Life with MK: Kigali and the Rwandan Genocide

This morning everyone napped once we were checked into our hotel, but for some reason I wasn't tired enough to sleep. I layed down for a bit, but then got up and showered, got dressed, and headed out to get some things done. I asked the person at the front desk where the ATM was so I could get some cash and I headed out. The ATM was broken so I ended up just heading back to the hotel. When I got back the man at the front desk told me where I could find a different ATM as well as a super market and I headed out once again, this time finding success! I got out some money and then entered the trading center to go to an amazing supermarket that has everything from food to furniture to washing machines. I bought a croissant, some cheese and a pineapple juice box and brought them back to the hotel where I ate them and used the wifi in the lobby. I got so much done before anyone else even woke up it was ridiculous.

When everyone was finally ready to go we head back to the supermarket area to eat lunch at the coffee shop next door. Since I had recently eaten breakfast I ordered off the kids menu but it was delicious. Just a smaller version of the chicken sandwich. We hung out at the lunch spot for a bit and then caught a special hire taxi to the genocide museum.

The genocide museum in Kigali is quite something. There are mass graves, memorial gardens, explanations of how it began, was sparked, and ended. It was really intense to learn about. We bought the audio tour guide and spent a good amount of time just going though everything they had. The craziest part about the whole memorial was the room dedicated to the children who were killed in the genocide, there were some large pictures with descriptions of the child, some of their favorite things, their age, and how they were murdered. They died by machete, being stabbed in the eyes, burned alive, thrown against a wall, clubbed to death. The list goes on and it was awful. The worst part was that I was around 8 when this happened and most of the kids were similar ages. It is so sad to think that I was carefree and living life as an American first grader while these children were being tortured in their home. That room made me really sad in general. Overall the museum was really nice and hq nicely documented such a terrible thing in the history f this country. It also documented a few other genocides including the biggest in history, the Holocaust.

After seeing the museum well needed something a little happier so we went to a local hotel that was supposed to have nice views from its restaurant. When we got there it turned out that the restaurant was closed for renovations, but a really nice hotel worker brought us up anyway so we were the only ones on the floor. It was cool and had great views of Kigali. After hanging out at the hotel, which happens to also be the hotel that inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda (the real events took place at this hotel during the genocide, but I've never seen the movie so I don't know that much about it), we decided to walk to dinner at a place called Cactus. We had been told that it was close by, and after many inquires for directions and 40 minutes of walking we finally arrived at. The not that close place. It was a really great restaurant though and I am really happy we went. We all got pizza and boy is this ace great for the indicicive. We all the pizza offered where you choose four of their pizzas in one pizza! A quarter of the pizza is decidcated to each pizza type and it was great!

While at dinner I also found out that a girl from my sorority in college lives here in Kigali, but now it's too late to meet up and my friends want to go back to Uganda tomorrow. I kind of wish we could stay here another night, but I don't particularly want to travel alone since it was get a bit more expensive. Anyways, Kigali is a really cool city in general, though much more expensive than Uganda. I keep comparing prices to Ugandan prices so everything feels ridiculous when in fact if judged upon US prices things are similarly priced. Tomorrow we will do something TBD in the morning and then head to Lake Bunyonyi. I'm really excited to see this lake as I have heard nothing but amazing things!