My Kigali Diary - Day 7: Rwanda Genocide Memorial

Unlike the last two days, Saturday morning was a bit warmer. I had woken up feeling feverish the last two days as a result of the cold. But Friday night into Saturday turned out different. In fact, I was damn too tired following the exhaustion of match day activities to even remember putting on my cardigan. I practically dozed off on the bed and it felt really cool waking up on Saturday morning without the usual rush of trying to edit sounds and send stories or prepare to receive calls from any of the CoolWazobiaInfo Group. 

At Kigali Genocide Memorial

After much postponement, it was all agreed we would pay a visit to the Rwanda Genocide Memorial. 12 pm was the time agreed. There was enough time for me to finish up work on My Kigali Diary of the previous day. Since I was dependant on Emeka's computer, I had to wait till he was done with his diary (nna, no so so diary we come Kigali come write?). For me though, the trick I'd learnt to work around this was typing major part of the work using my BlackBerry. Then, send it via email from one of my accounts to the other. Get the mail from the system, put on Microsoft WordPad and then edit and finish up the process. Quite hectic I have to admit, but the joy of reading all the comments and seeing how many anxiously wait for the next edition, beats whatever 'stress' involved in getting it done. Matter of fact is, I should have completed at least a novel by now, but I'm damn right lazy and the world's greatest procrastinator. If only there was a prize for that. 

Anyway, back to Saturday morning. At the point where the diary was almost complete, we got news the Super Eagles would be training at 2 pm. Just before then, Kelechi, Emeka and I were already looking ahead to how the team's final group game would affect us. Super Eagles play Guinea on Tuesday at 4pm local time (3pm Nigeria time) in Rubavu - that's like 164 kilometres from the capital Kigali – about 3 hours drive. We deliberated on whether or not we should leave Kigali on match day or go on Monday to meet up with the pre-match conference as well as final training session. Somehow, our plan of visiting the memorial almost changed all of a sudden. I was of the opinion that there was no point going to the Rwanda Genocide Memorial and dash out after an hour or two. Instead, it was preferable we go for the training, get all the interviews we can get, forget the presser on Monday and just go straight to Rubavu on match day. However, Kelechi insisted on going to the memorial and going to Rubavu on Monday to meet the pre-match presser. That yeye boy can be an a** sometimes as he was a bit aggressive about not postponing the memorial visit. 

So the memorial it was then. We got to the location after about 25 minutes motor bike ride. We were met at the reception by Venessa – a dark skinned lady who welcomed us warmly. She proceeded to tell us give us a brief history of the memorial. According to Venessa, about two hundred and fifty nine thousand people where buried where we were standing. She also told us the memorial was opened in 1999 but officially commissioned in 2004 to mark 10 year anniversary of the genocide. 

Me Staring at Some of the Dead

At that point, the magnitude of it all began to set it. 259k people where I am standing? Lord have mercy!

She then told us the rules and regulations. First, we could get an audio guide for 11,000 Rwandan Francs (RWF) - that’s about 15 dollars or 4,500 naira. It was optional though but Kelechi and I decided to pay for it. We also had to pay if we would take pictures ‎inside the memorial archives. For that, we needed 20 dollars, about 6,000 naira or 15,000 RWF. Just then it dawned on me: do we even have relics from our own Biafran Civil War? Is there anything like a Civil War Museum in Enugu - capital of the then Biafran State? I imagined the amount of revenue the memorial was generating on a daily basis and how we probably would have also. Truth is, Nigeria still has a long way to go in terms of diversifying our economy. I digress. 

Back to Venessa. We all contributed the cash needed for taking pictures and she duly informed us we would watch a ten minute video before proceeding inside. And that's when our journey to the horrendous imagery that was the Rwanda Genocide, began. You can pride yourself about reading a lot about the 1994 massacre or better still you may have watched the popular movie Hotel Rwanda; but none of these comes close to watching real victims of this dastardly act recount their stories. ‎

There was the young man who was 16 at the time. He lost both parents. Another was a little boy who watched his mum and sister get slaughtered right before him. The most touching story however, was a woman who recounted how she lost her husband and 3 kids after she was assaulted by their invaders led by her neighbours.  Her husband was god-father to the children of the supposed neighbour and the man in turn godfather to her own children. But that fateful April 1994, just when she thought her family could seek refuge with their neighbor, the man was the one that led the attack on them.

How sad!

