Video Tour of Kigali

The DRC and Rose Kabuye

These 2 events have been dominating the news in Rwanda recently. They have a connection which goes back to the genocide, as most things over here do.

Let me see if I can sum them up as I've learned about them.

When I arrived here in September, Eastern DRC was safe. In fact the day I arrived, 2 of my housemates were actually spending the weekend in Goma. You could travel across the border, climb an active Volcano and see the mountain Gorillas for half the price as Rwanda. It sounded like a pretty cool trip so I figured I'd do it while I was here.

However, recently Eastern DRC has broken down.

During the Rwandan genocide in 1994, the Hutu majority killed approximately 750,000 minority Tutsi's. As the Tutsi-led RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) charged down from Uganda towards Kigali to take the capital and end the genocide, millions of Hutus fled to Eastern DRC. Some fled because they were in fact Interahamwe, the genocidaires. Others fled because they were afraid they'd be mistaken for Interahamwe. Even some Tutsi's fled to DRC trying to get away from the advancing (fleeing) Hutus.

So the RPF takes Kigali. This was by no means the end of the genocide. One of the first things the RPF did when it got to Kigali was to attack and smash the turquoise zone, the area protected by the French army which was feeding and protecting genocidaires. The fundamental mistake the French commited during the genocide was to mistake this conflict as a 'war,' as opposed to what it really was, a planned murder of an entire ethnic people. Plus, the French backed the Interahamwe, aka the bad guys.

In the 14 years since the genocide, every single nation, including the United Nations has apologized for their role - or lack of a role - in the genocide. The only nation to never apologize is France. And France was probably the worst contributor, supplying the Interahamwe with weapons to "exterminate the cockroaches." France is stubbornly sticking to their colonial guns.

In 2006 a court in France issued an indictment for Rose Kabuye, a former member of the RPF (the army that took Kigali), former mayor of Kigali and current close advisor to the president. She was indicted along with 8 other Rwandans by the French court who said that she was part of the group that shot down the former president in 1994 which sparked the genocide. Its currently a mystery as to how that plane went down over Kigali, but the French courts have decided that the RPF was responsible.

As soon as this news came out, Rwanda said "thats it." They kicked out the French ambassador and relations have been cold at best since. The French were indeed bold considering their role in the genocide to then begin to make judgements about the current Rwandan government. So a few weeks ago Ms. Kabuye was arrested in Germany under EU law and extradited to France on Wednesday. Rwandans are NOT happy. In fact, the whole country shut down on Wednesday. My office closed and I was actually advised to stay home and indoors as the entire country was demonstrating against the French government and what they called "political manipulation of international justice by certain Western countries." I even got a text message from the local phone company with instructions for the protest. The whole country is not happy with this.

To be honest, I see their point. I'd be pretty pissed at the French too. First they back the genocidaires, then they try to impose their own ignorant system of justice on a government that is actually working here. Enough is enough. These imperial ties must end.

So, back to the DRC. Back to 1994. We essentially now have the same mess over there which caused the genocide. Huge groups of Interahamwe and huge groups of Tutsis. Remember that 1994 was not the first time Tutsi's had to flee from rampant murder. So millions of Tutsis were already living in Eastern DRC when the Rwandan Hutus and Tutsis poured across the border. Plus, colonial country lines were never drawn with tribal groups in mind anyway. Often when the British, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese drew lines in Africa, they drew them right through the middle of tribal heartlands, essentially splitting a tribe in half on arbitray colonial lines. So what does the UN do? Well the UNHCR (UN High Commission for Refugees) sets up camps and feeds and houses everyone. Good guys and bad guys. These camps eventually become 'bases' for the Interahamwe who begin making cross-border raids into Rwanda, killing Tutsis and trying to continue the genocide. This goes on for years. And it continues in Eastern DRC today.

Flash forward to today. General Laurent Nkunda is the 'rebel,' 'guerilla' commander in Eastern DRC who is apparently causing all the mess there. He's a Tutsi who is sick of the Interahamwe Hutus continuing to murder his people. So, he's fighting back now. So he says. But we also hear reports of some bad stuff his army may or may not be doing.

So who knows whats really going on?

One thing you can learn is that the UN doesn't necessarily know what its doing. They certainly didn't know what they were doing in 1994 or since. Plus with the ridiculous amount of mineral wealth in Eastern DRC, trust me, plenty of people are getting rich from this continued conflict. The truth is the situation is complicated. I am hesitant to believe anyone who has 'the answer,' to this problem. But then again, does anyone really care? Its Central Africa after all...

Kigali Genocide Memorial

Today I visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial. I took a short Moto Taxi ride to a non-descript location in one of the many valleys in Kigali. The building was marked with a simple white sign which said, "Memorial."

