Owning my experience.

At our first lecture at the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Center, Professor Eddah told us:

“We don't learn about Rwanda to be sad. We learn so when we are future leaders, we can make sure it never happens again."

During my first few days in Kigali without Internet access, I kept a journal to remind myself of what I wanted to include in my blog. However, I struggled with what should stay in the journal and what should be posted online.

Being in Rwanda is wonderful, and I appreciate each and every experience. But that doesn’t mean all the experiences are pleasant. I don’t want to offend or depress anyone with my blog, and I certainly don’t want to trivialize anything that I see and learn here if my writing is inadequate. I shared these concerns with a fellow student on the trip, who told me:

“This is your experience. Own it.”

So that’s what I’m going to do. I am going to own my experience, and I am going to share this experience on my blog. I will write about various topics, from the people to the traffic to the food and even to the difficult experiences of visiting memorial sites and learning about the genocide. Of course, there are things I will keep private, such as when I have the opportunity to speak with survivors; those are their stories to tell, not mine. But there are other difficult things that I will share.

So I hope you are not offended or saddened by my blog. This is simply a way for me to share my experiences if you are interested in learning about them. And I will own those experiences.

Murakoze. (Thank you.)