Count Backwards from Zero...

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So we arrived in Kampala Uganda yesterday evening, but I will have to go back to Rwanda to tell you how we got here.

At my last entry we had met with A minister in President Kagame's office as well as the Executive Secretary of Gacaca. That was on a thursday and on that Saturday we were allowed to witness a Gacaca hearing. The process of healing in this country takes time and Gacaca takes time. We arrived there at 9am and We left after 6 hours or so, but the people of that community were there before we were and remained there long after we left. The court is outside in a makeshift shelter with long rows of wodden benches. Teh families of the victims of the genocide are seated on the left, there is a row of judges in teh front and the accused is asked to stand facing the family and the judges. When we got there the families of the victims and survivors were asked to make room for us so that the person who was on trial was facing us the entire time we here there. We were given that space for a reason!

We've come this far by faith

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WE also traveled to the Genocide museum in Kigali where more than 200,000 people are buried; the church at Nymata where over 35,000 people are buried; Murambi where 50,000 are buried. I know the numbers sound grand and it is easy to disconnect when we speak in large numbers so bare with me. People often deny a genocide after it has happened, because its hard to consider that humans are capable of such things, but we are. So when I say 200,000 people I mean for you to think about someone you know and imagine their anihaliation. Just imagine... Someone you love gone... Those are the stories told to me by my new friends in Rwanda. Stories about how their mother's died and about their sisters who were slaughtered. I am beholden to these people now because they invited me into their hearts.

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We met the president of Rwanda! I've never ever been invited to the white house for anything but the president of Rwanda heard about what we are doing there and invited us to meet with him. Let me repeat that, President PAUL KAGAME had us to his office to talk about the work we are doing there and about how we can continue to help in the peace building process in Rwanda. He spoke to us about affecting real social change through partnership and about creating peace by eliminating the suffering of poverty. and the thing is he means it because he has to. Rwanda has to succeed in a way that no one can imagine.

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We went to Butare University and talked about building up arts and culture in Rwanda as a tool to effect social change in the country and the world. We also went to Akagare Nature Park which just proved to me that Rwanda is one of the most beautiful places in the world. On the way back we had a flat tire in a very poor area. I mean poverty bold and in your face - and I prayed for the future of Rwanda and for the the future of a world where even the words "dirt poor" can describe this kind of poverty. The beauty of this moment was how similar we all are in the world. The tire went flat and the three men from our car and all of the men in the village surrounded to car to watch the tire be changed and to offer advice on how it should be changed or to help in the changing. The youngest one of our group went over to hang out with the kids in the village and the women stayed in the car or went back to doing whatever they were doing before the tire went flat. I am a citizen of the world.

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Ok So now we are in Uganda and we have begun the next part of our journey here on this beautiful continent. WE left at 7:30 am in Rwanda by bus and Arrived at NDere Center in Kampala at 7:30 pm. In my next entry I will wire about the border crossing. I have much more to say about Rwanda but I will have to come back to that later.

Peace and Love,

Nataki