The Memorial is divided into 3 main parts inside and a mass grave outside, holding the remains of over 280,000 slaughtered Rwandans. The bottom floor is dedicated to the Rwandan Genocide. It starts with the divisive colonial experience in Rwanda and the steady build up to the Genocide. Its very well done and powerful. After going through the facts of the genocide, you come to a room full of pictures of those killed. The next room is a room with the clothing of bodies found. The final room on the bottom floor is filled with the bones of those killed. Entire boxes filled with skulls. Piles of femurs. You can see that some of the skulls have been smashed in indicating the method which that person was killed.

The second floor is dedicated to Genocides which have taken place throughout history including, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Bosnia and Armenia. Its crazy to think how often this insane thing has happened.

The last section of the memorial is dedicated to the children who were killed. I guess if you're planning to eliminate an entire people, you have to kill young and old. This was the saddest and most disturbing part of the whole memorial. I was alone in the rooms dedicated to the children. An entire room would be dedicated to 2 kids. There would be a big picture of a child. Underneath, there was a plaque reading: Name:, Favorite food:, Best Known For:, Age:, How they were killed: It was horrible. As the exhibit progressed, the kids got younger until the last few were less than a year old. Most were murdered by blunt force or machete.

I walked out of the place, glad I'd brought my hat and sunglasses. Then you are confronted with the mass graves. The place is very quiet and peaceful. I guess its hard to be loud in a place which makes you think so much.

As I left the memorial, I was back in Rwanda. Living here for almost 3 months and immediately after visiting the memorial, its still hard to link these 2 things. Even after seeing photographs, watching videos and hearing stories, its still impossible to imagine. Its hard to believe that nearly every Rwandan I've met here has gone through that horrible tragedy.

Obama Wins!

I remember watching the first democratic debate when all the candidates were just feeling out their own campaigns. I had heard of Barack Obama because of his "rising star" status, and also because of his Kenyan roots. I don't normally watch debates, in fact I usually hate politics. It always seems like politicians are merely saying the same old thing, trying their best to appease the electorate based on the latest polls. As I tuned in that night, I saw something different. There was a guy up there on that stage that was actually saying some pretty smart things. It almost seemed as if he was saying all the stuff that I thought, albeit more eloquently. I was puzzled by the uniqueness of Obama, and began to listen more intently as he spoke. This was the first debate I had ever watched that I didn't turn off after 10 minutes because it made me sick.

Although there was a lot he said that night that got me excited, there was one thing in particular that stuck with me. It was the subject of foreign policy. Obama's idea was to actually talk to our enemies and see if we can work things out before we go ahead and bomb them. Its easy for Americans to believe that all Muslims are terrorists, all people from the Middle East hate us. But is this really true? What if we actually talked to these people, and not only talked, but listened. Maybe we could work something out that didn't involve a massive loss of human life. In all honesty, America has been screwing up their countries for decades. No wonder they might be a touch upset.

I've spent a good chunk of the Bush presidency overseas - 2003-2005 Peace Corps Kenya, Fall 2006 - Spring 2007 International MBA India, Summer of 2007 Japan, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand - and now Rwanda. During these years, I've watched the image of America overseas plummet. I've always been proud to be an American, but during the last few years, that pride began to diminish - and be replaced by a hopelessness of not only my country, but of humanity in general. How could these things be happening in America? Did people seriously want this? Was everyone stupid? (Like I said, Obama speaks more eloquently than me)

My first reaction during these years was anger at those who would curse my country. I couldn't fathom that we could be doing the wrong thing, or that George Bush could be that wrong, that evil. But, as the years went on and I read more and generally became more informed, I became more and more hopeless for our future. I began to realize that maybe we were actually screwing up. The War on Terror is a mess. Every time we kill a terrorist, 5 more take his place. Why aren't we investing in alternative energy? How is the insane religious right ruling my country? Who cares if homosexuals get married? Why didn't we sign the Kyoto protocol? Global warming is real! Why do we spend $9,000 to educate a child and $55,000 to incarcerate an adult?

Needless to say, I've become a bit salty. Then I saw Barack. This guy seemed to be saying all the right things.

I started watching CNN and listening to NPR (both liberal as heck, I know) a lot more after that first debate. And when I tuned in for the 2nd debate, I was actively cheering for him. It started becoming clear that it was going to be Clinton vs. Obama. A weird feeling came over me. Hope. I know, its corny as that's the damn tag line for his campaign...but. Whats wrong with hope? We are America after all, can't we fix this?

I knew Clinton would be hard to beat. She seemed to be much more in control of "the machine," than Obama. She knew how to play the game and had more money. Plus, I never root for winners. I'm from Philadelphia after all. What a strange year this has been...

Then Obama won Iowa. Holy crap. Clinton, the huge favorite and front runner was all of a sudden back on her heels. She soon rebounded when she shed a robotic tear (guarantee some staffer came up with the idea) to win New Hampshire.

