Travelling "Alone" Across Uganda, Rwanda, & Congo(DRC),...
all 3 lands of incredible Contrasts & Conflicts!
August 19, 2012, Sunday
The pictures above show (1) a map of my journey, and, (2), the Kamembe, Rwanda 'Airport'..The building has been ransacked by sectarian, genocidaires, and soldier's violence. So, it is now fenced off because there's no money to repair it. It is replaced by a small tin shack,..'older than dirt' single security scanner!, 3 soldiers with rifles, and a small 4-wheeler to carry baggage. Rwandair has 1 or 2 flights a day from Kigali,-capital of Rwanda,-to Kamembe, which is 8 kilometers from the Congo(DRC) border. By the way,....all Africa is VERY sensitive to picture-taking,...especially at airports, police, or government facilities. What pictures I do have in those locales I managed to quickly shoot w/cellphone camera.. One must be VERY careful,..as arrest, fines, and even jail are definite possibilities.........
Sunday, Aug. 19th 2012:
Up early @ 5:45am to be ready to go to church at Kabalagala (Pastor Dongo's) church,..then, to leave the group & travel on alone toward the Congo(DRC). Actually had HOT water for a shower/shave at the good old Olympia Hotel, aka 'Hollywood Hilton'. Yay!, an unusual blessing on our last morning here. Showers are taken by kneeling in the tub and using a hand-held shower wand. Rained in the night, but I didn't know it til next morning. Rain makes Kampala a MESS. Red clay(mud), and open flowing smelly, raw sewers,.....you get the picture. Anyway, the porcelain(?) sink pedestal in our bathroom was broken & just propped up, so if you leaned on it, it would just fall over with a crash! Oh, AND, although the water was hooked up to the faucet, it drained to: NOWHERE!!!! The drain had been broken for awhile,.....so, we put down towels to catch the mess on the floor.
Good service @ Kabalagala church, as usual, with Jim Kuykendahl from our church in Dallas teaching. I stayed through the worship segment of the second service, then, "Glory", Dongo's son, drove me to the Entebbe, Uganda airport around noon. The drive takes about an hour. Got lunch of boiled chicken and fries, and settled down to wait for my flight. It was Flight 206 on Rwandair to Kigali, Rwanda, and scheduled out of there around 5:15pm. Remember, however, 'This is Africa'!, so schedules don't really mean much. African airports have a strange 'security' system: approaching the airport property, all people must get out of cars and on foot walk thru a security scanner just placed outside in the middle of nowhere(rain or shine)! Then, one has to clear a 'better' security scan to even enter the Airport Terminal itself(!); finally you have to wait until approximately 3-4 hrs. before your flight in order to move from the terminal to Checkin counters, thru security; after that, you wait until 2 hrs. before your flight to actually move through Security again and into your gate area. This means clearing security on every one of these moves. 'Hurry up and wait' definitely applies!
My International Phone had gone dead, because my prepaid minutes were gone. Since this was a TERRIBLE time to be without International Phone service, I tried several times to call or text additional prepay $$ to the Global company. Alas, no success. The phone was'locked' since the prepaid dollars were gone! I' had to figure out how to manage without International Phone service.
Rwandair flight 206 came an hour late,..so what else is new? This is Africa!! It was a small Dash 8, Embrauer, in pretty good shape. Of the 37 seats, about 30 were full. Finally, our scheduled 5:10pm flight left Entebbe airport at 6:10. The flight to Kigali was about 55 minutes, and time passed quickly while I was downing my peanuts & passion fruit juice given out to passengers. I met a Christian young man from Germany, and a Youth With A Mission Team from South Africa. We landed and cleared Customs at Kigali International Airport without incident. It was now dark in Central Africa. My 'protocol' Peter, was to meet me with a taxi. Since my phone was dead, all I could do was clear Customs, get my baggage, & then, wait for Peter. But wait,....there was a man holding a sign saying 'Roger Green'!!! The man was an airport porter named Thomas. He had heard from Peter that he'd be late, so Thomas would stay with me until the taxi arrived. Meantime, I exchanged $100US into Rwanda francs, at about 625/1. Thomas and I waited outside the terminal, and I was thankful Thomas and Peter both spoke good English. Rwanda's official language is French. Since it has been over 50 yrs. since I had High School French,..I sure was happy to have English speaking guys!
Peter took me in his taxi through 'downtown Kigali',..on a wide avenue past the Government Centers, Paul Kagame's (President) offices, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Interior & Infrastructure, then, the US Embassy. At last, we turned 50 yards off the main drag to arrive at a Guest House my host had reserved for me. In Rwanda, as in much of Africa, the compounds surrounding buildings are enclosed in sturdy fences,..with heavy locks and a guard. This is mainly to prevent theft. On the other hand the guard was asleep. I was met by the lady who owns the place,....who speaks only "little English". Gestures will do. (The guard speaks NO English,..now where IS that High School French of mine!)? My Swahili is not used in Rwanda at all.
