Went to Church on Sunday before Rwanda. Madam Jane took us to an English speaking church in Kampala - Bless her, she's really trying to convert us :)
Unfortunatly we may as well of gone to a Lugandan speaking church, as I couldn't hear anything the Priest was saying, so couldn't understand him.
But after Mass there was a Christmas service were 2 choirs spent 3 hours singing. It was amazing! African music to me is quite touching and so to be in a church with it right it your face, well when we all stood up to sing the Ugandan National Anthem, I didn't even manage the first sentence "Ohh Uganda", I started welling and just had to stand there fighting back tears :)
Then to make matters worse, my parents called after the service and I had been holding back tears the whole service, so I was stood outside church crying alot (tears of happiness may I add) with many Ugandans walking by looking concerned :) I spoke to everyone on mums side and it was a fantastic Christmas call! Sorry to the family members I didn't really say alot to, couldn't really get my words out without my lip wobbling :)

So Monday came and we headed to Rwanda, on the correct bus phew! It still took 16 hours instead of 9 but we made it, even after the scary border crossing!
We were planning on going to Rwanda in Jan, but for some reason the British Embassy refused us all Visas so we headed to Rwanda early.
Tuesday we went to Kigali Memorial Centre. It was built in 2004 and had 250,000 people burried in the gardens. The gardens were beautifully attended, with bright flowers and a water fountain. Inside was an exhibition detailing the events that happened during the genocide, photos and video accounts of people who had surrived. And upstairs was about other genocides that had happened across the globe. Genocides that I naively didn't even know about, so it was interesting to read/see them also.
That night we headed to an Ethiopian restuarant. Like in India they have Naan, well they have their 'Naan' it tasted a looked like a thin circle sponge and tasted of lemons. You then rip some off and use it as a spoon and eat the beef/sauce that way. It was good :)
Wednesday we headed to Nyamata Church. Apart from taking out the bodies, the church has been untouched since the Genocide. Walking inside you were hit by all the benches pilled high with clothes. The roof let in sunlight onto the clothes from the bullet holes and the Virgin Mary was still up on the wall, praying and looking down. This is what was hard to come to terms with, that 2,000 in this church and thousands more across Rwanda ran to churches for safety and that still the Hutus had no respect for their God and killed them all trapped inside. Outside you could go underground were they had put shelves upon sleves of skulls and bones. On some of the skulls you could see were the Machets had sliced them or the hammers they had been hit with! In the other undergroud area, walking down the steps you were confronted with coffins right in your face. In May Rwanda has a whole month of mourning. I know of some people who dont agree with this and think after all these years they should move on and I dont agree. I feel that this genocide was different to other ones I've about and the main reason being it could of been stopped. A quote in the Memorical Centre read 'Millions died as the world watched' and did you know that after the genocide soilders from across the world were sent in to get their people out of the havoc and the amount of soilders sent could of been enought to of stopped the genocide all together! And this is what I am concluding onto.. When walking into the underground areas and seeing it all I took photos. I did feel I wasn't paying respect to these people but I also felt that I wanted people who might never go to Rwanda to see exactly what was left behind because no I dont feel it should be forgotten about.
That night we headed to a local cafe and then to the cinema. This was the one time I wished I had really listened in our French lessons at school! We wanted a menu and got nowhere so I pointed at the man next to us and hoped what he was eating was good! Yep, beef, rice and matoke in a tomato sauce, phew :) At the cinema we watched the last 1/2 an hour of a French film and then 20minutes of Michael Jackson live in Europe and then a man came up to us explaining the film wasn't working, so what would we like to watch. Could you imagine that back in the UK, being given a choice of films to watch :) We let him pick and it ended up to be an action packed film, which we really enjoyed - 12 Rounds.
We had gone for the cheapest accomodation Lonely Planet had given and still it came with a TV and our own bathroom, luxury! :) We spent our afternoons in the Guest House watching French cartoons - Yes I know we travelled all the way to Rwanda to watch TV! But no it was expensive and we were running out of money fast! All in all we only spent 2 days in Rwanda (2 travelling) instead of the allocated week we'd given ourselves due to the fact Rwanda is sooo expensive!
During the genocide obviously Rwanda was a complete mess but over the years they have made it into a good looking country and they take alot of pride. The roads are all tarmaced, with road marking, zebra crossings etcs and traffic moves just like make home, there is no havoc. Boda drivers only allow 1 passenger not 3 you could fit on in Uganda, even though it's illegal they do anyway :) Both the driver and passenger must wear and helmet and it did feel weird at first not being sandwiched between Vic and the driver but I got used to it and the safety :) Everywhere is clean and you always see people sweeping. There are trees planted along side the road with street lamps. Everything Rwanda has Uganda is the complete opposite but getting off the bus in Kampala and being swarmed with guys on bodas, all shouting and cars beeping, I really did smile to myself, it felt great to be back amongst our havoc here! :) x

Monday we are going to the North of Uganda to Murchison Falls - The most powerful waterfall in the world! And we're not sure yet if we're Rhino or Chimp trekking also but either way it looks to be a good 3 day excursion :)

Thinking of you all (in the cold!) :)
Lots and Lots of Love x x x x