Last night in Kigali?!

I can't believe that it's my last night in Rwanda and that this trip is 2/3 done...that means I'll be home in less than a month! This past week and a half has been really busy. While I didn't get to do as much site seeing here in Rwanda as in previous countries, the interviews were extremely informative. Some of my interviewees included the Director of the Kigali Memorial Center, a representative from the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, an officer from the Gacaca courts (traditional courts that were reinstated in the late 1990s to help prosecute crimes of genocide), as well as a couple professors from Kigali Independent University. They all had interesting opinions regarding how far Rwanda has come in the past 15 years and while none of them thought that the reconciliation process is complete, they did seem very hopeful for the future.

Today I visited the Kigali Memorial Center as a kind of capstone to my research here in Rwanda. The visit was extremely educational but also very tough emotionally given the history of violence and suffering commemorated in the memorial. For example, the museum building itself is located within a few yards of several mass graves where over 250,000 victims of the genocide are buried. One part of the exhibit that was especially relevant to my project depicted examples of genocide in other countries. It was really useful to refresh my memory of the Balkan conflict as I am flying out to Bosnia-Herzegovina tomorrow (actually my flight to Sarajevo doesn't leave until early Monday morning and I'm really dreading my 10 hour layover in Nairobi...)

BACKTRACK - I realize that I never posted about my time in South Africa so let me give you a quick summary here:

My dad actually joined me for this leg of my trip and we stayed in the Plum Pudding Guesthouse in Westdene (a neighborhood about 15 min. from downtown Jo'burg). The first few days were a little rough because I fell sick in the transit from India (the cold winter weather in South Africa certainly didn't help matters...) I got better within a few days (thanks to all the hot chai from dad!) and got to work. In order to build on my background knowledge of apartheid, I visited the Apartheid Museum as well Constitution Hill (the site of a historical prison where many blacks were jailed/tortured during the apartheid era). This old prison has since been converted into the Constitutional Court - the highest court in South Africa which places a special emphasis on human rights.

Regarding interviews, I spoke mainly with local university students and professors about their perceptions of South African society 15 years after the end of apartheid. I was actually quite surprised to hear how similar the points/issues they raised were to the challenges the US faces regarding race relations in the post-segregation era.

In addition to my research, I also had the chance to visit Maropang, the "Cradle of Humankind". The museum documented evolution with a special emphasis on early life in Africa. The exhibit was fantastic and the museum grounds were absolutely gorgeous. In fact the landscape was like something out of Disney's Lion King :) After visiting the museum, we (me, my dad, and our lovely local hosts - Arvinda and Jay) headed over to the Lion and Rhino game reserve. Unfortunately we arrived just as they were closing for the day, but we were able to get tickets to a smaller animal observatory across the street.

Another highlight of the trip was watching team USA make it to the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup. South Africans are absolutely obsessed with soccer and I've been told that Johannesburg's countdown to next summer's World Cup actually began a year ago...Although I'm not normally a huge soccer fan, the game is definitely growing on me :) Sadly the US ended up losing to Brazil 3-2, but it was really special to watch the game in a local sports bar/restaurant with several foreign service officers from the local US Consulate. I've been thinking about applying for the Foreign Service after graduation so it was so great to have the chance to talk to these people about what their jobs were like on a practical/day-to-day level.

Well that's about it for now and I'll definitely try and post some pictures when I get to Sarajevo!