Genocide Memorial

The Rwandan Genocide Memorial in Kigali is organised into three parts, ordered as follows: 1) before the genocide; 2) other genocides around the world; and 3) the child victims of Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Within, a quote:
"This is about our past and our future;
our nightmares and our dreams;
our fear and our hope.
We begin where we end,
with the country that we love."

Photography inside the memorial is prohibited, but here are a couple of pics from the outdoor grounds.

During the annual mourning period (100 days to mark the duration of '94 genocide, beginning every April-June), a flame is kept burning here. The surrounding water represents life - the lives of those who survived amongst the terror and mass killings(symbolized by fire). The potholder statue is an elephant, as elephants 'never forget'.

Circling a Rwandan flagpost is the Children's Garden. The plantings are those of fruit trees, to represent that children are the fruit of life, we must help them to grow and protect them so that they may nourish the future.

It is noted inside that the militia were trained to execute 1,000 people every 20 minutes. The mass executions (often involving rape and torture) were extremely well planned and choreographed w the support -and, through inaction, endorsement- of those around the world in a position to help.

Below this children's garden are three tiers of mass graves, the final resting place for approximately a quarter of a million men, women and children.