I am here to do a month volunteering at a local orphanage. It has been organised through Global Volunteer Network (GVN) and we are working with Faith Victory Association (FVA) within Rwanda. Jean Bosco who woks for FVA is waiting to collect me from the airport. We hop into a rickety old 4WD landcruiser, wind down the windows for some airconditioning, wait while Bosco tries the ignition several times, then in a cloud of black smoke we are off!
The first thing I notice about Rwanda is the soldiers - quite a strong presence in the streets, all dressed in dark blue, with combat boots, all carrying rifles. They are certainly quite intimidating!
The second thing I notice about Rwanda is the driving - everyone is crazy! It is actually insane. I think they drive on the right hand side - although its hard to tell because they are often on both sides! They love their horns. I can never quite figure out why they actually use them? There are a lot of cars in Rwanda even though only a very small percentage of the population (the very wealthy) actually have them. It is even difficult for a lot of people to afford a bicycle. Most of the locals will commute by foot. So this means that along with the crazy driving, there are hundreds of locals walking on the roads. The drivers are rarely considerate of the pedestrians and I find later that you take your life in your hands every time you want to cross the street.
I am to stay in Kigali for the next month. This is the capital of Rwanda, and the biggest and busiest city in Rwanda. Rwanda itself is apparently the most densely populated country in Africa with a population of about 11 million crammed into 28,000 square metres of land. I would say that a big proportion of this population is in Kigali. As we make our way towards the guest house - my home for the next month - I get a feel for the living conditions of these people. I guess in a lot of countries that are densely populated you may see lots of high apartment buildings to fit everyone in. Not so here. The houses I see are tiny - maybe 4-6 square metres? I find out later there are often families of 6 or more living in them. They are made of mud, a lot of them have big chunks missing where the mud has dried and cracked off, they are certainly not water tight. Most of them have a corrugated iron roof - in varying degrees of disrepair. The huts are scattered wide across the dusty, dirty, muddy land. You can see people dotted around, children playing, and women - bless them - actually sweeping the dust. I have no idea why they bother but I think its a fantastic display of the pride of these people.
We arrive at the guest house about 10 minutes later and I am pleasantly surprised! We have passed through an area of houses which are actually quite large, concrete, have their own yards and gates. So it is not all slums thank god! Our house has a large gate which is always locked. It stands about 8 feet high and has spikes on the top. The rest of the wall is the same height and most of it has shards of broken glass embedded in the concrete to deter trespassers. This gives me a brief nervous sense of how dangerous it could be here. The house has a large deck with big white tiles which flow through to the inside. You enter into a large lounge area with a TV, couch and 4 one seaters. The furniture is very dated in mustard coloured upholstery with white doilies slung casually over the backs - however they look very comfortable. There is a large dining area to the left with table seating for 8. Off this is the kitchen which although large has nothing but benches, sink and a fridge. I later discover that the cooking is done in a rotunda hut in the back yard over fire. The hallway is beyond the lounge and this leads to 5 bedrooms, each with twin beds. There are also 3 bathrooms. I am suitably impressed! Although the showers turn out to be cold, and the water pressure so weak I could piss better I'm sure. There are only 5 of us in the house at the moment so we get our own rooms. My bedroom is the most gorgeous shade of bright green. I love it. We have mosquito nets over our beds which I discover gives it a very romantic feel! Pity I'm here alone.
My flatmates are lovely. Natalie from Canada, Amy from NZ (yes thats right!!) Cait from US and Amanda from US. We are all about the same age and get on really well. Some of the girls have been here for a while already and the help and advice that they provide in the first week is absolutely priceless. We also have Armani who I suppose is our 'house Dad' - don't see him much during the day but he's around at night for security and to let us in the gate when we get home after midnight! And Console who is our 'house Mum' - she's great - does the cooking, cleaning, dishes - I could get used to this! She speaks little English but is very sweet. The food here is much better than I had expected. Breakfast is usually toast with either jam, or avocado (amazing avocadoes!), and occasionally an omelette as a special treat. There is a large thermos of plunger coffee which we have with milk powder and sugar. Excellent coffee! One of Rwanda's biggest exports. Dinner is either rice or noodles, with hot chips, vegetables - either cabbage/beans/cauli/carrot, and a meat and gravy - chicken, beef, goat, fish, meatballs. All excellent except the fish. And there is always ketchup on the table. Now I can eat absolutely anything with my T sauce! Perhaps I wont lose all the weight I had planned to!My volunteering begins with a day of orientation when Bosco returns with the landcruiser and brings Claire along with him. Claire is our co-ordinator here and is lovely. Speaks very good English too which helps! On the first day we learn a bit about the organisation, the country, and practice a few local words. Mwaramutzi! (good morning) Amakuru? (How are you?) Ni Mesa! (Im good!) Murakoze Chane (Thank you!) And another that I pick up very quickly once I start work at the orphanage - OYA! (NO!)
Orientation also includes a visit to the Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali. Its very sobering to walk through and when we are there a school group come through. The students would be 16/17 and so potentially of age to have been around at the time of the genocide. One girl is sobbing uncontrollably and I could only assume she lost close family - perhaps parents and siblings.
The genocide claimed over a million lives. People killed in the most horrific, torturous manner. Young children and babies not spared. It was the Hutu tribe against the Tutsi. In Rwanda there used to be 3 tribes - Hutu, Tutsi, and the minority Batwa Pigmy. All 3 tribes lived harmoniously together until the Belgian settlers arrived and created inequality. They decided that the Tutsi were the 'superior' tribe, and basically regardless of education or intelligence, a job would always be given to the Tutsi over a Hutu. A lot of Hutu ended up being exiled because of this. Eventually I guess the Hutu had had enough. Who knows how long things had been plotting for but in April of 1994 the killing began and rapidly escalated. People sought refuge in churches, only to be mass killed when found. Some churches in Kigali had 4-5000 bodies. The famous Mille des Colline Hotel that amazingly managed to save some lives. Another part of Rwanda - Kibuye - lost 90% of its entire population. The museum holds mass graves where thousands are buried. Inside there is a room that has hundreds of bones. In one cabinet skulls of all sizes - a lot you can see fractures or complete holes. In another cabinet hundreds of femur bones. In another cabinet smaller bones. There are relics of clothing, you can still see blood stains. The worst part for me was the children's area which was right at the end. There are dozens of photo's of children from babies of 12 weeks to children of 12 years. Under each photo is a profile - Ill give an example - NAME: Elias AGE: 2 years LOVES: Icecream and his Mummy KILLED: By being repeatedly smashed against a wall. I know thats horrific but thats exactly what it was like. Dozens of these. Utterly devastating. It is a part of the history of Rwanda that is still so very fresh and raw and yet I am absolutely amazed at the resilience of the people. Although every single living person in Rwanda today has been directly affected by the genocide, they move on with their lives. They rebuild. They forgive. Its amazing.
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