April 17, 2008

On April 6th, 1994, a plane carrying the President of Rwanda, a member of the Hutu ethnic group, was shot down as it approached the Kigali airport. This act set in motion a chain of events that precipitated one of the most horrific genocides in world history. The reasons why something like this could happen are incredibly complicated and go well beyond the scope of this blog. I hope through my travels and conversations in Rwanda to better understand these myself. In the meantime, I invite you to learn more about these events and the history of Rwanda through what appears to be a relatively comprehensive and reliable article at Wikipedia.org (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwanda).

One thing about Rwanda is clear. The slaughter of between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Tutsi and Moderate Hutus over a 100-day period decimated this already fragile country of approximately nine million people. According to a 2007 United Nations' report, Rwanda ranked 161 out of 177 countries in terms of Human Development. Considering factors such as life expectancy, literacy, education, and standards of living, everything in Rwanda is upside down. Thirty percent of people 15 years and older cannot read and write. There exists a generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic that claims countless lives on a daily basis. Out of every 1,000 live births, 203 children do not live to see their 5th birthday.

I could go on and on. I invite you to learn more, so I've put together a number of facts about Rwanda. You can access them here.

Please feel free to begin posting your thoughts, reactions, questions, and suggestions of things for me to inquire about during my journey. My itinerary is quite full, and I'll be seven hours ahead of CST. However, I will try my best to stay in touch, respond to postings, and give updates of my activities on a daily basis. I look forward to hearing from you.