Bring out the tissues...

On a more somber note, we had our orientation yesterday and visited the Genocide Memorial Museum in the city. We had a lovely morning tea with the coordinator Claire, where she explained some of the program details, rules, customs, and program fee breakdown. She assured us about the dress code; that as long as we don't wear mini-skirts or anything too provocative, people would be fine with our clothing and we shouldn't feel disrespectful. It was great to hear her point of view about volunteering and how far the programs have come since they started receiving volunteers in 2009. She also talked about her openess towards volunteers beginning new initiatives and suggesting improvements for their specific programs. Amy and I were definitely excited about this, since we had heard from past volunteers about the challenges of the program we are participating in (Gender Based Violence). She also described some of the challenges that we may face such as poor motivation, lack of communication, poverty, violence, abandoned children, HIV/AIDS, and many other issues. We had to hold back tears as she described why some of the kids are orphaned...some because their parents died of AIDS, some are genocide survivors, and others were simply abandoned; one boy in particular was found as a baby by authorities in a dog's mouth. She explained their struggle not having any family, not seeing any future for themselves, and the lack of preparational training for them when they leave the orphanage.
After learning more about Faith Victory Association, Rwanda, and the programs we'll be working in, we visited the Genocide Memorial Museum. At first it was like any other museum, describing the different turn of events leading up to the genocide, the political climate, pictures, and video interviews with survivors. As we continued through the exibitions, there was a chilling section containing thousands of individual pictures of people killed during the genocide, truly putting faces to the numbers. They also had skulls, bones, and clothing from people who were killed, some of them crushed and stained. It was interesting to see that without the tribal affiliations, which were imposed by the Belgium settlers, the people of Rwanda would have lived in perfect harmony. Instead, a system of hatred and hierarchy was imposed that eventually led to the genocide where colleagues, neighbors and family members murdered each other. The most emotional part for me was pictures of children that had been murdered and small descriptions of their favorite foods, personality, and how they were killed. These beautiful, innocent children who were leading happy, healthy lives, shot in the head, beat with a club, or slashed with a machete. It is truly unimaginable. Outside they have planted beautiful gardens to surround the mass graves, where about 300,000 of the over 1 million bodies are buried. Although we've had such an amazing time in this Kigali so far, today served as a reminder of why we are really here, what Rwandans went through during the genocide, and the issues they still struggle with.
xo Cait