Trip to Rwanda

Well, another week has flown by and this has been a particularly challenging and interesting one. We spent the past 4 days traveling to and visiting Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. One travels between Rwanda and Burundi in several ways: the easiest is flying, but there are several routes over road. The road, however, is quite challenging as it winds through the highlands of Burundi and is somewhat treacherous, especially with trucks, loaded with shipping containers from Port Cities like Dar Es Salaam, roaring down the narrow passes. The other major hazard are cyclists, racing down the curving mountain roads, heavily-laden with huge sacks of charcoal to sell in the capital. And here's the trick: how do the cyclists get back up to their mountain village homes? When you follow one of the tractor trailers up the mountains, they are usually trailing about 3 or 4 bicyclists who hang on the back end of the truck with one hand and swing out around the corners for a peek. We were driven by current country rep. Doug in our Landcruiser. I will need to learn to drive this route and do it monthly, as several of our partners are in Rwanda.

Once one gets to the high point on the road and enters the "up-country" part of Burundi, the land is not so vertically extreme. It's a country-side of high hills, with tiny villages every few miles. People plant tea, cassava, bananas and coffee on the hillsides (apparently this is an excellent setting for high quality coffee, but the industry needs to be developed). In the valleys, women cultivate a variety of vegetables and even rice in some areas. The soil is very red, a deep contrast with the green vegetation. It is really quite beautiful, though there is almost no indigenous forest left here. Most of the trees are eucalyptus, which are regularly harvested for firewood and charcoal-making. Burundi is heavily populated and conflict over land-resources will continue to be a big problem here.

On the way north to Rwanda, we stopped at one of our partners' projects in a place called Nyangugu (sp?). We help to support a school which particularly seeks to educate the minority Batwa (pygmy) children. They had a huge welcoming reception for us that included speeches, poems, gifts and a meal of grilled goat, and various local dishes. Not bad food really! The kids who were attending the festivities were fascinated by Oren who ran around the yard dragging an entourage of curious followers in his train. He had fun though and I have a picture of him surrounded by his new friends.

On the way to Kigali we crossed the border, which is a somewhat complex process. The thought of doing it regularly both ways is a bit daunting. But we did get through. The difference in the development of the two countries is immediately apparent and striking. The width and condition of the roads changes immediately. Rwanda has been experiencing a lot of growth and improvement in the 14 years since the genocide. Burundi's development has been stymied by a civil war that has dragged on until recently.

Before reaching Kigali we stopped in Nyamata at one genocide memorial site. It was a Catholic Church where, from what I understand, about 5,000 Tutsis were massacred. They had gone into the church to try to escape. The sanctuary was left as a memorial with all the clothes of the victims on the benches. A survivor-cum-guide showed us the place he hid as a 9 year old and many other horrors, including a wall where infants' heads were dashed. It was unimaginably horrible. Beneath the church were several crypts containing thousands of skulls. Honestly, the genocide still makes no sense to me at all. Rebecca and I got a book that has some testimony from the perpetrators. Perhaps it will shed some light, but I doubt it.

In Kigali we stayed in a modest guest house and spent several days visiting various partners. Among the more interesting meetings was a chance to witness one of the reconcilliation programs at Friends Peace House. It is a workshop in which prisoners convicted of genocide are reintegrated back into their communities (They have served 14 years). The released prisoners spend several days learning together with an equal number of genocide survivors, talking about ways of making amends. The process of reconciliation includes self-evaluation, imagining a good future (a real problem -- most do not have the ability to imagine this in their current state), helping others and respecting others. At the end of the four-day workshop, they identify the two most vulnerable individuals and build a house for them together. It is an interesting development and peace-making project. I listened in (through translation) to several hours of back and forth between prisoners and victims. We also had a round table discussion with several other donor organizations and leaders from Friends Peace House and the Evangelical Friends Church. We talked about how to communicate better. It was a real opportunity to see how challenging both language and culture can be to communicating well. The meeting was 8 hours long with only a short lunch break!! I never want to hear another complaint about long church committee meetings again! (Apparently long meetings are the norm here. It is a very relational culture.)

In the evenings, we experienced contrasts that were quite surreal. We drove into downtown Kigali, which has become a very modern city. We went out for pizza one night (we chose it over Mexican) and then Indian the second night. In the early evening, we sipped cappuccino at a coffeehouse that would put Starbucks to shame, purchasing the right to access their very high speed wireless internet. I was able to Skype Grammy, Grandma Jean, and Jonathan with video. It was like they were right there. Honestly, as much as I enjoyed that communication, I find I like the challenges of living in the less developed Bujumbura right now.

We returned on Friday and are back in our guest house in Bujumbura for a more relaxing day. We continue to stay at an orphanage/guesthouse, which Oren calls the "House with the babies." They have a little playground which Oren enjoys. And in this setting, he has finally learned how to ride a tricycle! It's fun to watch him pedaling circles around the outdoor room which is also the guesthouse dining room. We do have to go upcountry again on Monday: another opportunity to explore the winding mountain roads. That is all for now, except--by the way, we got an email from our realtor saying our house in Poughkeepsie closed. I checked our mortgage statement on the web and it said PAID IN FULL. I love that expression!

Prayer Needs: Doug and Deanna leave Wednesday and Rebecca and I are 'on our own' then. We are nervous about that. We still need help with language, we need help solidifying our house staff situation, and we lost a friend in New York to death recently. It is hard not to have a community established here to process all of this.