Day 6--Memorial and Drummers

Today we had another long drive to Murambi Genocide Memorial Center. We were told this was the hardest genocide memorial to go to in Rwanda. Also something that made it a little more difficult was that Carl or Drew hadn't seen it yet. Once we got onto the dirt road leading to the memorial I looked around to see beautiful mountains, green lands, and landscaping. We passed lots of kids coming from and going to school. Every kid we pass while being here either joyfully screams at us as we wave or waves back with huuuge smiles on their faces. It never gets old. People get so excited here when we wave at them. Teenagers aren't always as excited but hey they're only human and we all know what that age is like----right Mom? 
So we were finally at the Center which is just surrounded by such gorgeous lands. It's awfulness in the midst of great beauty. So now for details: The center was a school during the genocide and this is the place where Hutu extremists and French soldiers lured Tutsi so they could systemically kill them. There were mass graves built on the grounds where we stood...The buildings were blown up with people in them and there were so many people murdered on the grounds where we were now standing. The first building we went into was build specifically for the memorial which held the history of Rwanda and of the genocide. There were also stories of survivors that were really great to read. There was a section with some graves under the ground that contained bodies that were preserved with lime. We couldn't see them but after being taken outside we all had seen enough of them.

After the first part of the tour we were lead to the back of the memorial which were all buildings that have been preserved since the genocide happened, all part of the school that was there. There were small rooms all next to each other. We walked into the first room where I was very taken aback to see tons of corpses. They were all preserved with lime so you could really still see specifics on the bodies. I had to plug my nose because the smell was not a good one. The smell also made it even harder to keep myself under control being around all these bodies. The bodies were a yellowish color because of the lime and I could see facial expressions, bodies in uncomfortable positions, and body size. There were so many bodies in each room. I couldn't help but to go in each one. I felt it would have been disrespectful not to enter each one. It was really difficult to see all these bodies so together and "real" looking still. I took my time in each room and looked at as many bodies as I could. I thought about possibilities of their sex, age, favorite sports, if they had kids...etc..which was so emotional. The hardest thing to look at were two bodies, one tiny body in the arms of a bigger body. I couldn't help assuming that it was a mother holding her child. That was just terrible to think about. Either they were killed by grenade, machete, or buried alive together. So many questions go through my head when I picture this. What really drives someone to do that to another human?  And it's especially hard to believe it happened here in Rwanda because it's a peaceful, gorgeous place. For a genocide to happen here....ridiculous. We get so many loving looks, and welcoming waves from people here. Maybe it's just cause they are so surprised to see "Mazunga" (meaning "foreigners" in Kinyarwanda). But still, the waving ain't like that in America that's for sure. After going into all the rooms containing bodies we went to the a part of the site that was a place the French threw dead bodies or buried people alive. They covered the mass grave up and put a volleyball court over it.........Yuck.
I'm really glad I got to see this memorial because it changes how I look at the world and it makes me want to spread hope, love and peace that much more. There are so many people that I wish could see Rwanda and all these places for that reason.

After the genocide memorial we headed to Buture to watch some women African drummers. This was a nice positive event after our intense first part of the day. We watched these drummers in the rehearsal space theater of The University of Rwanda. These women could catch the attention of anyone. Their sound and stage presence were breathtaking. They use the drums to be a symbol of empowerment and it definitely showed. The ages of these women ranged from 18-44 years that were a mix of survivors, perpetrators and bystanders from the genocide. The fact they are all playing together and collaborating like nothing like that ever happened is proof that music and the arts can be used to unite people and become one. There's so much diversity coming together for a greater purpose. They slammed on those drums for a good 1/2 hour and after they were done they taught us some stuff. My arms were calloused, tired and shaking after 5 minutes. The lesson was very fun. This group of women own an ice cream place in the town of Buture. So naturally we went to have a lil ice cream after our drumming session.
It was a great day. Can't wait to take all I've learned home with me.

