Rwanda

Gisenyi

We got through immigration pretty quick thanks to our East African visa, although the people behind us in the queue didn’t seem to think so, as one cried ‘finally’ when we got our stamp!

The ride to Kigali was amazing, with perfect conditioned roads (thanks to the European influence), driving within the speed limit and time to appreciate the view. We curved round hills clustered with banana trees, tea plantations in the valleys as far as the eye could see and people working the fields.

I didn’t think Africa could get any greener after Uganda, but here we were with every shade of green imaginable and a weird kind of precision to it that looked like everything was neatly carved out and every square inch thought through.

We arrived in Kigali a little after 12 and booked a bus to Gisenyi for 1.30pm, just enough time to grab some lunch and watch the city go by from our restaurant balcony.

We eventually got on our bus after a lot of pushing and shoving- it seems that even though there are enough seats for everyone, everyone wants the best seat. So after been squashed by a few Rwandan women, I managed to secure us some decent ones whilst Luke was sorting out the bags.

The ride was beautiful (I only know this from the return journey as I was asleep for most of the time on the way there). We were looping round these beautiful hills and even the rain didn’t dampen our spirits.

Half way through the journey, we came to a village with a dirt road, which could have easily been mistaken for a river as half of it had turned into a fast flowing stream. Looking at the houses down the street, people were huddled in the shelter whilst massive puddles and streams were surrounding their homes. Cars were fighting to get down one side of the road so not to be taken with the stream. The water was a bright red earthy colour and the actual rivers we passed had burst their banks and were flowing into fields. It was the first experience we’d had of how the rainy season can really affect Africa. People were walking barefoot, with no rain jackets and a deep, persistent face of ‘you’ve just got to get on with it.’

We arrived in Gisenyi just before it got dark and struggled to make out where we were on the map. We settled down in a hotel which seemed decent enough and thought we’d figure it out tomorrow when the rain stopped. It didn’t stop raining all night, but we made it out for a plate of carbs (as usual) and a beer.




DRC volcano from Rwanda

In the morning, the sun was trying to burst through the clouds so we got up to discover the place whilst it was dry. Out from the clouds, we could see Karisimbi, a volcano sat in the DRC. In 2002, it had erupted, destroying the town of Goma – homes and livelihoods were covered in molten lava, and even the end of the airport runways were in two metre deep lava. Some died of asphyxiation, but most were able to escape, only to return later and try and dig the town out and rebuild their lives.

Not only was the DRC difficult to obtain a visa for, the political situation wasn’t all that great, with peaceful visits not guaranteed. Plus it was really expensive, so we thought we’d give it a miss.

We took a long dirt road down to Lake Kivu and strolled along the beach. Apparently you have to watch where you swim as you could die of asphyxiation from the CO2 around certain parts. We’ll give it a miss then!

Jumping on the back of a motorbike…. What’s this… one bike each only and you have to wear their spare helmets??? Rwanda has got to be one of the safest places for driving in Africa! We took the road by the lake, which gave us beautiful views of the bays and local villages, and eventually looking back, we saw the sheer size of Gisenyi.

We got off at Rubona (although my tablet wants to correct that to Ribena), a small town a few kilometres south of Gisenyi. We walked through the town and the brewery before getting a bit lost trying to find these hot springs that the book mentioned.




Hedge trimmers at work

Eventually, a kind student showed us the way and gave us a small tour. The hot springs weren’t as impressive as we thought, with only 3 small pools, where a group of people were boiling sugar canes and potatoes and a couple of boys sat in another, keeping warm.

To think Luke told me to put on my bikini ready for a swim. The other one we found wasn’t much better… although no kids, some guy was having a proper wash in there, all lathered up.

We took a bike back into town and went for a couple of afternoon beers before our usual plate of carbs again.

The language barrier here is a little more difficult than Uganda or Kenya. With a mix of local dialect, French and English, it’s hard to find someone who knows what you’re even ordering for dinner, let alone asking for directions. In 2006, the government announced that all school classes will be taught in English, not French. I can imagine in the long run it’s a good thing for the country’s development, but at the time it was a pretty drastic change considering not all of the teachers could speak English themselves. It took until 2011 to fully implement, but you can already see that the youngest generation is the most eager to help you with translations.

