The Rwandan genocide begun on 6th April 1994, and continued until June the same year. The massacres lasted for about a hundred days during which period over a million people were murdered. Majority of the people killed belonged to the Tutsi community. The killings were well-organized and carried out by militias from Interahamwe and Impuzamugambi. Many reasons have been cited as having caused the massacres. Among them are years of animosity between the Hutu and Tutsi communities, revenge for previous killings, hate speeches about the Tutsi spread by the media and to a large extent the shooting down of a plane and the subsequent deaths of presidents from both Rwanda and neighboring Burundi while about to land at Kigali.

As a result of the genocide, many memorial parks have been erected all over the country. Most of these are situated in areas that were worst hit. Examples of such areas include; Nyamata, Ntarama, Bisesero, Murambi and Gisozi. These sites serve as a stark reminder of a period where brothers and neighbors turned against each other and engaged in senseless killings. It was during this period that many children were left as orphans and many women left to deal with the scourge of HIV after many of them were raped and infected with the deadly virus. In addition to the numerous deaths of the local people, others who met their deaths and are remembered in these sites include foreigners living and working in the country. In some of these memorial sites for example the Kigali Memorial Center, visitors also get to view exhibitions about other genocide that have occurred in other parts of the world.

During the month of April every year, the people of Rwanda hold a memorial week at the various genocide memorial parks. During this week-long memorials, survivors of the massacres get to talk of their experiences and about how they are learning to cope and move on with their lives. During this week, survivors and other visitors also get to watch documentaries and view exhibitions about that shocking time in Rwanda. The memorial parks and the memorial week in April all help to serve as a reminder to the people of Rwanda about where they have been and where they would never want to return to in future.

The memorial parks also serve as a place where survivors can pay respects to their families and friends. This is necessitated by the fact that most of the victims had been buried in mass graves and the fact that others had been badly mutilated that it was impossible to identify their remains. In some of these sites, you will get to see the preserved remains of some of the victims. This can be a very unnerving experience for some and it is not advised for the weak hearted to visit without prior preparation such as counseling. Another important purpose of these parks is that they help act as educational facilities especially to the upcoming generations so that they do not end up making the same mistakes.…