Rwanda suffered a great tragedy of mass death in 1994. Targeting members of the minority Tutsi population as well as their political opponent regardless of ethnic background, the Hutu extremists claimed over 800,000 deaths in just one hundred days of carnage. People and groups all around the world connected and prayed for Rwanda as documentation of the 1994 genocide in that country grew.
Starting with the Hutus overthrowing the Tutsi King, the conflict between the majority Hutu taking about 85% and the minority Tutsi evolved into over ten of thousands of Tutsis fleeing Rwanda to the neighboring countries including Uganda. Over a million people perished in the April rains of 1994, leading to July The majority Hutu wanted to wipe the territory of Tutsi in order to purify the area, hence the Rwanda genocide began as a tribal struggle that subsequently became quite brutal.
Up to now, twenty years late, the people of Rwanda have not forgotten; now, a slogan of “never gain” permeates this small nation, reflecting the terrible and very frightening events of 1994.
The United Nations, the USA, or any other international agency did not stop the terrible Rwanda Genocide; so, memorials for it were built all throughout the nation to remind the Rwandan people as well as visitors of the horror that occurred on their land. It was only stopped by the Rwandans under the direction of their present president Paul Kagame in a campaign against the Nterahamwe militia engaged in the government then’s ethnic cleansing.
By the end of July 1994, the lovely Rwanda was a shadow of itself; dead bodies abound in the streets and villages; some of them were washed into Uganda by rivers running all the way to Lake Victoria. Regardless of past, Rwanda has been gradually but steadily rebuilt from the ashes of hate and destruction over the past twenty years.
A few of Rwanda’s memorial sites for genocide
There are several such Rwanda Genocide Memorial sites dispersed around the country.
Located in Gisozi, Kigali Genocide Memorial Site is one of the largest genocide memorial sites in Rwanda, resting place for around 250,000 victims against the Tutsi. Apart from providing a resting place for the victims of the genocide, it serves as an educational facility teaching the residents as well as the foreigners on the evolution of the genocide against the Tutsi during the 20th century.
Initiated in 2004, the Kigali Genocide Memorial Site is a work currently under development since many of the victims buried in the graves are unknown and the genocide comprises of a wall of names devoted to those who died. Children are selected; the burial spot is covered with concrete; within there are letters and images of the victims.
Visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial site allows local Rwandese as well as outsiders to gain a fresh outlook on life and events during the genocide. It is also a lesson in forgiveness and reconciliation for Rwanda and the whole globe since good things will always overcome evil.
Usually a survivor with his own tale to share, the guided walk you receive during your visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Site is typically quite poignant and significant.
Located in Gisenyi, a city on the edge of Lake Kivu on Rwanda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in North Kivu, the Gisenyi Memorial Site is among the earliest memorial sites built in Rwanda. Built by the IBIKA Survivor Organization in conjunction with the Rwandan ministry of sports and culture, the Gisenyi genocide Memorial site seems to be a cemetery but actually includes remains of more than 12,000 perished during the 1994 Genocide.
Between April and May of 1994, one of the iconic Nterahamwe Roadblocks was stationed nearby. Commune Rouge was the region near the cemetery; the Tutsi were taken from the Nyando community to be slaughtered with crude machetes once their national identity cards and appearance revealed them. This does not yet have a visitors’ center.
One of the six national Genocide memorial sites in Rwanda situated in the Bugesera area, thirty-five kilometers from Kigali city, is Nyamata Church Genocide Memorial site The Roman Catholic Church desacralized the church or site on April 11th and turned it into a memorial to the genocide victims. Over 10,000 individuals were in and near the church in the period of 14th to 18th April; these people were attacked and killed as the genocide progressed. Today, once a site of praise and celebration, it is simply a place of memory. The roof still has bullet holes, and blood spatters on the alter; all the remnants of dark days in Rwanda still abound. Now catacomb, the basement in the rear is accessible to the church; it is stocked with rows of skulls, bones, and coffins, a reminder of the senselessness of hate. A banner saying “if you had known me and you had really known yourself, you would not have killed me” hangs at the front door of the church.
Though some people may find it difficult to accept that genocide actually occurred, Murambi with its twisted bodies provides evidence that the genocide did take place. Murambi is an extremely vivid exhibit of the slaughtered victims. A remembrance of what transpired in the 100 days of darkness and hell that poured upon the Land of a Thousand Hills – Rwanda, over an estimate of 27,000 – 50,000 souls find their final resting place.
Thousands of Tutsis fled their houses and sought safety in the Catholic Church when the genocide arrived in Murambi; the Bishop demanded that they travel from the church to a technical school in Murambi where they would be under French security.
The few police who were present left the Tutsis who were there unprotected as the Nterahamwe descended on the Murambi school on April 21 19904 and massacred thousands of Tutsis there.
Additional sites honoring the Rwanda Genocide are The Nyarubuye Church Memorial Site, the Nyanza Genocide Memorial Site, Ntarama Church Genocide Memorial Site, Bisesero Genocide Memorial Site, and the Genocide Memorial in Rwanda.
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