Rwanda

Rwanda is a hard country to describe in a few words. We went there because I wanted to see mountain gorillas while they still exist in the wild. There are less than 500. The more numerous lowland gorilla populations have dropped 70% in the last decade. The mountain gorillas, made famous by Diane Fossey, live in mountain parks that are largely surrounded by terraced farm land.

The genocide was only twleve years ago. We went directly from the airport to the Genocide Memorial. But interestingly we could not go in because it was the fourth Saturday morning of the month. And on the fourth Saturday morning of each month all citizens are to do their civic duty and head out their front door and clean up the country. I don't know who came up with that idea, but it shows there are some thoughtful people in government in Rwanda.

When we did visit the Memorial it was sobering. It is hard to imagine how 800,000 people were killed in four months. It is harder to underestand how the international community failed to intercede. Many people have heard about Hutu vs Tutsi, but few would know that the distinction was largely fabricated by European (mostly Belgian) colonial powers as a divide-and-conquer tactic. There is no religious, language or cultural difference between the two groups. It is hard to believe, but true, that "H" and "T" stamps were placed in identity cards based upon ... you won't believe this ... how many COWS you owned.