Bad Boys Saloon

Yesterday we passed a joint called Bad Boys Saloon. Dr. Totten decided we needed to check it out so we went in. We found that it was actually a salon. Being the jokester that he his, Dr. Totten wandered around the inside like he was looking for something and asked the Barbers where all the beer was.

Later that evening, Dr. Totten made a call to his good friend K.K., a famous Major General here in Rwanda. Soon we were picked up by one of his soldiers and driven to a somewhat remote hotel and restaurant, where we met the mayor of Nyamata.

We arrived and sat down with Mayor Gasparo and Mweusi, K.K.'s older brother. For about two hours we enjoyed food and drink, while discussing the future project in Nyamata. What I hadn't realized earlier is that Dr. Totten had only come up with the idea two days prior. The main ideas for the project unfolded right in front of me. It was quite a treat to sit with these men as they discussed ideas.

Nyamata was one of the first cities in Rwanda to be attacked by the atrocities of 1994. In Gaspero's district alone, nearly half the population was murdered; 120,000 to 65,000. The genocide left the place in shambles. Those who were lucky enough to survive, many of them orphans, were left with next to nothing. Gaspero, very passionate about giving his people a better life, explained that Nyamata receives help from the government and other organizations, but that a huge gap still remains between the needs of its people and what they have available.

Gaspero and others are no longer encouraging orphanages. He believes a much better way to give children a normal life is to find homes for them. "The new formula," he says, "is a children's village." A small community of four bedroom houses, where mothers are given free board and paid to take care of the children in their home.

A project like this, complimented by the scholarship organization Dr. Totten has already started, and other educational options sure to come in the future, will undoubtedly transform dozens of lives.

I met an intern of the New Times Newspaper and she's offered to take me to work with her today. Then, tomorrow, Mayor Gaspero is picking me up in the morning and taking me with him to Nyamata. There, I will gather information for the Children's Village project.