Kigali Genocide Memorial
After the gorillas, we went back to Kigali. We checked into the Hotel de Mille Collines. The hotel was the actual site of the story depicted in the movie Hotel Rwanda. It has changed hands since, but returned to the original name. The movie was not shot in Rwanda.
The next morning, we went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. The Memorial commemorates the 1,000,000+ people who were killed in 100 days in 1994.
The above picture is part of the mass grave at the memorial. 250,000 people are buried there. Many have been identified, but some never will be.
Below is a section of the mass grave where you can see in. It was actually opened this morning, due to torrential rain the night before. It needed to dry out.
The war was a long-term result of colonial meddling. Rwanda was a Belgian colony. They felt the need to define a ruling class to uphold their interests. They (re)defined the Tutsi tribe originally as anyone who owned more than 10 cattle. And the Hutu were 10 cows or less. They later used facial measurements to elaborate on this. The Tutsi were the ruling class for years. The Hutu rebelled periodically, but nothing major. The 1994 genocide was the last of these.
The Hutu leader convinced his followers to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutu. Neighbor killing neighbor. There were many horror stories that came out of this. The stories from an earlier post were part.
One story from the memorial was about a church pastor. He gathered his primarily Tutsi congregants into the church for protection. He then left and signaled the Hutu soldiers, who bulldozed the church, killing 2,000 people.
Just as perspective for the national trauma, a UN survey determined that 70% of the children who survived the genocide witnessed a murder. This is 70% of ALL children in the country.
One woman (Tutsi) who was a young child during the genocide, and lost her entire family, described walking down a street and seeing a baby trying to nurse from his dead mother.
In another instance, a 10-year-old girl was traveling by foot with her parents to escape to another country. She spotted a mortally injured woman with a baby. The woman begged her to save the baby. The rest of the travelers forbade the girl from taking the Tutsi baby along. But she did it anyway, promising the baby’s dying mother that she would protect the baby with her life. This 10 year old wound up raising the baby as her own daughter. They survive today.
The story of the genocide in Rwanda is horrific. But it is not rare. I’d love to believe we, as a species, have learned from these, and prior horrors. But as current events in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Democratic Republic of Congo show us, we have not.
The above picture is Kigali.
After the memorial, we paid a visit to Patrick (the graduate from a prior post) and his family. As is often the case, finding the home was a long and error-filled process. Many wrong turns. Above, we stopped to call Patrick again. This is a random street scene, but notice that even the drainage ditch is trash-free.
Street scene on the way to Patrick’s, below.
We finally succeeded in finding Patrick. He led Claudia and me down the path to their home. The metal sheeting on the left is used as a fence. Fairly treacherous if you brush against it.
Below is Claudia with Patrick’s nieces. They were both adorable. We were told that Angel, on the right, didn’t talk much. Of course, within minutes, Claudia had her chatting away.
Helen (Patrick’s mum) served us a wonderful meal of beef, fried potatoes, carrots and peppers, and beans. With Fanta to drink. This meal was a major expense for them. They then presented us with shirts for Ginger, our kids Lila and Cameron, and me.
We finally had to leave to make our way to the Kigali airport for the short flight to Nairobi. We both were sorry to leave this beautiful country. But work in Kenya awaits.