The proprietor(ess?) showed me to a downstairs room in a mud brick building. It had a ceiling fan (YES), a double bed, and the power outlet actually worked! There were 2 community-shared bathrooms down the hall. All of this was 'just adequate'. The price, however, was perfect,..only $25US,..including breakfast! My stomach felt a little 'weird', so I took one of my trusty CIPRO pills to ward off any bad crud. Peter was scheduled to pick me up next morning at 5:00AM for a ride to the airport to make the short hop to Kamembe, near the Democratic Republic of Congo. So,....Light's out, baby,..time to get some sleep......
Later, a group of 6 US people came into the building and were quite loud in the living room, making it hard to sleep. Finally, they went off to bed. I slept fitfully, waking up every hour, concerned I might miss my morning flight,...or, Peter might not come get me,....you get the idea! Sometime in this lifetime I need to learn to just RELAX and TRUST!
So, my trip thru Rwanda, and to the Guest House passed really well, without incident. God is good all the time. I was sooo excited to be very close to the Congo,..and to realize the very NEXT day I would be IN CONGO DRC!...........I was so keyed up with excitement, I could hardly wait!
Monday, Aug. 20, 2012:
My alarm went off at 4 am, and I pulled myself together. After a quick wash, -hot water, shocking,-I took my stuff outside to await my ride in the pitch black African night. The gate was chained and locked, and no one was in sight. My heart sank, but This is Africa!! My ride soon drove up and laid on his horn outside the compound gate, waking up various chickens & dogs. The Guard appeared from the darkness of his sleeping post, and let the car in to take me to Kigali airport, about a 15 minute ride.
The country of Rwanda is much more concerned with building infrastructure and upgrades than are Uganda or, especially, Congo DRC. Rwanda's major roads are wide and clean, and the country is very proud of what they have accomplished. All of this just a few years after the devastating Genocide a few years ago!
Once again, just as the sun arose in the East, I had to work through 5 Security Gates
and clear Customs and Passport Control to get to my gate!!! Upon reaching the gate, I discovered there was NO food, and NO toilet in the Gate waiting area!! My gate lounge was packed, with long lines of people. And, still ANOTHER Security check! And, my International Phone was still down,..so I hoped I could get it recharged upon reaching my protocol, Tom, at the Congo DRC border crossing. Because I couldn't use my phone, I had no idea if my guy, Tom, would even be there to meet me! Going on faith, I pressed on.
At long last, and right on Africa time,-an hour late,- we were ready to fly to Kamembe, Rwanda. Only 10 people were on a plane with 37 seats. Flying time was a quick 35 minutes. En route we were served passion fruit juice and peanuts. The plane made a HARD landing at a very primitive airport in Kamembe, just 8 kilometres from the Congo DRC border. On approach into Kamembe I was treated to great views of Lake Kivu, Bukavu, Goma, and surrounding areas of Congo DRC. These are places I frequented as a kid, over 50 years ago! Such emotions and great memories came rushing over me. At the same time, there was concern for what I would find in this conflict torn country!
Kamembe airport is quite a place! The landing strip is pitted blacktop, no runway lights or building lights, no painting, tin buildings, and no baggage claim. There IS a primitive,-older than dirt,- Security scanner, which no one seems to know how to operate!! One's bags are delivered on a rickety skooter - like cart. They are just dumped onto the dirt and left there. Passengers must dig thru the pile and retrieve one's bags outdoors, personally. The taxiway, and parking are all red dirt. To one side stands a dilapidated , boarded up Terminal building, no longer in use. That building had been ransacked and rendered unuseable during the last wars between competing tribes in Rwanda. Next to it is what might be generously called a "shack", which serves as terminal. It has a rudimentary coffee shop,- but no coffee! At least the toilets work! I was met by a man named Desant, a taxi driver Tom had sent to take me to the Rwanda-Congo DRC border crossing. The short drive from a high plateau to the Cyangugu border crossing at the Ruzizi river took just a few minutes. My time was spent drinking in so many good memories. At the same time I was overwhelmed with lots of scary memories as well. On this VERY spot, and at this VERY border crossing is where some harrowing stuff went down 52 years ago!! My vivid memories now brought goose bumps the size of peas on my arms!! In 1960, my family and 28 American Missionaries fleiing for our very lives, were finally released unharmed(!!!!) by Congolese militia and rebels, who had held us at gunpoint for 72 hair raising hours!!! Now there is only a rickety pole across the roadway, and a very Primitive Shack for Customs and Immigration, - all on the Rwanda side of the border. I stood in line under the Tropical sun waiting my turn. Although my driver and the Border Crossing people knew no English, I was cleared through without problems. During that time my Protocol, Tom Lindquist, had arrived on the CongoDRC side to meet me. How good to see Tom's smiling face! We picked up my backpack and one medium sized bag, and walked across the Ruzizi river on a broken down bridge, teeming with people on foot. After all those years,..I was back in the Congo DRC!!!!! AMAZING!!!
