ACT THREE, SCENE THREE

EXT. SAME DAY. GISOZI GENOCIDE MEMORIAL.

Its rather late Friday afternoon when we arrive at the Genocide Memorial. The facility almost resembles a villa what with its position on a hillside and its view of 'downtown Kigali" across the way. There are gardens, enumerated walkways---even what first appears to be a fountain. I'm uncertain about what we're going to see....

Like any museum there's a reception desk and we're given several options for entry, including paying an extra fee to take pictures (we had this at the Old King's Palace as well). With a handout and an audio guide we follow the numbers out and around toward the rear of the facility. Each garden is terraced and has a message underlying its existence. We walk around examining the sculpture, plants and pools of water and find the relationship between these forms quite moving.

We descend out of the gardens and find ourselves standing on a brick terrace, facing a rather large slab of concrete with what appears to be a Bay-like window embedded in the center. It is an "open" grave site and thousands of people are buried here. As bodies are still being found all over the country, the site remains open until it is filled then it is permanently closed--and another site is open.

This is both the most grotesque and the most elegant expression of sorrow and loss. Upon closer examination there are three coffins laid to rest under the window, each draped in a purple and white shroud. At various spots people have placed flowers and plants--and almost unseemly a sign reminds us not to "step on [the] mass graves".

Who could stand here and not be moved and at the same time shamed...?

When you look up and back toward the front of the museum that are more slabs. These are closed and we walk slowly down the pathway beside them. More flowers and planters, some of which are older, are placed around the edges. We pass under an elongated pergola and emerge at a wall that carries the names of most of the victims buried here. Plenty of room is left for the names of those yet to be discovered.

Somewhere along the way Charles tells us something of his own personal story. The remains of his mother, father and several relatives were found in May of this year--16 years after the end of the Genocide.....

INT. SAME DAY. GENOCIDE MUSEUM.

We work our way up the steps and into the museum proper. Charles has been here before so we follow his lead. The rooms are rather small and fit round the outside of the building in a tunnel-like manner. We see images from the years after WWII when King Mutara II Rudahigwa met King Baudouin of Belgium. A few other images/posters inform of us of the years after his death. And then we come face-to-face with the immediate aftermath of the Genocide.

Mostly images by/from the European press after the world finally woke up to what was happening. Slaughtered bodies drape the ground, floors of churches, schools and other buildings--and the streets. Display cases below the enlarged prints house the instruments of death--clubs, common tools like hammers and knives. There's a video installation and we witness the testimony of survivors who tell stories of torture, mayhem and madness that's almost to much to bear to listen to....

We come to another space (pictured above) that is a large, round room with alcoves. Each has wire strung across in succeeding rows. Clips are attached and hanging from each clip is a photograph of someone killed and/or missing. There are seats where you can rest and contemplate this horror. I am reminded of a similar wall at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.....

We move on to find another room that contains more display cases. These have clothes of the victims. Another room houses display cases that contain neat piles of human bones and other cases that contain human skulls--of various sizes. On an upper floor there is a another room with wall-sized images of tiny children whose photographs parent lent to the exhibit. There is a sidebar containing information about the child's likes/dislikes, descriptions of their personalities, and what method was used to take their lives.

The museum is nearing its time to close.

There is one more room to see however. In it the exhibit teaches us (briefly) about genocidal wars throughout history. Some as recent as Bosnia and of course the Nazi Holocaust against Jews. Others tell of the slaughter of Armenians and of the Hereoes of Central Africa. (I had never heard of the plight of these people and I stopped and studied the exhibit.)

Somehow we managed to find our way outside and I was grateful that the driver was called late so we could take time to gather ourselves.....