Warning: This post goes into graphic details about my experience in a country where a brutal genocide occurred a mere 26 years ago. Please only read this post if you are okay with reading about this kind of heart-wrenching tragedy.

In April of 1994, Hutus were given orders to murder Tutsis or else they themselves would be killed. Community members turned on their friends, family, and neighbors by killing each other with machetes and clubs with nails on them. Tutsi women and children were especially targeted in order to prevent a new generation of Tutsi people from emerging. In a short 90 day period, close to one million people were slaughtered one by one.

Rwanda blew me away in ways that I could have never imagined. Before I entered Kigali (Rwanda’s capital), I expected it to look similar to Lira or the Katanga slums, where people were living in poverty and trash. However, Kigali turned out have more similarities to Dubai than it did to Lira or the slums. The streets were paved and well maintained, the city was blooming with grass and plants, and there was no litter to be found anywhere. As it turns out, citizens can be convinced to do just about anything to avoid another genocide. Luckily, the government has used this for good instead of bad. In 2007, single use plastic bags were banned from the country. If you try to cross the border with anything in a plastic bag, it will be disposed of before you can enter. Citizens are also required to do one day per week of mandatory community service. We drove past multiple groups of people who were landscaping medians to make Rwanda an even more beautiful place. However, a shadow of the genocide was cast over all of Rwanda. People were still kind and welcoming, but the country was not as alive as Uganda was. When I had spoke with Ugandans, everyone expressed how much they loved their country. In Rwanda, everyone that I spoke to was looking for a way out of the country to start a life somewhere else. There was a weight that could be felt while looking around the streets of Rwanda. Anyone who was my age or older had likely seen their loved ones slaughtered, or had been forced to kill their fellow community members. Young children had not witnessed this brutality first hand, but they saw it continued to affect their parents and grandparents.

We arrived in Kigali on Tuesday evening and made our first stop at Mezze Fresh, which is Rwanda’s spin-off of Chipotle. Although I was beginning to resent rice a little bit since it was my standard lunch and dinner every day, I was not going to turn down the freshest mango salsa that I had ever tasted. We then checked into our hotel, where I had both good pressure AND hot water in my shower for the first time in two weeks. Our hotel had a beautiful pool and a bar and restaurant. Sitting by the pool with a fresh juice cocktail and palm trees around me had me questioning if I was still in Africa or if I was in California. We had a nice dinner with a Rwandan music producer (who is also declared to be the Rwandan Jay-Z), Clement Ishimwe. I went to bed “early” (11pm) that night to prepare for an emotionally exhausting morning to follow.

Our first destination on Wednesday was the Kigali Genocide Memorial. We read about the history of how the genocide came to be and about how involved the French were in creating it. We watched videos of survivors that talked about what they had to do in order to escape and how they watched their loved ones be slaughtered in front of them. Hundreds of thousands of photos of people who died during the genocide were hung throughout the museum. Skulls with indents from the whacks of machetes and clubs were on display to demonstrate how horrific the murders really were. What really got me was the children’s room, where certain children who were murdered were featured. A biography was laid out about what the children’s favorite foods and hobbies were and how the children were killed. Some were so young, their favorite food was breast milk, and their favorite hobbies were making gestures, because they were too young to do much else. The babies were typically killed by being slammed against walls. Outside of the memorial, the grounds were beautifully maintained. I saw two birds sharing a fruit off of a tree, which really contrasted with the horror that was on display just inside of the walls. I picked up a couple books there on the genocide and I’d be happy to share them with anyone who would like to know more about first-hand accounts of what happened in Rwanda on those dark days in 1994.

After the memorial, we went to a church in Nyamata, where thousands of people were slaughtered. The church grounds now house a mass grave where over 4,000 people are laid to rest. The church’s doors were opened by a hand grenade and then almost everyone who was taking refuge in the church were brutally massacred. The blown door still remains, as well as bullet holes and blood spatter on the walls. All of the clothing that people had worn on that day were laid out on the pews to demonstrate just how many people lost their lives in that one spot. We were taken to see coffins that were filled to the brim with unidentified bones and skulls of people who were killed on that day. Again, this was some of the most horrific content I have ever seen, yet the grounds were beautifully maintained. Just behind a chain link fence next door was a primary school, where the children had recess and were running around laughing and playing outside. I thought that this contrast was really relieving. It showed that although this tragedy occurred not too long ago, the community was rebuilding, and the next generations will never have to see that kind of horror.

