We learned early on about a very common ‘hedge’ of sorts in Rwanda.  We are told that it is similar to aloe in that if you break the leaf it will spill a milky liquid on you.  This liquid is told to cause blindness if rubbed in your eyes. Yikes!  Therefore, we have taken to calling it the “blinding bush.” You may think this would be very easy to avoid…you’d be wrong though. Unfortunately, our sweaty work days involve a great deal of rubbing our eyes on the inside and outside of our sleeves.  As we bike to and from the worksite each day we ride dangerously close to the B.B.  It is used to line all properties and the edge of the entire road from the hotel to the work sites.  Thankfully, we haven’t had any casualties yet but have noticed that the goats and cows graze heartily on the blinding bush and that clean laundry is often dried upon it.  We have sent a lot of our laundry out though the hotel to be cleaned in town.  It comes back smelling of clean air.  Let’s hope the blinding bush isn’t their method of drying.

It is 6:30 at night and we are driving back to Gashora – it is dark and as we drive the people walking along the side of the highway appear out of nowhere. With no street lights driving takes an extra challenge.

We started the morning at 7 am. We had a 15 minute hike up through the villages and farms that led to the Volcano National Park. When we entered the park our guide was joined by several forest rangers with rifles and machetes. One of the guys holding a machete was Simon. It seemed like a good idea to do what Simon said!

Once we entered the park the going got a bit tougher. It was raining quite hard at times and the ground was quite soaked. At times we were almost crawling through the jungle growth. My backpack kept getting caught and the vines were grabbing at my arms. Where were the guys with the machetes?

We hiked for another hour through the park – feet sinking ankle deep in the mud and because we were at 3800 meters elevation the breathing was tougher than normal.

Finally, we reached a small opening where the guides pointed out a large Gorilla dropping. As we made our way through the next few steps we waded hip deep into a field of nettles. I got stung so many times that my legs were on fire! We came around a bush and were 7 meters from a female gorilla! It was amazing to be thinking about getting my camera focused when my brain was shouting ouch as a result of the burning around my knees!

We spent an hour with our family of gorillas. The silverback was named Charles. He was a majestic fellow but looked a bit bedraggled with all the rain. There were two females with young and a young male that we saw. For the most part Charles ignored us but he grunted some warnings that our guides mimicked. We later learned that his grunts were meant to signal to his family that all was ok. The guides grunting back was their way of building trust and agreeing that all is OK.

After taking hundreds of pixtures we had to leave. Charles rolled on his back and lifted his arms. What a stench! It was a strange bitter smell that pushed back the Eucalyptus-like smell the various flowers and bushes combined to create.

Rwanda has the highest population density in Africa – which has pushed the gorillas into the mountains and it means every part of the country is used for agriculture. The land of a tousand hills is beautiful. Hard to imagine a genocide in such a beautiful land.

Greetings from Volcano National Park! On our drive from Gashora to Kigali, we stopped at the Rwanda Genocide Museum. It was a great opportunity to learn more about what happened in 1994, as well as other genocides throughout history. Its truly amazing how much progress Rwanda has made in 15 years. Tomorrow we are trekking looking for the endangered mountain gorillas in Volcano National Park. A great way to spend the weekend after a rewarding week of very hard work.

As the first week came to a close, the team finished laying stones on
the basketball court. The next step is pouring of concrete, and them
the ribbon cutting! The backboards and rims are being restored and
painted. We will begin work on the volleyball court on Monday. We also spent Friday digging trenches for the new Covaga Weaving Cooperative. Its tough work! The computer classes with the teachers at the primary school are going well. The local carpenter is putting the finishing touches on the new desks for the lab. We did have a hiccup with the Internet. MTN came out to do the installation, but despite the site survey, they said it wasn’t worth the expense and hassle for the performance. They recommended using a satellite service, which will hopefully be installed on Monday. Its off to dinner, but the days since the last update have been unforgettable. They people so friendly, the country so beautiful(no garbage anywhere), and the smiles so big.