But first, I want to talk about the Genocide Museum, called the Kigali Memorial Center. The whole museum is really well done. We saw three exhibits.
The first one was specific to the Rwandan genocide. It separates the tragedy into three parts; before the genocide, during the genocide, and after the genocide.
Here's what the Kigali Memorial Centre website says about the exhibit.
"The first section chronicles the history of Rwanda, the impact of colonialism, the development of divisive ideology and how inpunity led to the escalation of discrimination and persecution.
The second section describes the genocide itself.The third section deals with the aftermath and indirect long-term consequences of the genocide, its impact on women and children (widows, orphans, HIV, psychological trauma), issues of justice, and the rebuilding of a fair and equitable society."
The second exhibit we walked through was one describing other genocides in the world (the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the Cambodian genocide for a few examples).
The final exhibit we walked through was, in my opinion, the most moving. It was a children's memorial. There would be a big picture of a child, his or her name and age, a favorite food or sport, a best friend, and the cause of death. For example, there was a little boy, 3 years old, who's best friend was his mother and was hacked to death by a machete. It's impossible not to be impacted by these photos, beautiful happy children who are no longer living and who all died in horrific ways. I especially was affected by the fact that some of the kids at ASYV could've been in that exhibit, or they could know someone in it. It's beyond sad.
After seeing the memorial, I became much more aware of my surroundings, that every adult had experienced this. The thought that someone you see on the street could have killed a dozen people or helplessly watched his entire family die occurred to me. It was especially hard for me to see people with injuries. What unimaginable horrors lie in the story of a scar or a limp.
But going back to the village after seeing all this, reminded me that Rwanda is recovering and has plenty of hope. The kids here want to stay in Rwanda, rather than move to the States and live there. The plan is to graduate, go to university (perhaps in the states) and return to Rwanda and further the community in Rwanda, make medical and scientific advancements in the name of Rwanda, change and better lives in Rwanda. This is undoubtably a special place.
Let's talk about happier things now. I saw some sweet-ass wild gorillas in the northern part of Rwanda. It was fantastic. F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C! Ten of us signed up to see them, but there's a rule that the gorillas can be exposed to only eight humans for one hour, so we divided ourselves. I was with the ever-so-wonderful Jenn G, Marnina C, Adam G, and Ali G (plus three New Zealand-ers). We left our little hotel at 6:30 AM. We were greeted with some traditional dancing that was "locals supporting the gorillas!" which was super cute. We then had the bumpiest drive of my life half-way up a volcano and then trekked our way to go track some gorillas. When we finally reached the area they were in, our guide stopped us to tell us that we were close, and just as he was saying that, gorilla noises come out of nowhere. Then we turned around and there was a GIANT male silverback gorilla, just casually chillin' eating some green stuff. We were with them for about an hour, and I got amazing photos that make me giddy. Interesting events that occurred during that hour: 1. One of the gorillas just started like half-charging Marnina and Adam and Ali, and then just stopped when they got out of her way. 2. The male and a female went behind a bush and made some interesting noises, and our guide basically said they were doing the baby making thing. 3. The male ripped some of the longest, loudest farts I've ever experienced. I'm only mentioning these because in the other group, a gorilla basically sat on Maddie's back and smelled her, charged Alex, and threw a tree at them. So maybe our lives weren't as exciting as theirs in the moment, but we did miss the rain. Just as we were getting back into our car it started pouring. It was already really muddy though, but thank goodness we had our two porters (who were hired to carry our stuff), they literally made sure I didn't die and saved me on multiple occasions from certain embarrassment.
Now I'm back in the village, volunteering and hanging out with my family! I love my girls more every day. One of them gave me a valentine yesterday, which I'm obviously keeping forever.
Don't worry my friends, I'm going to show you my photos, right........ NOW!
That's all for now I suppose. I don't ever want to leave, also that.
As always,
Julia Rose
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