We Have Been Busy!

Our time here seems to be flying by in a whirl wind of activity. Dates and times have all melded into one. A couple of days ago we traveled across this beautiful country to visit the memorial site in a place called Murambi. We have read about it, and watched documentaries on it. We thought we were prepared to see it, we were not. It has been a couple of days since we were there and we still cannot talk about what we experienced. What we can tell you is that the moment of arrival was surreal. There keeping watch over all the victims is a man we have seen in many documentaries. We have seen and heard his pain and now we found ourselves face to face with him. He was here when the genocide happened. The soldiers had him strip naked, kneel down and then they shot him in the head. He fell lifeless onto a heap of bodies and was left for dead. During the night, naked and suffering from a bullet to the head and sick with malaria, he managed to walk towards Burundi a neighbouring country. After days of no food or water, his head swollen from the bullet lodged inside, he made it to the border where he was rescued by the Burundian soldiers. Once he was able he returned to Murambi, people living there denied what had happened. So he began to exhume some of the over 50,000 bodies that were buried in mass graves only 50 feet from where French soldiers of Operation Turquoise were playing volleyball while the bodies were being buried. He covered them with lime to preserve them and layed them out on tables for everyone to see. He refuses to leave this place, it is where he lost his entire family. He stays here to be close to them, lost in the past, he is a prisoner of the genocide. He is an example of the living dead.

After our tour the three of us climbed into the car, with heavy hearts we began our journey back. The three of us talked and discussed things that will remain private. We may at some point share them with others but for now they will stay just between the three of us.

As we traveled on, we came to a town and stopped so that our driver could buy some chickens for supper. We hid our heads because we thought they were going to kill them right in front of us. The chickens were placed in the trunk of the car and we were sure that they had met their maker. Enock jumped back in and away we went. As we got closer to Kigali we came upon an outdoor market, the three of got out of the car and we watched Enock wheel and deal as he bought fresh fruits and vegetables for his family. Once all the goods were safely stored in the trunk we started on our way, it was at this point we realized that the chicken was still alive! We couldn't believe that they had not died from the heat as we had stopped for lunch and been driving for quite sometime. That chicken had been riding around in the trunk for over 5 hours. We joked that by the time we got to Kigali they would have eaten all the avocados in the trunk!

The next morning we were off to an area called Kinihira. It is an area of Rwanda that Romeo Dallaire would travel to by himself to gaze upon the beauty of its' hills and gather his thoughts. We wanted to see this place where our Canadian hero was able to find himself and a little bit of sanity. The journey there was breathtakingly beautiful, and we are not using this description lightly. We traveled down dirt roads that we were sure would swallow us up and we would never be seen again. Along our way we came across a Tea Plantation and Enock convinced them to give us a tour. We donned our tour garb (the pictures will never be seen in public, ever!)and off we went. The production of tea is a complex and interesting process. We will never take it for granted and have a much greater appreciation for all the work that goes into the making of it. It was a wonderful experience that will remain one of the highlights of our trip. From there we continued on towards a town called Byumba. We worried if the car would make it, as the road was really meant for 4 wheel drives not a little blue Toyota! After nearly careening over the edge of a cliff and Enock panicking when ever we got out to take pictures (he thought we might fall over the edge)we made it to a road that was paved! We asked Enock if he wanted to get out and kiss the pavement, he didn't understand and we just laughed. The town of Byumba gave us an uncomfortable vibe so we continued on our way. We stopped and had a picnic along the side of the road, Enock had brought us some home cooked food that his wife had prepared. Once we were on our way, the Police pulled us over to ask if we had seen an accident, further back there was a man and his bicycle lying on the side of the road -- he had been hit by a car. It was a very long journey and the car, as well as us was covered with the red dirt of Africa. People have told us that once you set foot on the red African soil it will be in your blood forever and you will never be free of it. We know that for sure this is true. It is not only in our blood, but it is in our eyes it is in our nose, throats, hair and every nook and cranny of our bodies. We will never get rid of it! The car was so dirty we took it to a car wash and sat with Enock and the other Rwandans and talked while the car was being cleaned. It took over 2 hours! With a nice clean car Enock dropped us at our hotel and our day was finally over.

We have had a really amazing time so far, the people are warm and wonderful and everywhere we have gone the one thing they all have in common is how close knit the communities and families are. The people are always together, talking, working and the children playing. We thought we were coming here to help save these children, but I can honestly say they have saved us. In our western world we are so driven by careers, cars, and the latest technological gadget that we have lost track of what it is to really be a community. Most people consider African countries as backward and very primitive, well ask your self where has all our forward thinking gotten us, we have become a nation of self centered, self absorbed Muzungu's. We have so much to learn from these so called backward, primitive places. Each morning as we have breakfast we marvel at all the Muzungu's (whites) in the restaurant, most of them are here because they think they are saving the world with their so called unselfish acts of kindness, and yet to their own kind they can't even say good morning or look you in the eye. The Rwandans on the other hand acknowledge everyone, especially their own. This trip has really taught us what is important and the things that should mean the most to us are the ones money can't buy.

Carol & Vickie