Label Your Food: Genocide Memorial Sites

Please be advised: This post contains sensitive pictures and information. The pictures and descriptions are from the two genocide memorial sites visited today: Ntarama and Nyamata, both of which were churches. The Genocide in Rwanda started on April 7, 2014 and lasted until mid-July (approximately 100 days) leaving close to 1,000,000 Tutsi dead. During the genocide, Tutsi fled to these churches for safety. After 2 weeks, they became massacre sites.

As we made our way to Nyamata Genocide Memorial, there were graves and tombstones. This was a church where people were killed during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. It has now become a genocide memorial site. Originally the bodies were kept in the same positions as they were at the time of the massacre, but as time went on, the bodies began decomposing, and therefore could not be left in the open. As you walk in, you can see hundreds of thousands of clothes from those who were massacred. It was overwhelming to say the least. You can see holes in the ceiling from gun shots, you can also see the blood on the ceiling near the door where kids' heads were smashed against the wall.

In the back of the memorial is a mass grave. I could only spend 5 seconds in there. There are piles and piles of bones and skulls. There are also a few graves. On the skulls you can see where people were shot, beaten, you can even see machete cuts. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, only on the outside.

Flowers left for those who were massacred. This was on top of one of the mass graves.

Front door to the church. The black door is the original. On the right side you can see that the door was blown up, you can also see it at on the cement in front. The killers used a grenade.

The second genocide memorial site, Ntarama Genocide Memorial, holds a similar story. It was a church that people fled to for safety, but became a massacre site. No pictures were allowed inside, but were allowed to be taken from the outside.

This is a side building to the left of the church building. Grenades were used to blow away the wall. Inside there are remains of school notebooks and textbooks. Straight ahead you can also see a grave.

This is the left side of the main church building. A grenade was used to break away the wall.

This is at the back of the church building. Inside is the property of those who were massacred. You can see bags, clothes, among other items.

This is the whole view of the back of the church. The overall roof was constructed to preserve the memorial site.

These two building were behind the church. The one of the left is what remains of the kitchen. Foam mattresses were used to burn people inside. The building on the right is the massacre site of children. A blood stain remaines from where the heads were smashed.