I just wanted to put a not at the beginning of this blog post. It is about my trip to Rwanda. This was a very difficult entry to write after having gone through the different Museums and areas learning about the Rwandan Genocide from the 1990’s. There are stories and pictures that are very detailed and hard to read for some people. If you don’t want to read it, I completely understand. There are many more things I could write about it, but I don’t think my mind is ready to deal with and go into detail of some of the stories we were told… I am writing this mostly for my own benefit to express what I saw and to try and wrap my mind around the horrible history that this beautiful country and it’s people have lived through…
Because of Visa rules, I had to leave Uganda for a couple days and enter again with a new visa. We decided the closest country to go visit was Rwanda. I’m always up for visiting a new country, so I was excited about our weekend. Rwanda is a country full of history, heartbreak and rebuilding. The country itself is amazing! So Beautiful, Vibrant and full of life! The city of Kigali reminded me in many ways of the Santa Barbara Area in California. There are no police bribes allowed…motorcycle taxis are only allowed to carry 1 other passenger and helmets are required… there are set prices for traveling around the city on Bodas (Motorcycle taxis) and they do not try to charge tourist more just because we are white… They are very respectful and I was very surprised with how clean the city is. I felt extremely safe while we were there!
The country is very beautiful and calm, which is impressive seeing how much tragedy has happened in recent years.
Here is a History of Rwanda:
Rwanda had always been a very peaceful country. The tribes got along well and there were no issues between them. Then in the early 1900’s, Belgium colonist came to Rwanda. They wanted a way totally the different tribes apart, so they came up with a system. They decided that there were 3 main tribes. Hutu, Tutsi and Twa. The Hutus and Tutsis were the largest tribes. In 1932 the colonists decided that anyone who owned 10 cows or more would be considered a Tutsi and anyone with less than 10 cows would be considered a Hutu. This Law would also apply to their descendants. They gave everyone an identity card which stated which tribe they belonged to. Until that time, there had been peace… But now there was a divide among the people and the Tutsis were considered better than the Hutus. Because of problems that arose over the next couple decades, the Belgians tried to fix the situation. When the Belgian Colonists left Rwanda, they decided to correct their mistakes and left the Hutus in Charge of the Country that they had previously let the Tutsis run. 700,000 Tutsis were sent away to other countries and into Exile. Tutsi killings happened off and on for 30 years. In 1993, the Rebel group was able to get a 12 Million dollar loan from the French to acquire weapons.
But then in 1994, a group of Hutus decided to get rid of ALL the Tutsi people once and for all. Their plan took a long time work out, but on April 6, the signal was given over the radio. At 9:15 pm, roadblocks were set up and the shooting began within the hour. Houses were searched and any Tutsi found anywhere in the area was to be killed. They used Blunt objects, Guns, Clubs and Machetes.
Neighbors turned on Neighbors, friends against friends, and even some of the intermixed families delt with Fathers turning again their own wives and children.
The majority of the Genocide occurred in a span of 100 days. In those 100 days, the Hutus killed more than 1 Million Tutsi people. Men, Women, Children and Babies. 10,000 each day… 400 each hour… 7 people per minute.
Thousands of widows, Families missing children, and whole families completely wiped out with no one left alive to remember them or even to document their deaths. The Killings also resulted in leaving over 300,000 children orphaned and 85,000 of them became heads of their households.
The international media reported what was happening, but no one sent help. The UN had some troops there, but they were not allowed to shoot. They were only there to keep the peace. Rwanda was left on it’s own… to fight a loosing battle… knowing that the rest of the world had turned their backs and would not send help. I just can’t understand why governments around the world let this happen. It’s not like it was centuries ago when we didn’t have the equipment and skills to help… All of this happened in 1994... That was only 17 years ago!
We visited the Genocide Museum where 250,000 people are buried. Each room in the Museum is for a different aspect of the Genocide. The first 2 rooms are filled with pictures, history and information about it. One room had photos of families and adults who had been killed.
One room had displays of bones, clothes of the victims, and identity cards.
One room was filled with pictures and information of other genocides from around the world, and the last room was the children’s room.
This room had pictures of kids who died in those 100 horrific days. Each picture had a profile of that child. Their name, favorite food, favorite family member or best friend, favorite activity, their age, and lastly a description of how they died. If they were 12 years of younger, they were considered a child. There were so many that died, but the profiles are only of kids who had family members who had pictures of the child or even just ones that had family members still alive. The pictures and profiles were in order from oldest (12 years) to Youngest (9 months). The forms of death for most of them were: Shot, stabbed, tortured, burned to death, killed by a grenade, or hacked to death with a machete. One 12 year old girl named Mami Mpinganzima’s last words were “Mum, where can I run to?” before being shot…
After the genocide memorial, we could not emotionally handle anymore and were planning to have that be our only stop in regards to the Genocide. But Arthur wanted to see another one… A Church… We decided to go on our last day in Rwanda. We knew we would regret not going, so we drove an hour outside the city to Nyamata Church. The Museum in Kigali was a beautiful building specifically designed to give you the information, but was not as personal. I thought I would be able to handle going to a simple church to look around, but nothing could have prepared me for what we were about to see. The outside of the Church is beautiful with a lovely yard and tall trees around it. A school has been built near the church, and life goes on as normal. Due to special rules, people have to have prior permission to take photos inside of the Church, but I was able to get some online for you to see…..
Nyamata Catholic Church was seen as a place of safety for many people during the Genocide.
One day thousands of people fled to the Church because in the past, no one dared to kill anyone at church. But unfortunately the rebels did not care about the location. 2,000 people were killed inside the church, and 8,000 people were murdered outside on the church grounds. The fighting lasted hours with guns, machetes and clubs. When the rebels started to loose steam, the phoned the army who then sent grenades to help the rebels kill the Tutsis at Church. Sunlight pours into the church still from the holes in the roof left by the bullets and grenades.
We walked into the church just as the school children next door sang their opening songs to start off their school day. It was haunting to hear their angelic voices as you walk into the sanctuary filled with the clothes of 2,000 victims. Their clothes are in piles across the benches in the main part and in even bigger piles on the sides.
Downstairs in a small room, they have the coffin or a woman who died is such a horrific way that I can’t get the courage to write it out. She represents all of the women and children who died during the genocide. When you walk around the back of the Church outside, they have made an area for Mass Graves.
One side of the graves has a staircase that you can walk down into the tomb area. A small hallway lead s you to a room where you are surrounded on both sides by bones and skulls from hundreds f the victims. They are not in a display case, and are within 7 inches of your face.
The skulls each tell a different story of how they died. You can see bullet holes and cuts from machetes. I held my emotions in as best as I could, but had to walk out when I saw the skull of a baby among the other ones…
The Mass graves consist of people who dies around that area, the ones on the church property, and the ones that died in the Church itself. There are over 45,000 people buried at Nyamata Church….
The adults that were killed in Nyamata Church died mostly from machetes or bullets. But, when the rebels got a Tutsi child who was small enough, they would take them by the feet, swing them around and smash their heads against the brick walls.
Going to the Church was an experience for me that I will remember the rest of my life. It brought the Genocide to a real life level that I was not prepared for. I’m so glad I was able to go there, but am still heartbroken from the stories.
I am so impressed with Rwanda and their president. In 17 years, they have taken their broken country and turned it into a beautiful land to be proud of… I would highly recommend visiting that country to anyone
Wanting to travel to Africa…
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