It was going to be close and Super Tuesday was going to be huge. Barack killed it and took the lead. In the ensuing primaries over the next few weeks, he continued to win state after state. I couldn't understand it. It was around this time I found an Obama sign and jammed it into my front lawn. I was the first in my neighborhood. Texas and Ohio were coming up and Clinton won both. Pennsylvania, which didn't hold their primaries until late April, was actually going to matter. Then that jackass Rendell said that "race would be a factor for 5-10% of Pennsylvanians." This brought back all the old fears of the political machine in America for me. Clinton, that scumbag, certainly didn't shy away from the fact that she was white and Obama was black. PA came and went and Clinton took it by a narrow margin, despite me getting in fights at bars as well as fights on my front lawn about it.

Luckily neither fight came to blows, but they were heated nonetheless. The lunatic ex-husband of my neighbor charged up my lawn one day blathering about abortion and how Obama was a terrorist and would vote pro choice. He told me I was a bad Catholic and wouldn't be allowed to receive communion. All this while cursing at me. Real Christian of you, sir. It was hilarious, but I got a touch upset thinking of all the other morons out there who thought this way.

Barack had pretty much locked up the nomination. It was at this time that I left for Rwanda. I remember watching the DNC convention speech while I was in Butare during my first week here. I was pretty fired up and felt good about it.

So the campaign progressed. People played politics back and forth. Obama had a pretty comfortable lead. Then McCain (sellout) named Palin as his VP at the Republican convention. The woman who had been keeping her eye on Russia in case Putin reared his head, thought Africa was a country, couldn't name a newspaper she read, couldn't name a supreme court decision, and didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was - was possibly a heartbeat away from being President. I don't generally listen to celebrities when they speak politics, but Matt Damon said it pretty well - "It's like a bad Disney movie - 'The Hockey Mom That Goes to The White House.' "

McCain-Palin started storming up the polls, almost coming even with Obama-Biden. Then 2 things happened. The economy crashed, and Palin gave the Couric interview. So long, suckas. Obama regained a commanding lead and started going after red states. He was actually going out into the rural areas. Sure, he was going after votes, but with such a commanding lead, it seemed like he was also preparing rural people who might not have voted for him for him to be their President. Maybe show them, "Hey, this guy isn't that bad."

I returned from my World Series trip on Sunday November 2, worked for 2 days and it was November 4. Game time. Rwanda is 7 hours ahead of EST, so the earliest states weren't closing until 2 AM on November 5. There was an all night party at a local bar/restaurant. I slept after work for about 6 hours, woke up and got to the bar just before 2. It looked scary for about the first 15 minutes - but I was still high from the Phillies and somehow knew Obama would win. This feeling of being a winner was new to me, but I was relishing in it.

The restaurant was quiet. People were nervous. I really don't think there was anyone there who was for McCain. I base that on the look of the crowd, but also because generally people that I meet overseas are Democrats (except military people) - or at least they hate Bush. The crowd was filled with Rwandans, Americans and ex-pats of every nation. All these people who weren't from America had decided to stay up all night with us to root for Change.

People were too quiet. I had just come back from the biggest celebration I'd ever witnessed in the Phillies Championship & parade. I started clapping loud and yelling when state - even county - results came in. Trying to get people fired up. It started to work. When PA came back for Obama, the place went nuts. I knew it was over. Soon they called Florida and Ohio.

When CNN called the race for Obama and called him president elect for the first time, the place went nuts. Cigars were lit as the sun rose over the Western hills of Kigali. We high-fived and hugged each other - about the 5th time in a week I was doing this. We all did tequila shots at 6 AM as we listened to McCain's concession speech followed by Obama's acceptance speech.

You could hear noise all over Kigali - horns honking, people cheering. As we walked home from the bar that morning, everyone was smiling. Taxi drivers, guards, people on their way to work. The high-fives continued all morning. It was amazing to see so many people care about our election, but I guess that's reflective of the sway America has in the world, the hatred of George Bush, and the absolute love for and hope of this guy Barack Obama.

I found out the next day that Kenya had declared November 6 a National Holiday. November 5 ended up becoming a holiday in Rwanda - at least for ex-pats - as no one went to work that day.

The next day on my way to work, I asked my taxi driver (huge Obama fan) why Rwandans and Africans were so excited about Obama. After all, he was the President of the United States, not the world. He told me that most of the uneducated Africans might think that it would be easier to get a Green Card now. Also, some of them might be happy that a fellow African had won the highest seat in the world. But he then told me the reason why most people throughout the world wanted him to win. And it was many of the same reasons why I wanted Obama to win. People thought that maybe this Obama guy could actually do some good in the world. He had just become leader of the most powerful and influential society ever to exist on our planet. America is still America. We have the power to do enormous things - good or bad - throughout the world affecting billions of people. And now, we had a true leader at the helm. It gave him hope for the world, America and humanity. Democracy is almost a direct reflection of human ideas. And we had all got together and done something good. Maybe there's hope for us yet.

