Day 3- Tuesday

We slept a solid eight hours for the first time in several days. Everything seems so much more lucid today with some decent sleep instead of the zombie state we have been in for the last few days. Breakfast was pleasant and relaxing and we headed back to the Africa New Life Dream Center to tour the women's program there.

Africa New Life invites the most vulnerable women in the city learn to sew professionally so that they can survive on their own financially. We learned that they cost of the program is about $60 a month and the women need a manual sewing machine that costs about $100 to get started when they graduate. The program graduates 70 women each year for the last few years and has been in operation for seven years. We Americans got very excited about this because we realized the opportunity that we have to assist them from overseas.

After touring the training workshop, we met at the church to meet some of the ladies. They sang some songs for us and half of us, including Kelly, danced with them. Africans and sing and clap in such a way that stirs the soul in ways no one else can. The clapping is infectous and you can't help but try to sing along even if you have no idea what the words mean. Their style of singing and dancing expresses so thoroughly their faith and joy, and the faith and joy of this country is tremendous, considering their recent past.

We learned all we could about the program and then some of the ladies shared their stories with us. Both of the stories we heard were very painful, albiet devoid of much detail. These stories of hard lives punctuated with troubles during the 1994 civil war are so painful that they cannot share all of the details. Most profound to us was the story of a lady who, as a young girl, was dropped in Lake Kivu to drown, twice, and survived. That episode would have not had much effect on us if not for the fact that, entirely contrary to our plans, we all considered the possibility of drowning in Lake Kivu ourselves as our rickety boat threatened to capsize. We may very well have walked on the same shores where this lady was sent to die, and the ones where she was rescued. That made it real. That was part two of God's plan on Lake Kivu that seemed so much like a mistake.

We then visited the workshop where some of the graduate women work to support themselves and the education program. Jonathan was measured and has a shirt being made for him and Kelly is having some wrap pants made, which we hope to get by the end of the week. Our small purchase will hopefully lead to more people buying clothes and bags and helping this program to grow.

After lunch, we toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial and it's museum. The grounds have several symbolic gardens and about a dozen mass graves where genocide victims have been given a respectful burial over the past few years. As Kelly approached the last burial slab, she heard and then saw children playing in the village downhill from the memorial. School had just gotten out and the kids were coming home in a city that, from what we can tell, is moving forward away from it's dark past. It's becoming evident as we all share our stories that the museum must have planed this area for the location on purpose, building in a place where life is full and wonderful. It really brings the perspective of change and hope.

The museum exhibits start with a brief history of Rwanda and how division was implanted by colonial powers and how the rivalry between these contrived groups festered and turned to violence. Then it discusses the long-term affects of depression, disease, and destruction crippled the country as a whole for generation. The reconcilliation process is the justice the country is seeking now. Rather than simply punishing the "bad guys," Rwanda is using a tradional African style of court in which perpetrators must stand trial and confess their crimes to their victims and ask forgiveness. This is the only hope they have for long-term healing and we agree that it's much more effective and morally pure than punitive "justice."

In the other section of the museum, the exhibits explore in detail other genocides in Nanimbia, the Holocuast, the Armenians in Turkey, Cambodia, and the Balkans. It's interesting to learn that the US, the UK, and a few other countries are complicit with Turkey in denying the Armenian genocide by refusing to formally acknowledge that it happened. The abilities of humans to be swayed by propaganda to become ruthless killers over religion, race, and culture is astounding. This whole section of the museum has odd-shaped rooms that are difficult to navigate, which is very disorientating, and probably intensionally so. The museum and memorial make a point of education for the purpose of preventing future genocides, so my only criticism is that no mention of genocide in Sudan is made. Maybe they are working on it, maybe they don't have the spare right now. (after thought- Little did we know at the time documents were being signed for South Sudan. When we got to Uganda we found this out. We were told "this is an answer to our prayers. We are so excited for our neighbors)

The last room of the museum is dedicated to child victims of the genocide. A bright-lit room has about a dozen enlarge photos of children age 15 months to 12 years with their names, favorite foods, family members, and how they died. Some were hacked with machetes, beaten with clubs, or shot. One was slung bodily into a wall. Jonathan only made it halfway through the exhibit the first time through and left without reading them all, only to return with a slow-moving Kelly to view the whole thing. Kelly was pretty devastated by this part of the exhibit. Wanting children of our own so badly finding it hard to realize anyone could do these things to a child. The most upsetting that will stick with her, a baby killed by being thrown against a wall.

In the evening we returned to the guest house and visited the market again. We bought a few gifts and exchanged some Rwandan vocabulary for English. One of the teenage boys on our team initiated and thoroughly lost a break dancing competition. More children approached us and demanded cash. They were wonderful kids but we had nothing to give them and it's probably best that we didn't give them handouts. Having satisfied our urge to shop and pursue adventure, we left for home to eat and reflect on our day. One of our team had his passport and ID lifted from his backpack, but we made it home otherwise unscathed.