auchrhs posted: " On Wednesday the 24th we were invited to a film screening at a local cinema by Dieudonné and his friends. We arrived 25 minutes late (unfortunately this was not the first occasion), and walked inside a dark room with concrete walls, where a few people we" Peace Lab RwandaRead on blog or Reader
On Wednesday the 24th we were invited to a film screening at a local cinema by Dieudonné and his friends. We arrived 25 minutes late (unfortunately this was not the first occasion), and walked inside a dark room with concrete walls, where a few people were looking at the film that was projected, a movie about the Lebanese war.
On the screen we saw a middle-aged woman sitting on a bus going through a desert. Soon they were stopped by a militia group, and after the driver got out, they started shooting at the bus. Only two women and a child survived, who crawled towards the entrance door. One of the women yelled "I'm Christian", and showed the cross around her neck. Before they dragged her out, she grabbed the child and told them she's her daughter. They got escorted out, the bus was set on fire, yet the child cried and ran back to her mother, but got shot in the head before reaching the flaming bus.
At this point we heard upbeat Rwandan music passing by in the background. The contrast between the horrors of war and the lively music resembled the emotional rollercoaster this trip was. The rest of the film thoughtfully guided us through emotions during and post-war, after which there was an open discussion. Our group was both impressed and shocked by the film, but what surprised us more was when another man stood up and explained how much he could relate to the film as a Rwandan.
After exiting the cinema, we had nearly forgotten where we were and what we had done previously that day. Our first program in the morning was at the Ministry of National Unity and Social Cohesion (MINUBUMWE). We got there using the Motos, as always. It was fun to see that everyone used them; we saw people wearing suits, who hopped off the back of the motorbike, paid the driver and casually walked into the ministry for another day of work.
At the entrance we were greeted by Jean Claude, who walked with us on a long spiraling ramp all the way up to the 7th floor. We were given a warm welcome, and a presentation on the goals and values of the ministry. One of the impressive parts of the meeting was the Ministry's emphasis on preventing genocide and genocide ideology not only in Rwanda, but around the world.
Our next plan for the evening was to go to a bar together. The whole group hopped on Motos and zoomed through the city at night together, like a flock of birds. On our way we admired the view of the houses on the hills, which lit up like stars in the sky.
Once we arrived at the quiet bar, we managed to liven the place up by dancing, laughing and doing some Karaoke. The highlight was when we tried to sing Joromi, our favorite song during the trip. Unfortunately we still hadn't learned enough Kinyarwandan to perfect our singing. On the other hand, our attempts earned us our group name: The Goats of Joromi.
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