Weekend in Kigali, Rwanda

We had to go to Mbarara to take the bus, so we went early Friday morning. After we had waited for two hours it came; and 6 hours, including the waiting at the border, was ahead of us before we reached the busterminal in Kigali. When we arrived at Kigali Hotel after some negotiation about the price for the taxi, we were soon ready to enter downtown Kigali to get some food. It was a nice city with much less dust and mud than we’re used to here in Kampala. It was good to be tourist for some days! Close to the restaurant we found a supermarket that had many of the international products, and it was funny to see how happy we got as we discovered more and more.

We had only Saturday to do things, and we wanted to visit memorials from the 1994 genocide, so we hired two men to take us to a small city outside Kigali to see the church there where 10 000 people were killed. I got a bad feeling when I walked there, just to know that the room ones was packed with people and all of them were killed. The roof had very many bulletholes, the altar cloth was still on the alter covered with dried blood and the (døpe)font had very many holes. Behind the church, under the ground, they had made one room that was filled with coffins that were full of bodyparts, and there was still space for more as more bodyparts still is brought there. In the other room they had gathered all kinds of bodyparts on some shelves and only heads on other shelves. The guide told us how the Tutsi’s, and Hutu’s that sympathized with them, were killed in the most brutal ways that I can’t even imagine.

The altar cloth

After visiting the church we went to a Memorial Center in town where we got more knowledge about the history of why the genocide in Rwanda happened, and it was good to get answer on some of the questions that had appeared in my mind.

We wanted to by some souvenirs, so we found an African craft-shop and bought some small things. In the evening we went to a restaurant to eat before we went home.

Sunday we had to go back. But we hadn’t made any reservation for the bus, and unfortunately it was full! So we had to take an ordinary taxi to the border, than negotiate on the price a little before a guy took us to a city where a bus went to Kampala. It was a slow bus, and after about 12 hours on the road we were home. It was a long trip, but it was an experience, especially the taxiride to the border, it sounded like the car could break down any time, and it was designed to carry 16 people, but we were 20!

It was a really good weekend!! And one of the best things, I got four stamps in my passport:)