On our itinerary today was the Murambi Genocide Memorial, a visit to a refugee camp and a peace circle with Sunday. The plan to visit the refugee camp fell through and instead, we were able to listen to a presentation by Felix Manzi from the “Their Footprints Foundation.”
The Murambi Genocide Memorial, in contrast to the Gizozi Genocide Memorial, had bodies of the people that were killed during the 1994 genocide. Their bodies were mummified and preserved in a way that kept the bodies sort of frozen; the positions their bodies were in were the same today as they were the day they died. When the tour began, we went through the corridors with the information over the history of Rwanda; the colonization, the division between the Hutus and the Tutsis and the events leading up to the genocide.
After reading about the history, we walked through a couple of corridors with photos of the victims and (empty) burial chambers, towards the end of the walk through the first building, there was a wall where people were invited to write about their takeaways from the memorial. The various people that had visited the memorial, seen from their languages and writing seemed extremely diverse and the knowledge they had taken from the memorial would be taken back to their homes.
We followed our guide from the first building to a mass grave that was once filled with over 7,000 people, the guide explained to us that people were made to dig the graves and then were buried in there. Next, we went to view the next hill as he explained the historical significance of the positions of the two hills.
As he continued to share the history of different parts of the memorial, the final area we visited was the preserved bodies. It was extremely difficult for everyone in the group, especially the room with the bodies of the children. Similarly, the children’s room was also the most painful for everyone at the Gizozi Genocide Memorial; seeing the photos of people that once were living life, had families and friends and were once just like us was really difficult.
The drive back from the memorial was quiet, the weight of the experience was collectively on everyone’s shoulders; the feeling of helplessness and numbness were almost unanimous. Once we returned to our hostel, we sat with Sunday in a peace circle and discussed how we felt, appreciated and honored ourselves and people in our lives and finally we wrapped the circle up by complimenting one another. Though this was only our second time doing a peace circle, I really enjoy it.
Our final part of the day was the presentation by Felix Manzi about the “Their Footprints Foundation,” the goals, plans, and programs of the organization and I talked to him briefly afterward to discuss similar work that I have done and exchanged contact information to be in touch.
