July 22nd: Free Day

Stomach pain! Today I woke up with stomach problems. Luckily it was our day off from the camp, (April was taking the girls to the soccer camp so the volunteers could explore the city.)

I felt better after I ate breakfast and we headed over to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. I had been to the center last year and even the second time it impressed me with how well it was laid out. There are over 250,000 people buried on the grounds in mass graves and more remains are brought there as they are still being found, fourteen years after the genocide. The museum itself is so beautifully crafted, one of the best museums I have ever seen. It tells the story of the genocide intricately and powerfully on the first floor. On the second floor, there is a section donated to the other genocides that have happened all over the world, including the Holocaust. It is amazing and so overwhelming how sad it is that this sort of thing keeps happening over and over again.

On the second floor is what I consider the most disturbing, hit-home part of the whole museum, a section devoted to children killed in the genocide. Knowing how much that room got to me last year and how much Kim loves children, I wanted to walk through it with her, but unfortunately I got sick again so I had to meet up with them after they had already gone through that area. That room really personalizes the tragedy that took place in Rwanda in April of 1994. There are huge pictures of a single, adorable child on the wall with a plaque underneath. The plaque mixes cute information about them, who their best friend was (for instance his sister,) what their favorite food was, etc. with horrific reflections on their death: what their last words were ("Mommy where can I run to?"), how they were killed (everything from chopped with a machete in their mother's arms to stabbed in eyes,) etc. The whole area felt especially relevant this year since we were running a camp for children that look just like these innocent lives that were lost.

One of the beautiful parts of this museum are huge quotes on the walls on the first floor. One of my favorite quotes is, "When they said 'never again' after the Holocaust, was it meant for some people and not others?" —Apollon Katahizi

We had a nice lunch at the Serena with Willa, Beth and Katie and then headed to the market! The market was one of the things I was looking forward to in my free time on this trip the most since we had had so little time there last year and there were such extraordinary fabrics there that I wanted to buy more. (The fabric I bought last year my roomate and I made into curtains for our livingroom.) The drive to the market was... interesting. We were going up one of Rwanda's thousand hills on a highway when the driver informed us that he was running out of gas as he stops in the middle of this hill, on a highway!! He proceeds to drift us backwards the wrong way down this highway, cars swerving to get out of our way, until he reaches a spot that he can turn around so we're at least drifting in the correct direction. We somehow reach the gas station and eventually the market. What an adventure!

The market was great, bustling with activity. I remember last year being a little scared and intimidated by the narrow aisles and the large number of locals starring at us, asking us to look at their products. This year I felt more comfortable though, as I do in general on the trip. It is a very unique scene to see pyramid piles of salt on wooden tables for sale and all the other wares. I bought 5 pieces of cloth in funky patterns that I'm very excited about.

After the market, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and then headed to the Indian restaurant where we met Willa, Beth, the soccer group, and eventually Fabien and Dean. Dean is Willa's business partner who flew in tonight and lives in Kigali working on quality control for Fair Winds Trading. A brilliant and kind man, he had lead us around alot last year. The food was excellent and the restaurant so neat (we had gone there last year.) The waiters all dress in Indian costumes and there's such a nice ambience, including a big, fake waterfall in the corner. Willa had surprised us all with baskets and we carried them home. I got sick again and headed to bed while the rest of the group hung out by the pool for a night cap.