After taking some time to process what we had just seen, we did some decompressing by going to the craft market to buy local hand-made gifts for our loved ones. After that, we swung by the hotel that the movie “Hotel Rwanda” was based off of. We then had a nice dinner with a special guest who started an organization in Rwanda to help refugees secure jobs. We spent our last night as a group having drinks outside on the patio. The next morning, we packed up our things to head back to the U.S. and then set out for a tour at the U.S. Embassy. We were lucky enough to meet with an ambassador there, and learned about how the State Department might be a possible career opportunity for us once we have finished with our degrees. We then went to the Marriott to have lunch and hang out before we left in two different groups for the airport. We had our final lecture and gave each other lots of hugs (and maybe shed some tears as well). After spending two weeks in tight quarters with each other, our group became incredibly close. I hope to maintain these friendships for many years to come.

On Thursday night, I took off from Kigali to head back to the United States. Surprisingly, the security/customs in Rwanda are much more intense than anywhere I have been. Luckily, all of my flights took off as scheduled (I can’t say the same about some of my classmates’ flights!) and after about 40 hours traveling through airports and in the air, I made it home safely. I’m now in the process of trying to unpack and regulate my sleep schedule before school starts again in a couple days.

Thanks to everyone who has followed along on this journey with me. I’m now tucking away both my passport and my blog until the next adventure!

Friday was our final day at Kampala and we had a free day to choose our own activities. We ended up going to a nice hotel for lunch a spa day. I got a massage for the first time ever and it was pretty great! We went to the craft market as well and then had dinner at a Chinese restaurant where we had a private room to sing karaoke. After we had all practically lost our voices, we went back to the house to get ready to take off for Kabale on Saturday morning. The drive was about 9 hours and we got to see wild Zebras along the way. We are now south of the Equator, so it is summer here. We arrived at Lake Bunyonyi, which is quite possibly the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. We’re staying at the Entusi resort that was built by GLI and the community. I’m staying in a lovely tent with a view of the lake and I’d say that this is the first time I’ve been “glamping”. We got here pretty late on Saturday so we had a nice dinner and relaxed the first night. The next morning we woke up and went on a long hike through one of the local villages with a local person as our guide. After this, we went to see a traditional healer (also known as a witch doctor) to hear about the natural healing that they perform. We then hiked through the rain to the basketball court where we played with the local children. We were able to see the community farm, where all of the food that is served at Entusi is sourced from. When we returned to the resort, we went on another short hike. Needless to say, my legs were burning the morning after! We were welcomed with songs and dance performed by the local Women’s Association and shared a community feast with them. This morning (Monday) we went into Kabale town and visited the University, where we interacted with almost 100 students and about 20 professors. We compared the differences in education and discussed which areas need to be remodeled. Afterwards, we saw the local recycling center, where locals are paid to bring in their plastic bottles and other plastic items. We had lunch in the town and then went back to the resort to relax, play volleyball, and swim. A classmate and I went on a long swim to the mainland and back while surrounded by gorgeous hills. We had a community dinner where the staff shared their stories about how they started to work at the resort and their favorite memories that have been made here. Tomorrow we will head into Rwanda and will be there for the rest of the trip.

A few common themes that I have noticed so far are:

• All of the locals are so genuinely kind and welcoming. This was kind of a culture shock for me, because I am used to a society where outsiders are not very welcomed. All of the children are so excited to meet us, play, and are constantly asking to have their pictures taken. The adults are so interested in hearing about our culture and telling us about theirs. Not only does every person that we pass welcome us, they also encourage us to please return.
• There are more than 50 languages spoken in Uganda. So far, I have learned how to say “How are you?” and a few other basic phrases in three languages. I’ve come to realize that regardless of if there are languages barriers or not, dancing is a universal language. We danced with locals in Lira and a few times here in Kabale and it’s been so much fun to speak to each other through movements of the body and laughter.
• The locals all kind of expect that when they see a group of white people, they are there to perform some type of aid work. However, the people who are working in the field have all expressed that just giving the community things does not actually help the community. Organizations can come in and build a school, but a school isn’t very helpful if there are no teachers for the school or no way to pay the teachers. It has been really neat to see how GLI has worked directly with the community members (who clearly know what the community needs more than outsiders), to build organizations that continue to make a difference for the local people.

