Well maybe not 1 million... but a lot of hills!!
We arrived here the yesterday and have had a great time going around inside and near to the city getting a feel for the country.
Many people here speak the local Rwandan language, French, or maybe some English or Swahili so we have had fun trying to figure out where things are and where we are going.
The countryside is beautiful and the people are friendly despite our inability to speak with them.
Today was Isaacs birthday and he went with Lauren, Megan, and myself to on of the Genocide Memorials that is located about 30K or 19ish miles outside the city. It is a church where 10,000 people were killed during the months of violence in 1994 that took the lived of over 1,000,000 Rwandans including many many innocent victims, even women and children. Inside the church they have left all of the clothing that the victims were wearing when they were attached. Below the church they have built a small room that houses around 100 skulls, arm and leg bones and some of the personal items of the victims. Behind the church there are 2 a tombs that hold more then 40,000 people that were killed in the village surrounding the church. Many of the victims were never identified and you can walk down into the tombs where the skulls, arm and legs bones are stacked very neatly on shelves more than 10 feet high.
To say the least it was a very sobering experience. Tomorrow we will head to the Genocide Memorial Museum that is located within Kigali. I hope that it will lend some insight to the history and context of the genocide.
After the museum tomorrow we will head out of town to some places on the Western edge of the country where Carla and Isaac will be getting to visit the gorillas on Monday.
Things are going well... Internet is a bit slow... The keyboards are arranged in the way the French apparently have their keyboards but so it is a good thing I can type without looking :)
We have about a month to go... time seems to be moving so fast!
I love you all, and miss you also.
Love, Jill
Oh and someone send me an email, everytime I check I only have emails from Betty... and I see her everyday....
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2 comments:
I imagine visiting the memorial was a very sobering experience. i would'nt be able to sleep ever again. I have been following your travels on the big world map we have downstaires. So far I have found every town you mentioned. Hope you are doing okay. Do you mean to send you emails on your regular address instead of the blog?? Take care. Lv, Gma
I cannot imagine what it was like to visit that memorial. We all heard so much about it, but to actually see it must have been quite a moving experience.
It is always the highlight of my day to see a blog from you.
All is well here, took Grandma to the Beauty Shop today and to get her nails done, so she is looking mighty fine.
The weather has seemed to be constant rain and storms. It is supposed to be a dry weekend, so that would be nice.
Take Care of yourself and know how much I love you,
Mom
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