Rwanda, Le Pays de Mille Collines.

Le Pays de Mille Collines, The land of a Thousand Hills. And that it most definitely is, a beautiful land of a thousand hills.

What do you think of when you first hear of Rwanda? Not surprisingly I might guess the popular answer includes the topic of the fairly recent genocide that occurred, leaving the world to remember Rwanda as the country where roughly a million of its citizens were killed(by their neighbours, family and loved ones) in a mere 100 days.
I won’t go into a big history lesson here as I will leave that up to you all to research further if you are not aware or would like to know more about Rwanda’s genocide. It is a bone chilling, harrowing story that can make humanity question all their values and well their very humanity. How could neighbours be friends one day and killing each other with machetes the next. The power of brainwashing and the sickening fact of racism, and superiority seen in situations such as what happened here is heartbreaking.
However for some context into what really struck me when travelling here was the progress of the economy, the order within the cities, and the sense of community within the country.  What I will tell you is that in the wake after the end of the genocide in 1994, this African land has become a magnificent country with stunning, clean landscapes, warm people and infrastructure beyond what I expected.
We arrived in Kigali at night and were driven to our hostel within the city, in a Mercedes-Benz van as our taxi. Driving the roads through Kigali at night was hard to get a first impression but from what we did see, we were amazed. Where were we? Perfectly groomed lawns and roadsides, NO trash thrown to the sides, buildings and sky scrapers, smooth paved roads or cobblestone in areas…..Where were we? We arrived at our hostel which was a large house remodelled to a hostel, sitting off a cobblestone road, on a hill overlooking Kigali. Unpacking quickly we headed out, walking at night, in the dark (after we were told it was safe) to find some food. Casually walking down the road at night in a city in Africa, wasn’t exactly something we had done much of. We passed some armed guards who greeted us and continued on our way, arriving at an Italian cafe advertising sandwiches. I don’t know if we were just famished at this point, but best sandwich ever.

The next day we explored a bit of Kigali and visited the Genocide Memorial Museum in the morning. The museum was heartbreaking, solemn and such a moving experience. Hearing stories of those who had lived through the genocide, witnessed their families being killed, experienced their neighbours, friends and the current ruling power turn against them merely because they were a different clan,  or those who hid and saved precious lives. What an experience.
For those who have watched hotel Rwanda, we also had brunch at the Hotel des Mille Collines where this story is based. Unfortunately the actual movie is filmed in South Africa and so it was nothing like the movie, but it was the real location where over a thousand Tutsis hid during the genocide, and were saved. (Recommend watching the movie if you haven’t)

That afternoon we rented a car and took to the road, heading for Kibuye, a town north-west on Lake Kivu and bordering the DRC. Driving through the country was amazing with the thousand rolling hills, watching farmers work the land on the side of these hills, goats run wild and children playing alongside. The roads were smooth and beautifully paved, weaving through these hills but they were barren, with hardly another car seen during the 3 hour drive. We arrived in Kibuye and after an interesting drive up the side of a hill, found our ecolodge guesthouse perched on the top overlooking the other lakes and smaller hills. What a sight for sunset and sunrise.

We took a day trip down to Nyungwe National Forest for some hiking through the Rwandan Jungle, and experienced the beautiful rainforest and natural resources found within this forest. An amusing part of this day was my footwear choice, which included sandals. I usually pack pretty minimal for these trips so I had my sandals and then a pair of flip-flops. Well showing up for this hike the guides were fully outfitted in boots, long pants etc. and here I was in shorts and sandals. They couldn’t believe it, and strongly recommended me renting rubber boots for he danger of snakes, ants etc along the paths. I stayed strong however and decided to remain in my sandals. I am happy to report that I had no issues, but I am pretty sure I’m notorious for poor footwear choice for hiking…its happened more than once. The hike was fairly easy but we did encounter some rain and then some “Stones from God” as the guide explained, otherwise known as hail, which surprised all of us. The scenery and natural environment was beautiful, lush and clean. We saw the mist rising over the mountains and that post rain scent in the trees. It was great. We drove back down to Kibuye and decided to find a dry place to eat, nearly making it inside before a torrential rain and thunderstorm began.(not after arguing about where to eat, and ending up both thinking of the same place just different road entrances). We sat on a balcony overlooking the lake and were not able to see anything farther than foot past the railing due to the rain. Hopefully all the tour boats had made it back in…..yikes.

We enjoyed some bucket showers in the lovely “eco” shower stall that was much too short for me, and headed for an early bed.
The next day we slept in, drove around the rocky, steep hills of Kibuye for lookouts over the island and then headed to the beach to potentially find a boat ride tour. The funny part of this is there had been a “boat captain”, still not convinced he was a captain, at our lodging that had been trying for days to get us to come for a boat ride…to which we continued to decline. So now we show up at the lake because we weren’t sure what else to do and agree to go on a boat ride. Well, who do we run into as were getting onto the boat. Yes, “boat captain” from the lodge….hah sorry guy?

