, and 2) the coffee is almost as good as Luna. If I were home right now I would be on my way to Luna for Sacred Hour so I'm in solidarity with my St. Norbert family.

 Rwanda has been a whirlwind and I'm not sure how well I'll be able to articulate my experiences, but I'll at least try and give everyone a snapshot. So far our excursions have been the Genocide Memorial, Nyamata, and a Millennium VIllage.

The Genocide Memorial was incredibly well done. It is set up as a museum with three parts. There is a floor on the genocide in Rwanda, a floor in memory of children who were victims of genocide, and a floor with information about other genocides that have happened. There are also several mass graves on the ground with beautiful gardens surrounding them.

Nyamata was the hardest excursion for me so far. It is a church where people were massacred and has now been turned into a memorial. During the genocide many people sought refuge in churches hoping the holy grounds would be respected, but there is story after story showing that wasn't the case. There are still clothes from the victims in the church, and there is also a mass grave on site that we entered.

Immediately following Nyamata we went to a Millennium Village which is a UN project to help fight poverty and create self-sufficiency in villages. We saw agricultural projects, a huge primary school, a health center, and traditional dancing. We got to participate in the dance which I was SO happy about. After the dance we heard stories from genocide survivors and those who committed genocide. In this particular village they have decided to build peace and reconciliation by living with each other (both victims and perpetrators). It was incredible to think of the strength and courage this community must have to constantly choose forgiveness in order to live peacefully with their neighbor.

We have two more excursions in Rwanda, I don't think either will be as emotionally taxing as the first two. I'm looking forward to my last few days in Kigali, but getting back to my routine in Gulu sounds really nice right now.