Genocide Memorial Museum in Rwanda

In 1994, Rwanda experienced a bloody moment which was characterized by mass killing of hundreds and thousands of natives. The civil war between the Tutsi and Hutu left Rwanda’s population very low due to massive loss of lives on either side. At the end of the war, a number of genocide memorial centers cropped up and among which include:

Murambi Genocide memorial site

This project is centered on the main building in Murambi, a school that has been left vacated since the genocide in 1994. The school classrooms where over eight hundred corpses have been preserved have been left untouched. After the genocide, as mass graves were being discovered around the city, it was decided that a single monument should be created, where the victims could be laid to rest with dignity.

Gisozi Memorial center

The site is located in the Gasabo District, in the city of Kigali. It is where the victims of Tutsi Genocide are buried from the year 2000. It contains a cemetery, a house of exhibition on Genocide section; a library and it has a plan of teaching the history of genocide. There are approximately 300,000 victims buried there. For a real, heart-in-your-throat experience, it is important to visit two other genocide memorials, sites which actually became slaughterhouses in April 1994. Nyamata and Ntarama are about 25 kilometers from Kigali and only about 1 km apart from each other.

Gisenyi Memorial centre

Visit the grave of Madame Carr, an American who ran an orphanage for genocide orphans called Imbabazi. The road that leads to the orphanage is near the UNHCR Nkamira refugee camp (on the left, if driving away from Gisenyi; on the right, if driving toward Gisenyi).

Nyamata Memorial centre

This is situated in the Bugesera district of Rwanda about 35 km from the capital city of Kigali. During the genocide, many people used the Catholic Church as a refuge. However, according to the testimonies given by survivors, on April 10th 1994 about 10,000 people were killed in and around the area of the Catholic Church. People from all around congregated in the church and locked the iron door with a padlock to protect themselves from the murderers. This church and its contents are a reminder of the horrifying violence that took place at this site during the 1994 genocide.

Bisesero Memorial centre

It is situated in Karongi District, western Province. More than 27,000 victims of genocide are buried here. They were killed after a brave and long resistance and self defence until they were betrayed by French soldiers. This memorial centre is known as the “Hill of Resistance” because of the heroic resistance mounted by the people of Bisesero against their assassins.

Ntarama Memorial centre, the Genocide Memorial is situated about 30 kilometers south of the capital city of Kigali in the Bugasera region, this church and its contents are a reminder of the horrifying violence that took place at this site during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Ntarama Church is where most brutal killings of the 1994 Rwandan genocide took place.

Today, the Genocide memorial museums are tourist attraction – earns the country a lot of foreign exchanges.
The Genocide memorial museum offers employment opportunities to people of Rwanda and none citizens -the attendants, cleaners among others.

Genocide memorial sites remind the people the bad results of the wars – the Rwanda civil war of 1994 cost the lives of hundreds and thousands of people (RIP).

It caters for the future generation – the young people also witness the effect of what happened in 1994 war between Ttusi and the Hutu.

The decent burial comforts the relatives of the deceased – never to happen again.