Leaving for Israel
In an hour or two I leave for Israel. I am going with my parents to spend Christmas with my brother and his family. Tonight we fly, hang out in London tomorrow, and tomorrow fly to Tel Aviv. For some reason in all travels I have been on I don't spend much thought anticipating. Once I get on the plane than I will start thinking about what it will be like.

Still looking
My job prospects are looking up. I had a couple interviews in the last week and will have a couple this week. A couple look interesting but I can only assume nothing will pan out and the search must continue. I have to say that this is a long and tedious process.

My family recently got a new dog. It's a sheltie from a group that takes in dogs which had been abused or unwanted. In this case she had been fairly badly abused and is incredibly nervous. She also has the unfortunate tendency to crap all over the floor which doesn't make her real popular in my family. It doesn't help that she refuses to come within ten feet of any person. I think this is going to be a long process.

In family news my sister-in-law Mariella passed her language exam at the Agency for International Development and will soon be able to join her family in Israel. My brother and their kids are already there and got massive sticker shock the first time they went to a store ($300 for a few items). Also, not surprisingly. the Palestinean branch of the state department is not exactly well funded and has refused to furnish their house with things like bookshelves and chairs. As an AID employee she is eligible to send 7,000 some pounds of stuff. Putting these pieces of info together Mariella is on a massive campaign to fill the complete shipment up with food and furniture. So far three rooms in the house are filled wall to wall filled with food and she has 3 weeks to go. Every Sat and Sun she goes shopping all day and returns with a van completely filled. I think the hope is that all 8 of them will live for the next 2 years on mac and cheese. Personally I hope to avoid the hospitalization that would result from the inevitable avalanche of canned foods.

Bruce's House
I just spent the last week at my brother Bruce's house. He lives in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia and sells rare books online. Mostly books he picked up from estate sales or retiring profs. He lives in a big, two hundred year old house complete with slave quarters and hitching posts for horses.

Living here is definitely a change. His lifestyle and house are directly opposite to my parents in just about every way possible. While the rents have spent the last ten years waging a war against clutter and trying to beautify their house Bruce allows clutter to pile up in levels I have never seen before. Every room is filled with books or big boxes of books. Some lamps they just leave on 24/7 because they are behind five foot piles and are unreachable. The dining room table hasn't been seen in months. He also has a no clean up policy where random things accumulate wherever they fall. Half empty diet coke cans and food lying around are standard and the floor to his room isn't visible.

While my parent's choose their pets based on fuzzyness and cuteness Bruce picks his based on energy and enthusiasm. He has two Irish setters who are big, gangly, and completely undisciplined. Duncan is a couple years old and a giant ball of energy. Wherever he goes destruction follows. He has a whole set of stuffed animals which he takes whenever he goes on walks. The problem is that his attention span is limited and he usually drops them a third of the way through the walk. Neighbors keep returning these dirty and wet, gnawed on toys. Dougle is older (5) and has calmed down considerably in the last couple years. It might have something to do with his 2 bouts of lyme disease and a nasty car accident. Mountains of rare books, open soda cans, and overeager dogs make a bad combo. My mentioning that his house was an accident waiting to happen was not appreciated. It was even less appreciated after a couple accidents.

Bruce's method of working is a little unusual. He spends basically the whole day in his bedroom writing descriptions of the rare books. A movie is playing constantly but he usually isn't really watching it and the movie may play repeatedly for days. While my family is made up of night owls he takes it to levels beyond the rest of us. He usually goes to sleep sometime around 4-5 and wakes up around noon.

Bruce has slowly built up a host of workers to help him in the day to day running of his business. Some list books, others do updating, package, reply to emails, etc. He probably has 8 or 9 potential workers with maybe 2 or 3 working any one time. They appear when they feel productive or poor and disappear when they have better things to do. He tends to attract people who aren't particularly focused and a rather offbeat. I suppose if they were normal they would have normal jobs. A good chunk of his success as a businessman is trying to keep them focused and productive, which isn't easy, especially as he often doesn't know they are in the house.

