On Monday I spent the morning at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. With lots of information about the genocide of 1994 as well as what led up to it and followed it is a heavy but beautiful place. There are over 250,000 victims buried there. I had learned about it during college and this seemed a refresher and still shocking. It was also interesting to realize that I was meeting people who had lived through that time. It wasn't as far back in the past as I would like to believe. There is also space in the memorial showing of other genocides both past and current. There has been lots of work done in Rwanda with speaking truth and reconciliation and taking responsibility.
The stained glass is done about the genocide and leading up into the light after the tragedy. There are flowers on the graves that seem to go on for quite a ways.
I then walked to the memorial for the Belgian peacekeeping soldiers who were killed then. The bullet holes in the building where they took shelter and tried to survive have been left and stone pillars erected along with the information as to how they hunkered down and held out as long as possible.
The next two days I got to relax and hang out with a 15 month old Czech girl while her mother drove and picked up her two sisters from school. Then a walk in the neighborhood surrounding the hospital with them as Isabelle was working at making glasses for patients. We would then have a late dinner when the hospital work was done for the day, play a game and go to bed. Then it was time to head to South Africa!
>
No comments:
Post a Comment