Kamaliza's Suitcase: Anna, I think we should employ a goat.

Initially after such a busy week the thought of doing anything filled me with anxiety. I’d even decided to forgo a big birthday party in Kigali in favour of a quiet weekend in Kibungo. By the time Friday came around, I was utterly exhausted but accepted a request by a German couch surfer to stay the night on Saturday. I figured that I was tired but nothing a good night sleep and a good cup of coffee with my book on Saturday won’t fix. I was exhausted! This was after a combination of hard work, long days, long moto rides and a Friday morning wake up call from my guard at 5:20am. Added to that the every day tasks of filling water, boiling water, cooking, going to the bank, buying a lock and the like that take so long in Rwanda. So when we met Jerard from Unatek (University of Kibungo) for drinks at 6pm, I asked Patrick to come back in an hour an half, ordered a small Primus and made conversation until I realized I was so tired, I just needed to be back home. I threw in a movie (The Good Shepard) and began to watch it while I put a pot to boil. An hour into the movie, I knew I could make much more and then I realized I wasn’t even half way done! I turned it off and fell asleep…..

Saturday morning was exactly what I needed and, as luck would have it, I boiled my water for coffee just before the power went out at 7:15! I relax all morning, went to the post office, went to the market and came home to read some more. Simon (who is working for an NGO in Kigali) arrived at about noon and by 1:30pm we were on a bus with toward Nyakarambi. Our goal was to visit the Genocide Memorial at Nyarubuye. I’d heard it was difficult to be at but felt that after five and a half months here, it was important that I take some time to remember what the country has gone through. While there are the everyday reminders, many days you just work and forget and I think it’s important that we don’t.

Ten minutes before we reached the town I called Dorothy’s moto driver, Daniel, and he met us with two other drivers. Ahead of us was a 40 motorcycle minute ride through villages and hills to the church in Nyarubuye. We arrived to a locked door and a gaggle of teen aged girls who attend the boarding school next door. Daniel said “Just wait!” and he was off. He returned, not five minutes later, we the man with the key. The three of us weren’t sure what was inside. Outside there were mass graves, as there are throughout Rwanda. The church is still used by the community, as are many in Rwanda but we were led inside a former convent. Inside was difficult. Collected were shoes and clothing of victims, as well as tools used to take their lives. There is a large display of skulls and bones of victims. I felt sick and left. I’ve been to Bergen-Belsen and I’ve been to Dachau. But this was too real and too close to home. It was surreal experience because we were the only ones there and outside you heard the girls from the nearby school squealing and laughing and enjoying the hot weather. We left the convent and walked to the graves. 51,000 people are buried there. Most are from other parts of Rwanda because as Nyarubuye is close to the Tanzianian border, many are from the East (like Kibungo) who were trying to escape but never made it.

We were walking by the church when we felt the first drops. Isaie wanted us to sign the guest registry and while we did, the rain began. We could see it coming but thought we had some time. Our moto drivers – eyes cast toward the sky – said “Tu gende” (Let’s go!) but we had to get organized. They took shelter near a building and while we went in the church to pack up and put on our rain coats, the rain came down harder. And then harder. And then harder. At one point, the kids in the church – hiding from the rain too – ran away from the open door which was letting in rain. I closed it and felt a little like Auntie Em closing the tornado shelter. I got soaked! So I walk into the nave and all of a sudden the wind came up and the rain pelted on the roof. Hail and rain began to come through and brought with it pieces of fiber and dust that got onto our skin and into our eyes. As the rain continued, the moto drivers came into the church and within seconds, fifty more children ran in screaming from the rain with their teacher and there we were, hiding from the storm. We waited it out by making conversation in Kinyarwanda being, as is usually the case, entertainment for the children. Daniel kept looking out the window and clicking, as Rwandans do (and as I have begun to do) kept saying “The roads will be bad.”

Finally the rain let up. We walked through the puddles to the bikes and the drivers wiped down the seats. We got on and “slowly by slowly” drove toward the made road. The roads were mud, the puddles were large and trees had been blown over. As we began to drive it was Daniel that first noticed the destruction when we he clicked “Aaah. Look at the bananas.” And sure enough, entire trees were felled and destroyed. Corn crops were flattened. Roofs were torn off. The mud made the driver treacherous. Slowly by slowly. We drove for a few minutes and then Daniel and I caught up to the other two drivers who were stopped. As we pulled up, Simon said “We have a flat tire.” We are in the middle of nowhere!!

So Daniel and Simon’s driver took off somewhere and we waited. And waited and waited. I don’t know where we were but soon enough the two motos came down honking and honking to announce their arrive - or to suggest we get a move on! I’m not sure which. Okay, so we’re off. Well, not exactly. A few hundreds meters later we came upon a tree across the road. There was no possible way around it because the land on either said was soft mud that each bike would have just sunk into. Nakibazo! The village was there and so (without my help, as I was on camera duty) they lifted each bike over the tree. Slowly by slowly.

We’re off again! And this time we were really were. Going down hill was dangerous and we nearly slipped a few times. But I trusted Daniel – even when he pointed to the spot that he and Dorothy fell off! We were going so slowly down the hill at one point and Daniel, obviously thinking of a faster mode of transportation said, “Anna, I think we should employ a goat.” At least his sense of humour was still intact. Going uphill allowed us to pick up speed which also meant chunks of mud stuck to my legs. We arrived in Nyakarambi and pulled right up to a Sotra express bus coming to Kibungo. Worried there wouldn’t be a later one we got on and headed home.

Sunday has been relaxing. I’ve just finished tidying up and, because it’s Sunday, have both power and water all day. I’ve been working my way through Anna Karenina but fell asleep reading this afternoon. Ah. This is the life. I think I’ll make a dinner early, watch the rest of The Good Shepard and prepare myself for another moto-filled week.