7/21/07 Les Milles Collines Hotel - Kigali, Rwanda
Well the sun is beginning to lower into the hills of Rwanda. Doesn't take a genius to figure out why it's dubbed "the land of a thousand hills." It's beautiful - the setting sun is casting a deep, golden glow, over the green, stretching mountains. Right now, there's a wedding taking place in the courtyard of the hotel. The landscape of this hotel is fairly beautiful.
It's hard to believe that one of the biggest genocide's ever took place right outside these walls.
I'm in the actual hotel portrayed in the movie "Hotel Rwanda." Crazy. Oh but it looks nothing like the hotel in the movie, which was some hotel in South Africa. In the wake of its genocide, however, Rwanda is really beautiful. It's lush and colorful, with miles of rolling hills supported by beds of bright red earth. Seriously all the roads here are a rusty red. The houses are pinks, blues and tin, and the people wear colorful clothing. It's so crowded here. You drive down the streets - clinging to dear life btw - and there are people just walking, streaming down the side of the road just like a movie. There are eight million people that live in this tiny country, and houses completely saturate the hills. Some of the homes are majestic, but there are so many shacks. The shacks here are made out of nothing. They are tin roofs balanced over slabs of concrete with red-dirt floors. I don't understand how people live there. And, Kigali is SO dusty - my eyes are so dry. Trauma, I know.
I am so exhausted right now I can barely keep my eyes open. Today we went to a place called "Speak, I'm Listening." It's this training center for girls who are genocide orphans or who have been raped or abused. They teach them a skill. The girls did a traditional dance for us, and we bought some of the stuff they made - mainly to support their mission.
On another note; I haven't felt too out of place being white yet, but I'm sure I will. I'm tired, I'm going to find out what time it is. Peace.
1 comment:
Nice, loving it!!! Somehow, the journal entries of this summer vastly surpass in depth and interest of your junior high entries!!! haha, jk. But- did you sensor any fantasies of boys hitting on you? :)
Anyway, after all your stories and all, I start feeling like I've been to Africa already. And then I remember that I HAVEN'T. A mere two months or so, though, and that should all change, God willing!
Keep writing...
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