Kigali - July 8th

We started today with a fantastic breakfast of honey toast, fresh pineapple, watermelon and Rwandan coffee (which was amazing). The view from the hostel was stunning, so we spent some time taking photos and appreciating the view. 

First on the agenda today (after stopping for second breakfast croissants) was the Kigali Genocide Memorial. I have wanted to visit Rwanda in order to learn more about the genocide for more than a decade, so I was really excited about today to finally be able to visit this significant site which contains the burials of approximately 250,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed in the genocide of 1994. The memorial starts with a large museum which tells the story of Rwanda from pre-colonial history through to post genocide recovery and renewal. I spent as much time as I could within our time limits taking in as much information as I could, which was incredibly difficult - I will need to come back during our CPD week.  

Following the main exhibit were three rooms. One contains photographs of victims. These are updated and changed every so often, as otherwise there wouldn’t be space for all the photographs that have been donated to the memorial. The second room contained the skulls and bones of many victims. While I’ve visited Auschwitz before, this was something else. I was taken aback - you can see the wounds that killed them in many instances. The third room had the clothes and belongings taken from some of the remains - the one that most affected me was a swath of Superman print material which must have been taken from a child or young person.  

I then went upstairs where there is a display on other genocides throughout history, though as I was aware of the time limits I skipped this exhibit to return to it next time. However, the final exhibit was called the Children’s Room. This room had large photographs of some of the children murdered in the genocide. Beneath these was information about their age when killed, their favourite foods, best friends - and hauntingly, how they were murdered. One of the worst for me was David Mugiraneza. He was 10 years old and loved football. He loved making people laugh and dreamed of becoming a doctor. His last words were “UNAMIR will come for us”. They never did. He was tortured to death.  

Later, in the memorial gardens, I was trying to explain this room to another teacher who had accidentally missed it, and I broke down in tears. How could a human being torture a 10 year old to death? Or hack them to death with a machete? And yet, ordinary people did - to their neighbours, their friends. Some even made parents kill their children before then killing the parents. How does a society reach that point? While the Holocaust had significantly more victims, they were mostly killed in very sanitised ways for the killers - there wasn’t so much “closeness” in the act. Yet here men were personally hacking and torturing living people to death. I am still struggling to comprehend it. I spent some time in the memorial garden reflecting on the exhibit. My own problems seemed incredibly insignificant here. I purchased some resource books and dvds to take home to support my planned S3 Rwanda unit, and some small mementos. 

We then drove to the Nyamirambo Women’s Centre. This centre was first established in 2007 by women from all across Rwanda in order to help each other. Three of the women could not read or write, so the women who could taught them from their homes. A year later, two Slovenian women were visiting Rwanda researching women’s issues here and became interested in this program. They decided to support them and opened a classroom where they could teach more women to read and write. This later expanded to teach them skills that could help them earn an income - first how to use a sewing machine, and later hairdressing courses, jewellery making courses and basket weaving courses. The centre itself now employs 55 women who work from Monday to Friday making products for the store to sell such as bags and skirts. The women here also earn a pension - which they would not have done if they didn’t work in a government job otherwise. They ask local leaders to select which women from their communities would most benefit from the centre, and that is who is able to attend and potentially work there. In 2018 a second shop was also able to open due to the success of the first. Furthermore they opened a small library across the street for the local children. This was to foster a love of reading and to help raise these children within a reading culture from a young age. Women from the centre can also leave their children here to be supervised while they are working at the centre. I was absolutely blown away by these women! The project is incredible and I just felt it was such a wonderful thing to be able to come and support.  

Following this, two of the women from the centre took us on a tour of the neighbourhood. “Nyamirambo” means “the place where dead bodies can be found” after an 18th century war between Rwanda and Burundi - as so many people were killed in this area and buried here, it was given this name. It is also known as the “no sleeping neighbourhood” as it is considered party central of Kigali. We were first taken to a local milkbar where Rwandans come daily for fresh pasteurised milk. Milk is as frequently drunk as beer in the country, and there are 25 such milk bars in this neighbourhood alone! There is also a scheme where the poorer members of the community are given free or cheaper milk - much like our own system at home. This neighbourhood was where our tour guide, Jado, was raised. His father and grandfather were killed in the genocide when he was only a baby, but he and his mother were able to survive. We found out that this was due to this community being predominantly made of Muslim immigrants from Tanzania. Jado and his mother were given sanctuary in the local mosque, and as the genocidaires were scared of the Tanzanians and their “magic”, they never entered the mosques. I found this really intriguing, as this was not the case with Christian churches - in many cases the ministers of these churches offered protection, then informed the genocidaires that they were hiding there. Many thousands were massacred while seeking protection in churches. An interesting thought to consider when looking at the current atmosphere of Islamophobia in the Western world. This is also the oldest neighbourhood of Kigali, and Jado’s grandfather had been the community leader here which is why he was targeted. The community is now very peaceful otherwise, and the red dirt streets do not betray any thought of the atrocities that happened here 24 years ago.  

On our last stop of the tour, four curious children were captivated by my camera - I was able to take some fantastic photos of them and with them. We finally returned to the women’s centre where we bought a variety of beautiful goods (some headbands and an apron for myself!) 

We then continued on a bus tour of Kigali where we saw part of the city which was in stark contrast to where we had been. Huge houses and gated communities with beautiful gardens can also be found in Kigali, along with a 5 star Marriott hotel. The divide between rich and poor here is pretty clear. However we also learned that once a month, all of Rwanda stops to clean their community areas. This explains why the city is so clean! However, Jado also told us that communities get together to decide what they should do on this day. For example, if a community member’s home has been damaged in flooding, the whole community gathers together to repair or rebuild it. How fantastic is that?! This half day is compulsory for all Rwandans - including the President - and they are charged a hefty fine if they don’t participate. This includes the President. I was really impressed by that - how fantastic would this be to see implemented in Caithness? We returned to the hostel for a quick break before we all ventured out for dinner at a Meze Fresh - a Mexican chain - for the LARGEST burrito I have had in my life. It was delicious and I’m now dealing with a rather large burrito baby! That’s it for tonight - one more day in Kigali tomorrow before we leave for our communities! Excited and nervous all at once.