Kgali Genocide Memorial Center, Day 7

Kgali Genocide Memorial Center

Saddest day ever. I think I cried the whole day. No the best way to end the trip, but it was very emotional being there. Even though it wasn't a good feeling, I was glad I got to experience the feeling. It was horrible. My sister and mom waited outside, but when i got back my mom took a peak while I watched my sister. It was very sad, but it gave me a lot to think about!

Lake Kivu

Lake Kivu

Most beautiful lake I have ever seen in my life, so far. It was just so beautiful. I think this was the whole families favorite day. It was like we were all at the beach together, except the water and the view being much better that in Santa Barbara. We stayed there the whole day; playing and having fun as a family. Very glad I had that experience!

Rusumo Falls, Day 5

Rusumo Falls

Here we had a guide named Shan, and he guided us through until we got to the waterfall. When we were 10 mintues away I could already hear the water crashing down. When we got there it was awesome. It was so beautiful I sat there for a long time thinking about, well, everything. Shan told us a story about the genocide. He told us how many dead bodies flowed down this river. I started crying, but I held back my tears so know one suspected I was crying. I just couldn't believe a war happened here, and dead bodies flowed down here as well. It was very sad to hear. 

Akagera National Park, Day 4

Akagera National Park

This place was very beautiful. My sister, my mom , and I would hide in the what we could near a lake, so we could watch elephants or buffalos, or ect. up close. It had a lot of lakes, and our whole family was tempted to jump in and swim in one of the lakes, but we weren't aloud to.(darn) Out of all the seven days of doing stuff this was my sisters favorite one. I was glad she liked it. I was also glad I liked it as well. We sometimes crouched there for what seemed like forever, but finally a cool looking animal would come along and take a drink.

Nyungwe Forest National Park, Day 3

Nyungwe Forest National Park

1 word A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It wasn't the most beautiful and luxurious forest in the world, but man all the animals and birds! It just took my breath away. I mean it had so many sounds, especially coming from the birds. I don't really know what else to put other then what i already put; A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! 

Mountain Climbing, Day 2

Mountain Climbing

Again first time doing something new. This time it is mountain climbing. Today I went mountain climbing. My sister and mom didn't go, so I got to go all by myself!(oh ya) A women named Angeline helped me get into all my gear. She was the one who was going to climb with me, just to make sure I was safe, or something bad didn't happen to me. I was very glad an experienced mountain climber was coming with me. If she wasn't there i would have probably chickened out. The mountain was pretty tall, but it had many wholes and cracks where you could put your hands and feet. Then I was off. At the top I took about a thousand pictures!(literally)! It was amazing, and I will definitely do it again someday. 

Mountain Gorilla Trekking, Day 1

Mountain Gorilla Trekking

Today was my first time gorilla trekking. I was so excited, but my little sister was a bit nervous, so my mom stayed with her most of the time. I went up ahead. We followed a gorilla trekking expert named Dan. He was very nice, and very good at finding gorillas. We found in total 18 gorillas: 6 full grown male gorillas, 5 full grown female gorillas, and 7 baby gorillas. We stared at them for a long time. my sister was still a little nervous, but it looked like she was kinda enjoying it. They were very entertaining to watch, and I hope to do it again someday!

Imagine....

Right now I am with John in Pittsburgh. He is teaching me a lot about Lost Boy's program, and every time I hear about a Lost Boy's story I cry. It is just so hard to hear what they have been through, and how much pain they suffered. Today I am lucky to share their pain with them. John showed me many pictures of his family, he would talk on and on and on about them, but it would never get tiring. I just wanted to keep listening from every detail to the last detail that he said. He would also tell me how he is going to help as many Lost Boy's as he possibly can. Dedicating your life to help others must feel great inside. It probably covers all the pain inside. Since he would always say I am going to help other, that is what I was born to do, I would decided to ask him if you help others are you still going to have enough time to help yourself. When I said that he looked at me and said, "I will do what I must to help others in need". I could tell he was still thinking about the question, but that's all he said. I felt kind of embarrassed. I thought I might have gotten him angry, but he just moved on to a different topic like nothing happened, so I went along. John asked if I wanted to meet some of his friends who were lost boy's and I said, "Of course"! After I met many, many friends of Johns it was time for my plane to leave. At the airport I said my good byes to John. We hugged about 5 to 10 times in a row.  I felt kind of strange, but I also loved it. While on the plane I thought to myself what John had taught me. He taught me many things, but one that stuck out to me was when he said, " Whenever you think you lost someone close just remember they are never lost forever. When I thought of what that line taught me, and how the line must feel to John I think i cried the rest of the flight.

Veteran's Day

My grandpa, Walter Welkom, served our country in World War II. He was in the Signal Corps, which was in charge of maintaining and repairing the radio equipment. He was stationed in the Philippines, and had to deal with digging equipment out after mud slides. Malaria was widespread, and he got it.

Ps. picture coming

A program that is helping Rwanda

Here is a program who is trying to help orphans with AIDS

http://www.usaid.gov/stories/rwanda/fp_rwanda_aids.html

Cheapest tickets to Bolivia

Cheap flight to Bolivia, La Paz.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/CheapFlights?m=12016&travelers=1&cos=0&nonstop=no&airport[0]=SBA&nearby[0]=no&airport[1]=LPB&nearby[1]=no&date[0]=11/7/2009&time[0]=anytime&date[1]=11/14/2009&time[1]=anytime&seg=di

Money converter

American Money to Rwanda money (amafaranga=money)
$1.00=$570.00
$5.00=$2,850.00
$10.00=$5,700.00
$20.00=$11,400.00
$50.00=$28,501.00
$100.00=$57,001.00

7 things I would like to do in Rwanda

1. Mountain Gorillas Trekkinga
2. Want to go mountain climbing
3. Nyungwe Forest National Park
4. Akagera National Park
5. Rusumo Falls
6. Lake Kivu
7. Kgali Genocide Memorial Center