Sunday was our lone Kigali day. Despite the depressing tone, we wanted to go to the Genocide Memorial. I had memories of the genocide, but truly, no real appreciation for the scale and speed of the Rwandan experience. One million civilians (or 500,000-800,000 according to some scholars, although when speaking of lives lost in the hundreds of thousands, any number greater than 0 is too many) were slaughtered in 100 days in 1994. How humans can turn on each other like that is simply incomprehensible, but having just spent time in Budapest learning about the annihilation of the Jewish population of Hungary, it clearly happens again and again.
Moments after we set out, the sky ripped open and it poured, so we hunted for someplace serving coffee (tea is not the same, no matter how much people try to convince me otherwise). We read the guidebook, drank coffee, and admired these cool pink birds roosting up in the trees.
The Genocide Memorial is as somber as you might expect. Outside, it is beautifully landscaped and also simple in its displays. Large concrete slabs mark the mass burial site of a quarter million people who died during the genocide, and a wall of names is being constructed (most victims have not been identified, so it is a work in progress).
We thought it might be best to lighten the mood a bit for the afternoon, so we set out on foot to find a coffee roaster or local coffee shop. Being Easter Sunday, some places were closed, but we did manage to find some good coffee before heading out to dinner at a cool restaurant founded by a woman who uses the restaurant to train Rwandans in food service and hospitality jobs. food was excellent, as was the view!
We had an early bedtime because the next day was the highlight of the trip – gorilla tracking!
Vacation Days 