Day 5--Akagera!

Today was a fun fun day cause we got to go to Akagera National Park to see some wild animals! Had to be up and leaving by 5am so we could get there at a decent time to see the animals. It was a 3 hour drive. It was an emotional light day which was nice after some intense ones. All in all we saw Water Buffalo, Tsessebe, Caribou, Zebra, Giraffe, Warthogs, Hippo, Baboons, and gazelle. I had never been surrounded by so many animals before. And what was even cooler was that they were out in the open with us. There were no cages or barriers like a zoo. Blocking our way sometimes would be zebra, and others we were surrounded by a group of giraffes. The drive back was a little uncomfortable because it was either a sauna in the van or attacked by flies that bit. We took the sauna till we couldn't anymore. But all in all it was a great time! We were pooped and went right to bed when we got back.
Thanks for reading!!!
-Julia

Our God is Greater...

So since its Sunday we got to attend a church service here in Kigali. It was such a great experience! I will apologize ahead of time because it is about to get religious for a moment. The service was at the New Life Bible Church where the missionaries home where were staying belong to. It was a little different than what I’m used to as far as church goes but hey I was still worshiping the Lord! There was already singing going on when we entered the church. It’s a huge building with tons of places to sit. The music was my favorite part and their sound system was fabulous. The guitar player, the ladies singing harmony, and an entire church singing made me so happy. I got super excited when I knew two of the songs they sang. One being “Our God” which I know because of Life Teen Camp and “How Great is Our God” also because of Life Teen. I was so excited that these songs were all the way in Africa. I sang loud and proud :). The church had the visitors all stand and we were hugged and welcomed by people. The rest of the service was the pastor preaching about the bible and what we, “followers of Christ” are called to do.

Got back, had lunch and got ready to go to Gisimba Orphanage. This is where Carl spent most of his time during the genocide supplying kids and adults with food and water. He is a hero there. I met other people that I had heard about from reading Carl’s book and what a feeling it is to actually meet them! The head of the Orphanage, Damas and his brother Jean Francis saved many during the genocide and know Carl very well. I spoke to Jean Francis about how Carl doesn’t even know how much he is a hero to them. I loved it because it’s so true. When we drive through Kigali and Carl talks about how he managed to get food and water for people it amazes me because he’ll point over there and say “see that was the road we took to get to the water because there was too much shooting going on here…” I can’t imagine being here for that. Carl is amazing and so humble. So when we got out of the car (and we were warned about this) we were surrounded by kids. They immediately grabbed our hands as if we had always known each other. As soon as we took the cameras out….GAME OVER! Kids would literally just take the camera out of your hand and start trying to take pictures. You had to be a bit pushy with them if you ever wanted that camera back. They did that the entire time we were there. Anyway, we started hugging the kids, asking their names, things like that and it was so exhilarating. They are all so cute!!!! These kids have no family, barely an education, and really know nothing other than this place they live and yet they have so much life inside them. As soon as you wave to them, they are all over you. This one little girl, whose name has sadly left me, kept trying to steal my bracelets. She was adorable though because as we walked through the orphanage she held on to my arm so tight. After we visited a bit we then proceeded to head into their little school room I guess you could call it. All the benches were filled with people of every age from the Orphanage to watch our Theater piece. We were so nervous to perform for them and the songs we were singing and the acting going on just impacts us so much more after everything we’ve experienced so far. And now to be in front of these beautiful people in Africa, performing for them was nerve-racking. They responded to our performance 100 times what I expected. The first song “Will I” from Rent really got their attention. One the first half of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet done by Kara and Lewis they were hooked. Whoever tells you Shakespeare is not universal they are lying. Even the kids understood what was going on. They were responding out loud with ooo’s and ahh’s and laughing the whole time.  During “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent, sang by Tiesha and I, their reactions were cheering and clapping a lot because they actually recognized what we were singing about. Extra cheering went on when Ti or myself acted a little flirtatious or belted a bit. The second half of the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene done by Shabar and Brittany were also carried by heavy laughter and oral understanding by everyone. I was jumping for joy the entire time we were in front of them. We ended with “Seasons of Love” also from Rent and by the end of it had everyone stand up, clap and sing with us. We went around to the kids and guys in the back and interacted with them. I had quite the adrenaline rush all throughout that! Afterwards the kids stuck to us like glue even more. Everyone really seemed to like the performance. Right after we finished Eve and I were sitting with a couple of young girls and we asked if they sang. One, very quietly started to sing and the others joined in. It just so happened that Eve and I knew the song too. They sang “Our God is an Awesome God” and “Come, Now is the Time to Worship.” That was just so remarkable to be singing with these girls.

