Rwanda: country of thousands hills

Well, I have been in Kigali for a week now. Right after a couple of weeks spent in Lome for the end of the year festivities. Being back is always a pleasure but I know that my life is not there anymore unless very special events occur. 

My first impressions about Kigali were about the difference between these 2 towns, 2 countries are HUGE. It's my first time in east Africa and I didn't know what to expect. All the more Kigali is very clean, calm and green Lomé is messy, noisy, dirty.

The people I 've met so far are nice and helpful and that's quite disturbing. Like anybody in the world, I have the images of the war, the genocide on my mind. The ones showed by the newspapers but also by the movies trying to relate what happened. It's hard to imagine that here for almost 3 to 4 months people were butchered...that bodies were lying on the streets, blood and fear were clouding the atmosphere. And I can't help myself by looking at the town and being ill-at-ease sometimes. Every day, I pass in front of the "Hotel les milles collines" and images of the movie, testimonies that have been published come to my mind...Sadness...

It's all more surprising that from what I've heard is that 5 to 6 years ago Kigali was "empty" of any of the "modern" signs of developments: buildings, malls, movie theatre, good roads, etc. The international community can say what they want about P. Kagamé that man has done something to improve his country. From the gataca to centers for psychological victims of the war, to the cooperatives for the widows & orphans, he is trying to make something good for the people whatever their background is. He has called for the diaspora to come back and built the country even his opponents are "welcomed" with some conditions of course.

My first pics were taken with my cell...I haven't gone on a photography journey yet. Very hilly town :)