Kigali

The next morning, we jumped a bus back to Kigali without much trouble. We stopped for snacks half way, and everyone jumped off to secure themselves some greasy food in a paper bag. Luke was obviously being ignored in the queue so much so that I had to shout at the bus driver as he started to move away that we needed to wait! Lucky we both didn’t get off!

We found a room in Kigali pretty quick, having thought it might be a bit difficult, being Easter Sunday. We skyped home to delighted parents, and it was really nice to talk to them… although I was a bit envious of the chocolate eggs bouncing around.

Before I go into where we went in Kigali, I thought I’d give a history of Rwanda and the trouble it has faced. I knew about the genocide before I came, but not in as much shocking detail as I do now. And for anyone who hasn’t watched it, I recommend Hotel Rwanda – a really good film depicting the days of the genocide.

Rwanda was colonised by Germany, and later Belgium. Rwanda was split into mainly two different tribes- the Hutus and the Tutsis.

People already had their tribe from their upbringing, but the Belgians had different ideas. There were two main distinctions that Belgium came up with to be able to stamp their tribal group in their ID cards (whether it was their original tribe or not). These were:

1.       If you had more than 10 cows, you were a Tutsi, and the rest of your family

2.       If you had a small nose (and they measured it, just like the Nazis did with the Jews), then you were Tutsi.

Now, Tutsis were seen as the more intelligent and wealthy tribe, but they were in a minority. They had the most power given to them by Belgium, but they wanted independence in the 1950s, which called for Belgium to switch alliances and hand over power to the Hutus, who wanted democracy first, followed by independence. You can imagine the rift that was caused!

Rwanda eventually got their independence in 1962. What followed over the next 30 years was tribal fighting, with Tutsis being killed or run out into neighbouring countries, then Tutsis fighting back and killing Hutus in Burundi. Exiled Tutsis formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which was to play a major role later on in the fight against genocide.

A civil war erupted in 1990, when the RPF invaded Rwanda, but with support from Belgian and France, the Rwandan army repelled the invasion, with thousands of Tutsis dying in the process- shot, starved, bludgeoned or hacked to death.

In 1994, a peace treaty was signed between the RPF and Rwandan forces, but shortly after, the president’s plane was shot down and he was killed.

It was thought to be Hutu extremists who did it, to incite the genocide about to happen, but the propaganda radio for the Hutus made sure it was announced that it was the Tutsis who did it.




Interahamwe in training - mostly young boys

Training for the Interahamwe had already started long before this, with Hutu extremists training them (mostly young men) for the massacre about to unfold. It was said that 300 people a day were trained, helped by the Belgium forces. Their goal… to wipe out the Tutsis.

On the first day of the genocide, the Interahamwe were instructed to kill the moderate prime minister, and they did so, and in the process killed 10 Belgium UN peacekeepers. This caused Belgium to pull out all its troops… exactly what they had expected!

It lasted for 100 days, and many Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed. People were raped, butchered with machetes, bludgeoned with sticks, shot, tortured and starved. Road blocks were set up all over the city to stop them escaping, homes were searched, houses looted, and IDs checked. Apparently there was a list of priority Tutsis to kill, then everyone else came in a quick second.

Ordinary people joined in the massacre, even children were killing! Bodies littered the floor, and the stench of rotting flesh filled the streets. Dogs were acquiring a taste for human flesh so much so that they had to be shot towards the end of the genocide.

Disgusting tactics were used- Tutsi children were targeted to wipe out the next generation, woman and children were raped by their ‘instrument’…HIV positive men, and some left to live to suffer, to be killed or raped again later. Some children were forced to kill their parents or watch them be killed and then eventually were taken out themselves.




Machetes - mostly flown in from China at 10p each

Sympathetic Hutus were also killed for showing any compassion. Many Hutus helped hide them as best they could, with some growing crops over a trench full of Tutsis!

They ran into the safety of churches and monasteries, but their hope was in vain as they were killed regardless. Some were burnt down with people inside, or grenades thrown in, killing hundreds. Priests and nuns turned against them, betraying them and forcing them out into the streets to be killed.

