Face to face with Genocide at Murambi

One can hear and read stories about Murambi Genocide Memorial Site. But it is not until you visit the site yourself that you begin to comprehend the unnecessary suffering and loss of the Rwandan people at the hands of the Genocide in 1994. The memorial is a distressing reminder of the preventable horrors of the Genocide. If you ever want to get informed of what happened in Rwanda, you should so visit, not any memorial site but Murambi, in Nyamagabe district, Southern Province. Kerry Karrington and Daniel Sabiiti writes about the horrors they encountered at the Murambi site after having both participated in the Genocide commemoration by Staff and students of Kavumu Teacher’s College. The Murambi genocide seems to be very different from others. This doesn’t make it any better but leaves one with many extra questions. Murambi was the exit point for the genocidaires. It is was part of the infamous “Zone Turquoise”. As we checked into the site, it is clear that given the position of the victims, the kind of horror that visited them was unspeakable. The bodies are in various positions of agony, anguish and pleading. Mouths are wide open meaning the vistims died while screaming. Some hands of the victims are raised above their heads. There are some scens which can be reconstructed with some level of clarity. For instance some mothers were trying to protectively huddle their young ones before being finished off. The terror these people must have experienced is unimaginable. An alarming reality is the large number of children who died at this site. Meaning that Genocide in this place mainly targeted the helpless women and children. We visited the site with the Kavumu College of Education party, which included fellow staff members and a large student contingent. The majority of us were visiting Murambi for the first time and you could sense the sadness and disbelief amongst the group. All were visibly moved and overwhelmed by the devastation and misery that obviously occurred at this site. After visiting the rooms where the bodies, bones and clothes are gathered as a stark and depressing reminder of the horrors, we gathered as one to reflect on the terror that must have taken place in 1994. Genocide survivors led by Juliet Mukakabanda, bravely told us their stories of misery and despair. Juliet told us of how she lost her family and survived the orgy of violence which had gripped the country in 1994. She says that there were approximately 50,000 people who had gathered at the technical school believing that they were safe within the sanctuaries of the Church compound. To be betrayed by the Church is a horror in itself, she lamented. Mukakabanda explained that as residents sought refugee at the technical school grounds, on the other side killers gathered and camped below the site. She revealed that they were only waiting for orders ‘from above’ to kill before moving out of the country. She says that for them to refine the killing spree, the murderers checked into the compound and divided the people gathered into different groups determined by ethnicity as a way of having the targeted group targeted to be finished off. “The camp was filled up with people.Food and water become a serious problem. Even when the food appeared it was given to the killers who had surrounded us. They were only waiting to kill,” She says. She adds that the killers were stopped from carrying out wanton killing by local leaders as they were in a hurry. They thus targeted the Tutsi specifically hence separation had to be undertaken before ‘finishing off’ the job. “Lists were made in the pretext of getting the actual data of people. They even gave an excuse that this was being done for the purposes of requesting for food. But she says that this was a way of knowing the targeted ones. Some people were taken to the protestant church, near the school and then the killings started,” she added. In the process of finishing off their job, the killers separated her from her husband and two children. “I asked to leave the site since I was pregnant, and I was told that I could do so. Since I am Hutu I was actually told to leave the rest behind. I decided to stay back and to live or die with the rest because I felt it was the right thing to do”. Mukakabanda says that none of the people at the technical school actually survived. Most of them being children. They were killed in the rudest ways one can ever think of. The bodies of the genocide victims are enough evidence. Some people died while crying out for help, others died with detached body parts. Sadly her husband and children were killed. The grief and suffering that this brave lady must have borne is inconceivable in our eyes. How does one continue with normalcy after such a loss? We are full of awe and admiration for this lady on many levels; being able to share her story, being able to forgive and for having hope for the future after having lost so much and having endured such horrors. As for her, she contends that the past is history. She adds that the future is for all to determine. James Andrew Iyamuremye the President of the Student Guild of the College, who spoke on behalf of all students, said that the young people are infact the future and as such they will strive to ensure that such atrocious events can never be repeated. He said that it is their jobs, as future teachers, to educate the next generation of Rwandans that violence and hatred is most unwelcome in any society. As the commemoration came to a conclusion we were firm in our thinking that as brothers and sisters, whatever happened at Murambi and other places in 1994, should be an obvious lesson. That we must take a stance to stop genocide and its ideology. Ends