Day 1 in Kigali!

Sunday was our first full day in Kigali, Rwanda. We started off the day with a wonderful breakfast courtesy of our lovely hostel. It consisted of homemade bread, freshly picked bananas, a veggie dish, and omelets. After the hearty breakfast we went on a tour of Kigali via van to gain a better understanding of the city and its history. I was surprised at how beautiful and how amazingly clean it is! The “land of a thousand hills” is not an exaggeration! It is so incredibly amazing how clean and green it is. We learned that the reason that is is so clean is that communities are in charge of cleaning their villages and that it is a community and citizen obligation. In addition to this we also went to the Belgian troop memorial, the presidential palace and the market where the majority of us had clothing made to fit us. It was a wonderful first day filled with a balance of adventure and unfortunate history. The presidential palace was particularly moving to me as it really made the genocide of 1994 feel real and as though it was as recent as it was. All in all it was a great introduction to the history of the 1994 genocide of Rwanda and prepped us and gave us background information for the next day.