Genocide Memorial week started on April 7th which commemorates the start of the massacres 17 years ago. During a whole week, various organisations, groups, officials and individuals remember loved ones during some kind of service or event. On Thursday, the President officially opened Memorial Week in the Amahoro Stadium, but meanwhile there’ve been events all over town. Saturday April 9th was the day of Youth Against Genocide. For the third time, they organized a Walk to Remember.
Youth for change
I first heard about the ‘Walk to Remember’ from a couple of young volunteers selling purple wristbands at the UTC shoppingmall. They were with the Peace & Love Proclaimers, an organisation that gathers students from all schools in Kigali. I contacted the responsibles for an interview and was asked to join them at their PLP-headquarters; a massive striped tent in Kacyiru.
While I was waiting for Marc or Richard to get my interview, I talked to Nancy and Stella, two nineteen-year olds who finished secondary school already but were still actively involved in PLP. When I asked them what it meant to them as many weren’t born yet, too young to remember or refugees in one of the neighbouring countries, they said:
“We want to support our fellow Rwandans who lost relatives. They want to remember what happened and so do we so it will never happen again. We are now united, fighting for one cause. Many people still can’t forgive, but the young generation needs to make a change.”
By the time the reps showed up, we were divided into teams and given a ‘representative’ badge. I was in team May with Nancy and assigned as ‘professional photographer.’ My oh-but-I’m-not-a-professional went lost in deafmans’ ears. There was no time left for an interview so we set out on our first walk towards the general gathering place at Kigali Business Centre (KBC). The walk was a long climb and it was excruciating hot. We were all wearing black, most of the youngsters were in jeans and it took us a long time to reach our first stop. Some of them, like Ines, jumped on the back of a motobike to get there. I made fun of her the rest of the day because there she was, all involved for this walk to remember and then she takes a motobike for the first lap.
Foreign participation
At the KBC, many people from all over town had gathered already. A police escort lead us to the actual start of the walk; The Supreme Court, right across the old Parliament that still shows signs of the shootings in ’94. More people joined us overthere, more banners were unfolded and we were all ready to start the official walk towards the Amahoro Stadium. However, our ‘special guest’ was late and everyone was supposed to go through a security check before we set out. Rumour had it that the President would join in, but that didn’t happen. I think it was the Prime Minister or the Minister of Education who eventually participated.
I took the time to talk to James Smith, chairman of the Aegis Trust, a UK-based student organisation with worldwide members, and David Kayumba (18) from Aegis Students Rwanda. James explained the symbolic meaning behind the walk:
“The walk means literally moving forward, all together. Back in 1994 there were roadblocks everywhere and people weren’t allowed to walk freely in the streets. It means a huge thing that today, the police is actually blocking the road especially for them. Today, the streets are free for everyone and walk all together, in liberty.”
David’s the one in charge for all the marketing and promotional material. He told me more about the organisation itself:
“Aegis started in the UK, but is nowadays also represented in Darfour and Rwanda. Through fundraising, we try to provide education and accommodation to genocide survivors.” He added: “This walk means a lot to me. I can’t bring those lost lives back, but it’s a way to at least show my respect.”
Meanwhile, the sun made room for dark clouds and all of a sudden we rushed off, ‘because it was going to rain’. I’d seen that one coming long before, but it took some actual raindrops to set the herd moving. On our way up to the stadium, Ines (23) joined me and we were joking around about her walk on the back of the motobike. Suddenly she told me that her family was still here during the genocide and that she’d lost her father. The rest of their family’d survived. “Up to three years ago I wasn’t able to talk about it or participate in such events. No wit has become more meaningful and it helps to talk about it with some people who I can trust.” She said. “I have no idea how we survived and I still wonder why, why, why. But we’ll never know.” Ines concluded. I replied that it’s very sad to have lost her father, but that he would be more than happy to know his family has survived and that they’re happy and doing well. She knodded and I gave her a hug and decided to stop it right there. It was already remarkable how she suddenly opened up to me and I wanted to respect that.
Tribute
When we got to the stadium I managed to get seat number 1 in the ‘VIP’-area. Since there were hardly any real officials, it wasn’t a big deal to get in there. Not that I really cared, but it made my work easier, cause I was able to run around and get onto the field to take pictures.
According to the volunteers, around 6000 people attended the Walk to Remember last year. We must’ve been around the same amount of people, or even more. I’ll find out from Marc when I get a chance to talk to him. The service at the Amahoro Stadium was rather short. A couple of young artists sang modern versions of genocide-songs and at some point they read out the names of a couple of youngsters that had lost their lives. Meanwhile, we all lit a candle and held one minute of silence.
Positive attitude
Overall, I really enjoyed this day. These youngsters realize that what happened should never be forgotten, but that it is important to reinforce that feeling of unity and move forward. They are the future generation of change and I found their attitude extremely positive. On another note, it is fun to see so many of them actively involved and commited to something. An interesting example for our youth back home, who seem to be indifferent about everything these days.
I still need to talk to Marc to get some actual figures and more background information. But yesterday evening I got a textmessage from someone saying he saw me on Rwandan television (Orinfor)! Was a bit of a shock since I always try to avoid these things, but still they manage to find me somehow. There you have it, now I’m a famous TinTin en Afrique, LOL!
Saturday 9th of April – Kigali 29 degrees
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