The mayor even turned Tutsis away, saying ‘you will die, but I do not want blood on my town hall, so you must leave.’

The UN had less than a thousand people in Rwanda, but they weren’t allowed to shoot or intervene too much due to a mandate. The world watched as the genocide ran for 100 days, and didn’t lift a finger.


Escapees trying to manoeuvre round dead bodies

The sad thing was, it would have only taken 5000 armed UN soldiers to stop the genocide. 5000 soldiers did go into Rwanda during the 100 days, but only to rescue foreigners!

The RPF eventually pushed out the Interahamwe and Rwandan army into the DRC and Burundi.

In the 100 days of the genocide, more than 1 million were killed, and 2 million refugees were found in neighbouring countries.

Hutus involved in the genocide were trialled in Arusha, Tanzania, but there were so many cases that Gacaca courts were set up, which were traditional hearings across Rwanda, with a judge appointed from the town.

The country is doing well now, and it’s hard to believe it’s the same country considering how well developed Kigali is, how resilient the people are, and how life just seems to be moving on.

On Easter Monday, we took a long walk into town and visited the Kigali Camp Memorial. This was the memorial for the 10 Belgium Un peacekeepers who died. They were cornered in a building next to the memorial which still has bullet holes in it. And despite defending themselves for several hours, with only 2 guns between them, and grenades being thrown through the windows, they were soon killed.


The building where the Belgians were killed, still with bullet holes

 



Columns for the Belgians

There are 10 columns standing together, each with lines through them depicting the age of each peacekeeper at the time of death. And each cut off at the top to represent the quick way their life ended. It’s quite moving, but the building with bullet holes in it right next to them really does make you realise that it wasn’t that long ago.

We walked down to Hotel Milles Collines, the place that Hotel Rwanda was based on. The owner was Belgian, and when the trouble started up, they upped and left, leaving a Rwandan guy in charge who was Hutu. To cut a long story short, he risked his life and those that served at the hotel to hide Tutsis from the genocide that lay just outside the gates.

The next day, 7^th April 2015, marked the 21^st anniversary of the start of the 100 day genocide. It was a public holiday, and from the roof of the hotel we were staying at, the streets looked empty, shops closed, barely anyone around, no buses speeding past. Just an eerie silence to the city.

We were told the city would start moving again after 1pm, so set off just before to visit the genocide memorial. We had to wait for it to open again, as it had been the location for the president’s speech, and there were obviously some important guests they were waiting for to leave the building too.




Victims of the genocide shown at the memorial

The memorial was very touching. It takes you on a walk through their history and how their tribes were segregated even further by foreign influence, as I mentioned above. It was really disturbing how ordinary people were involved, some scared foe their lives. It was made even more shocking from the images displayed of people lying dead in the streets, the injuries people had suffered and even a quick bit of film showing someone attacking a tutsi in the street with a machete several times.

There was a mass grave outside which was estimated to hold around 250,000 people. It had a fair few visitors that day, resting flowers on the graves, most likely from friends and family believing their loved ones were buried there.

There was a section at the top showing genocides across the world, some familiar (Auschwitz and Cambodia), and others I’d never heard of before. There were some interesting facts surrounding it, and some not surprising are that the world knew about a lot of these, but never got involved.


Poster depicting German, Cambodian and Rwanda genocides

With the city shut down for the rest of the day, we made the most of the best internet connection we’d had since starting to travel and watched a marathon of modern family.

We decided that the next day we’d try getting to Tanzania ourselves by minibuses and buses along the way rather than booking a straight bus for 12 hours. The only reason being that the reviews mentioned it wasn’t one direct bus, but several, not so organised, chaotic buses that take off at the speed of lightning… we’ll pass.

Thinking we should have got up earlier, we rose at 9am and managed to get a bus to the border which took 4 hours. The border wasn’t too much of a hassle apart from the false promise of a ‘one stop’ border. Not so ‘one stop’ when there’s a good 15 minute walk in 30 degree heat between each border post.

We changed what money we had up at the border with Tanzania, which was around £15, hoping that would get us to the nearest town and a cash machine… but you’re going to have to wait for the Tanzania post to see what difficulties lay ahead…