The boat tour was run by two local boys and their wooden boat. We stopped for gas before heading out on the crystal clear, and calm lake Kivu. As we neared an island where we would stop, we were surprised to find cows grazing, unknown to us…cows are apparently great swimmers and will be herded through the lake to different islands to graze. Interesting piece of new knowledge. We climbed halfway up this island which was essentially a hill, into a sanctuary of fruit bats hiding in the trees. Literally bats everywhere. Our guide began clapping his hands and making noises, stirring up the bats until we had thousands of bats flying and circling above us. Eery but interesting. We continued up the hill right to the top where we were awarded a beautiful view of the surrounding coasts of both Rwanda and the distant Democratic Republic of the Congo. After a quick break to catch our breath and some photos of the beautiful landscapes we returned to our boat at the bottom and later the island.

We drove around, dropped our friend who was staying and enjoyed some lunch with a view at his new lodging and headed for the airport back in Kigali where we had to catch a flight that night (a little bitterly that is after learning that Kenya had announced a surprise holiday for the next day and we could have actually stayed a day longer…Karibu Kenya). Who knew it would be such a stressful drive home. Time was a bit under calculated, traffic in Kigali was very under calculated, and security to the airport was stricter than ever but as we ran inside all sweaty and stressed, we learned our flight was delayed. Thankfully.

Rwanda was a beautiful experience and magnificent country. It’s not so much the history that surprised me, but the countrys reaction, recovery and reconciliation from this history that impacted me. Rwanda has come so far, and largely because of Africa helping Africa. When the rest of the international world barely stepped in or made efforts to end the genocide, Africans took charge and saved themselves, abolishing the clans and rather recognizing every citizen as a Rwandan. Rwandans recognized the importance of forgiveness and the impossible reality that retaliation would only cost more innocent lives. Those guilty of genocide acts were given varying sentences and forgiveness based on their plea and ownership to their deeds. The reconciliation and the response to this genocide has left this country with pride, and a large sense of community. An example of this is their mandatory “Umuganda” which occurs not the last Saturday of every month. It is a national morning of mandatory community service during which all able-bodied people between 18 and 65 are expected to carry out community tasks such as cleaning streets or building homes for vulnerable people. Services, businesses, transportation etc are all shut down during this time and it is a civil duty to which the citizens all participate. While there definitely are faults, Rwanda can be an example to other countries in so many ways.

Despite the dark past, seeing how far this country has come in certain aspects is quite uplifting. I also hope I am able to abolish some misconceptions about the safety of this country, and encourage some respect for Rwanda.
An interesting thing that occurred while I was in Rwanda was the focus from the Humans of New York Instagram on the Rwandan Genocide and survivors stories. I highly recommend you all go look these stories up, I promise you they will resound and tell this story much better than I can. I literally had goosebumps every time I read another excerpt. It is absolutely impossible to imagine this horror as a reality for so many individuals, but it is something that we must be made aware of in order to not let history replay. We must know history and learn from it, to keep it in the past and to prevent similar things from happening.
The link is http://www.humansofnewyork.com you will have to find them under stories as it is not made into a series or country but worth the searching, otherwise if you have Instagram you can find them all on their page.

Humans of New York also interviewed Rwanda’s current president Paul Kagame who said:

“There was a huge puzzle after the genocide.  How do you pursue justice when the crime is so great?  You can’t lose one million people in one hundred days without an equal number of perpetrators.  But we also can’t imprison an entire nation.  So forgiveness was the only path forward. Survivors were asked to forgive and forget.  The death penalty was abolished.  We focused our justice on the organizers of the genocide.  Hundreds of thousands of perpetrators were rehabilitated and released back into their communities.  These decisions were agonizing.  I constantly questioned myself.  But each time I decided that Rwanda’s future was more important than justice.  It was a huge burden to place on the survivors.  And perhaps the burden was too great.  One day during a memorial service, I was approached by a survivor.  He was very emotional. ‘Why are you asking us to forgive?’ he asked me.  ‘Haven’t we suffered enough?  We weren’t the cause of this problem.  Why must we provide the solution?’  These were very challenging questions.  So I paused for a long time.  Then I told him: ‘I’m very sorry.  You are correct.  I am asking too much of you.  But I don’t know what to ask the perpetrators.  ‘Sorry’ won’t bring back any lives.  Only forgiveness can heal this nation.  The burden rests with the survivors because they are the only ones with something to give.’”
AND “It might not seem possible for a nation to heal from genocide so quickly.  And some might think that our reconciliation is surface level.  But it runs deeper than that.  If we were truly a nation playing ‘make believe,’ our progress would have been impossible.  Rwanda’s per capita GDP has grown nearly 500% since the genocide.  And I understand that economics might seem like a dry subject, but you must consider what it represents.  It represents Rwandans working together.  And trading together.  And trusting each other.  It represents a consensus that our best future is a shared one.  Without true reconciliation, we’d have never come this far.  Do tribes still exist in Rwanda?  Of course.  There will always be divisions between us.  I can’t ask people to forget about these things.  But I tell them: ‘Consider the ways that we are a single tribe.  We all speak one language.  We all have the same culture, and dances, and behaviors.  So be proud of who you are.  But also be proud of being Rwandan.  Because that is something all of us are.”(Kigali, Rwanda) http://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/179444155511/it-might-not-seem-possible-for-a-nation-to-heal

For all men were created equal and Rwanda was created beautiful. A Cheers to Rwanda, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

The Happier Traveler.