Rwanda Rwanda

I am now in Kigale, the capital of Rwanda. Most people have heard about Rwanda because of the 1994 genocide. The first thing I did when I got here was visit the genocide museum. The museum is very well done. I came out of the museum learning much more about the genocide than I had known previously. It was also more moving than I had expected, people sobbing while reading the displays and watching the videos about the horrors of the genocide. There was also a broader memorial to the other genocides of the past century on the upper floor and pictures and short bios of children that were victims of the genocide.

After visiting the museum, I wandered around the city a bit to get myself oriented. Everyone is generally pretty friendly and although Rwandans tend to stare at me a lot compared to other countries I've visited, I felt it was pretty safe throughout the city. Rwanda is also known for its conservation efforts and clean streets. They ban plastic bags in the country and every third Sunday of the month, Rwandans are required to clean up the streets as part of a community service program. Finally, most Rwandans do not speak English very well, speaking French more commonly. Therefore it was difficult to communicate and interact with a lot of locals. I found it frustrating since a lot of the Rwandans are friendly and wanted to start up conversation with me.