Catching you up...
Is catching you up correct grammer? Is bringing you up to speed better? You know what I mean. Language is not one of my (Bob's) strongest points of late. More on that in a second.
It must be months since I have posted any update. We did hear back from people regarding the school. Thanks for the support. We will formalize a plan and get back to you. For those that haven't responded, see the last post and let me know if you are interested in helping.
Since the last post... Not sure what happened to March. I don't think it was all that eventful. Lots of work...and honestly I can't think of anything else. Over easter weekend we travelled to Siavonga on the eastern border of Zambia. The town sits on Lake Kariba and Zimbabwe sits on the other side. The lake was beautiful. We also saw the dam that is responsible for the massive lake which was pretty amazing. Probably similar to the Hoover dam but I'm not sure on specifics. Huge though. We travelled with friends Ashley and Andrew and we met up with another friend Colin, a peace corp volunteer in Zambia. Andrew brought a boat and Michelle and I proved our water skiing abilities. Got sufficiently sun burned and mostly relaxed for the weekend. There are good pictures but not with me.
On April 19th, I left for Rwanda. I am working at our sister-site in the capital city-Kigali. Project San Francisco was started here in the mid-1980s and is pretty well known in the world of HIV research. I am working with the administration and finance team on some special projects. The work has been fun so far. Back to the language thing... I am in a country that speaks mostly french and Kinyarwanda (the local language). I don't know much of either. I use the same tactics as when Michelle and I were in Bangkok. Speak english slightly louder than normal and very slowly. It works much better here than it did in Thailand. Sometimes its a struggle.
Rwanda is a beautiful country. The "land of 1000 hills" is what it is known but I can attest there are many more. The hills are never ending and much greener than anything that I've seen in Lusaka. It is a peaceful place and people have all been friendly (even to someone that just speaks English). The country is still reconciling the tremendous loss of life that occured in 1994 with the 100 day genocide. I assure you that it is very safe today but those events are still a big part of life here.
I travelled to Butare and Gikongoro with Tyronza (coworker from Zambia that has since relocated here) and two Rwandan friends, Mattias and Gilbert. I met Mattias while walking all over Kigali a couple weekends ago and I met Gilbert this past saturday at the Hash Run (in preparation for the Kigali half marathon on May 13th).
We visited the National Museum in Butare and then went to one of the largest genocide memorial sites in the country. Again, I have pictures but can't upload them from here. Sorry.
Just outside of Gikongoro there is an old school, Murambi Technical School. The school consists of 10 one story tall brick buildings. The school sits on 3 acres of land that we could see as we walked 2.5 km down the hill that led to the front entrance. In April of 1994, approximately 45,000 Rwandan Tutsis (one of two main tribes in Rwanda) walked down the same road. They too could see the school off in the distance. They were told that they would be safe from the Hutu Power (Rwanda's other main tribe who's leaders promoted and organized the genocide). While at the school, the mass of people quickly ran out of food and water. The french troops (as part of Operation Turquoise) were stationed at the school but could not adequately supply the number of people with necessary supplies. Tragically, the French troops also did very little to keep the people safe...something that they were seemingly capable of. In the middle of the night the group of 45-50,000 was attacked. Over the course of 3 days they were all brutally killed.
The four of us were the only people at the school. It was silent. The caretaker showed us around. We walked amongst the buildings that you could imagine being a very fine school sometime ago. It feels nothing like a school today. There are 5 large tombs (20 feet by 30 feet) which are simply mass graves. The caretaker showed us 5 rooms in the school. The rooms still hold the mummified corpses of about 400 babies, children, and adults. The horror, sadness, and smell is something that I won't forget.
In another building are the clothes that were worn by the same babies, children, and adults. All of the clothes found at the school and on the bodies have been left hanging and are eerily still.
As we walked out of the main entrance two little boys, that were maybe 2 years old, came and walked up the street along side of me. One was wearing a pair of overalls and looked like a full grown little man. They looked up at the four of us and smiled. I'm not sure about the others but it was exactly what I needed.
The genocide was something that never registered with most people in the US, including me. It seemed like a world away. But after seeing the memorial and experiencing some life in Rwanda, it is so real and incredibly tragic. I would suggest seeing Sometimes in April if you haven't already. Hotel Rwanda is good as well though some Rwandans say it isn't an accurate portrayal of what happened at that specific hotel. It is accepted that many people were kept safe at Hotel des Mille Colline (which is down the street) during the genocide so I think there is some truth to it. You can read more about Murambi Technical School here. This is Geoff Bugbee's site, a photojournalist that wrote about his experience after visiting the school.
All in all, things are good. I will be here until May 15th. We probably won't have pictures until I get back to Zambia but I'll hopefully check in before then. I'll keep you posted on the half marathon details. The Kigali Marathon is supposedly one of the toughest in the world with all the hills. I figure its a good place to start. Take care.
Bob (and Michelle)
ps. We leave for the states on May 29th. We will spend a few days in London and will be in Chicago around the 1st of June. Hope to see many of you then.