Another difference between my brother and my parents is their social views. Bruce loves politics and keeps MSNBC going all the time. He is always talking about what a great person Obama is and what an idiot McCain is. My parent's are staunch Republicans. While my mom ignores all political issues she votes based on their personality. It turns out all Republicans have good personalities and all Democrats are "crappoes" (sp?). My father's view is that Republicans are always right. Any criticism of President Bush is not allowed in their house. Neither Bruce nor my parents watch CNN as it is not biased enough in their respective direction. My parent's are very involved in their church, Bruce is proud of his lifelong atheism. They are avid fans of baseball and tennis, Bruce says that sports are a complete waste of time and he would be happy if all the professional athletes just died.

The one thing that my parents and Bruce share is a deep love of all British culture and an interest in the rest of the world. Both try to visit Britain regularly and are always watching English movies.

I came here for two reasons, the first was to hang out with my brother who I haven't seen much of in the last few years and the other was to help clean up his house. I never thought of myself as the "anal guy." You know, the one who is always saying you should put away your dirty dishes and pick up your clothes. The person who, for whatever reason, trys vainly shame people into better hygiene. Here I feel like that guy most of the time. The basement you literally need a gas mask to go into because the mold is so bad. In the pantry I found 7 mops (4 of which had never been used), 3 containers of rat poison, and a hole in the floor. The last day we moved his guillotine out of his house and into the shed. The thing weighed several hundred pounds and took something like 4 men 3 hours to move . Who keeps a guillotine in their house?

Last night and tonight I spent with Ahmed, who is like my adopted brother. My brother was adopted into his family in Tanzania and when Ahmed left Tanzania due to political, economic issues he came to live with Bruce. Right now he is a student at Shepherd's College and is planning to graduate as a nurse. He is the responsible one. His cousin and best friend, Khalfan, came over with him and now lives and works for Bruce. He is the more impulsive and energetic of the two.

Back in the US

I got back into the US a couple weeks ago. I’ve been given loads of warnings about culture shock and other emotional effects of coming back to the US. I’m not quite sure what they were talking about. What is difficult about hot showers, good food, and the ability to drive? Granted, grocery stores are somewhat confusing places offering every form and flavor of food you could imagine (and a few I hadn’t). Driving took a couple days to get used to. I wasn’t the safest driver before leaving and time definitely hasn’t improved my ability. Hopefully I won’t not be running over grandma anytime soon. Otherwise life is pretty easy. I am currently staying with my parents who are quite mellow and agreeable, if somewhat eccentric. While the weather is definitely cold central heat more than makes up for it. My house in Kenya got a whole lot colder and any time outside is pretty limited.

During my close of service gathering the trainer said “America has moved on. The American culture you knew has changed in the 2+ years you have been gone.” The amazing thing is how little has changed. Other than a few changes in occupants the neighborhood looks the exact same, the town has a few different stores, and the TV looks pretty much the same as it did before. Ditto for the people, a few changes but people seem to be pretty much the same. Have the same job, live in the same place, etc. I have changed somewhat but most of the people I know really haven’t. I was counseled that this would be a problem but it doesn’t bother me, that’s just life. Everyone else has always seemed more rooted and stable than I feel. A big issue for many RPCVs is the desire to talk about their and having no one to talk to. A lesson I learned as a kid was that you just don’t talk about the rest of the world to Americans. The kids in my school figured all Africans lived in grass huts and practiced spearthrowing (no, I am not exaggerating). I learned my lesson well and if my travels ever come up I am as noncommittal and nondescriptive as possible. Basically, it is impossible to portray a different world in a social setting. Through a story or blog, if the writer is good enough, a flavor or two of a place may be conveyed. I feel like most Americans live in a bubble where they try to keep the issues of the world at bay. I understand and respect that attitude. A lucky thing for me is that my parents have been there (physically and metaphorically) and are willing to talk about my experience as much or as little as I want. Another constant refrain is a desire for attention. In Peace Corps you are almost always the focus of attention. Here nobody notices you. Honestly, the latter condition is far easier.

