Employees at Kigali Marriot Hotel on Wednesday evening visited Kigali Genocide Memorial to honor victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Holding banners with messages denouncing the Genocide, the staff members started with a Walk to Remember that stretched from downtown Kigali to the memorial centre in Gisozi, where they laid wreaths on the mass graves where over 250,000 victims were laid to rest. Yulia Bogdanova, Director of Human Resources at Kigali Marriott Hotel, said that the visit to the memorial was organized in the spirit of joining the rest of Rwandans in honoring innocent lives that were lost during Genocide. “Visiting a Genocide memorial is one of the planned activities during this week which is worldwide known as Associate Appreciation Week among Marriot’s staff. Marriot’s spirit is to serve by giving back to the community,” she said. “We should move forward, always keep in mind what happened here, learn from history so as not to be drawn back to the same situation,” she added. “We should talk about how Rwanda is moving fast and show the best to live by example in order to fight against genocide ideology.” Jean Desire Ntawiniga, in charge of personnel training at Kigali Marriott Hotel, said that Rwanda has had a bad history and it’s time Rwandans united and reconciled in order to build a peaceful country. “We should fight against genocide ideology amongst the young generation. There is a need of equipping youth with Rwanda’s history so that they know where they came from.”Ntawiniga said. Marriott is a five-star hotel in the country which is set to be officially inaugurated soon in Kigali. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
