Hotel la Versaille Goma

... us and we meet the Rwandan army armed with rifles to keep the peace and make us stay safe. After about an hour and a half’s trek we meet up with the trackers who point Francois to where we have to go. No flashes, no bags or bottles, when he gets low you get low and when he gets up so do you. Remember the safety distance and relax. We head down and I take a shot of the beautiful lush thicket of jungle and when I come through to a clearing where the rest of the team ...

... but in town it was pretty ghetto. What was surprising was that even though I was obviously not in the well to do area my hostel cost was $20 US dollars which is a lot more than the $3.50 it cost me the night before. It was a bed though and this was pretty much the cheapest I was going to get even though I didn't have time to shop. The problem is that with all the UN and non-profit organizations hotel costs are through the roof as these people don't care about the cost ...

... how dangerous it is and how it is not safe to travel there. So I get on the bus and speak to two locals. One goes to school in Gisenye and another has family just outside of town. Both agreed though that it was a bad idea to cross the border at night and that I should stay in the town and travel in the morning. So although I wanted to get to Goma as soon as possible I would rather get there in one piece so I stayed the night in a nice little hostel.

... flavour, right down to serving big dollops of mayonnaise with chips and serving beer in very French glasses. Changing the national language to English has been an attempt to dampen this but in practice, French is still the most widely spoken European language. <br><br>Its hard to pick a lasting memory of a country, but I think it will turn out to be the children pulling faces at the genocide memorial. Already it sticks in my mind and makes me smile.

... by me efforts but after a couple of hours I gave up and we cruised out to one of the larger islands - Peace Island - with beer in hand. Peace Island has a little beach and cafe so we sat and ate tilapia after I went for a swim. I tried to circumnavigate the island but got shattered halfway so jumped out and jogged the rest before jumping back in and swimming around the last corner to deceive the locals!!! <br><br>After eating a couple ...

... taxi back to Gitarama (it's crazy that you actually have to buy a ticket here; so organised!). This journey turned out to be slightly more hair-raising than before: I had not managed to score a seat at the front so was occupying myself by trying to peer between heads to get a glimpse of the scenery ahead. It just so happens that the driver was in my line of vision and it was with some alarm that I watched his eyelids begin to droop. Now ...

... that for the last several decades Congolese mothers have been forced to decide whether they want to send their children into an armed rebel militia or wait for them to killed in their presence. I have seen things and heard stories I will never forget, faces indeliably burned into my consciousness that will never allow me to quit working to help people forced to make such vile decisions. I traveled to Goma in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. I ...

... hands today. Nope, not from us. But there was absolutely no hassle, no harassment, no effort whatsoever to rip us off. Incroyable! I don't know why, but we were expecting the worst of the worst. Congo is the "heart of Africa" and its reputation of rampant corruption, and over-zealous, trigger-happy officials doesn't exist for just any old reason. I have to say I do feel a bit guilty for having had these notions now. The fact is, this particular border crossing (Gisenyi ...

... a taxi to pick us up at 10 from Gisenyi in Rwanda and take us to Goma just the other side of the border and in the DRC. The taxi driver did this quite regulary and assured our saftey in Goma. The taxi was $15 for every 30 mins with the drive. When we got the border we passed the Rwandan side with ease and then our taxi driver escorted us into the office of the DRC border side as he knew the guy working there. We got our visas within 5 mins and it cost $35 for a single ...

... and throwing of confetti. This graduation did not disappoint. We graduated 32 students (I think... it's late) this morning and what a great time we had! There were about 4 or 5 singing groups, testimonies, praying and preaching. It was in my opinion the way a graduation should be. After the service we went to one of the graduates homes for lunch. She had arrived late to the graduation and I could not ...