The Nyamata genocide memorial has become emblematic of the mistreatment of women during the genocide of Rwanda in 1994, the place is located in the Busegera region of Rwanda; this is one of the dark spots of Rwanda where over 2,500 people were killed. It is here where women were tortured and mass raped and HIV was used as a weapon for the genocide.
The Nyamata genocide memorial is one of the Rwanda genocide memorials; thousands of people’s were killed inside the church and thousands of others outside the church. When the genocide just began, all the residents of this area decided to take refuge at the local church and locked themselves inside with a padlock.
The victims of the Nyamata genocide memorial were buried in two massive graves and their clothes were piled up, lining the pews of the church, the graves are located just behind the church. The whole church was covered and is still covered with blood on the ceilings, floors and even the altar cloth, which is still in its place filled with bloodshed.
The people’s attempt did not work out when the Hutu killers broke the door and massacred thousands of people with rifles, machetes and grenades. The victims had flocked into the priests’ and nuns compounds hoping to escape great devastation; the killing happened on April 10th, 1994.
The Nyamata genocide memorial church walls were broken using hammers and whatever objects, and through this grenades were thrown into the church; very sharp objects were used on the victims, including farming tolls women and children alike. Many people took refuge in the church because churches had acted as safe places for people during the early genocide developments before the 1994.
The Nyamata genocide memorial was set up in memory of the people that lost their lives in and out of the church. Church services are no longer held here in honor and respect of the deceased tourists, students, and survivors. They always visit here to learn more about the Rwandan genocide.
The Nyamata genocide memorial site has got guides who survived inside or outside the church compounds, with each having a story to tell about how all the tragedy happened and how they escaped. The church’s main entrance has got a banner engraved in Kinyarwanda that says, ‘if you had really known me and you had known yourself, you would not have killed me.’
The Nyamata genocide memorial is so upsetting that many can’t hold their tears from the moment they set their feet in the building. The people who survived the grenades were brutally murdered after the Hutus forced their way into the church.
Sadly, some of the victims were slaughtered at the altar using machetes; one is a coffin of a woman who was raped and a stick was forced through her vagina to the neck instantly after the rape. There is also a grave of Tonia Locatelli who tried to draw the media’s attention that the Tutsi were being killed; this led to her murder in 1992
When the Hutu majority rule was brought up after Rwanda’s independence in the early 1960s, the Tutsi people were forced to resettle in Busegera. The genocide memorial is open every day from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm except on public holidays and the last Saturday of the month.
The Nyamata genocide memorial can be reached from Kigali; it’s approximately 35 kilometers to Busegera, where the church is located. This can be combined with Rwanda wildlife and gorilla tours