   

Following that, that’s when the soccer game, basketball lessons from Drew, and hair styling started. Lewis, Paige, Eve, and myself got onto the dusty dirt they call their field and started sweating in the sun. I had so much fun playing with these kids. We didn’t even make teams…More so we didn’t even speak the same language and it was just a huge bundle of joy and competitiveness. Once it got more competitive Lewis was happy to sit down. Eve went off to the side where she proceeded to have her hair put in beautiful braids ;). Paige and I kept playing and then before I knew it, I was alone ha-ha. Stacey and Shabar were in the hair salon getting braids put in by the girls. Drew was passing and dribbling with some of the kids. They are great soccer players and they are just like all kids…they just want to run around and have fun. By the time I stopped playing my jeans were stuck to my legs from sweating so much and I had an awesome dirt line under my socks. I then went and visited more with the people in the orphanage. I talked to one guy who seemed to be about my age and we talked about music, dance, school, teaching people how to douggie ;), and sports. I filmed two boys singing Bruno Mars’ “Lazy Song”, it was so cute. 

The time at the orphanage was a plethora of things. I had never been to one before so that in itself was new for me. I saw life in people that when I think about their lives it makes me thankful for what I have. I loved every second of being at that orphanage. 

For dinner, Pastor Seraya and his wife had invited us to their place. From what Carl and Drew have shared these two people really have incredible stories. They were both here during the genocide and have saved many alongside Carl. My goodness, they cooked for 400 people! Once again, the food here never fails to satisfy. We ate until we couldn’t anymore and then just hung out with each other. These two little Rwandans that are Pastor Seraya’s neighbors came over and we hung out with them. They spoke no English so sitting there trying to communicate was a challenging but fun time. The one boy taught us a fun little game and just made funny noises and laughed a lot…….Rwanda is full of surprises!

Tomorrow I’m so pumped because we go to Akagera to see some animals!!    

Memorial, Mashirika, Moments...

We got up, took our malaria pills, drank coffee, ate breakfast and headed to the Kigali Memorial Center. This is the biggest memorial in Rwanda. The inside and outside of the building is so beautiful. There are palm trees, beautiful gardens, and waterfalls surrounding the center. The first thing we did was gone to the back of the memorial where there were more beautiful trees and gardens where there were huge mass graves containing more than 250,000 victims. Every one took a minute of silence to pay respect.  

