Gikongoro, Rwanda: The Murambi School was the site of one of the largest massacres of Tutsi Rwandans during the genocide of the 1990s. In April of 1994, the Tutsi citizens of Gikongoro province were rounded up and forced into a school by local Hutu leaders. After several days of imprisonment, during which many perished from hunger and dehydration, those inside the school compound were slaughtered by the Hutus. An estimated 45,000 people were buried in a mass grave. However, many of the bodies remained in the school, which today has been designated as a memorial. These bodies are on public display, most covered with lime for preservation, but maintained in the positions in which they were killed.
I browsed through some of the memorial sites relating to the Rwandan genocide because this was an atrocity that my Human Rights class greatly focused on during one of our units. First, I was remotely surprised that a nation wold utilize it’s horrific past as a way to create more tourism and profit. However, this particular site especially disturbed me because of the way that the people were “memorialized”. The actual bodies are on display in the exact way that they were killed – that is definitely not a way that I would like myself or anybody that I know to be remembered. I can understand the educational and historical significance of showing the school and the way in which the mass graves were assembled, but at least use dummies in place of the victims of the genocide.
Of the memorials I visited in Rwanda and the atrocious memories that were encapsulated by these memorials. This memorial was the hardest by far. Just thinking about the memorial makes me feel physically ill and upset. My journal entry following the trip to the Murambi Memorial included the following passage:
Sunday March 1st 2010- The memorial was hard. There were around twenty-four rooms with around 1800 bodies on display. It was awful walking from room to room. It smelled awful. The first few rooms were mostly full of infants and children – it was sickening – our guides walked us from one room to the next, simply opening the rooms for us to walk inside – the language gap (between the guides and the other three volunteers I was with at the memorial) made the whole experience even more discomforting.
This memorial as is already mentioned is a site where the bodies of the victims were preserved with lime. Many of the bodies were dug up from the mass graves, yet you could still see details such as facial expressions, cut tendons, hair, and clothing. The rooms containing bodies smelled so strong it was overwhelming, the sites to never be forgotten by anyone who visits the memorial.
In response to what is written above, first I think it is important to note that the Tutsis were not simply rounded up and brought to the technical school. Also, many Tutsis sought refuge there as many were told it would be a safe haven for them. Following that the water supplies were shut off leading to the several days of imprisonment as you discuss.
Second, Natalie to your response, I totally get what you are getting at (clearly after seeing this memorial in person). However, if the memorial utilized dummies instead of real bodies, it would take a completely different level and meaning. Perhaps it seems like you would not want anyone you know remembered this way, and I am not saying I would necessarily either… However, I feel this memorial is a huge eye-opening to the extreme brutality and tragedy that ensued. I cannot speak for Rwandans on the whole, but numerous that I had conversations with (not specifically about Murambi), often talked about the importance of the memorials and recognition to the heinous crime. In fact, at many of the memorials (probably most uncomfortably so), the guides encouraged us to take photos, in order to be able to share photos when we go home. Had the actual bodies not been used but dummies instead, the message would have been a lot weaker. This memorial is something that will forever be engrained in my mind.
i am touched and would like to go there some day,,,