Hotel Okapi Kigali

... has stood apart in its openness to advice and consultation with foreign bodies and individuals. The result? A Kigali International Airport that puts Jomo Kenyatta to shame. A city of thousand hills where new, beautiful homes are springing up everywhere. Where the locals go to the sports bar and watch Manchester Utd v Bolton and have a good time. A coffee shop like Bourbon which would put the average London Starbucks or Nero to shame so clean and enticing is ...

We're still at the airport but I thought I'd let you all know we are now in Rwanda. We'll be in the capital, Kigali for 2 days and see the GEnocide museum and then travel all around. Can't wait for the endless hours of driving a head to Kenya and Tanzinia in the next month or two. Thank god for the french in high school and college....a great asset to our lovely journey.

We arrived safely in Nairoberry after quite a bumpy flight, via Amsterdam. Got to the hotel only to be given a grotty room for $96! It was late, we were tired, the hotel was full as a conference was taking place, and as we were leaving very early the next day it was hardly worth discussing it with the two receptionists (2 people who really shouldn't be in customer service!) as it wouldn’t have changed anything except my blood pressure, so we didn’t complain ...

... in the garden, where the staff set up a table for me, leaving the restaurant free for a party of 60 coming to celebrate something. Another large group filled the back yard of the hotel. That’s probably how the hotel makes its money.

Doc, Flavia and Rahab set off to Béatrice’s house for the afternoon and for dinner. I continued working. Around dinner time I tried to get a taxi so I could go somewhere different for dinner ...

... weren’t ready for a recording contract but the campers appreciated our participation anyway. The finale was a long African song, a cappela, with energetic dancing. The campers came to get the Harpers and Doc Swartz to dance with them. I made sure I stayed behind my video camera…. Most of the room was up and dancing happily by the end of the song. It was a perfect way to end the show, the day and the camp.

After the fun-show, the Harpers presented ...

... by driving nails into the mortar between the wall bricks and stringing a line between them. It took a few minutes but we got the room dark enough to start the PowerPoint projection. Since Doc wasn’t present, I took the whole hour and showed a projection about the structure of the Bible. This was I hope a good introduction to the campers some of whom had just received their first Bible ever.

Following that we went the field for a match of Ultimate Frisbee ...

... br>-What identifies a true Christian?

-What must we do to walk in God’s way?

Each time we answered we gave them the option of following up and sometimes they did. Those were questions from just 2 campers, so we have 13 more to go in three days… Some campers wrote in as many as 10 questions, so I think we’ll be hard pressed to cover them all in the days that remain, but we’ll do our best!

By the time we finished up at 6 ...

The bus arrived on time, 8 of our 9 suitcase arrived and we were met with smiles and cuddles this morning at the Deliverance church. The service lasted for 3 hours and was filled with singing and dancing during the praise. Everyone enjoyed meeting the congregation and all excited about the next weeks work ahead after moving ...

... they started throwing gernades at the church and then started their "work" as they called it, or killing the tutsi. 5,000 men, women and children were killed here. There is a small sunday school building in the back. that is where all the children were. the interahamwe banged the babies and children on the head against the wall until they died. there is still a large stain. in this church they have kept skulls, body parts, clothing and cooking utencils which the people had brought with them.

... Love Club - a campsite and guesthouse run by a Japanese NGO that makes artificial limbs for the country - lots are needed after the events of 1994! Its the only place to camp in Kigali and accommodation is really expensive elsewhere thanks to the massive presence of foreign aid workers in the country.

I went to the Kigali Memorial Centre in the afternoon - it was set up with the help of a British genocide watchdog and is really a top-class museum. It ...