Friday Heather, Rory, Ben, Molkie and me haeded to Rwanda as we had to re-new our Visas.
A 10 hour bus journey took us to Kigali were we spent the night at St Pauls, a little hostel run by nuns.

Saturday I decided to head to South Rwanda, Gikongoro, whilst the other stayed in Kigali as they hadn't been before.
Gikongoro was one of the worst struck areas during the Genocide of 1994. I was wanting to go to a school were 50,000 Tutsis were killed.
A Technology School was being constructed but as the Genocide broke out all tools were put down and people fled. 50,000 Tutsis fled to the school for what they thought would be a safe hideaway. They spent 2 weeks there only for all of them to be found and slaughtered on site.
September 1995 the bodies were dug up and preserved with lime and today they are placed in many of the classrooms that were built in the school.
Turning up at the school I had butterflies. There wasn't anyone else there so they opened it all up for me, which was great as when I left a group of 20 came. The school is surrounded by green hills, the landscape was beautiful but honestly I could feel death in the air and even smell it! It just felt awkard.
In the first classroom there were around 10 bodies and the smell just hit me. What the lime had done was made the bodies white and deflate like a balloon, but looking at them they just looked so real! It was the same in the 6 rooms I went into, looking at the faces of these people you could see their expressions. Mouths open gasping or where they crying out? I just stood there thinking of what they seeing. Another body, she was holding her ear as if it was too loud. All these different positions, holding their heads, holding different body parts, what was happening in front of them? A lady was still clutching her baby in her arms in one room, whilst others had bones coming out of their skin from where the machete had hit them. The worst machete wound was in the last room where the spine was coming out of his back.
When I first entered I started to well up but then with each glance, each body telling a different story I went numb!
I couldn't take any photos, I can't see how anyone could?! But who knows if your interested maybe they're on Google Images?
It really got to me and even after a 3 hour bus ride back and seeing the others, I was still shaken by the whole experience. Rwanda went through so much and really to have so much courage, strength and forgiveness is just incredible!

When we came to Rwanda the first time that was my initial impression of how the country had overcome the Genocide but then I though it was maybe only the Capital that they had done up but travelling South I was wrong. Everywhere the roads are tarmaced, no pot hols, draining systems, bins etc.
I spent alot of time just gazing out the window and I realised why Rwanda is dubbed 'The land of a thousand hills' it's beautfiully green :)

Saturday we headed into Kigali but let's just say Kigali doesn't do night clubs, it was dead. We just went to a local joint and met some Rwandans and didn't head back to the hostel until 4am. We all had a great giggle :)

All in all it was a great weekend and a very good experience for myself. And most importantly we all got back into Uganda okay and are now legal residents again :)

Lots of Love from me :) x x x x