Jim Schroder's Travel

Rwanda

Rwanda, the Republic of Rwanda, is a country in Central Africa and one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kigali is the capital of Rwanda. The building in this photo is of the Hotel des Mille Colines..Famous in the movie Hotel Rwanda. The name translates the Hotel on a thousand hills which is what the the city is built on..

The Hôtel des Mille Collines, is a large hotel in Kigali, Rwanda. It became famous after 1,268 people took refuge inside the building during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The story of the hotel and its manager at that time, Paul Rusesabagina, was later used as the basis of Terry George's film Hotel Rwanda in 2004. According to the film, Rusesabagina bribed the Hutu Army with money and alcohol to protect them, and to obtain food and water. The United Nations mission, foreign governments, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front exerted pressure on the Rwandan government forces to ensure the safety of those trapped in the complex.

The buildingis the City Hall. Rwanda's developing economy suffered heavily in wake of the 1994 genocide, but has since strengthened. The economy is based mostly on subsistence agriculture. Coffee and tea are the major cash crops for export. Tourism is a fast-growing sector and is now the country's leading foreign exchange earner. Rwanda is one of only two countries in which mountain gorillas can be visited safely, and visitors pay high prices for gorilla tracking permits.

Another view of our hotel Mille Collines. The unemployment rate for Rwanda today is at 7% Uganda was at 40%.

The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, both Hutus, were killed when their aircraft was shot down on 6 April 1994. Social tensions erupted in the 1994 genocide that followed, in which Hutu extremists killed an estimated 500,000-1,000,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. The RPF ended the genocide with a military victory.

Surrounding hills of Kigali the Capital of Rwanda

Another view of the city.

The Kigali Genocide Memorial commemorates the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The remains of over 250,000 people are interred there

The upstairs floor the center includes three permanent exhibitions, the largest of which documents the genocide in 1994, helping to give Rwanda’s nightmare a historical context. There is a children’s memorial, with life-sized photos, accompanied by intimate details about their favorite toys, their last words and the manner in which they were killed. There is also an exhibition on the history of genocidal violence around the world. The Education Center, Memorial Gardens and National Documentation Center of the Genocide contribute to a meaningful tribute to those who perished and form a powerful educational tool for the next generation.

The remains of the people here were brought from all over the capital after they had been left in the street or thrown in the river. They are buried together in lots of 100,000

Each of us were given a single rose to lay on the area of those entombed below.

In April 1994 reports of systematic mass murder within Rwanda began to filter out of Rwanda and circulate throughout the world. Sadly, little was done to halt the mass killing. To outsiders the genocide was represented as tribal-based ethnic violence, with the Tutsis the victims and the Hutus as the perpetrators. Precisely how many people were actually murdered may never be known; estimates vary between 500,000 and over a million. The number of people killed is widely accepted as being somewhere close to 800,000.

Newer parts of the city

Buses is one mode of transportation around the city.

Moto Taxis is the most obvious and convenient way to get around Kigali and they even have their own ill-fitting, vision-impairing, semi-gross helmet for you in a fashionable selection of bright blue, red or green.

Hopping on a mototaxi is probably the most dangerous thing you’ll do in Kigali. The drivers are mostly good, but there’s always a risk when you’re speeding down the road on a motorbike. When you put on the helmet it’s probably a bad sign if it’s completely cracked and then taped back up. Although wearing a taped up helmet with zero visibility adds a certain element of excitement to the journey. Likewise, it might be wise to wait for another driver if you encounter a helmet with blood spatters on it.

The genocide caused a large drop in GDP and destroyed the country's ability to attract private and external investment. The economy has since strengthened, with average income per person for the year estimated at $2,090 in 2017, compared with $416 in 1994.

Motos are a bit intimidating at first, but when you get used to taking them ,and accept that we must all die sooner or later anyway, they’re are a formidable way of getting around the city

$Across Africa, motorcycle taxis – known as motos in Rwanda, boda-bodas in Kenya and Uganda or okadas in Nigeria – are a popular method of transport; on a motorbike you can weave through gridlocked traffic, dash down side alleys or bump over dirt shortcuts, all for a fraction of what you would pay for a taxi.$

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