Jules and I (Caleb) have been meaning to start this blog for some time, but we've been busy working on the documentary and didn't get around to it until earlier today. The next few posts will summarize what we've been doing up till now, to keep you up to date. This one is about the first days we spent in Rwanda.
We arrived in Kigali, Rwanda on the 14th of August. Flying over Rwanda at night was incredible, since the country was completely dark. As I got off the plane at the Kigali International Airport, I smelled Africa in the air. There's something about it, maybe the dust or the smoke from the small fires across the country, or even just the diesel fuel, that imparts an beautifully unforgettable scent. It was Jules's first time in Africa, but I don't doubt that he'll come to remember the smell as I do.
In Kigali we worked mostly on pre-production, planning out different possible outlines for our film, which we had meant to do before going. Unfortunately, Jules was on vacation in Greece and I was enjoying the sun on Nantucket, so we hadn't gotten around to it. We had the chance to visit the Genocide Memorial Centre, which was very revealing of Rwanda's past and present, and at the same time was one of the most poignant places I've ever been. We also prepared and tested some of the new equipment we had bought, such as our Glidecam 2000 Pro (an image stabilizer), which we spent ages balancing. The other eventful aspect of our short stay in Kigali was that Jules overdosed hugely on his malarone pills (a drug to fight medicine) when he accidentally took the curative form of the drug, which is intended only for those who already have the disease. His resulting illness lasted for days.
That's all for now; the next post will deal with our arrival in Rwinkwavu and the beginning of the production.
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