A glimpse of Kigali

Back to blogger ! Here are the two first articles of Rwanda.

Kigali is composed out of a lot of hills but there is not much to see. One of the only things tone can visit is the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The first part concerns the genocide’s history while the second part is a reminder of the other 20^th century genocide (Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia, WorldWar II). There is one particularity to this memorial of which I am quite sure that it’s quite exclusive to this continent. One would never find hundreds of bones and skulls of the victims exposed behind some glass showcase in Europe. Certainly a good reminder but naou tja !

My first Rwandan Sunday was very quiet. The plan to travel to Butare had to be postponed because bustickets were sold out. Lunch at Kadada’s took a large part of the afternoon and made me discover another hill of Kigali : Nyenyeri, Gikondo.

On my first Monday, after 2h15 bus ride leaving from Nyabugogo station, the only messy place in Kigali, I arrived in Butare. I decided to settle in the university for a few days before starting to house hunt.  The first day in Butare was enough to discover the entire city which is basically composed of one main road, 2 or 3 smaller streets and some residential neighborhoods too far from the center.

Next problem to tackle was to find a room. But where the hell to start when no advertisement announces “to let”, immo-website don’t exist and agencies even less? Fortunately I quickly met Miriam, a German volunteer, and found out about available rooms next to her. After wandering around in Rwanda for 10 days, it felt quite good to be able to unpack my bag.  It’s time to start thinking about real life in Butare and to start working, because that’s why we are here for!

But before getting serious, enjoy the pictures!