Life on Earth

Landed in Kigali yesterday and have only wondered around town a few times, which is an accomplishment considering the topography of the place-you really have to commit to going down a road because you will have to come back up!

The evidence that Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Sub-Saharan Africa is apparent in a most pedestrian way. Not tremendous amount of traffic, but a lot of people. Some of them with somewhere to go, and a lot of them with no apparent place to go. I’ve seen a lot of people bump into someone they know and either touch cheeks three times, shake hands or hold hands while they exchange greetings. I’ve also been offered the closed fist knuckle-to-knuckle exchange followed up by, “what’s up braw.” That was as far as his English went.

I’m visited the office of “Speak I’m Listening“. They began in 1996 when they realized that female victims of the genocide weren’t getting any counseling. They brought in trauma counselors and social workers to help the victims realize that life must go on and that they weren’t alone. The work eventually evolved into providing training making crafts and baked goods, as well as to provide micro-loans to help participants establish themselves.They also provide dance and singing classes. They still see the over 1000 initial women once a month, but have also now expanded into providing service for orphaned children and HIV/AIDS infected women.

I later toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial, but will have to write about that at anther time.