I was warned about one problem which is coming true, a lack of motivation. As a teacher I had 150 students to work for. There were lessons to be done, discipline issues, supply problems, etc. Here, the only person to help is myself, and that has never been a good enough incentive. I’ve been here three weeks now and I’m not exactly sure what I’ve done in that time. With no pressures on me I tend to go back to my natural state (which is vegetative). Part of the problem is that it isn’t so easy getting a job in Neuroscience. Too bad they don’t post the jobs in the newspaper. Generally you talk to people at scientific meetings and colleagues who know other colleagues arrange for the communication. I am coming in out of the blue with almost no connections in the field or the area. Through one connection I heard about a decent organization hiring but that’s about all. When I talk to the organizations they usually refer me to their website which usually only lists dishwasher or director positions. My latest goal is to find interesting researchers and contact them directly. So far this objective is more in the can and should territory and has yet to migrate to the must do or will do categories.

Another issue I was obliquely warned about is the dulling of your life. A monochrome American suburb just doesn’t have the same flavor and taste of rural Kenya or downtown Nairobi. There is a much greater intensity and vigor to your life. For the most part I found this excitement enjoyable, if tiring. Given the condition that I left Kenya in I am actually happy to have reduced intensity. My default thought is that my life is boring and badly needs spice. I have no doubt that feeling will return. When it does I will undoubtedly get the energy to do something.