We had to pay a little fee to take pictures inside the memorial and it was so worth it. I learned so much about the Rwandan genocides and about other genocides all over the world. When we first walked in we had a man take us on a tour, but just in the beginning. There are big boards on every wall that have pictures, and tons of information about the details of the genocide. There were also videos playing on different walls that we walked by. Everything started with the history of Rwanda and when hatred started coming about---which was way before 1994, when the genocide here actually occurred. I learned so much about how the genocide started and a lot of it just upset me so much. Hatred towards Tutsi and the people in government started planning this attack on Tutsi around 1950. People were given ID cards that were partially affected by how many cows their family owned.  After the history about pre-genocide came the actual start and end to the genocide. The detailed descriptions, pictures, videos, objects and items just brought me a pain in my heart and tears to my eyes. The pictures were just horrifying. What the women and children went through was by far, the worst. Then the post genocide which also made me very upset because there were moments when the UN (United Nations) or other countries could’ve stepped in to stop the genocide were “had no idea” how horrible the events in Rwanda were. They didn’t believe there was really anything happening in Rwanda. There were enough people dead for it to be called a genocide…When does it become one? How does a person define that?!! “Not 100 but 101 people must be dead…” I don’t know there were so many reasons and proof that showed that other countries are completely responsible for the genocide occurring or being as bad as it was. President Clinton (and not until after he was President) said after millions were dead that it was his biggest regret by not helping the country of Rwanda. Once the Belgians felt tension in Rwanda which started because they created it---they fled in the 1930’s. The French were responsible for many reasons and one being that supplying huge amounts of weapons and things for the genocide to occur. There were kids without their parents, parents without their kids, brothers without their sisters. So many orphans that either had no idea what happened to their family or had watched their family die. They will forever live with that horror. Rwanda was completely ruined. Houses were damaged, burned, and the country reeked of death.  

In another part of the museum there was clothing that came right from the people who were killed. Everything was behind glass and each article of clothing was hung up. The clothes were very worn, shredded and dirty. Another big room contained just tons of skulls and bones from those massacred. There were bullets in some skulls, some skulls had big parts missing… Another huge room contained all pictures of those that were killed. Pictures were brought in by family and friends. Looking at these pictures of kids, grandmothers, fathers, soccer players, teachers, pastors, a mother expecting…etc was so extremely powerful. There was another room that had big wooden sculptures depicting everything before, during, and after the genocide. Those were really cool.

Now the second floor where there were the same kind of boards on the wall from the first part of the memorial now contained information and details about so many other genocides that happened. Cambodia, Germany, Kosovo, and Turkey were all places genocide happened where each one massacred thousands of people. It was really interesting to learn about the ones I had never been told about before. The last part of the museum is a section just respecting children. There were huge pictures of a child and their name on the wall with a marble sign in front of it sharing info about their personal life. Their age, favorite sport, favorite food, and how they died were all included on that sign. Another section where there were just pictures that had been brought in by their loved ones.

I am so glad I got to visit this memorial. If you ever have the chance, go and see it because it will change your life.

After that we had lunch at the same buffet place we had went to the day before. I am eating so many veggies! I look forward to every meal to great anticipation (and if you know me you’re probably so surprised to hear that I couldn’t wait to eat……) because the food is so good here! 

Next on the agenda was to have a rehearsal with Mashirika Theater group. The more we see the guys and girls in this group the more I can picture them back at Buffalo State. We all feel as if we’ve known each other forever and it makes our time with them even more special that it already is. The artistic director, Hope took us through a bunch of exercises that we could help to become more connected to our work on a more personal level. And she wanted to use exercises that would help us express ourselves, through Theater, from what we had seen and learned about at the memorial. Side note---Hope, who is just stunning, looks and reminds me of “Neytiri” from Avatar in so many ways, it’s so awesome! I told her that and she thought it was the funniest thing.

Each exercise helped me as a person, an actress, and a closer family member to those also present. They were fun, creative, and challenging. We sang, laughed, laid on the floor, played games, and spoke truth about our feelings. Each person in the Mashirika Company teaches me something every second. I feel that because their culture is different than ours they express things in their own way which makes them open and so much more confident about sharing the truth.

After rehearsal with them, Rosette (One of the girl's apart of Mashirika) invited us to have dinner with them at her home. Again, dinner was fabulous but the company was better. I taught them a couple riddles that were pretty fun and then we had a dance party… Mashirika mostly danced for us. One of the boys, Arthur is quite the dancer and once he started and didn’t stop. He also made me feel like the worst dancer on the planet. All the Rwandans can move their bodies in ways that mine isn’t supposed to move. It was great fun, they taught us some steps, we laughed, and got to know each other even more. I can’t wait to see them again.

