9 days of Rwanda

Recently I got the opportunity to travel out of Uganda to Rwanda. I had an amazing time, and I hope one day I can return.

Traveling in Africa is not a carefree adventure. It is not uncommon for the buses to be raided by rebels, or even ransacked by the police. The roads in Uganda are very dangerous and we were also worried about the possibility of an accident, or even the bus breaking down in the middle of the trip. I know a lot of people prayed for me, and for the safe travel to Rwanda and by God’s grace we reached our destination very tired, but safe.

The best purchase I have made...a blow up pillow. This is on the coach bus, right before we left on a 12 hour overnight journey!

Rwanda is an absolutely beautiful country. The landscape is green and very hilly. It lives up to its nickname, “The Land of a Thousand Hills.” It is very different from Uganda. The roads are clean, and you are fined if you are caught littering. The bodas are required to wear helmets, and they even have helmets for their passengers! Rwandans are not as impressed by white people and I enjoyed not being called “mzungu” or being pointed at.

Beautiful! A quick picture I took on our drive to the conference.

The conference was a great and inspiring time. I met some amazing and faithful people who were serving all over East Africa. I was encouraged by the speaker and even met some new friends who live only a few hours from me. I got a good amount of rest and got to have real coffee for breakfast, so all in all it was quite the treat!

Fellow AIMers. We took a boat trip to an island called "bat island."

How it got its name.

Besides losing my ATM card, we have had fun in Kigali. Our hotel was right by the town square and our view was amazing. Rwanda is a beautiful country, very green and very hilly. We also have a shower with warm water!! I took a 20 minute shower and it was a spiritual experience. The hotel runs about $25 a night, so it's a great deal for the money.

View of Kigali from our room 

One day we went to the genocide memorial in Kigali. It was absolutely incredible. It was so well put together and organized. After learning about the history of Rwanda, I am so much more educated on the issues that caused the genocide in 1994. Again, being in the country and city that it happened in is surreal. The pictures of all the victims line the walls, and the rooms that were dedicated to children were very difficult to be in. The memorial is a burial site for a quarter of a million victims. They had actual items from the genocide like machetes, chains, and guns. They showed videos that displayed victim’s personal stories. It was definitely overwhelming.

The Genocide Memorial, the concrete blocks are the mass graves.

We also went to two churches where over 20000 people were killed in the genocide. These churches at Nyamata and Ntarama, are places that thousands of people fled to because they thought it would be safe for them and their families. The churches are now memorials. Inside, there were clothes everywhere, blood on the walls, and rooms and rooms of skulls and bones. The churches reek of a smell that I can only describe as death and true horror. My heart was burdened and heavy for all of the lives that were lost.  Because the churches are a good 45 minutes from town we had to grab a mutatu back to town. We randomly started talking to this guy, Eric,  in the taxi about nothing in particular. He ended up really helping us get around and we wanted to repay him so we asked if he wanted to join us for coffee.  We sat down and we all started talking and getting to know each other more. He asked us what we were doing that day and we told him we visited the memorials. His mood changes slightly and he told us that he was inside the church at Nyamata. We were shocked to hear this since we had just spent all day there, and we asked him if he would be willing to share his story. He was 8 years old and his family sought refuge in this church. He witnessed the murders of over 10,000 people, people who were his family and his friends. He survived that day by the grace of God. . He was so open with his story, which is an amazing part since it is practically impossible to talk to a stranger about what happened- it is very hush hush here. We talked to him for 3 hours about his life, his testimony about when he became a Christian, and his hopes and dreams for himself and for Rwanda. I'm telling you, if we would have actively looked for someone to share their story it couldn't have been more amazing than his. Eric took a few hours out of his day to talk to us, and in return his testimony will inspire me for years to come.  

Some new friends in Kigali! This is Eric's mother and neice. These people are precious.

My time in Rwanda was absolutely incredible and an experience that will stay with me and continue to challenge me. Having the opportunity to even go to Rwanda is amazing, and I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit’s fingerprints were all over the trip. Pray for Rwanda, that it would see true and deep reconciliation. Pray for all of the survivors as well as all who were apart of the killing. Pray that God would do great things for the Rwandan people, that a new sense of hope and purpose would take hold of them.