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Thursday, June 7th, 2007

Well the first week has gone very well.  The shock of America wore off quick and I have settled in.  I have been busy with taxes, the storage pods, reconnecting with friends and the next leg.  The next leg is a real headache airline logistics-wise, but most of it has been solved.  Issues such as it is easier to get to Morocco from Brazil via JFK than direct.  Luckily, I have the power of www.kayak.com to guide me through the ten thousand possibilities.  Here is where we are going August – December…

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Rwanda Revisited

Monday, November 27th, 2006

I was quite surprised to see that Rwanda has cut off diplomatic ties with France this week.  I was even more surprised to read that the impetus for this action was a prosecutor in France bringing charges against Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and eight other members of his government for shooting down the plane of the former president.  The plane being shot down was blamed on Tutsis and was used to incite Hutus to kill Tutsis.  From everything I have read, the killers of the president were hardcore Hutus led by the president’s wife and her family who were mad that he was making concessions to the Tutsi rebels.  The same sources implicate France in being part of the cause of the genocide, prolonging the massacre and providing protection to the Hutus who eventually fled.  In fact, I believe the wife of the former president now lives in France.  From what I saw and heard in Rwanda, Rwandans have not been happy with France since the genocide for these reasons.  Although it would be difficult to determine who are the actual criminals (France has also been implicated in destroying evidence at the crash site), it is quite true that Tutsi rebels led by Paul Kagame stopped the genocide without Western help (and in spite of Western support of the Hutus) and he was the main reason that the Tutsis did not slaughter the Hutus.  If I was France, I would do everything possible to bury this past and not incite more publicity about their ugly involvement.  Rwanda is lucky to have Kagame as a leader and they will do better with France out of their affairs once and for all.

Genocide

Thursday, October 19th, 2006

I have struggled with my Rwanda visit since I was there in early August. As I was entering the country, I was quite concerned about what kind of people I was going to meet. Basically, we have two ... [Continue reading this entry]

The End, Don’t Rock My Boat and Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Friday, September 29th, 2006
I flew from Windhoek, Namibia to Jo'Burg Airport where I was met by Rod and Tam Cassidy. Rod is the guide that was chartered with getting eight of us into the far reaches of the Congo Basin and more importantly ... [Continue reading this entry]

Deep in the Heart of Lightness

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
We have to drop the Heart of Darkness and Dark Continent stuff. Although our white western world may contain the dark hearts of Marlow and our racism may get the best of us at times, I found nothing dark ... [Continue reading this entry]

Blast Off!

Saturday, May 27th, 2006
I’m glad you can join me for the start of my trip around the world.  It’s been five months since the idea of shedding my old life for a new one came about.  It was a crazy five months to ... [Continue reading this entry]