The Kigali Genocide Museum

I am a keen student of history. I wish more of our world leaders studied history. On the other hand I like to live in the now and try to move forward while learning from what has gone on in the past.

We had a free day in Kigali today so we decided to visit the Kigali Genocide Museum. Many people had suggested that this would be a must see in Kigali so we went. I really didn't know what to expect.

We found the museum on the map. Because safe taxis don't come to our neighbourhood we decided to walk to central Kigali where we could get into a decent taxi and get there that way. We stopped at the Cafe Bourbon for a latte and chocolate croissant by which time we actually felt energetic and decided to walk the rest of the way. Like most things in Kigali there is no straight line between two points and while it looked like we were half way there already, what the map didn't show was that we were at the top of one large hill and to get to the museum we would have to descend to the bottom of the hill and then walk up half way up the next hill. This is complicated by the lousy map we have and the lack of street signs in Kigali. The guide did say that we could see it across the valley.

Eventually we arrived at the museum. What impressed me the most was the number of Rwandans in their best clothes heading up or coming down the hill from the Museum/Memorial to pay their respects to their dead relatives.

The Museum itself is surrounded by a number of themed gardens related to life before, during and after the genocide. After passing through these gardens you then visit the mass graves. The remains of 300,000 people mostly from Kigali are entombed there. The graves are covered with flowers left by relatives. At the end of the garden is the Wall of Remembrance which is about 50 metres long. They are trying to put of the names of all the dead, however they have only managed to fill two panels and there is a lot of wall to be filled.

After this we went into the Museum. This contains a history of Rwanda before during and after the colonial period. It then explains in great detail the events of the Genocide. This is underscored by filmed interviews of survivors and historic news footage. There is a room of pictures of the dead, and a room full of some of the skulls and bones. Many of the skulls have bullet holes or machete marks. There is another room devoted to the children who were murdered.

The second part of the Museum is devoted to other genocides including the Amenians, the Herraro of Namibia by the Germans (which I never knew of), the Holocaust, Cambodia and the Balkans.

The goal of the museum is to maintain awareness of genocide in the hope that this will never happen in the future. I always thought that by now we would have found a way of resolving disputes that doesn't involve killing people. I continue to be disappointed.

We walked the long climb home somewhat somberly. The streets we walked through were humming with activity and it seems that the Rwandans are at least trying to live in the now.