Today, we traveled 3 hours to the city of Butare (the old capital of Rwanda). On the way there, we stopped to see some old and new palaces that kings used to live in. In the more traditional palaces, there was one main house, and several other small houses in the back. We got to see the main house. The part that I think we all found interesting was that a man and woman would enter their bedroom in two different places. The woman came from the opening by the foot of the bed and the man came through closer to the head of the bed. Our tour guide also talked about how one of the kings had as many as 33 wives! Some suspected he even had more. It is unknown how many children he had because of that too. Pretty crazy. After seeing the main house, we got a tour of the modern palace constructed by the last king of Rwanda. He was the first to build a cement house in all of Rwanda. It contained several rooms as one can imagine, but they were all small in comparison to rooms we would see in houses today.
After we left this museum, we went to the Murambi Memorial Site. This was the most emotional experience of the entire trip. Unlike the other memorial site we went to, this one was less sophisticated and more realistic. It contained 24 rooms that were filled with preserved bodies from the victims of the genocide. As we walked into the rooms, we could smell the “death” from the bodies. The smell was almost too much to handle. Many of them had holes or even large pieces of their skull missing from being hit in the head with a hammer or heavy object to kill them. It was a surreal experience and one I will never forget. It nearly brought me to tears seeing these bodies and imagining the brutality and violence that happened during that time. It is hard for me to fathom how any human being could so violently kill innocent people. The rooms that were most shocking was the children’s room and women’s room, which were completely filled with bodies of the children and women killed at the site. Again, seeing the children’s room was emotional. Some of the skeletons were so small, they could not have been more than a few years old. And yet they, too, had parts of their skulls missing from being killed by machete or a different object on the head. This is a major reason why this genocide is not considered a war, as it is referred to by outsiders. In a war, soldiers do not kill women or children or the elderly or the disabled. In a war, both sides have weapons to defend themselves. What happened in Rwanda was not a war and it is important not to mistake it as one. It is also important to remember this incident and work to prevent any future instances. As emotional and heart breaking as it was to see all those bodies, it was also inspiring. It inspired me to become more proactive in the fight against genocide ideology and more committed to helping the cause of Rwanda. In total, roughly 55,000 people were killed at the Murambi site. And the sad thing is that this amounts to only a small portion of the over 1 million people murdered in the genocide.
But, on a lighter note, after the genocide memorial site, we traveled to the National Museum where we saw several artifacts and did a little gift shopping. I got a set of mini spears, which as bad ass, and a cane (although I think there is a different name for it). It’s like a traditional “cane” covered in animal hair that was used by kings….at least I think so. Either way, both things I got were badass. I think we might have spent more time looking around the gift shop and trying to figure out what to buy than we did in the actual museum. But it was a fun time and a good change of pace from the memorial site.
And this takes me to the coolest thing we did all day. This was memorable for reasons different than the memorial site. The President of Rwanda requested that we get a helicopter ride from Butare back to Kigali so that we would not have to make the 3 hour drive back so “late” in the evening. When we arrived at the landing pad, there were a bunch of villagers waiting in the grass to see the helicopter take off. When we all stepped out of the car, they probably were wondering, “Who the heck are these people and why do they get to ride on a helicopter?” Nevertheless, I personally was very excited because it was going to be my first time on a helicopter. The one we took wasn’t like a military helicopter; it was an extra VIP helicopter that the president had. We were in awe that this was actually going to happen. The ride was amazing and the view from the sky was breathtaking. The ride was only about 20 minutes and I enjoyed every minute of it. I definitely won’t forget that experience.
When we finally got back to the hotel, we met once again with the trauma counselor from last night and one of her colleagues. The point of the meeting was to come up with ideas to help them network and improve their program. Also, since I am a psychology major, they suggested I come back after I am done with the Army to help them. And in response to that, LTC Ryan, the officer in charge of our trip, said that I could possible come back next summer and do an internship with them! If that happened, I would be thrilled. I’m really going to work hard to try and make this become a reality. I’ve loved the time I’ve spent here and I would be more than happy to come back and have a more direct impact in helping the survivors and the overall progress of the country. But anyway, after the meeting, we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant with our escorts and our drivers. We had such a good time, lots of laughter and good conversation. And an insane amount of food which we did not even eat half of.
Now I am back at the hotel getting ready for bed. On tomorrow’s agenda is the Gako Military Academy and some other stuff I don’t know of. But I’m sure it will be a great day. On that note, off to bed I go. Good night moon, good night starts.
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