Royale Villas Kigali

... in Rwanda has come forward to say they were helped by him! I didn’t want to tell you when I heard you were staying at the hotel but all that man did was take money, increased prices, to harbour those who had connections with generals or UN officials so that they could stay safe until they got out of the country! Lovers of generals or soldiers.... or people with money! And then he left and he has NEVER STEPPED FOOT IN THE COUNTRY AGAIN!”. This is a ...

... 8217;etes pas Americaine?". Oh dear. Oh dear. Never a good thing to hear that. So, I do pull out my online visa application and tracking number (don’t ask, I packed at 1am) but the internet connection is down (it’s “Saturday”. Something we’re told about 8 times that day! So nothing happens or works on Saturday it seems). But, he believes me and I’m through!

We pick up our luggage and walk out to a poster with “ ...

... that (they also call Cashier, Bursar, Patron, and Matron by their job titles)), who only speaks Kinyarwanda, reads the minutes she took from the last meeting. This always fascinates me because she reads the minutes in Kinyarwanda, naturally, even though 90% of these meeting are conducted in English. I occasionally pipe up with a “yes, yes” or a “Mmmm Hmmm” at random intervals during her monologue. I just want to feel like I ...

We spent less than 24 hours in Rwanda, however the taste provided me great incentive to return. The country, known for its thousands of hills, was lush and full of produce sprouting from its fertile soil.

We spent the night in the capital (Kilgali) in luxury, as Kira's parents had a 6-bedroom house, where we all thoroughly enjoyed staying.

The next morning we visited the Genocide Museum, which was an ...

... done it and been there I would not recommend it. I then went to the Kigali Memorial of the genocide. My recollection of the genocide was watching Africans running after people with machetees and that it was due to some political upheaval. I don't think I was aware of the magnitude of the attrocities. People were dropped in deep holes that served as latrines and just piled on top of one another as much as ten people deep and made to trample the people before ...

... to find them, but did get to see a dozen White Rhino in all, which is no mean thing!

As I mentioned, we did get a posh new room when we got back into Nairobi. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon by the pool, drank a couple of ice cold beers and had a local meal, Chinese! Then it was time to catch the shuttle bus to Tanzania to meet up with our 5 day safari.

The 'roads’ between Nairobi and Moshi in Tanzania are appalling to say the least. It took us 11 ...

... understood none except for "super glue" our work drew to a close at 1230.
It was time for fare wells in the community and the team went out and gave gufts to the local kids and lots of hugs and tears as they said their final goodbyes.

I will try and add some images later today but the Hotel has suffred from a couple of power cuts in the last couple of days and the computer is running even slower!
Take care and see you all on Thursday

The team

... We have also visited with her grandmother Libertè. They stay in a house with 5 other family members. House being a very loose description of a room measuring 6 feet by 6 feet. Each memeber of the team wants to stay or come back in the not so distant future. This is just an amazing experiance that will remain with us all for ever. I am going to try and add some photographs! Love to everyone at home we are missing you all.

... vincible” and ask how his armor was feeling. We had a good chuckle about that, and everyone was very happy at the end of a very fun match.

The last activity of the day was as series of relay games, that we sometimes call crazy Olympics. This was a first for them in Rwanda and the campers and staff really loved the games. Students from the school gathered to watch, and especially cheered for our older deacon Mr. Sibobugingo, whenever he did well ...

Greg Swartz and I had breakfast at 07:30 and continued discussing the work we would be doing in Rwanda. I saw at breakfast that there is a group of American University students staying here at the Bloom Hotel. By quite a coincidence they are from the University of Missouri, Columbia, which is very near where Dr. Swartz lives. By another striking coincidence Dr. Imaculée Kamanzi, the department head for dentistry at the Centre Hospitalier de Kigali (CHK) where we have been working for ...