View over Kigali from the Genocide Memorial Centre
What can you say about the Rwandan genocide? What do you say when 500,000 – 1 million people were killed in 100 days? A visit to the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali, the site where 250,000 were murdered is definitely eye-opening. But being an outsider, I feel that anything I say will be trite. It’s the same reasons why I haven’t written about the concentration camps in Germany. Beyond the usual “horrific” “unbelievable” “tragic” descriptions, I have no real meaningful adjectives that provide any new insights to describe the horrific events of 1994. Instead, I will share the words of some Rwandan genocide survivors, who can speak more meaningful and powerful than I ever could:
Quote from a survivor at the Genocide Memorial Centre
Quote for a survivor at the Genocide Memorial Centre
For more Rwandan Genocide survivor storeis from the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre click here. I also highly recommend reading the book We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories From Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch. Needless to say it’s not the most uplifting book you’ll ever read, but I realized how ignorant I was about the Rwandan genocide. The world really did turn a blind eye. It also made my time in Rwanda much more meaningful as I gained insights into what has made Rwanda, Rwanda. And how a mere 10 years later no one discusses Hutu or Tutsi descent and everyone refers to themselves as united Rwandans instead.
Memorial rose garden
Flowers left in remembrance of a loved one