The Election Jan 17, 2008
It was very strange to come out of the calm retreat to hear about the election. The election was held on Dec 27. The whole population watched the news constantly throughout the day. The news was ODM (the opposition, Orange Democratic Union) is ahead, ODM is further ahead, ODM has a million vote lead. Due to technical difficulties (lack of paraffin for lamps and sleep deprivation) many poll workers went home for the night. In the morning they found loads of ballots marked for the current president. Some constituencies had 115% turnout with large numbers only voting for the president and not their MP. At the point they just said we need more time before we can announce the results. People in Kisumu (in the West of Kenya and the ODM center) started rioting. They knew the election was rigged. They started burning the city and setting up roadblocks. A couple days after the election the president was secretly resworn in his state house. When people heard this the country went berserk. That’s when matatus started being turned over and people hacked to death. Whole villages were burned down. What happened with police varied from village to village. Some places all the police were killed, others the police shot anyone in a group, peaceful or not, and in some places there was a truce, “Burn and loot as you want but this is our compound, if you come in we shoot you.” The Kikuyu and Kisii tribes were targeted all over Western Kenya. Any businesses owned by them were burned and/or looted. Many were just killed. All traffic stopped because of roadblocks everywhere. There has been little rain in Western Kenya and so the farms have little food. When the roads close down people starve. People are starving not just in Kenya. Mombasa is the largest port in East Africa. Relief food and supplies comes through it to refugee camps in Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. Out of 200 food trucks sent through only a half dozen were not hijacked.
Western Kenya has the highest AIDS rate, highest malaria, and greatest poverty in the country. The people thought their day had finally come and were rather angry to find it snatched away. In Kenyan society they don’t have any duties- women deal with children, cleaning, cooking, and most of the farming. Men either work or sit around. In poor areas there isn’t a whole lot of work. If educated you are angry that you spent the time and money for an education and got no job, if no education there is anger at that as well. End result is that young men throughout the country are bored, disconnected, and incredibly angry. They are happy to have this opportunity to express their anger, make some money, and maybe get a TV or two. Kikuyu have gone throughout the country setting up successful businesses and taking high level jobs. The poor see the businessman as being wealthy without working. This is a perfect chance to get revenge on this person for his success.
The result is still not completely clear. Last I heard official death count was 700 dead. This is clearly completely wrong. There have to be several thousands dead from burnings, targeted killings, revenge opportunities, lootings, police killings, and starvation. Hospitals are especially bad. They had been flooded with patients but had no supplies and workers were unable to come in (or had fled). The number of “displaced” is estimated at 250,000. This is probably more accurate though only really includes those who have made it to refugee camps or stadiums. Plenty of people had their houses burned down and are now hiding in the bush or living with neighbors. The damage is estimated at $2 billion but that has to be low as the third largest city in Kenya, Kisumu, is basically burned to the ground. Tourism is dead. Virtually all tourists have left and most NGOs have pulled out of Western Kenya.
Peace Corps has pulled out of Western, Nyanza, and Rift Valley Provinces (Western Kenya). Most were on holiday or were smart enough to have left the area. A few were hunkered down in their villages but, because of roadblocks, they were unable to get out. They have all been helicoptered out. The easiest place to put them is Dar es Salaam so 40 are there and 20 are in Nyeri (central province). Anyone on vacation was told to stay away. Yesterday was the day when they were told what will happen to them. No one is going back to those 3 provinces. The director said they will either be relocated within Kenya, sent to a different country, or given interrupted service (sent home). The deaf ed and science teachers can usually find other locations within Kenya. Not sure about business vols but public health is in trouble. Most of the need is in the west and they can’t go there. It’s really hard to find other countries to send people- language issues, different cultures, different issues, etc. As the director said, “It’s hard enough to find good sites with 6 months notice, how much harder is it to find places with 3 weeks notice?”
The current situation is complex. Parliament started a couple days ago. It is about ½ ODM with PNU (president’s party) holding maybe 1/3 and a bunch of small parties holding the rest. End result is 50-50 split. People are switching sides daily as they are given promises or money from the other side. I understand that the parliament can hold a no confidence vote which would force another election. In the meantime the ODM leader has called for “mass action” all over the country. Mass action means demonstrations which will lead to looting, burning, and killing. It started yesterday and will continue today and tomorrow. Yesterday and today I have seen police all over Nairobi. I have seen a few beatings and the occasional tear gas. Right now I am sitting across the street from Hilton hotel. The GSU (paramilitary) are hanging out at the hotel. If the numbers on the street get too large they simply chase and beat anyone who is not fast enough. Nobody here is demonstrating. In other places the crowds can not get large enough before getting tear gassed. Western Kenya is apparently not accessible. I hope the food trucks can get in but I don’t really know. Last I heard was demonstrations were happening in Kisumu with burning of whatever is left.
The future is somewhat unclear. My major fear is that the president will do everything he can do to stay in power. He can never hold another election without cheating because people are disgusted with him. Therefore he will have to use more and more force to hold on to power. The only people willing to work for him will be Kikuyu people making them even more hated. Kikuyu realize they can not have businesses West of Nakuru town. ODM supporters are threatening to “push” (burn, loot, kill) all Kikuyu town by town back to Central Province. I don’t think that will happen but tribalism is at an all time high.
In positive news the only major troubles are in western Kenya, Nairobi, and in Mombasa. The rest of the populated places are quiet. The people in the North don’t consider themselves part of Kenya and couldn’t care less about the government. They are more worried about drought, lack of food, and either raiding or being raided by their neighbors. The people in the center and south are fine with the current situation.
I could probably write 30 pages on the stories I have seen or heard about the current election. I don’t have the time to write it all and you don’t have the patience to read it all. I have not been able to access the blog for 2 weeks so not sure when I will post this.

