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Easter…

We are back in Kampala now. We returned from Rwanda at the beginning of April and this blog is long overdue, but all I've been doing since I got back is research, writing, and reading so I haven't felt like writing a very long blog.

So, let me tell you about Easter in Rwanda…

For our Easter weekend the group went to Lake Kivu, which happens to be extremely close to where ImmaculeeIlibagiza, author of Left to Telllived. Lake Kivu was beautiful! We stayed at a hotel called Hotel Golf (no golf course in site) and they had a HUGE picture of the president, Paul Kigame in the lobby. Also, the hotel would play shows from WWF shows in America and we liked to watch them while we ate (not). One day we were all wearing wet clothes from swimming and we came back to the hotel to find about 200 Rwandan men watching the football match (soccer) on TV. They stopped me and asked who I was pulling for and I shouted Manchester United (although I've never seen them play) and the men who were for Man U. ( about 80%) clapped and yelled. It was extremely awkward because parts of my clothes had dried, but I had all these wet patches on my pants and I saw some of the men looking at my pants with a curious look on their faces. One guy even pointed to my pants and I had to explain.

On Saturday of Easter weekend, the group took a boat ride to "Bat Island." I'm not sure if that was the island's real name, but that's what we called it. From this picture, you can see why it was called that…

Lake Kivu...

The boat ride there…
 

Brittany, a little boy sleeping, and me on the boat.

Eventually, we made it to Peace Island…

At Peace Island we swam, ate, played volleyball, and played with the monkey…

Easter…

Easter morning I was not in the mood to go to a rural church service. Church usually lasts around 3 hours. During services you don't know the music and even when the sermon is in English, translation makes it difficult to understand. Additionally, many pastors lack training in critically studying the Bible, so for 3 hours you hear "Jesus is the Light! Turn away from Satan! God can heal AIDS!"

Once we got to the church, we got taken to the front of the church and proceded to join in prayer and singing for the next hour to hour and a half. I remember thinking, "This is exactly how I thought it'd be. I don't want to be here. Why couldn't we have just slept in?" Shortly after thinking this, the children's choir began singing. This made the service a little more interesting and it gave my hands a break from clapping. The very next song, the children started dancing from the opposite side of the room and they kept dancing closer and closer to us. As soon as they reached where we were sitting, they took one of us by the hands and we all started dancing. This one adorable little girl took my hands and we started dancing in the middle of the room, along with all the children, some adults, and all the rest of the group. I think the song was Amazing Grace, but at a fast pace and those 5 minutes were truly the most wonderful feeling. Everyone was smiling, dancing, and the children were everywhere!

While I was jumping up and down, I could see the necklace that I had on swinging in the air and I thought, "Hmm.. I think I should give this necklace to the little girl." So I did. As soon as the song ended, I put the necklace around her neck and we went back to our opposite sides of the room. A few minutes later, I saw the girl walking back towards me with the necklace in her hand and she came up to me trying to give it back. I knew that an adult had probably made her do this and I kept thinking how embarrassed I'd be if it was me at that age. I just put it back in her hands and she got to keep the necklace. After the dancing I thought that this was the best Easter ever, but it got even more intense…

When the time for "testimonies" came around, a woman got up at the front of the church and she started talking about her experience in the genocide. She was a victim of the genocide and she talked about how she survived the genocide and her story of forgiveness. She now helps others to forgive. Next, a girl got up and in front of the entire church asked for forgiveness for having premarital sex. No matter what your personal feelings are on the issue, this was a huge deal. This girl essentially stood in front of a strict and conservative culture, saying that she had "ruined" herself. This could jeopardize her position in the choir, in the village, and even prevent her from being married. I was blown away.

All in all, it was the best Easter ever. I would definitely suggest Hotel Golf be included in anyone's future travels to Rwanda.