Trip Itinerary

Experience of a lifetime

Your trip will include daily football sessions, dropping in at several outreach programs across the country and visiting the main Genocide Memorial Centres

Below is how it went in June 2025…

Day 1

Morning: Unpack & organise

After a relaxed breakfast, we discuss the week’s itinerary before sorting out the donated kit

Afternoon: Batsinda Street Rescue Centre

Batsinda is one of several centres for Street Rescue kids run by another Scottish charity, Comfort International. Country Manager David Gasana was a street rescue kid himself and is a good friend of ours.

We first play football with them, then join the kids at the centre for lunch, which generally becomes singing and dancing…

Day 2

Morning: National Genocide Memorial Centre, Kigali

A resting place for 250,000 victims of the genocide, the National Centre is an important visit for the group, to begin to understand the history, background and details of the genocide. Less “raw” than some of the massacre sites we’ll visit later in the week, which were

Afternoon: Under 17 Football

A training session with one of Kigali’s Under 17s clubs. Typically we’ll mix the Scottish and Rwandan players together into two groups with 3 coaches each, for a 90 minute training session on both halves of the pitch

Day 3

Morning: Nyamata Genocide Memorial

For most of us, this is our first real experience of the horrors of 1994. A former church where 10,000 people were told they’d be safe, but were instead systematically butchered. An emotional experience, where we see the clothes of 100s of victims displayed on the pews as a memorial, most blood stained. Completely unnerving standing in this tiny space and trying to get our heads around so many people going through that. Also view the bones and skulls of the victims in the basement vaults.

N’tarama Genocide Memorial An even more emotional experience, again on the actual site of a genocide atrocity

Afternoon: Under 17 Football

A training session with one of Kigali’s Under 17s clubs. Typically we’ll mix the Scottish and Rwandan players together into two groups with 3 coaches each, for a 90 minute training session on both halves of the pitch

Day 4

Travelling West A morning’s drive through stunning scenery…easy to see why Rwanda is called the Land of 1,000 hills. Also pretty hard on the bladder after the previous night’s beers…

Kibuye, Lake Kivu A real treat, staying in a hotel on the shores of Lake Kivu, with DR Congo in the far distance (the Lake is almost as big as Lothian & Fife put together). A few brave players even manage a bit of a swim, with the others on the watch out for crocs and hippos

Rugabano

Our first stop in Karongi is at Rugabano, once of the sectors linked to the Academy, and once of the most rural. 90 minutes of fun football with each of the different age groups

Rugabano is linked with Spartans FC

Day 5

Bisesero

The sector of Bisesero has it’s own unique genocide story, as one of the few parts of Rwanda to show resistance - although ultimately only 1,500 survived from 60,000 that had gathered on the surrounding hills.

The village has a strong Scottish connection over the past 20 years, and are now connected to Hearts FC. They also have a fantastic pitch, funded by SFR, and are one of the sectors feeding into the Academy

Mubuga

Another of the sectors feeding into the Academy, and connected to Hamilton Accies Academy

Followed by a wee boat trip…