In Photos: Pioneering Volunteer Adventure in Rwanda & Uganda

Today’s story will be the last for some weeks. Our home country Rwanda begins the annual commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi tomorrow. With GHE Youth Spaces — the core of the adventure presented in 10 images — we try to play our part in building a nation and a transboundary region where such tragedies will never return.

Five students from Norway’s Toten folkehøgskole, led by their teacher Live Hokstad, were happy to be the pioneering volunteers to help bring the Youth Spaces idea to three schools in Musanze. These talks were greatly enriched by their music skills! But it all began some days earlier … 

After a walking tour of Kigali we headed to Akagera NP with giraffes as one of the top attractions. The park has pretty campgrounds where we planned to stay for more than one night and enjoy Live’s fabulous cooking in the wild — but sadly a storm chased us away!

Since our everything was wet, we decided to regroup in the nearby Kayonza. Close to our hotel there was a school that became part of our second walking trip.

That morning we hit the road to Musanze on the opposite side of the country. In Kigali we stopped to see our partners, a group of Historically Marginalised People, who moved us with their excitement.

In this photo you can see us drying the tents while painting our office. This is where the youth of Musanze will be able to get informed about Youth Spaces in the future.

These two images show the beauty of Lake Kivu and the Bigogwe cattle keepers’ paradise. It was a complete revelation for our visitors to see how cows are milked (kidding).

We then crossed into Uganda where the third walking experience awaited us at Lake Bunyonyi. After a day of dugout canoeing we hiked for seven exhausting hours. An extraordinary trek …

In Queen Elizabeth NP another boat trip and a spectacular game drive revealed wildlife galore. It was amazing to be so close to lions!

Finally we got into the rainforest too: at Sunbird Hill — see the featured image by Alexander Bakke Bergh for our accommodation there — near Kibale NP we learned about the butterfly lifecycle (among many other things).

The ultimate photo is from Ndere Centre in Kampala … The dances of Uganda and its neighbours were incredible, and it was the perfect last night before the flight home …

photos by the author, Alexander Bakke Bergh and Miha Logar