This trip is the adventure of a lifetime!!!!      

Stories, tears, hope...

Wow! What another awesome day here in Rwanda. Got up around 7AM. Poured my first cup of coffee since we got here....Man (in Jim Carrey's voice in "Bruce Almighty") it's ggooooood! Some of us sat outside for a bit and enjoyed the weather and peacefulness. We had breakfast consisting of delicious eggs with onions and peppers, green apples, and toast---Delicious.

Then we got ready and headed to Mashirika---the theater company we're sharing and learning with). The space we were in was small with pretty painted walls and floor with one big mirror on one side. Little sidenote: I loved being barefoot the whole time. So when we got there we all greeted each other with excitement and chatted a bit. The space was in the upstairs of a building so we looked out on the balcony because there was such a beautiful view. We sang a little bit of "A Whole New World" while looking at theat view :) We visited for a while before actually starting to play around. Then, we started with a bunch of exercises from both our own repertoire and the Rwandans. Hope (just a reminder that she is the artistic director for Mashirika) wanted to start with singing---which they do lots of! Mwaramutse (a Rwandan word meaning "good morning")  was the word we sang and it started with one person singing it and everyone building off that. I actually got to start which was pretty cool. Improving with our voices was fun and it sounded so incredibly cooool! We repeated it for a couple minutes and that was enough to feel like we could all be honest and open with one another. Exercises like this one bring us together very quickly. Drew then had us get on our feet to warm up the way us "Buff State kids" are use to-;) We got to our feet, and he went through the process of our breath which equals thought in acting. We got into our bellies and out of our brains. Then we started warming the voice and body up with different games. We passed movement, where one person does a physical motion and everyone repeats it until that move comes back to that person than the next person makes a new movement and so on. To help the process of learning everyone's names we played a game where one person started, said their name while doing some sort of physical action. Everyone would say then say that person's name while doing their action. The next person would do the same, say their name and make a totally different action. Then everyone would start with the first persons name and action then say the next...etc... I now know everyone's name. It's so much fun and it really does help. The spelling may be wrong but there's Simon, Angel, Charles, Anita, Hope, Kennedy, Adida, Rosette, Chris, and Arthur. Each one of these Rwandans are so beautiful in their own special way. We played some other fun games that involved singing and moving around this small but intimate space. The next thing we did was sat in a circle and just shared a little about ourselves, like why we are here in Rwanda, how we started in Theater, why we do it, things like that. It was an exciting experience to listen to each story because I got to learn so much about each person. The struggles that some experience like their parents not supporting them in the theater, not having the opportunity to choose to do what they want, how some came to be in Rwanda---Just awesome stories. I felt when I was sharing my story that everyone was really listening and cared to listen.This took up most of our time together but it was worth it cause we all know so much more about each other which will only make our theater sharing experiences that much stronger. Before we left we breathed out together, took pictures, Drew handed out some Buffalo State College t-shirts (which looked great on them) and we hit the road.

From there we headed to a restaurant in town. It was a cute buffet place that was also very inexpensive. I spent $4 on that meal. And everything is soooo good. Most meals consist of vegetables and fruits which are naturally grown and very fresh.I had half an avacado, rice with veggies, green peas, and yummy pineapple.

