The last part of my Rwanda trip had to include a visit to the Genocide Memorial in Kigali. It was a deeply moving experience.
The Kigali Genocide Memorial is a major memorial and education centre dedicated to remembering the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and teaching visitors about its causes, impacts, and lessons. It is both a place of burial and of learning — where history, grief, and peacebuilding come together.
It is built on a site with mass graves containing the remains of over 250,000 genocide victims.
The Rwandan Genocide, one of the most horrifying events in human history, erupted in 1994, leaving a profound mark on Rwanda and the world.
In just 100 days, between April and July, an estimated 800,000 people-mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group-were slaughtered in a premeditated, systematic campaign of violence. The genocide was not carried out by a small group of extremists but involved ordinary civilians, including neighbors, colleagues, and even family members, turning against one another in an unprecedented spree of brutality. The genocide was fueled by deep-rooted ethnic tensions, colonial legacies, political manipulation, and an international community largely paralyzed by in-action.
Extract from the book THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE by SHEMA GERARD.
