Murambi Genocide Memorial

Last weekend my belief that we can prevent conflict was shaken while my desire to figure out how to do it was strengthened.  After my visit to Murambi Genocide Memorial, all I could think was "this could happen again."

Murambi was supposed to be a technical school, built on a beautiful hill in southern Rwanda.  During the genocide up to 65,000 Tutsis from the region took refuge there after they were told that the church they were hiding in was unsafe.  In reality, it was a plot to concentrate them.  They stayed there for two weeks without water or electricity, and on April 21st, a mass attack left almost 45,000 dead as many more died after an initial escape. 

The memorial consists mainly of the school itself, and inside, on bed frames and tables, hundreds of preserved skeletons and remains of the people they had found in the mass graves that were created.  It is horrifying to see, as you can clearly distinguish children, clothes, and even hair.  Perhaps the saddest part of the memorial is the people who have family there. I've met a number of people, including our guide, whose families are there, sometimes unidentified due to bodily decay, but somewhere visible to the public.  One survivor, whose story can be found here, explains why he works at the memorial (taken from the memorial website):

"I endure it because there’s no alternative, but it’s really hard and scary for us to describe the things we witnessed. I also felt the need to take care of my family until they are buried, so I protect them. And there are people who need to know what happened here at Murambi and I explain to them."

It seems like the massacre at Murambi happened a little too easily.  Tens of thousands, in just a few days, concentrated and killed, a full two weeks after the mass killing in Rwanda began, and even more weeks after UN officials were warned of weapons stockpiles.  If the Murambi massacre could happen so easily even while the world had warning, what's to say that anywhere, where the right confluence of factors occurs, can be safe from atrocities, that develop quickly to a massive scale?

Having met the people who work there, I can only say that my own burdens that drive me towards preventing mass atrocities, feel like feathers compared to their burdens.  I also know that my own conviction to prevent this from happening again is stronger, and will be followed with greater resolve.

Someone else we know also wants to prevent conflict, but with pelicans to save and elections to stump for, he might need some reminding.  Read Obama's leaked National Security Strategy, and make sure he knows we all have an interest in him following through on his commitment to preventing mass atrocities.