From there we went to Nyamata's genocide memorial. This is where we were all punched in the face with emotions. It didn't take long for me to be totally engulfed in the world around me. The memorial is a building that was a church before the genocide, where thousands were murdered during that time. The tour guide, Valenti, started sharing the history and the specific details that happened here. And it took 2 seconds for tears to start falling down my face. From that point on I was at an emotional level that I have never been before. The first part he talked about was how the Hutu gathered all the Tutsi into this church. The government knew they felt the church to be a holy place to be safe and to find refuge. This was perfect for the Hutu because they were able to kill off so many people at one time. Altogether, there were 45,000 bodies that were in and around the church that were buried at this memorial. The first thing we saw that Valenti explained was how the men hiding inside the church tried to keep the door closed by just pushing it from the inside. The Hutu used grenades to get inside and we could see the cement that was broken and a huge hole in the metal door of the church. Very scary to actually be looking at this because it's very easy to imagine when it actually happened. Also something that we saw all on the inside as well, but on the outside bullet holes everywhere. Just after seeing all that I didn't think I'd be able to go inside I was so uncomfortable. I obviously proceeded like the rest of us inside and immediately froze when I saw piles upon piles of clothing that was worn by those killed here. The clothes were dirty, shred, bloody and piled very thick to really portray the number of people killed in there. All the pews in the church were stacked with tons and tons of clothing. Also, there were different items that were in pockets of those massacred. There were hats and different accessories everywhere too. I was so uncomfortable walking around looking at this because it was like seeing bodies that were just killed laying everywhere. There were bullet holes all over the top of the ceiling and blood smeared everywhere as well. Absolutely horrifying to see this. My whole body was in a state of shock to the point where I had difficulty walking. Then Valenti took us to a lower level which was a grave built here after the genocide was over. It was a big glass case that held tons of skulls and other bones belonging to victims. Skulls had bullet holes and some parts completely missing. While we examined this, Valenti started explaining about what was below the skulls which was one casket containing a women meant to represent all the women that were raped during the genocide. This women was raped by 29 men...29...and then killed. Words cannot convey what I was feeling hearing that. Moving back to the main level, Valenti started explaining the story about the back of the church where all the clothing was pretty much young kids and babies. The mothers and fathers hiding in the church thought that their kids could be safe if they were pushed to the back. They also had in the notion that maybe their kids wouldn't be murdered. I could understand, hey, they are just kids. But that was definitely not the case. Valenti then started telling us what did happen to the kids. There were actually mothers and women who were the ones that killed these babies and children. In the most gruesome way, they would take a the child's leg and swing them into the brick wall cracking their skulls. There was blood on the brick where this took place. Another way they were killed, women would take large tools called a mortar, put babies heads together and drop the mortar on their heads crushing them instantly. Made me wonder, how and why? These people that killed were no longer human, they became animals. How could someone have that much hatred to do this to another human being? No matter how much I learn about genocide I will still never understand how such deep hatred can go so deep as this.
Moving on to the outside of the church in the back there were two massive graves made. We headed into the first one, walking down the stairs---I could barely see the steps because the tears blocked all vision. So you walk down the stairs into this very little enclosed grave site. With just a tiny little underground walkway I was surrounded by caskets that contained from 10-30 people in each box. I definitely have never felt the way I did being so close to that many dead bodies. Again, it was hard for me to take one step because I was afraid my legs would just give out. My heart just ached throughout the entire tour. The other grave site was different in that instead of just caskets piled on top of one another, there were thousands of skulls and bones laid out on both sides of the little walkway. I was just inches away from more skulls than I had ever seen in my entire life. I couldn't stay down there for long, it was just too much. I carefully walked up each stair, got back outside, and just kept sobbing uncontrollably. I didn't know what else to do, it was just overwhelming to be there.
Just walking around on the grounds in and around this building was mind boggling. I imagined every part from every story that we were told, I pictured people hiding for their lives and then instantly be gone. I was standing where so many people had been tortured and killed and where so many people killed without a thought. 
Another heart wrenching story our guide shared with us was that most murders were done with awful forms of torture first. Either being drowned, buried to death, sliced with a machete starting at your ankle all the way to the top of your skull, all ways people were intended to suffer tremendously before they died. We were also told that Tutsi would actually have to pay Hutu to just shoot them instead of having to be tortured.
We were then shown two grave sites, one man who died of a natural death  before the genocide began but was the pastor of this church. The other was a sister who was killed in 1992 because she was warning people about the genocide about to occur. The government found her as a threat and killed her at her home.
The last thing we were shown was the place where 45 people were buried alive. There was a stone that contained all their names. And it's sad to think that out of the thousands murdered only a few could be named or personalized.

