Ntarama Momorial Site
Ntarama Genocide Momorial:
Each time prior to 1994, when tribal violence had erupted in Rwanda, the pursued could safely take refuge in any church and find sanctuary. So when the violence began in 1994, many Tutsis took refuge in churches as their parents and grandparents had before them. This time however, the Hutu Power movement allowed no sanctuary. Thousands of helpless people were butchered in churches throughout the country.
At Ntarama the sign outside states that about 5000 people had been killed here. Inside the church, shelves are again filled with bones, Skulls clearly show signs of the trauma that killed the victims. The saddest sight in the middle of all the horror is the small tops of skulls of children. One can tell that they were apparently often smashed against a brick wall, the thinner side bones disintegrating into small pieces that disappeared. These small bones are stacked in little piles on the top of one shelf. You can wonder the stunning cruelty of which we human beings are capable.
Ntarama Church:
Ntarama is a town in the rural Kigali Province, situated in an area known as Bugesera. About an hour’s drive southwards from Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali, the red-brick church at Ntarama is peacefully situated, shadowed by acacia trees. Ntarama Church, however, is the site where some of the most brutal killings of the 1994 Rwandan genocide took place.
The church at Ntarama was seen as a safe place by almost 5000 people, many of whom were women and children and who went there for sanctuary. But Ntarama was not a safe place. The victims of the genocide remain there, their bones still strewn with lifeless chaos where they fell nearly ten years ago. Their belongings cover the floor; clothes, suitcases, a child’s white sock - the last remnants of a desperate flight for life.
Inside Ntarama church:
The floor of the Church at Ntarama has not been completely cleaned since the massacre. There are more bones, intermingled with bits of clothing, shoes, pots, wallets, ID cards and the kinds of things. The low pew-benches are used to avoid stepping on the bones and detritus. One can easily identify parts of skeletons: vertebrae, mandibles, fibulas,and ribs.
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