Adventures in Africa

After reading this article in my hometown newspaper, the owner of my favorite local restaurant sent me an e-mail. I'm still waiting for him to offer me a free dinner and ask for an autographed head shot.

D'oh.

The book section.

The Gold Coast.

On safari with Mom and Jeff.

Ten days of R&R.

I spent the last week in the Hotel des Milles Collines, the building in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali that famously housed over a thousand people during the genocide of 1994, as described in the Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda. Rwanda continues to be engaged in the process of reconciliation, 13 years after as many as one million people were killed over the course of three months.

On a drive to Butare, a city south of Kigali and close to the border with Burundi, I saw two Gacaca (pronounced "gachacha") courts being held. On the days that Gacaca courts take place, all businesses close, and all employees are given leave. These days are far from holidays for the survivors of the genocide. Hundreds of people from a village gather under the shade of a large tree to hear the trial of the criminals who are accused of having committed atrocities against the community. These traditional courts were tasked in 2005 with hearing cases from the genocide, after it was estimated that it would take 110 years to try all the prisoners through the formal courts. Most of the accused plead guilty to the charges laid before them, and having already served a prison term that is deemed sufficient, they are immediately released back into the community.

Here is a typical rural community in Rwanda. As the name of the hotel in which I stayed reflects, the country is known as "The Land of a Thousand Hills". Despite its violent past, the country is now one of the safest and most peaceful countries in sub-Saharan Africa. I found it to be among the most beautiful places I've visited.

The Indian Ocean on Easter morning.

Photos from my weekend holiday.

The first things I do each morning are: make a cup of masala tea, turn on CNN, and log into my e-mail account. At the top of my inbox is the daily security report from the Overseas Security Advisory Council. This morning, when I opened my computer, this was the first headline that I read: http://www.osac.gov/Reports/report.cfm?contentID=59135.

My first real exposure to Kenyan culture -- outside of work and the day-to-day life in my expatriate neighborhood -- was attending a wedding. To see photos, click here.