This is Rwanda- tears, hills, smiles and a trip to the hospital.

So travelling is now in full swing. I am currently in an internet cafe in Kigali and have been in Rwanda about 3 days. The first day after landing in Kigali  involved a trip to the hospital. The night before I was in Nairobi and started feeling ill and ended up projectile vomiting for 14 hours straight and have never been in that much pain in my entire life. Luckily the morning of my flight i stopped chundering and was able to make it to the flight and made itto the hospital the day after where i got a couple of IV's some tests and antibiotics and was discharged later that evening which was nice as i didnt have to spend the night there. Upon landing in Rwanda myself my travel mates Ed and Simran were in complete aw of the country its green rolling hills the fact the roads are paved, people obey the traffic signs, follow the speed limit and how unbeliviably clean the country is. After the 1994 genocide the country was filthy with the streets being lined with rotting corpses and blood so the President, Paul Kagame introduced mandatory community service called umuganda where everyone, himself on the last saturday of every month goes out into the streets and cleans and If you don't you get a $100 fine. When I first came to Rwanda it was only going to be for 3 days to see the genocide memorials then go to Uganda but Rwanda is so so so much more than a genocide. The genocide is a big part of the countries history and everyone in the country was affected by it, the Tutsi, the Hutu and the Twa and people say around hee "our history is unique, we must learn from it remember it for the generation that was lost and build on it" which is exactly what the county has done by developing education, infrastructure, medical facilities and social programs.

To learn more about the genocide we went to the memorial the day after i was discharged from hospital and it was honestly the most emotional day I have ever experienced in my life. You walk through the museum and it takes you through the historuy of rwanda, before, during and after the genocide before you get to some exhibitions. It was a sunday when we went and there were not alot of white people there, mainly Rwandans. Thee was a big group all in traditional Rwandan dress with white ribbons pinned on their clothing in memory of someone they lost in the genocide. The genocide was only 18 years ago to almost everyone in the country has lived though it. The most emotional parts where my eyes turned to waterfalls where when I saw a women pin a photograph of her son that was killed in the gencodie to the wall of vicitms, and the childrens room.

The childrens room is dedicated to the lost generation and future leaders of Rwanda, it profiles children who were killed in the genocide. When you see a picture of 6 month old baby and see cause of death "hacked to death by a machete in its mothers arms', you cant help but not burst into tears especially when theres a room of Rwanda women who lost children in the genocide all around you doing the same thing and you start to think in the words of my housemate Ed "If there is a God he left this place a long time ago". After the museum and walking through the mass graves we went into town for lunch and met a really nice guy who showed us all around Kigali and is helping us figure out what we want to do with the rest of out time here  who was incredibly friendly smiley and helpful.

Needless to say Rwanda is so much more than an genocide and is a country that we can all learn from it has been to hell and back triumphed and out shone many of its neighbours and is a country that peopll should admire to from the cleanliness, to the safeness, to the amount of care they put into preserving the countrys natural beauty, to the friendliness of its people and how they have put their past behind them even after living thought absolute hell since since 1959 ( when the first Tutsi massacares started and continued to escalate till the Genocide). Rwanda You Amaze Me.