Kigali Memorial Center

During our last day in Kigali we stopped at the Kigali Memorial Center and saw some of the horrors of the massacres in Rwanda.  Over 250,000 Rwandans are buried on the site and it was a very emotional visit for our driver who took us to the site.  He had lost most of his family and he was struggling to forgive and move on.

The museum is full of displays that explain the entire history of the conflict that arose from a differentiation of the Hutus and Tutsis, which was later capitalized on by politicians to push their own agendas in search of power.  The people were conditioned to accept their roles in the slaughter and in the end over 800,000 were killed by machete, often neighbor against neighbor, and family members killing other family members.

Cement caps on the graves of over 250,000 victims

The worst part of the museum for me were the rooms full of pictures of the people that had died in the killings.  Half the second floor was dedicated to the kids that were lost, many often brutally slaughtered.  I wish, as the museum states, that this should never happen again.