Motel Ikaze Kigali

... the African Massage> careering along pot holed (and I’m talking MAJOR pot holes!) road at incredible speed along sinuous roads that head up and up one hill face to come swooping down the other side, only to repeat the same exercise again whilst over taking around corners and using a both lanes for the same direction. But we feel safe in Jimmy’s hands and actually nod off…or at least close our eyes and lean our foreheads against the big windows.

... it - if you don't already know the details, and even if you do, please, make up for that a little by reading something about it, investigating a little, even just by watching 'Hotel Rwanda' - make yourselves aware of the atrocities that happened in this remote little country 15 years ago.

C&I

... permanent tented camps. The permanent tents were a lot better than I expected, but are not the luxury ones you see on TV. They were clean, roomy and more than adequate with an en suite bathroom, or a stone building with a water source….All the lodges fetching $350-850 per night, yes that isn't a typo, are empty, strange that! Our $7 permanent tent was very nice thank you even if the water was a bit chilly.

The Masai Mara was just amazing with the open ...

... No taxis to be found. The hotel staff has the phone numbers of seven taxis, they told me. None of the seven were available and there is very little taxi traffic that goes by the Bloom which is on a back street. So I had a light dinner at the Bloom once again. My three friends got back around 9:00 or so and we talked briefly about the plans for tomorrow. It will be a busy one which will include my departure from Rwanda and Africa for this trip.

... balls and Frisbees and other supplies that had been brought as gifts to future camps, and left a few other sports items for the church members to use any time they wanted.

I then asked the five ladies who served in the kitchen to come forward and receive a round of applause from everyone for their selfless service. Afterwards I gave them a small monetary gift as a token of our appreciation. It was unexpected and they were very appreciative.

We finished by ...

... a special wheelchair he had brought from Missouri, to be constructed by the campers (as much as possible), and given as a gift to a man named Gasana from the village of Giti who doesn’t have the use of his legs. His old wheelchair, which didn’t ever work too well, broke completely, and now he’s been reduced to dragging himself along by the strength of his arms. He does so to attend church which he does regularly. He has wooden blocks that he ...

... and it was; but the service was extremely slow. We ordered at around 7:30 pm but didn’t get served until almost 10:00! We had time for lots of interesting conversation, but we had quite an appetite by the time the food arrived. Greg and I shared a large tilapia, grilled whole and quite impressive when it arrived. It was really delicious.

The walk back to the hotel was a bit of an adventure. There are no street lights in the neighborhood and ...

Hi everyone all arrived safe except for 8 suitcases which are apparently enroute. Our first day has been busy with a visit to the local market. Fred and Rose have arrived at the hotel and we are about to head off to the Kingdom Education Centre for our first visit. All in great spirits and really enjoying the experiance.

... which was really good
cause then we could figure out what we liked and what we didn't like
for the whole trip instead of taking what we don't know and wasting.
after we went back to the hotel and a whole group of us wanted to
explore and so the tourism leader for our trip told us she would walk
around with us and then take us to her home so we could meet her family
and ask them any questions we ...

... thorough breakdown of both the background and the carrying out of the genocide. A lot of blame was laid firmly at the feet of both the Belgians (for their role in artificially defining and creating tension between the Tutsis and the Hutus) and the French (for their all edged complicity in the anti-tutsi violence). It might well be fair that both countries shoulder some of the blame but it did feel a little as if the exhibition was trying hard OT seal over ...