Barack Obama is an extremely eloquent speaker. His messages of hope and change are easy to become enamored with - especially the way things have gone in the last few years. So are we all suckers? Did we all get caught up in the hype and lose sight of reality? Or is it time to change reality? It is certainly important to temper our excitement with the problems of today's world. But isn't it nice to have that guy making the decisions?

Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Champions

OK, so its been a while since I updated this thing. Its been a busy month.

On October 21, I boarded a flight which would start the journey which would carry me all the way back to Philadelphia to watch the Phillies in the World Series. The entire trip would involve 4 flights, 4 countries, 8,500 miles and 35 hours. I landed in Philadelphia at 6:15, Mom picked me up, I showered and went straight to Murphy's in time for an 8:30 start. In between the lack of sleep and the pressure of the situation, I was pretty jacked up.

I got together with friends and family and watched Chase Utley bomb a first inning home run which got the Phillies the lead en route to a Game 1 victory.

Game 2 we watched at the Pour House. The Phillies couldn't get any offense going and lost 4-2. Coming back from Tampa, they were tied 1-1. It was essentially a 5 game series now and the Phillies had home field advantage. Still I couldn't help feeling horribly nervous.

The next day was an off day. I actually ended up giving an interview to the local Metro Newspaper:

Game 3 we all decided to go back to Murphy's since they won when we were there last time. I even made sure I wore the same outfit. The Phillies won a thriller on a Carlos Ruiz 63 foot hit with the bases loaded in the 9th.

Game 4 I went to with Dad. It was a smashing and never close. It was nice to be able to breathe and the Phillies now had a 3-1 lead in the Series. Pretty much everyone was already getting ready for the parade. We had waited so long. An entire generation of Philadelphians had never seen a championship in any sport. I was 1 when the Phillies won, and 4 when the Sixers won our last title. Obviously I didn't remember any of this either.

Game 5 I went to with Greg. I'm really not sure if anyone in Philadelphia thought we could lose that game. Everyone was making post game celebration plans all day long. A bit foolish maybe as the baseball gods hadn't exactly been kind to us for the last 3 deacdes, and now we were tempting fate by planning victory celebrations for a Series we hadn't won yet. But it was hard not to think the Series was over. Cole Hamels was on the mound and the Rays had looked confused up to this point. The Phillies looked like they belonged, while the Rays looked like they were cowering under the National spot light, despite winning the AL East.


The Game got under way and one of the weirdest things in baseball happened. The rain got so bad in the 6th inning, they had to pause the game. This barely ever happens in the regular season, and has never happened in the World Series. I was ridiculously soaked from sitting out in the rain when they paused the game after the top of the 6th. Plus I had been wearing my flip flops (can't change the outfit now). Everyone left the stadium in a weird sense of shock, not really understanding what happened.

The game resumed 2 days later. It was the most exciting 3 innings of baseball I've ever seen. The Phils took the lead, the Rays tied it and the Phils took the lead right back. It was insane. Nobody at the stadium sat down. Then Lights out Lidge, who we got in an absolute steal from that idiot Ed Wade in the offseason came in to try to lock down his 48th/48th save of the season. And lock it down he did.

The city exploded. Citizen's Bank Park exploded. The players mobbed the field. It was an amazing night and one that I will never forget. Greg and I walked out of the park after hanging around for 45 minutes or so and walked up to Broad Street. People were everywhere. Hi-5 ing and hugging complete strangers. We walked down Broad Street in the direction of City Hall.

We got a few blocks before it was absolute deadlock on Broad & Shunk. Masses of celebrating Phillies fans. Explosions going off every few seconds. Beer drinking in the streets. We met up with a few friends, hung out on Broad for a bit, then continued to walk down the street. The game ended about 10 PM and we got back to Greg's car at about 2.

2 days later, the Parade. Something that was spoken about in Philadelphia like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The topic comes up every year, but nobody actually believes in it. We all met up at about 9 AM and drove down to the Art Museum. Once again, we broke out the beers and were drinking on the street. There may have been some trouble during the celebration and the parade, but I didn't see any of it. Everyone I saw was in a totally jubilant and celebratory mood.

We got together in front of the Union League and waited. In about 2 hours, the parade came through. It was quick, but a good culmination of an awesome season. Pat Burrell led the parade in probably his last appearance as a Phillie.

The timing was perfect as my flight back to Rwanda was that night. We partied the whole day, ending up at random bars downtown like Cocktail Lounge and the Piano Bar (because everywhere else was packed) before ending up back where it all began - Murphy's. I ended up back at Philadelphia International Airport for my 7 PM flight, and headed back to Rwanda.

We can actually hold up the #1 and mean it. What a trip.