December 26
The last few days have been very relaxing. I spent several days at a hostel in Kampalla waiting for my bus. It was much better than I expected. Read a book and spent a lot of time talking to all kinds of aid workers with a variety of backgrounds. Very few overlanders there which was all to the good. The bus trip back on Christmas Eve night was frustrating and uncomfortable. There were a host of things that were very Kenyan which just annoyed me. I figure if people annoy me just for being who they are I probably should leave the country. We hit 11 police posts where the bus paid bribes at most of them. Blackmailing innocent people seems a funny way to celebrate the holiest day of the year.
Christmas in Kenya is very mellow. The usual way is for the family to gather and slaughter a goat. In Nairobi a common thing is to go to Uhuru Park with your kids. Kids get their faces painted, little balloon creations are made, and everyone eats ice cream. Relaxing, fun, and family centered. I celebrated by going to a movie and having a Christmas dinner of beef stew, apple juice, and pringles with sim-sim as dessert.
Today I head into a Buddhist retreat run by a group called Vipassana. I don't know much about the group though a couple of my friends have done the retreat. I heard another girl in Peace Corps will be doing this with me. I am friends with her so the company will be appreciated, if true. I know almost nothing about this retreat. Basically you can not speak to the other people and only to the instructors at specified times if you have questions. You only eat about 1 and a half meals. No eating after noon. I am told the food is really good but if you eat almost nothing it probably would taste good. I just met a guy who has done 4 of these retreats- he says the first time is the best and the worst. No idea what he means by that but I will find out. They don't allow you to pay until you have finished at least 1 course. If you haven't seen the benefits then how can you pay? At least that is their reasoning. Clearly people like it because these retreats are all over the world. If you want more info their website is dhamma.org.
Kenya elections are tomorrow. I am quite happy to miss them. The worst fears of violence have not happened so far. In the papers there are little stories of people being hacked up or having cars set on fire but there are not many. Police seem to be quick with the tear gas whenever crowds get unruly. I have serious doubts about how all of this will work. There are hundreds of thousands of people registered twice and 100,000 dead people somehow got registered. The polling clerks are threatening to go on strike over pay even though they are paid exceptionally well. The whole of the National Youth Service and Park Rangers have been sworn in as police for the next few days. Every polling booth has 7 members of each party as observors but even still the opposition candidate has said the election is rigged if he doesn't win. He will contest a losing result in every way possible. Not a good sign as I expect him to lose. I have no particular thoughts on who I want to be president. The current guy has done really well but he favors his people. The other guy is quite unstable, makes grand and impossible claims, and is very much a rabble rouser. But he would arrange for all the other groups to get their piece of the pie. Both are openly corrupt and plan to give huge benefits to those who have supported them. It sounds bad but Kenyans deserve a corrupt government. Their major interest in voting is tribe and how they personally will benefit. The last president was only voted out because his corruption became overwhelming.

December 21
Today was the most stressful day in quite some time. Due to allergies I couldn't sleep much last night. I was supposed to leave on a bus at 6 in the morning to Kampalla. My alarm woke me at 5:20 but somehow I managed to turn it off and woke at 6:20. After a hairy motorcycle ride straight down a gravel road I found that some things in Africa do run on time. The bus had gone. As far as I know it's the only bus going to Kampalla. The options were to take the one the next day, try to to piece together the trip (go to one town, get a bus to the next, etc.), or take a taxi to the border. Everyone there wanted me to take a taxi which costs $50 (the bus cost $10). After refusing I got a different guy for $25. I figured that in 25 minutes we would overtake the bus. I was quite mistaken as this guy comes to a full stop at every pothole and drives like my grandmother (deceased). I caught up with the bus at the border but had to pay $50 to get into Uganda. My 3 month visa only covers one entry and unlike most countries a transit costs just as much. I think I met the happiest man in the world there- the immigration offical. He spends his whole day charging white people for entrance. The angrier people get the happier he gets. Everyone he talks to gets angry so he is an incredibly happy man. He is paid to officially scam wazungu, a job many dearly love to have. His reasoning was that it costs more for a visa to the US and even then you don't always get one. He wasn't happy about my comment that US is 100 times larger and we aren't trying to live in Uganda. I have no doubt that quite a few visitors are not officially registered and he makes an excellent profit every day. When I got on the bus the window seat I thought I had booked out not to be true so no sleeping on the bus for me. The person sitting in my seat really didn't want to give it up so I went over the whole bus to find a free one. When I got into Kampalla I had to search out and go to every bus company in town. A frustrating affair as every piki piki driver wants to overcharge you and take you to his friends. I tried 4 different bus services all over the city and the earliest I could get was for Monday afternoon. That means I get to Nairobi on Christmas day at 6 in the morning. Also the bus company is pretty shady so I am expecting a breakdown or the like. I really need to eat now as the last time I had a real meal was yesterday noon. It's rush hour on a Friday so I decided not to fight for a seat and instead walk to the hostel. It took over an hour to find the place in the dark. I plan on doing nothing for the next few days and simply destressing.

