Before I start, I most first and foremost say congratulations to my big brother who was awarded a bronze medal for his beer in the Great American Beer Festival. I am quite proud and wish I could have been there!

I have had a very good couple of days. As I mentioned, I went to Akagera National Park on Thursday and then I spent the weekend in Kibuye. It turned out to be more eventful than I expected. On Saturday morning I took a minibus taxi up to Kibuye, which is situated on Lake Kivu in western Rwanda. The lake forms the border between Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo and is very beautiful. There are gorgeous huge hills that border on being small mountains.

I stayed at a very nice guesthouse right on the lake where many expatriates were also taking a little break. I did the hour or so hike around the circle that makes up the town of Kibuye. I stopped at one of the churches, which also serves as a memorial to the genocide victims of this area. Kibuye was one of the hardest hit during the genocide with an estimated 90% of the Tutsi population killed. Truly astonishing. When I went to visit this church I noticed a little crew of 4 people with a camera. I paid little attention and went on to pay my respects at the memorial and to look at the church. When I was going to leave one of the men introduced himself. He happened to be a film director and I had seen one of his films in DC called 100 Days. His film was remarkable in that he told some of the stories of the genocide through a scripted movie with actors – rather than your usual documentary. He asked if I knew that 100 Days was filmed at the church I was now leaving – which I didn’t. So anyway, we chat a little bit and the guy (his name is Eric) told me that he is now working on a documentary to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the genocide next year. They ask to do a little interview and filming with me. I was on the spot and did the best I could. So perhaps I will get to be a part of the project to remember the genocide.

So I return to my little hut that I am staying in to get cleaned up and then enjoy the sunset and evening sitting on the lake and enjoying some Mutzig beer with some tilapia fish. The film crew came to relax at the guesthouse later in the evening so I got the chance to talk more in-depth with them about their work and Africa in general (such as the silliness of African national borders, Southern Sudan, supposed terrorists in Kenya).

This morning I got up at reasonable time to ensure that I could get a ticket for the minibus back to Kigali. Of course this wasn’t to be my luck. All buses were sold out. Just as I was contemplating my options I noticed some people motioning to me from a Range Rover at the gas station next door. I recognized them from the guesthouse and they offered me a ride to Gitarama (they were on their way to Butare) so that I could try to catch a minibus there back to Kigali. They were very nice indeed and I am glad they saved me the money from staying another night. Along the way the guy driving pulled up to a non-assuming building that happens to be a cheese factory! Very good cheese I might add. So they get me safely to Gitarama and I catch my minibus back to Kigali.

This week I decided to pick up the Monitor, a newspaper from Uganda. I would like to share my favorite event listed under the milestones section:

LOST: 100 billion shillings by the Ministry of Defense in Uganda. The Ministry has not accounted for the money between 1998-2002.

Also noted under the milestones is the Ugandan Cabinet’s request that the third term limit of the Ugandan President (Museveni) be lifted – Museveni has already claimed that this will be his last term…