A JOURNEY TO RWANDA
It is a trip that I will never forget. Everything started so well. I had been chosen by my school to represent Kenya as the ambassador together with my friend from Nairobi primary school. My father got me a passport and the Educational Officer who came from Nairobi city council department of education organized my visa.
I was taken to the airport by Mrs. Kavyu who is our deputy teacher. We stayed outside the building for an hour before the education officer could arrive. She arrived a few minutes with a boy from Nairobi primary. As I entered the building I saw a large notice “PASSENGERS ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT.” Now it was the time to say goodbye to our Deputy.
We gave out our bags to the check in desk and showed our tickets to the check in staff. “May I see your passport, please?” a man at the desk asked. I handed over my passport. The man looked at it carefully, “Did you pack this bags alone?” he asked. “Has anyone asked you to carry anything for them?” he asked again. “No!” I replied looking puzzled. “Thank you, here is your boarding card please go through immigration,” said the man. I showed him my passport again at the immigration desk and walked to the writing area.
“Hallo Jesse” I called “isn’t this exciting? Looking over there, you can see the plane landing and taking off.” I saw the control tower and two pilots at the cockpit of the plane. There was a long queue, everyone had to put their hand luggage through a machine and then through a door.
At 8.00a.m the flight crew announced that the plane will be leaving to Kigali. We were told to fasten our seat belt. The plane took off at 8.15 a.m.
We stayed in the air for an hour and fifteen minutes. When we arrived in Kigali it was 21 degrees c and the time was 8.15a.m. We were taken by the Rwandan bus. We went to the major house to sign our arrival documents. When we had finished we went outside the building where we were taken by the Rwanda Red Cross people.
We were accommodated very warmly. We were to stay for seven days but we only stayed for five days. In the evening we were introduced to our fellow members from East African Countries. I was so happy to meet them. We sang nice songs and went to sleep.
Every morning we woke up very early and take a bath then go to the conference room except for Tuesday. Tuesday was set for people to participate in giving ideas. I participated as a mother and was awarded a certificate in the 6th Summit. On the fifth day we had to say good bye to our beloved sisters and brothers from the other countries.
Story by Ireen Khasiala in class 7 (Ayany Primary School).
N/B: Ireen on the left side
