Uganda to Rwanda-- no littering here!

Wednesday- Thursday, August 19-20

In Kabale, we met another of Sarah's friends, a local professor of Environmental Economics, Dr. Wilson, and were impressed by his deep convictions and his generosity. Whatever stereotypes of “African men” are out there-- we have found individuals to beat them all!

Enjoyment of the long lunch with Dr. Wilson left us a little late crossing into Rwanda, where moaning on Martha's part (and cash under the table) helped speed the immigration process (we found that back brace and cane were helpful here, as at Disney World and airports). As we switched to the other side of the road, Sarah became very serious and told us the Rwanda “rules:”
1.No mentioning of the president's name-- we didn't know it anyway
2.No mentioning of the two tribes involved in the Genocide-- we didn't know those either.
3.No littering-- and the thin police with huge machine guns all around ensured adherence
- --to the above our driver added
4.No bribery, and the worst one:
5.No partying in night clubs past midnight-- I guess everyone has a cross to bear!

Our accomodations (Kigali)) were VERY basic. Hotel prices here are exponential-- room= x; self contained room =x2 ; self contained room with hot water.... you get the picture. Thursday, we wasted half of the morning following three “would be” guides (whom we paid) and a bit too much petrol ( 3$ per litre!) to find the Kigali Genocide Memorial..
What can we say? In a nation of 7 million people, 1 million were slaughtered, 2 million were displaced, and many more were traumatized. History, of course, shows two sides of every story-- guess which one we heard?
The facts, however, remain that genocide was carried out with Nazi like racist ideologies and use of the most painful killing methods available --usually clubs and machetes (a farmer's only tools). The worst part is that the masses-- not just soldiers-- were involved. Most western nations dismissed it as only “tribal warfare.” We wonder what will be uncovered in ten years about the things that are taking place right now.......
After a slow afternoon, we had a nice dinner, thanks to those Belgian colonialists. There we met a young lady from Minnesota whose husband was born in Sheldon. She was leading a spiritual pilgrimage with a local genocide survivor and author....,small world!