Heaven!

Today was another busy day.  We traveled by van 2 and a half hours south to one of the Universities to meet 17 students who go to school there studying things like Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Pharmacy, Bioteach, etc.  We arrived to find a couple of guys cutting the grass by machete!

We took a brief tour of the campus and then went to lunch.  We tried one place, but they did not have enough food for our group and we ended up going to another buffet.
It was great getting to talk to the students.  I sat next to Collins, studying Biotech, who is an exceptional student and a really cool guy.  The Rwandans tend to be a shy and reserved group and he is one of the few that will speak up and actively pursue leadership roles.  He is one of the two student representatives for the students and wants to get his Masters at the University of Western Cape in Capetown which is the finest University in Africa.  He asked me some questions regarding my presentation on Saturday and is one of several students that asked me to email the PoPowerPoint We got in a great conversation regarding jobs and internships and the working world.  This guy has an amazing future!  Collins and Jean Darke picutred on the left.

I happened to bring a Kindle with me and Justin wanted to film a video with Jean Darke (the girl who got an Internship working on the Kindle).  She had no idea what is was and he got some good video of her playing with it.  He also got a video of students with coke bottles in an effort to gain some support from the Coca Cola Foundation.  Justin is really great at taking pictures and videos with the students to thank individuals who have supported them and to promote what These Numbers is doing.

After lunch, we bid farewell to most of these students as we will not be seeing them again.  We headed to the market with Collins and another student Jackie who had traveled with us.  I got some great Rwandan goods including a Peace basket; the peace basket is made together by someone who committed violence along with a victim to promote reconciliation.  The one that I got represented friendship and had a few smaller ones inside of it.  We then headed to this cool ice cream shop where the slogan was "ice cream, coffee, and dreams".

We traveled the long trek back to Kigali and went straight to this really nice restaurant called "Heaven" which has really amazing food.  I have eaten so well this week!  This restaurant also has a really cool story as it was started by an American husband and wife who came to Rwanda to promote healthcare and peace.  The wife also had a foodie background so they created this really nice restaurant that mostly foreigners eat at because of the price.  However, the staff is University students that they help support and who they train how to work at a fine restaurant.  Service is generally not very good in Rwanda and we have had our orders messed up several times, but the service is excellent her and they are doing a cool thing with these students.  They also sell Rwandan art.  Rwandans are funny as they don't like to try any new food at all.  This is especially true of a staff person, Jackie, who doesn't like Mzunga (white person) food and that is all this restaurant has.  She ended up ordering a bowl of ice cream for her dinner!