I was awake earlier than expected, long before the 07:00 breakfast. I’d got an hour to eat, and then get ready to check out. I knew my bag wasn’t packed as well as it had been, so this was a challenge.

Our first stop today was the Genocide Memorial, not that far from the hotel as the crow flies. No photographs are allowed indoors but we could take as many as we wanted outside. In the museum part of this we took our time reading board after board about the horrors of the 1994 genocide here, and the actions that led to it.

There’s then a second area that starts with the genocide committed by the Nazis, when the world collectively said “never again”, but then goes on to the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge, and one in the Balkans. I wondered if one day we’d see a section here referencing the Gaza Strip. Sometimes it seems we never learn.

I wandered around outside solo for a while since I’d finished reading quite quickly. I first walked past each level that had mass graves, down to the bottom level. I then checked out the ‘open grave’ where through a glass window you can look down on a pile of coffins.

I then walked around some more of it with Andy before then looking in the gift shop. I bought a Ubumuntu pin badge for 20,000 RWF. Ubumuntu translates to humanity and kindness of heart; which at its core is about genuinely caring, showing empathy, and being sympathetic to their struggles. I felt that was the message of this week. I’d considered getting other souvenirs too, such as a fridge magnet for my parents, but felt this was the first place we’d visited, and there’s likely to be other options elsewhere.

What followed next was a two hour drive to the first of the Chance for Childhood projects in Ngenda. We collected trays of food from a garage then parked up next to the school. The food was a good variety of things to try with chicken. My best guess was plantain, a purple hued thing I think might have been a yam, and peas. The dessert tray had plenty of fresh fruit, which is a common dessert in Rwanda as fruit seems plentiful, especially mangoes.

We then sat and learnt about what they do there, and how a physio travels to different locations to help with mobility. They have special types of chairs made locally from cardboard that are as hard as wood; they use these to help them to learn to sit, and stand, and have an exercise ball for helping them to walk. Although the charity’s policy is to not take photographs of the people, because everyone there consented, we finished with a group photo.

The next place was about twenty minutes down the road, although after a while the term ’road’ is a relative one. The road became dusty orange, and kicked up the occasional dust as we bumped about on the way to our destination. As we reached the final hill, the bus really struggled but we made it to Shyara for “The Big Pig Project.”

Chairs had been arranged on the stage for us, and parents were already in the hall waiting for us. We then learnt how they work together in the community, and about a pig having been bought for a family there. This was then the focus for the remainder of the session, as we walked half a kilometre uphill, away from the shops, and passed houses, goats, and banana trees and more. The views from here across the valley really was a reminder that this is the land of a thousand hills.

At the top we were led behind a house where the family kept their pig, and were told more about it, such as how it will benefit them and others for it being there. Piglets would be gifted from it to other families. Somewhere in the distance was Burundi. We were then led to another house with another pig, and that had a great view of the valley, and Lake Cyohoha.

On the return walk down we saw goats being led from one place to another, and children from the village walked with us. One local in tattered clothes was asking everyone for a cigarette when we reached the bus, but with us being runners, nobody in this group smoked. He threw a coin at one of them, but we couldn’t find it to give it back to him.

It was estimated that the trip to our overnight stay would be 2.5 hours, we left at 18:00 as the sun was setting, and would be in the dark for the remainder of the journey. Ninety minutes later we stopped for snacks in Bugesera, and as we left there I saw a flash of lightning, which I thought I had seen earlier too, but this time it started to rain. Bugesera was a name we'd heard already today - at the Genocide memorial we'd learnt that they'd lost more than half of their population during the 100 days.

The rain had stopped before we reached Kigali, but due to a broken down lorry we faced delays. We arrived at the Cenetra Hotel at 21:40, checked in and dropped bags in the rooms, and went straight for dinner. I was told that it had once been a convent, and had a picture of a nun hanging in reception. Checking this out, I found it was created by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Assumption as a place of learning, and it still is - it just happens to be a hotel as well now.

By the time I’d eaten it was after 22:00 so I got my running clothes ready for the morning and went to bed. With the heat, and the infrequent roar of jet engines as planes flew overhead, it’d be sometime before I could sleep.