June 10-12th
By Morgan Mahr
Muraho Family and Friends! Greetings from Kigali, Rwanda! We have come to our last week here
in Kigali. Where has the time gone! After arriving at my host families house Friday
night, I was welcomed in with open arms. After settling in and resting for a
while, dinner was prepared. We shared in a nice meal and I went to bed after a
very long day. On Saturday June 10th I had the pleasure of attending a traditional Rwandese
wedding with my host family. This wedding was very different from our traditional
American wedding. It was beautiful in its own special way. This was an incredible
experience that I would not have had if I did not come to Rwanda! I was lucky
to have another classmate attending the wedding as well. Hannah informed me
that this wedding was between two Rwandan ethnic groups. She proceeded to tell
me that the bride’s family did not want her to marry this man, but she
convinced her family that she was marrying for love. As you can see from the picture
above, the important men of the groom’s family sat at the table across from the
bride’s family, with the same set up as the bride’s side. The father of the groom
presented many gifts including wine and orange Fanta to the father of the
bride. With not knowing Kinyarwanda, it was hard to know what they were staying
to each other, but Hannah and I were able to understand the gestures. I could
not have been happier to witness this union.
One Sunday June
11th, at 6:30 in the morning we were picked up one by one and we
started our three-hour journey to Akagera National Park, Rwanda. Akagera National
Park is located in the north east of Rwanda along the border of Rwanda and
Tanzania. The park was founded in 1934 and has three ecoregions: savannah,
mountain, and swamp and is the largest protected wetlands in central Africa. The
swamps make up a third of the entire park. The park was originally 2,500 sq km
and after the Rwandan Civil War the park reduced to 1,122 sq km. As refugees
came back to Rwanda, they brought back their cattle and ended up killing some
of the parks animal population due to protecting their cattle. About 70 percent
of the animals were killed after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsis. As of
today, the park is working on getting it back to its former glory. They have
reintroduced larger predators such as lions and black rhinos and has restored
Akagera’s “Big 5” status. The “Big 5” includes black rhino, elephant, lion,
leopard, and buffalo. On our six-hour safari tour, we saw two of the “Big 5”. We
were so amazed to see one elephant that ended up crossing the street behind our
bus. We also saw a buffalo resting under a tree along Lake Shakani. We also saw
many zebras roaming in the savannah, hippos along the lake shore line, antelope,
water bucks, impalas, olive baboons, warthogs, and giraffes (they were very far
away, we had to use the guides binoculars to see them). We learned that in the
park there is over five hundred species of trees, five hundred species of birds,
elephants can walk about six and a half miles to find water, the deadliest
animal in the park is the hippo, the black mambo is the deadliest snake,
giraffes do not make any noises to communicate to other giraffes, and hippos
spend twelve hours grazing outside before returning to the water. Akagera National
Park was one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. I was overwhelmed
with the natural beauty of the entire park.
Photo credit- Morgan Mahr
On Monday June 12th, our
class had the chance to visit a non-profit association called Avega. Avega was
created in 1995 by 50 women to help surviving widows of the 1994 Genocide
against the Tutsis (From Avega handout provided). As of today, there is about
19,000 member’s country wide. Avega’s vision is “to restore hope and life to
genocide widows and to help them be reintegrated into Rwandan society” and
their mission is “to work for progress, empowerment and re-integration of Genocide
widows into Rwandan society”. Avega has helped set up four programs to help
accomplish its goals. The programs include, a medical program, advocacy and
justice program, socio economic program and an organizational reinforcement program.
These programs are a vital key in helping Genocide widows in their everyday
life.
After visiting Avega, we took a trip
to Kigali Heights (a small mall) to grab coffee for our friend Sunday’s
birthday. We went to his favorite coffee shop called Java House. Everyone enjoyed
a wide variety of food and coffee. I enjoyed a cold coca cola! Happy Birthday
Sunday, hope you enjoyed your favorite coffee shop!
We miss you all! Happy 28th Birthday to my husband, Adam!
- Morgan Mahr
What an amazing experience! The pictures are beautiful. Akagera seems like a wonderful place. I had no idea that giraffes did not make noises to communicate with each other! Thanks for sharing all of this!
ReplyDeleteKristen
thanks! it was amazing!
ReplyDelete