Surrounding the building are 14 large sealed concrete bunkers, (each 6m deep, 4m wide and 10m long). These mass graves contain the remains of 258,000 people – men, women and children that were murdered in and around the city of Kigali. But just down on the next terrace more concrete graves have been dug to house the remains that continue to be found.
The Memorial is divided into three sections: the bottom floor circles rooms that display the skeletal remains, the torn clothes and hundreds of photos representing the 1,000,000 that were killed. As you enter the outer ring you follow the story of a peaceful, united Rwanda through the ethnic division and hatred that resulted in horrific torture, mutilation and death. You are reminded of the complicity of some in the church, the ignorance of the international community and the utter impotence of the United Nations.
Upstairs one display outlines the stories of genocides throughout the world and reminds you of the potential of humanity to be completely depraved, whilst the second display shows large images of children, from 8 months to 8 years, and under the faces of the innocent their last words, their favourite foods, and how they died are recorded.
This Memorial continues to be a sobering reminder to the nation and the world. But as I left the building and walked through the bookshop I noticed a T-Shirt with these words on the front that reminded me that we have not learnt:
