Mike's Rwanda Trip Blog: Murambi

Hey all! Sorry for the delay in my final 2 days of postings. Between running around and seeing the sites we missed our first time in Kigali, shopping for more stuff to bring home, and trying to pack all that stuff, it just wasn't possible to blog. Now I'm well rested and have fast internet, so I can post about my last day and a half in Rwanda.

So we all got up and had some breakfast at the guest house in Musanze and left the guest house by 10am. From there it was a short, paved, 2 hour drive down to Kigali. Once we were there we went to the hotel, grabbed some lunch and then split up. Previously we had missed a planned memorial visit so Dr. Gaydosh and I took one driver to that memorial while everyone else went shopping. Unfortunately it was a Sunday, so most stuff was closed. They couldn't get us into the main building, but after some "persuasion" the well armed police officer took us for a walk through the outside part of the memorial. There are some pictures below to give you an idea of the memorial. On the way back into town we stopped the an infamous ETO school, which is still used as a school today, but was the site of a UN base that house refugees, until the UN pulled out, leaving the refugees to be massacred. Below there is a picture that has the signage, which should provide a good idea of what happened. It was a little weird taking pictures there because it is an active university. Students came up and translated to the guard what I wanted to do, and they guard let me in, but the students looked unhappy that I wanted to take pictures, which is the first time during the whole trip that I felt unwelcome at a genocide site.

From there we went back to the Kigali Memorial Museum to find out if we could buy 20 year anniversary banners from anyone. The guy there put us in contact with a man who said he could make them. I wanted one for myself and to use when I go and lecture, and Dr. Gaydosh wanted one for the HGS room. It will be interesting to see if in 20 years where the country is, and if the banner still resides in that room.

The following day we went ran around and packed and then waited at the airport for the banner guy to come drop them off. Luckily he showed up in the middle of a rain storm and gave us the banners minutes before we needed to board our flight. From there it was over 20 hours of travel to get back to the U.S. Coach wasn't bad, and Bethany and I kept each other entertained on the trip, laughing many times at things that were probably only funny to us. Once we got back I forced myself to stay awake and then finally passed out around 10. I plan in a few days to write a reflective post on my impressions, etc. now that I'm back in the states, but wanted to finish off the actual day to day part of the blog first. Below are pictures of the memorial and the school.

After a decent night's sleep, though a little shorter than I would have liked, I grabbed some breakfast and rushed around to make sure I wasn't late for our tours today (I haven't been late yet, but I'd like not to be "that person"). We left around 9am and headed 45 minutes away to the Murambi Memorial. When you get about 2.5km away from the memorial you can see it perched on top of the next small hill. After a bumpy dirty road ride to the gates we got out and began our walk up the path. The cite of this massacre was chosen because it sat between many high hills, allowing militias to see anyone trying to escape. Tutsis were told to go there and hide to be safe, but it was all a plan by the Hutu militias to collect the local Tutsis in one place. There was a small tiki torch in a glass case as part of the torch ceremony in the country, presumably where they placed one at each genocide memorial, finally lighting the large torch in Kigali for the 20 year anniversary of the genocide. We approached the front and were met by our guide. He greeted us and showed us the way into the museum part of the memorial. The walls were filled with the timelines of the genocide, testimony, and many pictures of victims. It appeared that either someone had broken in recently and stolen all of the projectors, or they had removed all of the projectors for some unknown reason. The TVs for informational videos did not work and every projector, and floor-mounted screen were missing. Even though parts were missing, the museum was incredibly well put together and provided some good background, as well as a section dedicated to those that sheltered Tutsis, thus risking their lives in the process. Following the museum section we went outside and visited the mass graves. When we got there we all participated in a moment of silence, and a Rwandan man that was taking the tour with us offered to say a prayer in Kinyarwanda, which was a humbling experience to witness. The mass graves are left in a way that allows the top to be opened up so as more bodies are found, even 20 years later, they can be laid to rest with the others.

From the mass grave we walked around the main building and saw a series of small buildings, meant to originally act as housing for the students that were supposed to go to school there. Now the buildings sit in disrepair, no windows, few doors, and bars over the open windows. Once we got to the rear of the complex of buildings we were told that we were going to see preserved bodies of victims that had been removed from mass graves farther in the back of the complex, and had been treated with lime to, essentially, mummify them. The first two rooms consisted of both male and female bodies, preserved and laid out on raised wooden racks. The bodies were contorted, some having not been killed before they were thrown in the mass graves were in defensive positions where they died, trying to suffocate under other dead Rwandans. Some were captured in their final position, begging to be spared. Many of the corpses were flattened due to the weight of the bodies above and the heat from decomposition. The following rooms were separated by groups such as women, children, women that were raped, and women with their children. Every room had the same sickeningly sweet smell, kind of like you hear described in books about death and murder. We were told that we would have had to write to a government agency to get permission to take pictures of the bodies, but at the end the guide informed us that he would allow us to take a couple of pictures since we didn't know and had come all that way. So we took a few pictures, though I did feel a little bit uncomfortable taking pictures of the dead, I knew that if I didn't, I would want to have them to show others within my program, and when I give presentations on my trip.

From there we walked around back where we saw the spot that the French troops had their flag during "Operation Turquoise."Billed as a humanitarian mission to the U.N., French troops entered Rwanda to defend what remained of the Hutu extremist regime. Claiming to provide protection, many of those they gathered up to protect, were left for a day and when the French returned, the Hutus had killed all of those they had saved. During the tour, the guide explained that not only did the French protect the old government, but they also shot Tutsis that had been brought to them for protection. Additionally the troops put men and women that were still alive in bags that held their legs and arms together, loaded them into helicopters, and dropped them from thousands of feet in the air into the middle of the forests to the east. Additionally, the French built a volleyball court on top of a mass grave. Here they celebrated, partied, and drank above the bodies of those recently murdered.

So I had it all written out a 2nd time and it had another issue, so I'll be super brief because I've written the story out twice and it has failed to upload. So our guide told us that he and his brother are survivors of the gencide. We were very shocked about this and he told us the story of how he survived.

Below you will see pictures from today. A little warning, some of the pictures are graphic and while I feel that they are imporant for others too view, they may be too graphic for others.