Dec 20
After the museum I tried going to Nyungwe Forest. I only made it as far as Butare before dark. This is a small town on the Southern end of the country. I decided to treat myself to dinner at the nice restuarant. There were a couple British people talking so I asked if I could join them. Turns out they were the high muckymucks at the National University. When they heard I taught English they wanted me to come help them as the school is mostly taught in English and the students know very little. After they heard I had a degree in Neuroscience they were pretty excited. They were leaving at 9 in the morning but they wanted me to have an interview with the dean of medicine and the head of biology. I figured it never hurts to interview random people. Both the dean and the biology chair wanted me and they offered me an enhanced senior lecturer position. By enhanced they mean my housing, medical and airfare would be paid for. It was a local contract so it pays about $800 a month. The teaching sounded very interesting and I think I would have really helped there and learned a lot. After a fair amount of thought I decided I would pass. It sounds like I will be automatically hired at Johns Hopkins or NIH in the US. Much more opportunity to learn and do proper science. Also I need to build up my resume and I actually miss some aspects of the US. One thing I am seriously thinking about is their offer of working there for a term sometime in the future. It would be a great opportunity to visit a new country and get a lot of teaching experience. The campus was quite beautiful and seemed pretty well run.
Today I was planning to go to Nyungwe Forest, which is famous for having hordes of all kinds of monkeys- 450 or so in each pack. The way to get there is through some tiny town called Uwinka. It seems Uwinka is not easy to get to and then you have to get some kind of transport the 20 kms to the park. At the gate is a guest house outside of my price range ($40 a night). I also thought of going to Burundi but all I heard is that it is still in the middle of the war. These people were saying that there were kids everywhere armed with rocket launchers and whatnot. While that would be interesting to see I decided to pass. I think I have had enough of hassles and was done. I have seen enough and after 2 weeks my patience in dealing with people is waning rapidly. I just want to sit, relax, and vegetate. I saw the Rwanda National Museum this morning and took a bus to Kigali. Tomorrow I'll head to Nairobi.

