I asked my travel companions if they would like to put pen to paper and sum up what they felt they got from our trip to Rwanda, this is what Lee had to say ...
"My trip to Rwanda was an experience I will never forget, it was exactly as it was advertised as "discover Rwanda". The experiences we had were educational and moving, from the highs of meeting dignitaries and visiting parliament to the very shocking visit to the memorial centre at Murumbi Hill. I have returned with a much clearer insight into why and how the genocide happened, and a high level of respect for the people who deal with the aftermath on a daily basis.
I am still thinking about which causes to support and how my school can establish a meaningful link with a school in Rwanda but I will definitely do something to try and help".
Lee Batchford
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Saturday 14 April 2012
Day 2 Revisitied
Kigali Memorial Centre was opened to mark the tenth anniversary commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The Centre is situated in the district of Gisozi, the site chosen for mass burial of the 250,000 victims of genocide in Kigali.
The site is the final resting place and Memorial to all those who were murdered in Kigali. To the surviving family members it is the place they come to remember their loved ones. It is also a place of reflection and learning for the rest of Rwanda and its visitors.
The Centre comprises of three permanent exhibitions. The largest of these documents the genocide in 1994; there is also a children's memorial, and an exhibition on the history of genocidal violence around the world. Memorial gardens, the National Documentation Centre of the Genocide an the Kigali Memorial Centre education centre all contribute to a sincere meaningful tribute to the victims of the past and education of future generations.
Taken from: Jenoside - Kigali Memorial Centre
To sit here and explain what each section of the exhibition was about is a very difficult thing to do as it was a very personal journey to go on. I gained a deeper understanding of Rwanda's history, how 1994 wasn't the first time that genocide had taken place in Rwanda, how the disgusting use of propaganda conditioned the majority of the Hutu population to see neighbours, friends and even members of their own family as the enemy. When President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down whilst flying in to Kigali on the 6th April, 1994 it was genocide from the first day. Death lists had been pre-prepared in advance, no Tutsi was exempt. In 100 days more than 1,000,000 people were murdered, 10,000 each day, 400 each hour, 7 each minute. Those that weren't killed were tortured, mutilated and raped. There were over 300,000 orphans with over 85,000 children left as heads of their households. There were thousands of widows, many had victim of rape and sexual abuse. The streets were littered with corpses ......... Rwanda was dead.
I had taken photo's whilst walking round the exhibition but I've decided not to publish them on here, merely out of respect to those who lost their lives. The exhibition has been sensitively put together but with the hard hitting visual aids needed to put everything you read into perspective. It's not just reams of facts and figures but a personal insite into the lives of Rwandans during before, during and after the 100 days of mass slaughter.
Kigali Memorial Centre Education Programme
The Rwandan children of today have many different perspectives of the genocide, that of a perpetrators view, a survivors view or from an exiled point of view. Each depending on their personal families history. The Education programme run at the centre has an ethos of "learning from the past - building a future". With the help of Councillor who supports the children during the one day workshops the Centre hopes to teach the children what lessons can be learnt from the past, help them to understand how genocide happens in the first place, helps the youngsters develop active and enquiring minds and to promote the idea of a common future. To achieve these objectives they look at Rwandan History, 1994 Tutsi genocide, definitions of genocide, other world genocides, the different stages of genocide and critical thinking and problem solving. During the days process, if the councillor feels at any point that the children aren't coping she stops the workshop. It's monitored closely with regular follow ups after the workshop has taken place. The aim isn't to traumatise but to educate to ensure that it never happens again.
At the moment those who are benefiting from the programme include students, youth clubs, local communities to Kigali and the International Community. As mentioned in my previous blog, in the 3 years that the programme has been running they have had just under 9000 participants attend the programme. One of the biggest challenges they have is that many schools in the urban areas of Rwanda can't afford to get the students to the centre. For one child to attend a days workshop, including travel and teaching materials is $25, not much really!
A new project currently in the development stages is a mobile exhibition which has the main aim of reaching families outside of Kigali. This may help with the issue of schools not being able to afford to sent their students to the Centre, it will also take the re-education to the heart of the community.
Social Fund
The Social Fund is basically a "rebuilding lives programme". It primarily supports survivors by supporting household income, surgeries that need to be done overseas, school tuition fees, school uniforms and much more. There are currently 140 people supported through the programme. Needs assessments are done on all people who approach the Social fund programme, if they cant help they will point them in the direction of an agency who can.
