Kigali sad past, hopeful future

On our way this morning to Kigali, the capital of 🇷🇼 Rwanda. A country with a terrible genocide not 30 years ago, that is now the fastest growing country in Africa. It's also a lot in the news because of its deal with the UK to take in asylum seekers.

For the first time on this trip, Flo and I don't know what to expect, as we have never been to Kigali before.

Departure from Kenya is very smooth, it's really nice that Kenya has become a much friendlier place to visit. ( But plan to be at airport early, as there are two checks before the check in, though white people seem to be waived through the 1st one). African airports, unlike those in Europe, seem to have a few delays, and there are no significant queues.

I had lost a little sleep because I realized that our quick crossing of the border in Namanga by the back door, meant that we lacked an entry stamp into Kenya, but whilst the very jovial passport officer noticed it, he did not make anything of it. In the past, this might have cost time or chai. (If officials in Kenya ask for a cup of chai, you know you have a problem that only money will fix.

Well, we arrive just before midday in Kigali, and wow, this is like a different planet, clean, modern, and organized. Beautiful streets lined with grass and trees. Modern, well constructed buildings. Something we haven't seen in Africa before. We thought maybe it's only a fancy show, close to the airport, but no construction, roads and the general environment is so much better than we have seen before. ( Let's see what it's like outside Kigali), but Rwanda at least initially surprises massively on the upside.

Our first stop is the genocide memorial. It's a strange place. The small museum is ok, but quite close to what is in Wikipedia with good photos and videos added. Three of the children, who are under 12 are not allowed in, because it's too graphic, which I think is not the case, but hey I let Alex watch Kill Bill at age 4 or 5. So we don't learn much new. However, there are mass graves, I am not sure how many, and they are stark in their simplicity. Rectangular slabs of concrete, about 5m x 4m, with no decoration, no label, no names. In some ways, I feel it reflects the horror these people suffered. We can't pretend God took them, that it was justified.

I attach only 1 photo of the memorial .

After that, we visit a local market, Kimironko, and then we are back in the Africa we know, bustling, chaotic, and not that clean. The children are at 1st intimidated. Everyone wants us to buy veg, fruit, live chickens, geese, oils, coffee, household goods, trousers etc. It's quite large, and most sellers have little stock, so compared to Switzerland, the staffing level is maybe 100x higher. We have some fun buying two mangoes , some limes and avocados at about 20% of the Swiss price, and the sellers seem happy that we paid way too much.

I'm off now to sleep in a hotel, where we have one room with 3 double beds. A "standard triple room" 😉Читать далее