RWANDA place here while the world did nothing. Starting in the early hours of 17 April 1994, almost one million Rwandans were savagely slaughtered in just three months.
The tour begins with a video of survivors relating their stories. Ordinary people were driven to betray and even kill their own, living in mortal fear of the Interahamwe militia, backed by the Hutu government, leading up to and during the Rwandan Genocide.“ My mom was a nurse. My dad was a teacher. I am the only survivor,” says one man, his eyes haunted by the memory.“ The neighbour’ s son told the militia to pick out my mom’ s children. They were slaughtered with machetes right there and then. I ran away, but could hear the screams of my brother and sisters.” Another woman tells how the militia killed people hiding at the Gisimba orphanage.“ There was just chaos, screaming and crying, blood flowing. People baptised each other in blood. That was the last time I saw any of my family alive.” She was a child of 10.
As I walk through the dimly lit museum with its shocking photographs of terror and death on the walls, together with human skulls in glass cases, I am deeply disturbed. But the conclusion of the story affects me profoundly. It reads simply:“ This is about our past and our future. Our nightmares and dreams, our fear and our hope. Which is why we begin where we end. With the country we love.”
Our minibus is quiet on the way back, but I leave with a feeling of hope. In modern Rwanda there is no sign of any underlying resentment or anger in the people. And while South Africa had one Nelson Mandela, Rwanda seems to have many.
Manzi Kayihura, managing director of Thousand Hills Expeditions, later tells us Rwanda is still very poor, but there
Travel Update | issue 9
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