Backpacking Trip: Tanzania and Rwanda Part 2

We were shocked when we arrived in Kigali, a beautiful, modern, and extremely clean city. When we first got there our main concern was finding a place to stay so that we could get rid of our dirty backpacks and look a little less out of place. We tried talking to people to find out where a cheap place to stay was and everyone, trying to be as helpful as possible, kept leading us to expensive hotels that were way out of our price range. We thought they just misunderstood what we meant by cheap, but after doing some research at an internet cafÈ, we found that the only hostel that exists in the city is one that is run by the Catholic Church. We were really surprised by this considering the fact that every other town and city we had been to had numerous options in terms of cheap hostels and places to stay for backpackers. After discussing with some locals, we learned that the reason why there are no hostels or guesthouses is because not many tourists actually stay in Kigali. Although Rwanda is a rather popular tourist destination, the main reason why people go to the country is to see the endangered grey guerillas that live in the mountains and are expected to be extinct within the next ten years. Trips to see these guerillas can cost over $5,000 a day, so unfortunately it is not something that we checked out, however, it did explain why there were no cheap accommodations since most people just fly into Kigali and then head out for the guerilla lodges and most of them, even if they do stay in the capital, are definitely not staying at $3.50 a night hostels.
After renting out a room for the equivalent of $4 a night, we dropped off our bags and headed out to check out the city. We spoke with some of the men who worked at the hostel to find out where the best museums were. One of the major reasons we wanted to go to Kigali was to learn about and study the effects of genocide, however, we felt a little bit awkward straight up asking Rwandans where the Genocide Memorial Museum was. To our surprise, however, we found that most Rwandans are quite open to talking about what happened during the genocide and often brought the subject up on their own. The best part of our trip, besides going to the extremely powerful genocide museum, was just talking to people. Rwandans are the friendliest people I have ever met and the city was extremely safe. We were able to walk around at night by ourselves with no problems, as the police are an effective and ever-present force at all times.
Wes spoke with many people and about 10 of them discussed with us the 1994 genocide. All of them had fled the country during the time, mostly to the DRC or Tanzania. A general sadness always overtook the people when they spoke on this subject and one young guy even started to cry as he told us about how he had lost both of his parents to the ethnic cleansing. One of the most memorable parts of the trip for me was when we were in the genocide memorial museum and there was a dark room that had outfits taken from victims of the genocide hanging up on string. There were only about 5 different outfits, and one of them included a bloodied and tattered Cornell University shirt. This really struck home and made me quite emotional, thinking about all of the innocent lives that were taken and all of the families that had been destroyed. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to go to Kigali to speak to some of the victims of one of the worst atrocities of mankind first hand, however, none of the people I spoke with acted like victims. Everyone I met was upbeat, outgoing, and generally happy. We kept asking people how things could be so peaceful only 13 years after the genocide that killed millions and people just insisted that they are at peace now. We could not imagine how Hutus and Tutsis could live peaceably with each other after what happened, but that is exactly how life is there now. This trip sincerely sparked my interest in Rwanda and I intend to research possible study abroad programs there for a future semester. I strongly encourage anyone who has the means and interest to visit Kigali once in your life, it is a highly emotional experience, yet it will leave you both perplexed about how a horrible genocide could emerge among such peaceful people and refreshed by the way these people have responded and moved on with their lives.