Kigali Genocide Memorial

The Memorial is located up a dusty road with police officers greeting you at the gate. It is a big pale yellow building surrounded by fountains, flowers, and three mass graves. Inside the building, the story of the genocide is told. After my morning with Innocent, I was more prepared for the depth with which this country was going to force me to think about atrocities and hope.

The museum part of the memorial powerfully and provocatively told the story of Rwanda, its history, identity construction, and the unfolding of the genocide. There were many touch screens which should various short films of people’s testimonies, footage from April 1994 of people killing others, and brief glimpses of people and their fresh wounds. It was real and raw. I felt like my insides were being churned and my brain kept wanting to shut off. All I could think was that we let this happen. We did nothing to stop it. We are complicit and responsible. Or, we are not human in our devaluing of other people’s lives. It was not and is not “their” problem. People died and suffered in a way that the museum made so actual and real.

After walking through the genocide story, you enter a room full of skulls and bones with a woman whispering the names of those one million people who were killed. Then another room, with displays of clothing which people were wearing when they died. This is not a country for those who cannot handle to power of inaction by the world community – and in fact, I am not sure that I am able to process such atrocities which happened (and are happening) during my lifetime. The final room is full of pictures of the deceased and one wall showing testimonies of family members to those who perished. One man talked about the last meal his mother brought to him. A woman talked about what good parents hers were – and how much her sisters meant to her. There were so many stories… And a Rwandan woman who seemed to find a relative in the wall of pictures, crying during the process.

The upstairs of the museum had two exhibits – one about genocide in general and the other about Rwanda’s lost future. In the lost future exhibit, there were pictures of children (the most recent picture the parents had) who were killed with their names, favorite food and activity, best friend, and age listed. At the bottom of the card, it stated how they died: “Felicite, Age 2, Favorite Food: Matoke, Best Friend: older sister Rebecca, Died: Thrown Against a Wall… Patricie, Age 6, Favorite Food: ice cream, Died: Hacked to Death by a Machete…” and on, and on for six rooms.