We left for Lira early on Wednesday morning and made a quick stop at a rhino sanctuary where they started out with 6 white rhinos and now have about 30. Once they get to 50, they will release half into the wild. I learned that white rhinos are not actually white.. it was a miscommunication between someone who was Dutch telling someone who spoke English that the rhinos were wide [mouthed]. All rhinos are actually gray unless they are albino. We also saw some monkeys up close on the drive which was pretty neat. We arrived in Lira and went downtown where there was vendors and music on every street. We had dinner and went to bed, preparing for an emotional day on Thursday. As expected, Thursday turned out to be a very heavy day. We started off the morning by meeting with a woman who was formerly a child soldier but had escaped after a few years while they were transferring at night. It was obvious that she was seeing everything as she told her story and her eyes swelled with tears. She is writing an autobiography with original poems that I will share once it is published. Not only are the former child soldiers still dealing with the trauma that they experienced, but they also have to deal with the stigma associated to them because of it. We then went out on the bus to an IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp, where hundreds of people were massacred and the people remaining lived to tell the tale. Afterwards, we went to an orphanage ran by nuns which housed babies up to 3 years of age. We then went to the Children of Peace organization, which is doing amazing work for the community. The organization works with former child soldiers and with children who were born in captivity. All of the staff members are trained counselors that help this population work through trauma. They provide housing for children who are on break for school and fun activities like music to keep the environment light. They also teach farming to citizens and have helped hundreds of people learn to successfully farm. We were lucky enough to have dinner with these amazing partners to learn more about the great work that they are doing. Overall, the day was emotionally taxing and I had a hard time talking about everything that I saw while we were processing what we experienced afterwards. I think that it will continue to resonate with me and I will feel it even deeper within the next few days. Today we stopped back in Kampala where we participated in a panel with professionals in the community. Tomorrow we are going to have a day of decompression and fun before traveling another 8 hours to our next destination!

Wow, our days have been packed full these past two days – I barely have any time to rest. There is a 10 hour difference here. I am usually a night owl but apparently I am a morning person here? It is kind of a nice change but I’m pretty worn out from these long days. Yesterday we walked through the market and to the national mosque where we learned how to pray. The most common language here is Luganda but everyone makes an effort to learn the term, “how are you?”. I learned that to say how are you in Luganda is “Oli Otya” which is pronounced something like old-yell-tee-yah. Everyone was so excited to hear a traveler speaking Luganda, so I hope to learn more phrases while I am here. After the mosque, we went on a boat ride at lake Victoria and hiked with monkeys afterward. Today we went to the business district which was very hip and modern. Afterwards, we met with University students who are studying the same subject as we are. We talked about our differences in policies and culture over lunch. We then went to an amazing organization called Reach a Hand that has youth teach other youth in Uganda about sexual/reproductive health and safety. I was very impressed with what they have accomplished. I will be traveling for the next few days so it might be a few days until the next post. Please feel free to leave comments with questions if you have any.

I arrived safely in Entebbe late Friday night. So far, everyone that I have met has been so kind and welcoming. I had told the man sitting in my row on the flight that I loved his shirt (it was an embroidered bird and was absolutely lovely). He proceeded to inform me that his mom created it by hand and even offered to take it off and give it to me because I liked it. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who was so genuinely nice right off the bat. Today we visited the poorest slums in Katanga. I was nervous about how the community would feel about a group of American students touring the slums. However, we were greeted with “Most welcome!”s, hand shakes, and smiles. We met with the vice chairman of the community who explained how the community was governed. We also met with one of the founders of Hope 4 Katanga Kids where 55 orphaned children are being cared for and sent to schools (check out hope4katangakids.org). We then went to Thread of Life, where two women voluntarily teach women to sew so that they can beat poverty and move their families out of the slum areas. The students are provided with housing and food during the six month period that they attend sewing and English classes. After the semester is over, if the woman would like to start their own business or send their children to school, they can take out micro loans from Thread of Life to get them on their feet. The ladies at Thread of Life cooked us a delicious, traditional Ugandan meal in the beautiful area behind their shop/campus. I was so inspired being around women leaders who are doing good for their communities (check out threadoflifeug.org).

Kampala is not like how most people picture Africa. Kampala is a large city with beautiful landscape and many big buildings. We were able to drive through the city and see it all after leaving Buganda. We had a nice dinner close to where we are staying and I am finally planning a whole night’s sleep for tonight. The internet here is not always accessible so I will update again when I can!

After my first long flight (13+ hours), I arrived in Dubai to meet a classmate on the afternoon of New Years Eve. Although we were both still jet lagged, we managed to fill our night with dinner followed by fireworks and live music on the beach. There is an 11 hour time difference here and I’m still trying to adjust to such a drastic change in time. By the time I do adjust, I’ll probably be heading to another time zone! Yesterday we did a city tour and caught the sunset over the Dubai Creek in Festival City. After that, we got to see the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world) light up and move to music alongside water fountains. I’m usually not much of a “city person”, but I really like it here. The whole area is very clean and well-maintained and the public transit is easy to navigate. Plus there are stray cats everywhere and I can enjoy a delicious vegan meal at any restaurant I go to – this place was basically made for me! Today was the best so far. We went on a marina tour in the morning and spent the evening in the desert riding camels in the sunset, watching a falcon and belly dance show, and eating traditional food on bean bags in the sand. We met some great new friends along the way as well! Tomorrow we will go to the top of the Burj Khalifa and then head out for Uganda! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip so far.

This is a travel blog. I will begin posting when my travels begin. Stay tuned!