Brains, Sand, and Coffee: Our Day at Cyimbili Guesthouse
The journey towards better days for Cymbili Guesthouse has begun! Yesterday our squad travelled to the cream-coloured coast of Lake Kivu in guide Enock Musabyimana’s car, with Sandra Ndahiro being the most distinguished passenger. This graduate of the 2024 Illumineers sessions offered her civil engineering knowhow to help us evaluate what could be done with the decaying buildings. Also coming from Kigali: Misigaro Rebero, the leader of GHE Rwanda, eager to see how Cyimbili could be integrated into volunteering and other programs. (Nobody would mind the next Friendship Camp happening on a sandy beach, for example.)
In Musanze they collected our office crew — Sasha Benimana, Diana Irumva and ML Rwebandira — and in Rubavu Cesar Niyonkuru, the most experienced among our Congo Nile Trail guides. The car was now loaded with expertise, but it may be most entertaining to pass the mic to Diana, who had never been to Cyimbili before (she quotes the other two newbies too):
“As soon as we left the tarmac, I started having a bad feeling about the trip. But the first stop got me back in the mood, a beautiful vista of Kivu islands, methan gas extraction boats and a part of Goma. Cyimbili lies in a valley at the end of a particularly rough road, and you have to pass by a coffee plantation to reach it.
Driving through a secondary school, Misigaro wondered how people get the privilege to study here, with such a pretty view of the lake and a health centre at hand. I wasn’t convinced yet, since I was interested in the guesthouse more than anything.
It is not an exaggeration, I was stunned by the lush lawn and the iconic island view! Sandra said she wanted to have her wedding here.
The guestshouse itself wasn’t that bad; old but decent-looking buildings with two fireplaces, water supply and electricity. We checked on every space within the compound and discussed how nice rooms could be created. After a cup of delicious local coffee we had fun running in the lake and drawing in the sand, while the swimmers among us appreciated the warm water.
As Rwandans say ‘akaryoshye sigahora mwitama’ (sweet things don’t last forever), and unfortunately we didn’t stay for the night.”
photos by Miha Logar & Cesar Niyonkuru
