Kigali Genocide Memorial

22 October 2008

On the final day before going to the airport, the Watermark team visited the Genocide memorial in Kigali. In almost every little town of Rwanda I have been in, some kind of memorial to the genocide exists; the genocide effected the whole country. The memorial in Kigali is very comprehensive in explaining the progression of events leading up to and during the genocide. The US secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, happened to be at the memorial at the same time, so I did not get to spend as much time viewing the displays, as I would have liked. Sometime in the future, I would like to take Benjamin with me and hear his comments.

After being checked and wonded by guards at the front gate, we all entered the building, which began with the historic relations between the Tutsis, Hutu as well as the influence of colonization by Germany and Belgium. I discovered the Tutsi and Hutu classifications were not originally according to race, but instead economic status. Therefore, people groups from Bantu origins and Ethiopian origin occupied both economic classifications depending on their status. It was not until the Belgians came that racial groups called Tutsi and Hutu split the people groups apart. The clarification on the definitions for Tutsi and Hutu helped me to understand the origin of the conflict better.

The exhibition also mentioned the underlying influence of western powers within the conflict in Rwanda. From the account of the display, the French armed the ruling Hutu regime with weapons to strike against the Tutsis. It is also reported the French provided protection for the same forces after the RPF took control of Rwanda and drove out the perpetrating forces. After the genocide, Belgium claimed responsibility for not intervening to stop the killing. It would seem there were many outside countries directly influencing or idly abdicating assistance to quell the violence, which would include the U.S. and China.

Intermittently, video was shown as a visual and auditory record of the events of the genocide. I was especially struck by the stories of survivors who recounted next door neighbors before the genocide conveniently ignoring the please of their “friends” for mercy while participating in the killings. A display of victims’ photos lined row after row on wall after wall of a secluded room. The photographs depicted ordinary people enjoying life with their families or getting married. The room conveyed the magnitude and personal nature of the genocide, which sometimes gets forgotten in the statistics. Looking at each one showing the person with their family or getting married or playing with friends brought to life those who were silenced by death.

Another exhibit dawned the soiled, blood stained clothes of victims exhumed from mass graves. One shirt on display read “Cornell University” in big letters; maybe that person was dreaming of attending school in America one day. The genocide ultimately destroyed many people dreams and forced many to deal with a hellish aftermath most men could not imagine.

The second section of the memorial commemorated genocides around the world, which included Armenia, Cambodia, Serbia, and the Nazi Holocausts in Germany. A common theme throughout the many catastrophes was: “how does genocide happen; is it sporadic or premeditated?” and “how can genocide be stopped from happening?” Unfortunately, in most of the cases, genocide takes place before the general public in the rest of the world is notified or mobilized; many times facts are hidden and many people killed before the story is brought to light in other parts of the world.

After going through the Genocide Memorial and experiencing the immense sense of injustice, loss and hopelessness by the surviving victims, I was reminded of Revelation 22:2 which says, "On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." I cannot imagine how powerful that day will be when people groups all over the world who have experienced loss by genocide will once again be restored. Lord come quickly! Amen.