April Showers Bring...

This was a difficult month to be in Rwanda. During April, the rainy season reaches its climax. The days are damp and wet, the nights colder and darker, as the stars hide behind the clouds. My shoes are caked in mud, but there’s little point trying to wash them when there’s little chance of them ever getting dry. April is also the start of the genocide memorial period, a time when the entire country takes a moment to pause, and remember the events of 19 years ago.

On April 7^th, 1994, the President of Rwanda was returning from a diplomatic trip to Arusha to settle disputes between the Rwandan government, and the Tutsi rebel armies, who had taken refuge in neighboring Uganda during the preceding decades. As the president’s plane was flying into Kigali, it was shot down around midnight. The official word was that it was the rebels who shot down the plane, but to this day nobody knows. Within minutes the Rwanda genocide began. Many tell me that it’s important to say ‘within minutes,’ so people realize the genocide wasn’t a retaliation against Tutsis for the assassination of the President, but rather a long planned out event that was simply waiting for some kind of catalyst. The first day 10,000 people were killed. The killings lasted for a hundred days. It seems like such a short time, but it was long enough for the seasons to change. Long enough for the rest of the world to turn its back. It was long enough for one million people to be slaughtered.

When the Rwanda Patriotic Front (the current ruling party) took control of Kigali on July 4^th, the city was destroyed. 2/3 of the population was displaced, with many Hutus taking refuge in neighboring Congo (then known as Zaire). When the RPF crossed into the Congo, mass atrocities ensued, leading to the Congolese Wars, which are still going on to this day. Since their start, over 6 million people have been killed. The Rwandans say that after God created the world and rested on the seventh day, he chose to sleep on the shores of Lake Kivu, because he viewed it as his most beautiful creation. It’s hard to disagree, Rwanda is one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, but during those 100 days in 1994, it’s hard to believe that God was thinking of Rwanda at all.

On April 14^th, Miranda and I attended a memorial service at Nyarubuye church, the scene of one of the most horrific atrocities. The ceremony began with a mass, and lasted a few hours as different speakers (and a few singers) got up to give their remarks. During the service, they also took the time to reopen the mass grave (which holds over 20,000 bodies) in order to bury the 12 new bodies that were found this year. They are still finding bodies. Rwandans, who are normally composed to the point of seeming numb, began to break down. Men and women were crying, some had to be escorted out. It was a jarring sight. After the ceremony Miranda and I went to a local bar to have a beer and talk about what happened. I was feeling fine and returned home only to find the power was out and I was alone. I turned on my computer to watch a movie, and as I was flipping through the various films, something convinced me to turn on the Frontline documentary I have about the atrocity at Nyarubuye. The film shows home video of the RPF visiting the church as they advanced towards Kigali. Lying at the feet of the Jesus statue that adorns the church was the body of a young boy, still wearing his khaki school uniform. His face had been bludgeoned in. It was a surreal sight, especially after having been to the church earlier. At that moment I received a phone call from home, and I couldn’t keep my emotions in check.

A fellow PCV and I had a long talk about serving in Rwanda. The country has a unique history, to say the least. And even though the genocide occurred 19 years ago, there’s no denying the effect it still has on the country. Today the country is stable, but with unrest in the Congo, and stories of rebels committing rape and murder, even out here in Rusumo!, it’s enough to make one on edge.

And sometimes you need to take the edge off!

The day after attending the Nyarubuye memorial I was a mess. I was depressed, unhappy with Peace Corps, unhappy with Rwanda, unhappy with almost everything and desperately needing a vacation. Luckily, some friends and I had one planned, and not a moment too soon! That Monday I took a bus to Kigali to meet up with some friends, and then we went north to spend the night with some fellow PCVs. It’s always fun to visit other volunteers, and I usually end up being thankful I don’t have to take the awful motorcycle rides that a lot of my colleagues end up having to take to their sites. Motos+rocky roads+steep cliffs do not make for a fun journey! After some beers and cooking by candlelight, we went to bed and woke early the next morning, ready to cross into Uganda. Though the two countries share a border, they are a world apart. Uganda is more relaxed, the people seem a little friendlier, and…did I mention they speak English? (In a small note of defense to Rwanda, Uganda was way dirtier and made me realize that Kigali is a freakishly clean city)

The first few days were spent on Lake Bunyonyi, a beautiful lake full of small islands and surrounded by terraced mountainsides. The pictures I took are really nice, but as always, dwarfed by the reality of the place. To get to the hostel we had to take a dugout canoe, which proved a lot more difficult to paddle than I was expecting. By the time we arrived, we were exhausted and famished, and lucky for us, the hostel had an amazing restaurant with a menu full of fresh seafood dishes. Also, it was incredibly cheap which is pretty amazing considering we were on an island with nowhere to go! During the night we slept in a geodome, which is like a giant bamboo hut that opened up to a deck overlooking the lake. It was truly paradise. The high elevation meant incredibly cold nights, but the hostel was prepared with thick blankets (and luckily we all had our sleeping bags!).

After enjoying a little slice of heaven, we boarded the Post Bus (literally the bus that delivers the Post!) and began the long and arduous trek to Kampala. Nine hours on bad roads made for a few crabby passengers, and lucky for Kampala it has fast food. We stumbled into the nearest burger joint and were soon refueled and excited. We slept in an old soap factory turned hotel, and the next morning woke early to head for Jinja, to go rafting on the headwaters of the Nile River.

Rafting the Nile

The whitewater rafting was truly the highlight of the trip. Even someone as terrified as me (I said go easy while everyone else in my group was begging for wild and crazy), I have to admit that it was terrifying and fun and I loved every minute of it.

Of course my incredibly burnt kneecaps might ask me to say otherwise.

We took the night bus back, which of course was not without problems, but we finally made it back to Kigali Monday morning. The vacation definitely helped to lift my spirits, and made me excited to get back to site, something which I would have never though possible a week earlier.

Since my return, things have been going really well. There is a new group of interns at the Health Center, and they are a lot of fun and seem interested in working with me. All of my time working in the Family Planning clinic paid off as I assisted one of the nurses with a Community Health Worker training on family planning. My biggest contribution was the always-important condom demonstration, and lucky for me my health center doesn’t have one of those wimpy wooden dildos. Someone, somewhere, managed to get a giant, black, veiny, rubbery one that made for a very complicated and yet very funny demonstration!

So I’m feeling good, and counting down the days to my year anniversary here in Rwanda (May 10^th)!!