Murdered In Cold Blood

We then proceeded inside as we got more information about how it all started. Apparently, the deep seated hatred between the groups in the country had been sown by colonialists. The Belgians and Germans who first settled in what is now known as Rwanda found a way to separate the tribes with several criteria including the number of cows you have. According to quotes in the museum archive walls, persons who had 10 cows and above where described as Tutsis while if you have anything less, you were Hutu. That animosity from the onset continued for well over many years until the bubble finally burst. On April 6^th, 1994 the airplane carrying Juvenal Habyarimana , the President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira , the Hutu President of Burundi, was shot down and both presidents died when the plane crashed. According to the info in the audio we were listening to, till date, no one knows for sure who was responsible for the act. What followed in the early hours of the next day, the 7^th, remains one of Africa’s deadliest massacres. Neighbours turned on each other, friends turned enemies and even children were not spared. With mass media employed as a propaganda tool, the seed of hatred which had been built over the years manifested in such deadly fashion as anything cruel you can think of

Murder From A Priest?

Newspaper Editor Hassan Ngeze and broadcaster Ferdinand Nahima were most responsible for the hate speech which helped fuel the crisis. People fled to churches and stadiums to seek refuge but that only made the killings a lot easier. In fact, some catholic priests helped murder their congregation. The case of Father Seromba who gave an order to bulldoze his own church and kill the entire congregation inside almost brought tears to my eyes.

Preserved Remains of the Dead

An estimated 1 million people lost their lives in the space of 3 months from that fateful April date. Even the Nigerian Civil War which claimed as many people lasted over a 3 year period. Makes you wonder why some people back home in Nigeria still go all about Biafra this and that. However, I have to admit that the clamour for Biafra 40 years after the war is testament to the fact that Nigeria has failed to deal with the issues that led to the civil war. There is still a deep seated hatred amongst all the tribes in Nigeria. I am Isoko. I was born in Lagos, left at age three for the East; lived 14 years in Igbo land; went back to Lagos and lived among the Yorubas for another 13 years and have stayed a few weeks or thereabouts in the North. Presently, I live in Rivers State the last three years and from my sojourn all across the country, my humble opinion is that we Nigerians still have deep seated distrust and in some cases, hatred for each other.

Unlike us, Rwandese have moved on 22 years after the genocide. Its President, Paul Kagame, has overseen a massive reconstruction of the country such that people, who for over 70 years fought themselves to a standstill, now relate to each other perfectly well. The Western World - who it must be said turned a blind eye despite warnings about the impending massacre – has donated massively to Rwanda. Kigali is reputed to be the cleanest city in Africa. I am a witness! The difference between Paul Kagame and all the leaders we’ve had since the Biafran Civil War is to use President Buhari’s favourite word, kwarupshion!

Kelechi Staring at Pictures of the Dead

Up until 6pm, Kelechi was still wondering how they have been able to live among themselves after such a horrific experience. Meet any Rwandese on the street and ask him/her about tribe and the emphatic answer you will get is “I am Rwandese.” Maybe, just maybe, we can copy a lot from this tiny African nation

FRIDAY NIGHT

Fiona’s question about coming over to the hotel did leave me confused for a split second. As much as it would have been nice to have her around, I knew I would be asking for trouble accepting her request to come over. It was already past 9pm and though she could still go back home, I just knew it would be a damn mistake allowing her to come. So I politely said: “I’m sorry darling, I am damn too tired. Hopefully we would see Saturday night at K Club.”

Weapons Used to Commit Genocide

I could feel a bit of disappointment in her voice but e better say I no take my own hand bring wahala for myself. I am sure a lot of the guys reading this don’t believe this. Hahahahaha! E concern una oooo

SATURDAY NIGHT

We all came back home after the Genocide Memorial visit exhausted from the shocking revelations. It didn’t stop us making plans for the night though. It was going to be Toyosi’s birthday on Sunday and he said it wouldn’t be a bad idea going out to celebrate. First off, we all went to eat at Eden Restaurant and thereafter retired to rest in preparation for the night groove.

At about 10 pm, we left for UTC, our meeting point. Some minutes later, Toyosi and Rotimi came to join us. We weren’t sure where to go at first. Emmanuel wanted us to go somewhere different since we went to K Club the other night. Toyosi was of the opinion that since we already had friends at K Club and we could convince the DJ again to play mainly Naija songs, K Club was the better option. He then asked me to call Fiona to know if she was coming with her friends.

“Hello Dear,” I said as soon as she picked up the phone. “Where art thou?”

“Hi Ufuoma, I can barely hear you,” she replied as I could hear the sound of a vehicle in motion.

“Where are you,” I said almost screaming.

“I am on my way to K Club,” she responded.

To be continued……

My Kigali Diary is my account of activities of my coverage of the 2016 Africa Nations Championship in Rwanda. This blog is for Saturday, 23rd January 2016. There are 3 other blogs just below or click the home page.

- Ufuoma.