Vibrant Kigali!

matching earrings ;)

from Philson!

Today we started our day later than normally because as a group we decided not to visit another Genocide memorial. The memorial we were supposed to visit was made out of a church. Nyamata church was the site of thousands of deaths brought about by the Catholic Church's involvement with the interahamwe. Within the church the clothes of all the victims are preserved and laid out in the positions which the people wearing them died in. As a group we felt as though visiting two memorials in two days would be emotionally draining so we opted out and slept in. At 10 am our group gathered and headed to Kigali's biggest open-air market--Kimirongo. The hustle and bustle of the market was intoxicating and everyone who entered left with something. From the market we went to lunch and got gelato as a treat. From lunch we wen to Gahaya links an organization in which women work together to make beautiful works of art such as woven baskets, earrings, bags, hats, and custom made clothes. While there we made braided necklaces or bracelets with beads. This was a fun experience to work side by side with people who do this for a living and it gave me a new found respect for their work.  After we completed the necklaces or bracelets we were given time to look around the store and have some interactions with the women. After leaving Gahaya links we headed back to the market because some of the girls had gotten dresses made to them and needed to try them on. After the girls tried on their dresses and got back to the bus we went to a very cool restaurant called Republica, which had beautiful African art on display.

A low stress day like today was much needed after visiting the Rwandan national genocide memorial. The market was also great because it gave us a look into how Rwandans live their lives. Learning how they braid the bracelets and necklaces was a great way to relax and also have more respect for the women's craft. There was also a large similarity between the work that the seaweed mamas did and at Gahaya Links. Both organizations worked to empower women, a central part of post genocide Rwanda and our whole trip.

Joy, founder of Gahaya Links

Josian, our seamstress,  mother of 5, and a beautiful person