Family Time Part 1

The next two posts will be about the visit of my parents. They came to visit me in May, which already feels like a lifetime ago. The anticipation for their trip was very emotional; I was extremely anxious and nervous. It had felt like I hadn’t seen them in years. At least that is what I thought before they arrived. But the moment they stepped out of the airport it was like we had only been apart briefly, because we fell right back together like we had never been separated. (Remember that thing I said from my last post about time being weird- yeah, I still can’t explain it). Anyways, we had a lovely week and a half where they permitted me to drag them all over the country. I don’t think we ever spent more than 48 hours in one place. Their visit meant a lot to me and even though I don’t say it enough, I love you both so much.

And who better to tell you about the trip than Barbie and Ricky themselves?

Dad's Summary of their Trip

A Trip of Extremes:

Our first evening was on one of the hills overlooking Kigali and experiencing the beauty of the city at night. Kigali is modern, it sparkles and it rolls across many hills – what a welcome to Rwanda.  The land of a thousand hills can only be appreciated by driving them and that we did. My observation was this encounter is and will continue to be a tour of extremes. 

The Genocide Memorial in Kigali gave us a quick glimpse into the not so distant past and was in direct contrast to the peace and beauty of the countryside.  So our first extreme was going from the Genocide Memorial to Momma and Poppa Kimberly.  This was the host family that taught Kimberly Kinyarwanda and gave her a family home far away from us in America. Parents have innate ability to communicate even in the absence of a common language.  They shared with us a wonderful Rwandan lunch – the peacefulness and beauty was such a contrast to the Genocide Memorial we had just visited. 

On to Kimberly’s village – after three hours on a nice paved road we departed on a hard packed clay bumpy ride for over an hour to reach Mamba. -- A jewel on the side of the hills near the Burundian border.  Upon entering her compound we were greeted by her neighbors and instantly felt at home and comfortable.  This was my first sense of confidence in Kimberly’s safety – these were good people and she was a part of their community.  This first glimpse was a relief and further enjoyed by such a wonderful dinner two nights later in the compound with over 70 of Kimberly’s closest Rwandan friends.  Having a traditional Rwandan dinner and enjoying the kind words spoken about Kimberly and how she fit so well into the texture of Mamba was the next extreme of our trip. I could tell you of shopping the market and a freshly made shirt tailored from material given to us by Kimberly’s host family – but that is a different story.

On our way to Nyungwe National Forest we stopped at a second Genocide memorial in Murambi.  The tour started much as the Memorial in Kigali until we were escorted to the classrooms behind the main school building to give tribute to over a hundred corpses on display.  What an impact this had on me – the strongest reminder to me to never let this happen again. I asked our guide how could he give this tour everyday and he responded that it was the way he gave a voice for his family from heaven – he was the sole Genocide survivor from his family.  This was a testimony to grace and forgiveness.

After trekking for Columbus monkeys in Nyungwe and then across a swinging bridge spanning the rainforest we were off to the Kings Palace en-route to our destiny with Mountain Gorillas. After an hour and half trek up the side of the mountain in Volcanoes National Park we faced the magnificent mountain gorilla family enjoying their mid-morning breakfast in the bush.  What magnificent animals and merely six feet away from our camera lens.  Frankly I am not going to try to put words to such a momentous visit – but yet an experience so extreme from our visit to the King’s Palace in Nyanza to the Genocide Memorial in Murambi, and the dinner with 70 in Mamba.

We rolled over more hills to Lake Kivu and enjoyed two days on this most serene lake.  As we had breakfast on the waters edge we watched fishermen push out on to the lake on traditional dug out fishing boats returning the next morning after fishing all night. It is difficult to imagine that in one place there can be 3G cell phone coverage and yet fishermen in dug out canoes propelling themselves by oars.  Is that not an extreme?

We finished our trip back in Kigali enjoying one more evening with our daughter. The next morning she was off on the bus to return to Mamba and we a taxi to the airport. Everyday of our two-week trip was invigorating and so divergent from one day to the next.  I left Rwanda knowing my daughter was safe and fit into the day-to-day lives of Mamba.  I left with a wealth of memories that ranged like the land of a thousand hills – peaceful hospitality with Rwandans, the tragic history of the Genocide to the natural beauty and grace of mountain gorillas and Lake Kivu. 

Love you Daddy, glad you enjoyed the trip.