Kigali then and now

The picture to the left is of one of the streets in Kigali town centre. I snapped it quickly on Saturday. I spent the weekend sight-seeing (of a sort). The major sight in Kigali is the Gisozi Genocide memorial and museum. I actually went to see this on my first day in the country, last Monday, which was a bit of a sudden way to come face to face with Rwanda's recent past, but probably a good idea in retrospect. Rwanda since 1994 has by and large been a real success story, and walking or driving around Kigali you definitely get the impression that this is an up-and-coming place, with building work everywhere (see left of photo), signs of businesses beginning to flourish, and representatives from NGOs of every stripe bustling around. Yet everything here is still deeply affected by the genocide and the aftermath of the killings, and it was really important to confront that legacy as soon as possible. The memorial is very tastefully done and remarkably restrained. In fact, the exhibits were almost entirely factual and historical, to the extent that I could almost detach myself from the faces in the pictures and the stories. There was one exhibit that really conveyed the horror of the events, though. It was very simple - just a series of profiles of children killed in the genocide with their name, age, a couple of poignant details about them, and how they were killed displayed beneath a photograph. Utterly devastating to read. The past week has been so busy and hectic as I settle in here in Kigali that I still haven't really processed it yet, or sorted out my reaction to the various accounts of the genocide I've read. I'll post some thoughts in the coming weeks on this though.

Anyway, back to this weekend. Frances, an old school friend who is working as an ODI fellow in Rwanda for the next two years, (small world, huh?) showed me round Kigali on Saturday. Actually, to be honest, she took me with her while she shopped for stuff for her new flat (!) but it was great to get driven around Kigali and get a bit more of a feel for where everything is. It's remarkably small for a capital city (around 700,000); very clean and fairly quiet. Despite the small scale of the centre, it's actually quite difficult to get around, though. The city is spread out over a series of hills, with little connections between each hilltop, so walking is difficult and tiring. There's no public transport as such, but there are minibus taxis and 'les motos' (motorbikes that you hop on the back of). It's a bit confusing to get the hang of, but I'm going to have to work it out if I'm going to get around on my own. Haven't quite decided whether I'm going to try the motos yet. I've had very conflicting advice from other expats. One said 'they're a great way to get about', the other 'there's no way I'd let my family anywhere near one of those thing's. Go figure.