Rwanda

I took off from the Asheville airport and flew (or hung out in airports) for the next 24 hours. (Asheville to Newark to Brussels to Kigali)

I arrived after dark and Isabelle was there to pick me up! Oh what a reunion after 3 years! We met in Nkhoma, Malawi 12 years ago and she moved to Rwanda 6 months ago. I got to be her first visitor. 

She introduced me to Paul who is a colleague at the Rwanda Charity Eye Hospital. We loaded my bag into the Land Rover and headed through town. The feel of Rwanda is both similar and totally different than Malawi. The architecture is similar. There are still many people in and on the streets, traffic seems only semi regulated as to who has the right of way. But then you notice fewer animals in the roads (ok we were in the city but even when we left) and the fact that there is little to no trash on the ground. Rwanda has made plastic bags illegal and it is obvious. Also the speed limit is 60 km/hr and have speed cameras set up along the way. The fines from the speed cameras go to the national healthcare fund not to police. 

Isabelle is an optometrist at the Rwanda Charity Eye Hospital and keeps very busy (as does everyone there!) She did take Saturday off (mostly) and after Umuganda (mandatory last Saturday of the month cleaning of public spaces) we headed to Lake Kivu and Rwiza Village. Beautiful place, great chalets, dock to jump into the water, and a view of sunset (though the clouds came in and blocked the end)

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My jet lag kept me up and I heard the rain and saw the lightning when it started at midnight. Sunday was cool, cloudy, and rainy. So we had breakfast and moved to have lunch and check out the higher end hotel (Cornoran Lodge) since we weren’t going to swim in the rain. Great afternoon of games and the rain stopped as we drove away and back to the hospital.