Dec 19 Kigosi Genocide Museum
I've been to scores of museums in my lifetime but I have never been to place like this. It's pretty mindblowing. The museum is really well done and quite factual in explaining the causes, the events, and the aftermath of the Genocide in 1994. For those who don't know much about it there was a Tutsi minority who were something like nobility over the Hutu majority. When the Belgians came they made this official and treated the Hutu pretty badly while giving high positions to Tutsis. After independence the Hutu took over and treated the Tutsi poorly, occasionally killing off a few. It was a popular thing to criticise the wealthy Tutsi so the rhetoric just grew. Eventually some groups published the Ten Commandments which said anyone who marries or befriends a Tutsi is a traitor. Many of the Tutsi moved out and formed an army which held the Northern border. The genocide was actually planned by the government- they bought loads of machetes and started training local militias. One of the top officials got cold feet and sent all the documents over to the UN army commander. The plan was to start by killing a few Western soldiers so the rest would leave, make sure all Western media and people were gone, and then they would systematically kill every Tutsi in the country. The UN army commander asked for more troops but was told not to act or even move around. Right after the president had arranged a ceasefire with the rebel army his plane was blown up. That was the signal to start the killing. The UN commander tried defending the moderate prime minister but she was executed along with her Belgian guards. Afterwards the Western countries did as they were supposed to. They sent in thousands of soldiers to evacuate every white person in the country and then pulled out. The only UN people left were a few hundred poorly armed African soldiers. Once the Westerners left the killing started in earnest. It became mob rule with gangs wandering around killing anyone they thought might be somewhat kind to Tutsis. It lasted about 100 days and 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus died. While the Hutu were preoccupied with killing, the Tutsi army invaded and took over the country.
All in all the whole thing was pretty shameful. The major killing grounds were the churches. A lot of people fled to the churches hoping for sanctuary. Instead their priests called up the government and arranged for the congregations slaughter. People happily killed friends they had known for their whole lives. The UN and every Western country knew what was happening and refused to help in any way. They had been embarassed in Somalia and they would never put troops at risk for a small African country with no oil reserves or other worthwhile assets. I saw some of the interviews and spokespeople said it's a confusing situation and until we know more we can't commit anything. The thing is everyone knew and simply didn't care. If the troops used for evacuating whites had stayed the genocide would never have happened.
In terms of bright spots a few Hutu hid people in their houses and farms. The UN troops were ordered to sit in their hotel and do nothing. They refused and went out and saved as many people as they could. The Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres stayed and saved some 65,000 people. They also documented the killing as no media were in the country. One american missionary saved a few hundred himself. A couple American relief organizations gave some humanitarian support.
Afterwards the whole country was horrified about what had happened. The Tutsi army commander is now the president and most of the country is against "genocide idealogy." Not everyone though. Even in the papers today they were talking about principals and parents handing out slips of paper saying "the Tutsis are snakes. We must kill them all." I guess genocide idealogy is still fairly strong, but at least no one is acting on it. One odd outcome is that refugee camps in the area suddenly got more money afterwards. It was perfect timing for all the Interahamwe (Hutu militia) who were fleeing the Tutsi army. These militia are still waiting for a chance to invade Rwanda. One good thing is that many countries felt embarassed about ignoring the genocide and have been fairly generous in their donations. The government is relatively uncorrupt so the country has been doing well. It seems most would rather look forward than back. The event seems to have been cathartic. Once it happened people felt ashamed. Burundi has the same issue but never had an all out genocide. Instead they've been fighting ever since independence.
One section of the museum was called Lost Lives. There were pictures of kids and it listed their age, favorite food, favorite game, etc. It also showed their last words like "Mummy, are we going to be saved?" and how they were killed, e.g. smashed against a wall. In the garden there were several mass graves. You see these mass graves all over the country. Plain, square, concrete platforms with a few wreaths on top. You also see groups of men and women walking around in pink shortsleeve shirts and shorts. These are all the people accused of low level genocide- they had only killed, they were not leaders. They have to do community work until their time is up. One thing that is strange to me is that just about everyone over 25 is either a perpetrator or a victim. Most of the victims died so the people you are ordering food from or riding with are killers. Strange thought.
The last section of the museum was on recent genocides- Hottentot, Armenian, Holocaust, and Cambodian. It shows how the genocides were started and what happened. I don't know if it says something but 2 of the genocides were caused by Germans. The last comment was that "Never again" could easily be "Again and again..." I don't normally go off on political issues but the exact same thing is happening in Sudan right now. There is a systematic slaughter of an ethnic group as you take their land. A couple years ago it was 200,000 people dead and it grows on a daily basis. It's very clear no one cares. Once again the only troops are poorly armed African soldiers with far too much work to do. Western countries refuse to send troops, help pay for the people there, or even give equipment. Last I heard the general there decided that the lowest possible troops necessary was 26,000. He was eventually given 9,000, all African. He asked for 8 helicopters and was given none. Russia and China are no better. China is actively helping by signing oil contracts with the government. Just next door to Rwanda the war in Congo has been going on 20 years now and is still going strong. 4 million+ people have died and most people have never heard of the country. It's clear nobody cares. Once again the only people are helping are a few African countries, Red Cross, and Medecins sans Frontieres. I talked to a lady working there. She said that she was treating 15 people every day who walk out of the jungle. They had been severely beaten and gangraped. These were the lucky people who survived. The catholic church's response is that these fetuses should not be aborted. Maybe the women shouldn't be raped in the first place.