Kigali Genocide Memorial
Kigali Genocide Memorial Cente is a place of commemoration and remembrance of the 1994 Genocide that claimed close to a million lives of mainly the Tutsi minorities in Rwanda. The centre was opened in April 2004, the 10th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide. Since its inaugural, the memorial has received thousands of visitors, encompassing young people, adults, politicians and leaders from across Africa and beyond.
This commemorative centre is among the six main centres in Rwanda that memorialize the Rwanda Genocide. Other genocide centers include Murambi Memorial Centre, Ntarama Genocide Memorial Centre, Bisesero Genocide Memorial Centre plus others at Nyarubuye and Nyamata. Human remains at this center were fetched from all over Kigali following their dumping on the streets or hurled into the water bodies. They were laid to rest together in masses of 100,000.
This genocide memorial centre is usually visited by tourists during a one-day or half day Kigali City Tour that is done before or after some gorilla trekking and wildlife tours in Rwanda.
This centre started when Kigali City Council together with the Rwandan National Commission for fighting Genocide assigned a UK-based genocide prevention body, Aegis Trust to institute Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali. This centre pamphlets the massacre and also explains the past the country that came before the killing incident. At this facility, human remains, the weapons and tools used in their obliteration are visibly displayed.
There are also video and GPS documented recording plus authentic survivor testimonies and footage of the Gacaca law court procedure. The directive from Kigali City Council was to cultivate the monument location, where over 250,000 massacre human losses were laid massively in bigger graves and others in a permanent display for the advantage of survivors, visitors and young one learn about the value of life.
Inside the Centre
The monument is a penetratingly authoritative and moving dedicatory for which you should visit and know more the ugly past of the country. The revealing audio tour of USD 15 includes the background on the conflict-ridden colonial time of Rwanda. As you continue with tour inside, the massacre parades become increasingly prevailing when you are provoked with the criminalities and the heartbreaking video testament from the survivors. In case you have remained unemotional up to this this point, you will be caught up at a section that recollects the youngsters who landed victims to executioners’ knives and machetes. There are full-size pictures complemented with friendly particulars about their favorite dolls, the words the uttered last and the method in which they were slaughtered.
The memorial accomplishes with segments on the pursuit for justice via the international court of law in Arusha and the indigenous Gacaca courts or traditional courts led by community elders. Upstairs of the museum is a heart-rending unit devoted to notifying visitors about some other genocide which have occurred around the universe and aids put the terrifying situation of Rwanda in a historic framework.
After you have observed the museum demonstrations, check on one of the huge solid portions outdoor that conceal the mass mausoleums. You will also see a wall of names, a rose garden and a nice teashop for some coffee, lunch buffets, appetizers and saps. This is an ideal place to sit and reflect before leaving to join the open world.