Genocide Commemoration

Posted by Mikkel

Last week was Genocide Memorial Week. 17 years ago on the 6^th of April the Rwandan Genocide started. The following 100 days somewhere close to one million people – mostly tutsis - were killed often in the most gruesome ways. Around ¾ of the tutsis in Rwanda at the time are believed to have been killed. The killers were mainly armed with machetes and homemade weapons. They were organized and managed by local leaders and government officials. And they were backed-up by the national army.

In a way it is unimaginable what happened here during those 100 days. Most of the killing actually happened within the first 3-4 weeks. A friend of ours here was 11 years old and living in Kigali when the genocide started. He told me that it was just as unimaginable when it happened. And that that was probably one of the main reasons of the killers’ “success” in those first 3-4 weeks. Those that were hunted thought they would be safe if they gathered in schools, churches, etc. They thought no-one would kill 40.000 civilians who take shelter inside a big boarding school compound… But they did. It took three days and only 8 people survived by hiding under dead bodies.The yearly mourning and commemoration period officially lasts for 100 days but the first week is the most intense. This week is followed by numerous small ceremonies throughout the country happening at the place and date of big massacres. On the first day we went to a completely filled up national stadium. All speeches (except for a part of the president’s) were in Kinyarwanda, but that did not really matter. It’s hard to describe, but from all corners of the stadium people were crying out their grief. Many people broke down and had to be carried out screaming. The sound was the most intense expression of sadness and sorrow that I have ever experienced. The ceremony was broadcasted on national television. Someone who was watching from home told me that during the one minute of silence the sound was simply cut off. At the stadium the “silence” made the crying and screaming only stronger.

The commemoration period seems to be the only time where people give themselves a chance to express their grief. It’s the time people talk about what happened and where it is suddenly OK to use the words hutu and tutsi. Watching movies or reading books about the genocide is one thing, but hearing stories directly from a friend or colleague is something very different.  You hear how he lost most of his family and he himself was hiding in Kigali. How the rain allowed them to go looking for food since people here (still) do not really work when it rains! How he was saved by a hutu family giving him shelter with fear for their own lives. And how he actually knows the name of the killers of his mother because they were their former neighbours.

It was an interesting and intense week. I still cannot comprehend how the genocide could happen. But I believe that I now have a better understanding of what happened in those days and the impact the genocide still has on the people we live and work with.

(The photo by the way is from another ceremony that I attended outside of Kigali. Around 5000 people were killed at that specific spot including my colleagues' mother and sisters)