KIGALI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL
After 48 hours on the road due to numerous bus breakdowns, we arrived in Kigali town center at 7:45 a.m. on Monday.
As we were driven towards our accommodation, I stared in awe at how beautiful and organized the city was.
Rwanda is quite hilly, the Commercial Business District is located at the center and bottom of the hills with the rest of the residential and business districts enveloping the CBD on the planes of the hills. One could easily see most parts of the city, it was like seeing the bustling estates of Kasarani and the towers in Upperhill while standing in Westlands.
It was a sight to behold, and with the rising sun glazing an orange hue on the city, it was art in reality.
The streets were very clean and I found myself forgetting that I was still in Africa throughout the trip. One thing that I loved was how organized the motorbike system was in the city. All Moto-riders (as they call them there) wore a reflecting vest, a helmet and always had a spare helmet for their passengers. I found myself laughing at how their safety laws are offered as unique value products by transport companies in Kenya.
Normally people would have decided to take the day off to catch up on sleep and relax but we were too excited and eager to experience Rwanda that we decided to set off that same morning.
After a quick cold shower, and hot breakfast we stepped out and headed to our first destination, the Kigali Genocide Memorial Park.
The genocide occurred in 1994 against the Tutsi people and the scale and brutality of the genocide caused shock worldwide.
The Memorial Park serves as a resting place for more than 250,000 victims of the genocide and an education center filled with testimonies of survivors and other records to educate visitors about the causes, implementation and consequences of the genocide to avoid occurrences of genocides worldwide.
Upon arrival, we were greeted with a short video from the survivors of the genocide sharing their experiences. My heart wept as I saw survivors shedding tears of sorrow for what they went through.
One survivor almost twice my age recalled how as a young boy his village was herded into a stadium then the attackers began shooting into the stadium and throwing grenades. He saw his whole family pass away that day.
Silence ensued as we continued the tour of the facility reading, and watching how the horrific event developed and took place.
One story that devastated me was of a Catholic Priest who turned over the innocent lives of people hiding in his Church to the attackers. He willingly showed the attackers where to bulldoze the Church and encouraged the fighters to finish off the survivors calling them cockroaches.
It was dreadful to think about how people who were once neighbours, friends and family were turning on each other
At the end of the tour, we were greeted again with the video of the same survivors. Empathy and pity consumed me now that I knew and understood the facts about the Genocide and saw what had happened to them and what they had lost.
To my surprise, their final message to us was one of forgiveness and hope.
After all that had happened to them, they were ready to forgive their oppressors and move forward.
One of the survivors commented ‘Focusing on hate and anger will only bring more hate but concentrating on hope and togetherness is the key to building and ensuring peace.’
Some of the lessons I learnt from Kigali Genocide Memorial Park are:
· Become an ambassador of peace. Do not turn against your brother or sister but instead protect those who are oppressed.
· It reminded me of the sacred value of life and the importance of respecting and harming one another.
· Lastly, the higher road of choosing love over hate is not an easy one but all hate does is fester and sore. Live a life of kindness.
“Love and hope can conquer hate.” — Barack Obama
What new insights have you gained from my trip to Kigali Genocide Memorial Park?