I was feeling so many different things seeing and hearing about this event. Being there seeing it first hand was something that no camera will do justice for. As I was walking through the church I kept saying to myself, "this was a place of God, this was a holy place", and then to see the clothes, bloodshed, bullet holes was just the scariest thing.
After seeing all this I really didn't know what to do with myself, and that's when we all met Vinnie. A Rwandan woman who has been to this memorial plenty of times and has family that were murdered and are kept there. She celebrates what has happened to Rwanda since then. She was so positive about how this country has improved and made changes in such a short period of time. Since the genocide the country is working hard together to restore everything and it definitely shows. This beautiful place, I would never expect what had happened here to have happened. Vinnie shared with us how she related personally and how she doesn't mourn about it anymore. She said "we mourned during the 100 days it was happening, and now we celebrate the growth and hope and peace Rwanda [has now]." She was a breath of fresh air. 
This memorial has already changed me and has made me think about the way I want to treat people and live my life. I am so extremely thankful for everything I have. I still can't believe I'm here in Africa being totally transformed!!!
We visited a beautiful river before returning home and went to a bridge where we were surrounded by tons of Rwandans that didn't speak a word of English. Some of the guys were chewing on bamboo while smiling and waving at us. Carl had us do an exercise where we just said one word responses about what came to our heads as we walked through the memorial. Separated by each "type of person", either a killer, victim, or ourselves. After that, we headed back to the guest house where dinner was ready for us. Once again, delicious.
After dinner was where all of us became even more of a family. We all poured coffee, got a little loud and giggly, and decided to have a deep discussion about what we experience today. The film students, Paige and Stacey filmed our discussion. We sat there for 2 hours sharing our personal experiences. We cried, laughed, and were just so open and honest with each other. It was so much fun and I know them all on such a deeper level now. We are all filled with so much love and hope and are so excited that we are all here together. I was moved by each and everyone of their personal stories. We are already thinking of ways we can take what we experienced and incorporate it into the theater piece.
Now here we are all sitting here at 12AM writing our blogs together. What a day! What a life!
Thanks for reading!!
So much more to come. God bless,

- Julia 

Day 1 Success!!!

Our plane---it's huge!

After a very long day of travel we are finally here in Kigali, Africa! We were traveling from January 4th at 4am to the 5th at 7am our time. It's 6 hours ahead over here so we have some adjusting to do.
I still can't believe I'm actually here. When we got off our last flight it was hard to swallow that I was half way across the world. The airport is definitely not as big as ones back home but still very nice inside. We thankfully got all our luggage and headed to meet the our driver, Stephen. He held up a sign saying "Anne Frank Project, Buffalo State College" which made me feel so special and welcomed. Also meeting us before we got in the van to head to the guest house, Carl's very close friend, Pastor Seraya greeted us at the airport. It's so cool to actually meet him because in the play back at the Buff, "I'm Not Leaving" some of us played him. He has a great story.

Then we had some Rwandan helpers pack our luggage in a truck and the 11 of us piled into the van. It was pretty warm out at this point. It was 2pm--ish when we were driving through the beautiful city of Kigali. I can't believe how pretty it is! The city is different here in that there isn't the feeling of rush like there is in most places in the U.S. We passed so many people, markets, little shops, dirt roads, cute homes, and LOTS of people on motorcycles--Motor taxis actually. I'm told they are pretty cheap. People walking everywhere, women carry things on top of their head. So many people looked into the van and were so surprised to see a bunch of white people staring back at them. We passed a lot of kids who waved with warm smiles and kids playing soccer in a yard. The city of Kigali is really big and so different. I just love it. I've never been anywhere that's this different.

