Officials at the Embassy of the United States in Kigali yesterday held a memorial service to honour 25 mission employees who lost their lives during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The event, which was also attended by members of the victims’ families, was characterized by laying wreaths on the memorial plaque built at the embassy grounds.

US Ambassador to Rwanda, Stuart Symington, said that it was a great honour for the US to support orphans of their former employees under the Genocide Orphans’ Fund Committee that pays for their education and welfare.

"The greatest victory we can have over the Genocide is to help the survivors attain a good and constructive life.

Therefore, it’s a great honour for us to offer faith, hope and love to these orphans who had lost everything they believed in,” Symington said.

"The wonder of a human heart is that it can take hatred and turn it into love in a single moment. The reason we remember the Genocide is primarily to reflect on how hate destroyed this country. It is therefore every Rwandan’s duty to free their hearts of hate and in its place, have love which is constructive”.

Jean De Dieu Mucyo, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the fight Against Genocide (CNLG) ,who also attended the service, commended the work by the US government in helping to heal the traumatized orphans and widows.

"To date, we received threatening messages from some people who still harbour the Genocide ideology. Despite this, Rwanda has progressed great strides and has shown great resilience and togetherness in the peace building process and development of our country,” Mucyo said.

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