I arrived in Kigali yesterday after a long flight. We were able to get through immigration quickly since we were the only plane at the airport. The city is beautiful and the people are very friendly. The weather is ideal around 70 degrees with blue skies. It is summer here which means that it is the dry season. The countryside is brown however there are lots of things blooming. Ethiopia Airlines feeds one often on their flights so we arrived tired but full.
We did a quick tour of the city yesterday visiting the memorial to the ten UN officers who were killed trying to protect the newly installed president at the beginning of the genocide. She did not agree with the genocide and for that was killed. It is very moving to think of the magnitude of what happened here and the long term effects of such a tragedy. One of the striking images at the memorial is a young girl holding a picture of her family off of whom where killed. A second picture is of a young girl who family participated in the killings. She too was orphaned when her parents where convicted of genocide. Two innocent children orphaned for opposite reasons.
I will be looking around the city today to learn more. I have been enjoying the birds this morning including crows that are black and white and some type of kite that has been flying over the city.
We are combining our gifts this morning so that we can distribute them in some sort of meaningful way. Four of my favorite soccer balls will have a home in one of the orphanages here.
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Carl and Mark, you do not post often enough for me to even know what is going on with you two. Perhaps Kigali is in Ethiopia, I don't know. Wherever it is, enjoy it and be safe and come visit here sometime, it is a lot closer than wherever Kigali is, and has to be at least as pretty, and our spa is quite fun and beautiful. Try to post more often.
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