We then arrived at the guest house where we met the head of the house, Judith. She is a beautiful woman. The guest house is so nice! When you walk in there's a big meeting room with pretty couches and a TV--which we won't be using :)... The dining room is behind that. Then to the left and right of the first room we entered there are hallways leading to the guest bedrooms and bathrooms. The girls are using 3 out of the 4 rooms on the one side and the boys occupy the other side. Some rooms have bunk beds some big single beds. Very comfortable and clean. The fans cool the room down nicely.  I'm sharing my room with Eve and Kara--love them. Ti and Britt are in one and Stacey and Paige in the 3rd room. We unpacked our things and we had about 2 hours until we were gonna be heading to the ISHYO Performing Arts Center to meet and share with the Rwandans also studying theater. Took me about 2 seconds to fall asleep right up until we had to be out the door. The girls actually tried waking me a whole bunch and I didn't move---can you say jet lag?

Again, the visuals that we see from just driving are amazing. That's when you really get to see the country. Passing so many people and a different way of life. We turned onto the dirt road that led to ISHYO and to be honest it is in desperate need of some care. If you think speed bumps are bad......I actually don't mind it because it's part of the adventure but man was it bumpy. We got out of the van and immediately met some children that followed the van and the theater students themselves. We didn't hesitate to start taking pictures of the kids. You can't resist. They love getting their pictures taken and then to look at the image after...Oh! It's exciting! At first, we (Americans and Rwandans) were shy about talking and it wasn't until we went inside the theater to warm up did we start to become a group to start doing what we came here to do. The two groups were warming up separately and we were all doing our own thing until we started a group warm up which was accompanied by some music. One of the Rwandans, Simon, led it. We started just moving our shoulders, than our arms, and walking in place, then began started making simple movements to warm our entire bodies up. We each took a turn in the middle of the circle, performing a movement that was mirrored by everyone else. I LOVE how they warm up. Rwandans are so physical and in tune with their bodies. Quite fascinating to watch them. Then Drew announced that we would show our piece to them and then they could show us theirs. Eve introduced our piece and we were on our way. I think I could speak for everyone in our group that we were pretty nervous to be performing it for them after such a long journey. We were all dead. But the warm up was all we needed because it was the best we've done it! We were all living and loving in the moment the entire piece. I felt the most involved this time around and I think it was because I knew that I had Rwandans watching this! We had so much fun performing with them. We laughed tons at each other throughout the piece and by the time we were finishing "Seasons of Love" the Rwandans were sharing their appreciation. We ended and they clapped and cheered so lovingly. They were yelling like a yoddle sound but more African if you can kind of imagine that. I felt so blessed more than ever at that moment to be in Rwanda performing for them. After ours, Hope Izeda, who is the artistic director there introduced their piece and the show started. It was about "tomorrow" and what that means to a child. It was a story of struggles and hardships and how society reacts to it. Specifically, about child abuse and molestation. There was singing dancing and acting that all were interpretations of emotions, feelings, struggles, sounds...etc---Kind of sounds like Theater :) Just like the end of our piece, when there's was coming to an end we were cheering and yelling for them. I loved what I saw. What's so great about these guys and girls is that they were telling this story together with a shared purpose. There really is a powerful sense of community among them. Every single second they were on stage they were putting their whole minds, hearts, and souls, into their piece. I had so much fun watching them. Afterwards we all hugged and thanked each other for the work we all saw. After this we all felt we had been here for weeks and we knew these people so well.
Tomorrow we're rehearsing with them for a few hours and we're all stoked!
We came back to the guest house where we had a fabulous dinner. Chicken, rice, fresh pineapple, lots of cooked veggies. Yum Yum!
It's only Day 1 and I've been impacted so much. Thank you God!!!!!

Some of the kids we met when we got to ISHYO

The Theater group!

Posing for the camera :)

We're a family!

Incredible...

More to come....

3 More Days!!

Getting more and more excited as time winds down to leave.
I am prepared to be changed spiritually, socially and emotionally!