Roger and Ann Come to Rwanda!

It is official!  All my siblings have now 

stepped onto Rwanda soil!  

At the first sighting of these two I was so happy

that they decided to come and knew we would have fun! 

This is my oldest brother, Roger and 
his wife, Ann-- who I call Annie!

Roger drives an 18 wheeler in the States and 
Ann has worked and helped tend to 
all their children and grandchildren.
So over the last 20 years with Roger on the road 
they have had little travel time together. 

 In fact, this trip is the longest one and furthest out of the
States that they have traveled together. 

Outside of the airport it was already dark!  
They arrived about 7 pm but here it is already dark by then…  
Dark every day around 6pm.

 After a good night's sleep -the next morning-- they went to visit the Genocide Memorial.   Don't they look so cute and happy--
even after that long trip yesterday? 

Taking off on the beginning of the tour.

They are redoing a large area of the memorial.
Not sure what they are designing. 

Ann looking over the area that used to
be the Children's Memorial Garden.

The whole Memorial is rich in history and emotion
and is a must if you visit Rwanda.   

 After that we went to visit the Cooperative
that makes the jewelry out of cow horns.  

They weren't in full fledged work mode but here they
were cutting the keychains. I had hoped that Roger and Ann
could see the whole procedure of how they actually make the
jewelry but at least we got the tour. 

One of the rooms with all the cow horns!  

On the ledge there were a couple of horns that had been 
boiled in the motor oil but not used.

Then they got out the pieces that they make!  

Filing down the fine pieces! 

 They put out a lot of selection and Roger and Ann
had fun shopping for their family!   Earrings, necklaces, 
soap dishes, key rings, bracelets and the list goes on. 

Since it was on the way home we decided to stop at
Gahaya Links  (Gifted hands)

 to see the place where the baskets are made for Macy's!

They had many of their samples on the wall. 

Along with a lot of imigongo painting and
specially styled baskets.

One of the prettiest imigongo I have seen…

The day just kept progressing and we headed down to the Kigali
School of Music were I help instruct Bonane piano. 

Bonane was the gate keeper and a few years back he asked if he could start piano lessons.  He hasn't stopped learning since
then!  He's a great student and teacher of younger folks.  

By evening we were ready to relax.  Bruce had a conference to  attend and it would end soon so we went to Repulica to meet up with him for dinner. 

We waited long enough that we decided to order coffees!
French Press to the rescue.  And of course, we took
pictures! 

We were waiting for Bruce but also another couple, Bernie and Toni who would be leaving Rwanda soon. So we asked them to come to dinner with us.  

Got a shot of the guys but not of the girls! 

One last one before they start bringing our dinner.

We had a long day and long evening with
lots to show for it
but by the time we headed home we were
ready to sleep….

Espeically since our tummies were full.

See you tomorrow,
love,
margie