It must be months since I have posted any update. We did hear back from people regarding the school. Thanks for the support. We will formalize a plan and get back to you. For those that haven't responded, see the last post and let me know if you are interested in helping.
Since the last post... Not sure what happened to March. I don't think it was all that eventful. Lots of work...and honestly I can't think of anything else. Over easter weekend we travelled to Siavonga on the eastern border of Zambia. The town sits on Lake Kariba and Zimbabwe sits on the other side. The lake was beautiful. We also saw the dam that is responsible for the massive lake which was pretty amazing. Probably similar to the Hoover dam but I'm not sure on specifics. Huge though. We travelled with friends Ashley and Andrew and we met up with another friend Colin, a peace corp volunteer in Zambia. Andrew brought a boat and Michelle and I proved our water skiing abilities. Got sufficiently sun burned and mostly relaxed for the weekend. There are good pictures but not with me.
On April 19th, I left for Rwanda. I am working at our sister-site in the capital city-Kigali. Project San Francisco was started here in the mid-1980s and is pretty well known in the world of HIV research. I am working with the administration and finance team on some special projects. The work has been fun so far. Back to the language thing... I am in a country that speaks mostly french and Kinyarwanda (the local language). I don't know much of either. I use the same tactics as when Michelle and I were in Bangkok. Speak english slightly louder than normal and very slowly. It works much better here than it did in Thailand. Sometimes its a struggle.
Rwanda is a beautiful country. The "land of 1000 hills" is what it is known but I can attest there are many more. The hills are never ending and much greener than anything that I've seen in Lusaka. It is a peaceful place and people have all been friendly (even to someone that just speaks English). The country is still reconciling the tremendous loss of life that occured in 1994 with the 100 day genocide. I assure you that it is very safe today but those events are still a big part of life here.
I travelled to Butare and Gikongoro with Tyronza (coworker from Zambia that has since relocated here) and two Rwandan friends, Mattias and Gilbert. I met Mattias while walking all over Kigali a couple weekends ago and I met Gilbert this past saturday at the Hash Run (in preparation for the Kigali half marathon on May 13th).
We visited the National Museum in Butare and then went to one of the largest genocide memorial sites in the country. Again, I have pictures but can't upload them from here. Sorry.
Just outside of Gikongoro there is an old school, Murambi Technical School. The school consists of 10 one story tall brick buildings. The school sits on 3 acres of land that we could see as we walked 2.5 km down the hill that led to the front entrance. In April of 1994, approximately 45,000 Rwandan Tutsis (one of two main tribes in Rwanda) walked down the same road. They too could see the school off in the distance. They were told that they would be safe from the Hutu Power (Rwanda's other main tribe who's leaders promoted and organized the genocide). While at the school, the mass of people quickly ran out of food and water. The french troops (as part of Operation Turquoise) were stationed at the school but could not adequately supply the number of people with necessary supplies. Tragically, the French troops also did very little to keep the people safe...something that they were seemingly capable of. In the middle of the night the group of 45-50,000 was attacked. Over the course of 3 days they were all brutally killed.
The four of us were the only people at the school. It was silent. The caretaker showed us around. We walked amongst the buildings that you could imagine being a very fine school sometime ago. It feels nothing like a school today. There are 5 large tombs (20 feet by 30 feet) which are simply mass graves. The caretaker showed us 5 rooms in the school. The rooms still hold the mummified corpses of about 400 babies, children, and adults. The horror, sadness, and smell is something that I won't forget.
In another building are the clothes that were worn by the same babies, children, and adults. All of the clothes found at the school and on the bodies have been left hanging and are eerily still.
As we walked out of the main entrance two little boys, that were maybe 2 years old, came and walked up the street along side of me. One was wearing a pair of overalls and looked like a full grown little man. They looked up at the four of us and smiled. I'm not sure about the others but it was exactly what I needed.
The genocide was something that never registered with most people in the US, including me. It seemed like a world away. But after seeing the memorial and experiencing some life in Rwanda, it is so real and incredibly tragic. I would suggest seeing Sometimes in April if you haven't already. Hotel Rwanda is good as well though some Rwandans say it isn't an accurate portrayal of what happened at that specific hotel. It is accepted that many people were kept safe at Hotel des Mille Colline (which is down the street) during the genocide so I think there is some truth to it. You can read more about Murambi Technical School here. This is Geoff Bugbee's site, a photojournalist that wrote about his experience after visiting the school.
All in all, things are good. I will be here until May 15th. We probably won't have pictures until I get back to Zambia but I'll hopefully check in before then. I'll keep you posted on the half marathon details. The Kigali Marathon is supposedly one of the toughest in the world with all the hills. I figure its a good place to start. Take care.
Bob (and Michelle)
ps. We leave for the states on May 29th. We will spend a few days in London and will be in Chicago around the 1st of June. Hope to see many of you then.
posted by Michelle and Bob - Zambia @ 6:46 PM
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