Current Income Generation
Social Enterprises currently generating an income that can be fed back into the Education Programmes and Social Fund include the gift shop at the Memorial Centre which only sells goods produces by Survivors the Cafe at the Centre and the Youth Hostel (which I will go into more details about in a later blog)
Monday 2 April 2012
Day 2
Kigali memorial centre - first full day in rwanda. I have seen, read and listened to so much information today I'm not going to be able to do it full justice In a nightly blog which is being written when really l need to sleep. So, to quickly run through what I've seen with a view to writing a much detailed blog from all my notes when l get home here goes:-
The morning was spent with a guided tour of the Kigali memorial centre. We were taken around the gardens which incorporated three large enclosed concrete graves which were quite haunting with single red roses laying on the top where people had wanted to pay their respects. There was also an open grave where many victims of the genocide are still being laid to rest today, and in fact will be on Saturday (memorial day). We were also told that fresh graves were being dug in the grounds beyond the centre which just shows that even now remains are still being found.
We then moved on to the exhibition inside which gives a detailed account of Rwanda's history, the genocides that took place before 1994, the political propaganda machine that actively promoted the most effective way of removing tutsis from existence, the abandonment of survivors by agencies such as the red cross to the re-education programmes currently run by Aegis to ensure that it never happens again. Again this is very brief and l'll explain more on my return.
This afternoon we looked in detailed at the the Aegis trusts education programme and social programmes.
Just a few statistics for now regarding the education programme:-
To date over 8800 Rwandan children have sat through the day workshops run by the aegis trust which is in total 214 groups of children. To put them through this programme costs $25 per child. Why do they go to the centre to learn about the genocide .... Because the teachers in the schools try their best to avoid the subject, they don't know how to tackle it. Tomorrow I'll write in detail how the programme works (please bear with me, I'm still trying to process everything I've learnt today!!)
The final section concentrated on the social fund programme which helps
Primarily widows and orphans turn their lives around, from the restructuring of their homes, to school tuition fees and for the younger children essentials such as school uniforms. We will be looking at this in much more detail tomorrow.
This is just a very brief overview and l promise to pad it out much more on my return including all the photos I've taken.
Will update tomorrow. X
The morning was spent with a guided tour of the Kigali memorial centre. We were taken around the gardens which incorporated three large enclosed concrete graves which were quite haunting with single red roses laying on the top where people had wanted to pay their respects. There was also an open grave where many victims of the genocide are still being laid to rest today, and in fact will be on Saturday (memorial day). We were also told that fresh graves were being dug in the grounds beyond the centre which just shows that even now remains are still being found.
We then moved on to the exhibition inside which gives a detailed account of Rwanda's history, the genocides that took place before 1994, the political propaganda machine that actively promoted the most effective way of removing tutsis from existence, the abandonment of survivors by agencies such as the red cross to the re-education programmes currently run by Aegis to ensure that it never happens again. Again this is very brief and l'll explain more on my return.
This afternoon we looked in detailed at the the Aegis trusts education programme and social programmes.
Just a few statistics for now regarding the education programme:-
To date over 8800 Rwandan children have sat through the day workshops run by the aegis trust which is in total 214 groups of children. To put them through this programme costs $25 per child. Why do they go to the centre to learn about the genocide .... Because the teachers in the schools try their best to avoid the subject, they don't know how to tackle it. Tomorrow I'll write in detail how the programme works (please bear with me, I'm still trying to process everything I've learnt today!!)
The final section concentrated on the social fund programme which helps
Primarily widows and orphans turn their lives around, from the restructuring of their homes, to school tuition fees and for the younger children essentials such as school uniforms. We will be looking at this in much more detail tomorrow.
This is just a very brief overview and l promise to pad it out much more on my return including all the photos I've taken.
Will update tomorrow. X
Sunday 1 April 2012
Day 1
Just a very quick blog tonight I'm afraid on the basis that I'm completely shattered after an unbelievably long day travelling. Was up at 4.15am for a 6.00am flight to Amsterdam. A three hour stop over followed by an 8hr flight to Kigali. Finally landed at 7.15pm this evening. A quick unpack at the hotel followed by a very late evening meal has left me so ready for bed. It's 12.30am now and l know l'm going to sleep well. I can't wait to see what Rwanda looks like when l wake up, certainly from a night time perspective it looks beautiful. Will post more tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)