Life in the Pearl of Africa: The Cleanest Place on Earth

This past week, I went on vacation to Rwanda with some other volunteers, and we had a blast. Rwanda borders Uganda in the very southwest of the country, so Lisa and I, being the only ones to come from out east, had the longest to travel. The trip started out a bit rocky: we sat on the bus in Kampala for almost 3 hours before it filled up enough to leave the bus park. Luckily, we did meet an up-and-coming rap artistic named Rastor Pastor on the bus selling photos of famous people. He even gave us pictures of himself so we wouldn’t forget his visit to the bus.

Finally, the bus takes off for the west, but only 20 kms outside the city the bus breaks down. While we’re waiting for the mechanic to come and fix the bus, what else should happen but a hailstorm. That’s right, a hailstorm on the equator. The storm does pass, only for us to find out that the bus can’t be fixed, and the bus driver had lied to us about calling back to Kampala for another bus to pick up all the stranded passengers. At this point, it’s been over five hours since we arrived in Kampala, and we’ve only made it 20 kms west of the city. Well, this is Africa.

Lisa and I decide maybe we’ll have better luck hitching a ride in one of the local aid vehicles passing by. Not 30 seconds after we make this decision, a vehicle headed to Mbarara (our destination for the night) pulls up behind the bus. We’re saved! The kind drivers take pity on the two stranded mzungus and we get a free ride into Mbarara in the much more comfy car.

On the way to Mbarara we do actually pass right through the equator. Of course, we had to document the moment:

The Equator!

The next day, after meeting up with some other volunteers/travel buddies, we continue our journey south towards Rwanda. We finally make it to Kigali, and we discover that it’s the cleanest place on earth! Or at least it’s the cleanest place we’ve seen a long long time. Apparently, once a month the entire country has a community day to clean up the country. All businesses shut down for the morning, the police put spikes in the street to prevent taxis from driving around, and people actually go around cleaning the city. The event did make it difficult for us tourists to get breakfast, transport around, or access to museums, etc., but it was astonishing to witness the program in action. What was even more astonishing was comparing this beautifully maintained city to Kampala, where the roads and sidewalks are all covered with potholes and trash.

The deserted city center during community day

Waiting until the city opens again

Pretty Kigali

Once the city was finished cleaning and opened again, we went and had lunch at Hotel Des Mille Collines, the hotel that was the inspiration for the movie Hotel Rwanda. After the European managers of the hotel were evacuated, the Rwandan manager Paul Rusesabagina provided shelter to over 1,200 Rwandans escaping the genocide. The four-star hotel still operates as normal today:

Hotel - poolside

Our group

Afterwards, we went to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial, a beautifully done museum and memorial for the victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, where about 250,000 of the genocide victims are buried in mass graves.

Kigali Memorial Center - the flame is lit for the 100 days of mourning

Mass graves at Kigali Memorial Center

We also visited a memorial a little outside the city in Nyamata. This memorial was set up in a church where over 10,000 victims died in one attack during the genocide: 5,000 died inside the church itself and the other 5,000 who couldn’t fit in the church perished in the surrounding areas. The experience was very emotional. The church is filled with the clothing of the victims, and the sheer mass of them gives some indication of the multitude of people who were killed here. In the crypts out back there are piles and rows of skulls and femur bones of the victims. It’s a very graphic memorial, but it really imparts upon you the magnitude of what happened.

After experiencing the “big city,” we decided to go and relax along the shores of Lake Kivu. Yes, it really is paradise: