my flip flops

A couple of months ago when I was still in Mali, I looked at my flip flops which had been worn thin, and I said to myself that maybe I would stop this trip whenever they broke apart. Well, yesterday the right one finally gave up its hold. But I still have exactly 3 weeks before I get to China. So I did a rough repair and sort of bandaged it together with tape.

[Update] just been to the local market here in Gisenyi. A dude stitched it up and fixed it for me for a mere US$0.70

Genocide memorial service in Kigali

Yesterday I attended the memorial service that was held at the Kigali's sport stadium. The genocide began exactly 16 years ago.

Throughout the service, people's (mostly women's) cries and screams pierced through the sobering silence at the stadium. Some wounds are so deep that they will remain open and continue to hurt, and there seems to be no curative to ease the pain. Everytime I heard the cries, it felt like my heart was being stabbed, and yesterday my heart was stabbed over and over again.

At the end of the service, president Paul Kagame gave a long speech. It was mostly serious and centered around the Genocide and politics. But for some parts, it was also somewhat casual and even a bit entertaining, it made the audience laugh quite a few times. I really like and admire this guy, under his leadership Rwanda has transformed and progressed incredibly!

now I'm negative

Just been to the hospital in Kigali yesterday, the blood test confirms that malaria is now out of my system. Hooray!

headed for Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda

Tomorrow I'll take an over-24-hour bus to Burundi, from where I'll continue to DR Congo and Rwanda.