One Hundred Days; One Million People

"If you had known yourself, and you had known me, you wouldn't have killed me."

The reason we came to Rwanda was because we both felt very drawn to the history here, and felt that it was important to experience for ourselves what happened in the genocide of 1994, where more than 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. The genocide was very systematic, and was completely ignored by international communities, as it was downplayed as a "tribal conflict" between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes. People, mostly Tutsi, were killed as violently and humiliatingly as possible. We visited 3 memorial places; two churches where mass murders occured (Nyamata and Ntarama), and the Kigali Memorial Centre. The above quotation was written on a banner outside one of the churches.

Ntarama Church - 5,000 Victims. The government was telling the people they would be safe in the churches, so thousands of people fled to them, only to have the government direct the militia to where they were hiding. The clothes of the victims are hung up around the church and everything has been left exactlly as it was. At the front of the church there are piles of peoples personal belongings, including books, dishes, shoes, mattresses, and bags of food. The militia smashed holes into the side of the church and threw grenades inside before entering themselves. They succeeded in killing all but 10 people. We had a hard time there because we couldn't imagine how terrified these people must have been, or what on earth would turn a country onto itself.

Nyamata Church - 10,000 Victims. When the war started on April 6, as many as 10,000 Tutsi's fled to a large church in the town of Nyamata. Using grenades, the militia were able to gain entry into the church, and using guns, machetes and anything else they could get their hands on, killed ever single person inside. The church is very sombering - it has been left as it was after the massacre, so we could see bullet holes and blood stains everywhere. Outside of the church they have 3 tombs where they keep the bones of the victims. It was very sad and very real.

We also visited Camp Kigali, which is important because it was the headquarters for the RGF (a key player in the killings), and is the place where 10 Belgian soldiers were murdered. The RGF figured that if Belgium lost some soldiers, the rest of the troops would pull out, and that is exactlly what happened. UN forces went from 2500 to 250.

In Kigali there is a memorial centre dedicated to the genocide, and it is very well put together. We were able to learn about the history between the two tribes, as well as how the genocide was put together and the aftermath for those who survived. We are sure that to some it might seem a little gruesome that we would want to come and see these things, but we both felt that we needed to hear their stories and to really see for ourselves what happened here. We have great respect for the people of this country and what they have been through. Learning about the genocide is the only way to ensure it never happens again.

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