Genocide Memorial

Today Emily wanted to see the Genocide Memorial that commemorates the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda in the 90s. Hannah and I went along. I figured it was probably a good idea if I learned a little more about the history of the people here – especially because it’s both so recent and horrifying. Everyone here has vivid memories of the time although talking about them is not common.

The memorial was actually designed by the same people that did the Holocaust memorial in Washington DC.  Here's a picture of it.  It was well designed and quite informative. It was split into three parts – the history leading up to and the actually events of the Genocide in Rwanda, Children as victims, and then other genocides that have occurred in the world. Emily, Hannah and I made it through the first part before we were totally drained, entirely upset, and ready to leave. We decided to do the other two parts another day, when we could handle it.

A little factoid I found interesting was the fact that Tutsi and Hutu differentiation didn’t even exist before the Belgian colonists arrived. Those labels used to refer to the level of income a person had, but was used across all the different tribes living in Rwanda. It was more of a label of class, and was never used as a way to limit a person’s opportunity. People could move from one class to another simply by becoming more or less profitable. According to the memorial, there were somewhere around 12 different “tribes” that lived in Rwanda prior to the Belgian imperialism. When the Belgians came, they made an effort to register people and give out ID cards that differentiated the people according to a Hutu or Tutsi label. Basically everyone that had 10 or more cows was a Tutsi, and everyone else was a Hutu. This all happened years and years before the actual Genocide, but is essentially want laid the groundwork for bad blood and irrational hatred.

The designers of the memorial put a lot of graphic imagery and video interviews of survivors throughout the space, and by the end I was such a mess I couldn’t see any more. When I walked outside, the contrast of the bright sun to my dim mood is probably the only thing that made the rest of the day possible.

Here’s a picture of Emily, Hannah and I. We made valiant efforts to smile…