Kibuye, Bisesero, and Nyange

May 18-20th
Over the last couple of days we have been spending some time traveling in the Karongi District. The major city that we stayed in is called Kibuye. The city is located on Lake Kivu. This is the largest lake in Rwanda, it is a beautiful and magnificent area. The hotel that we stayed at was called Hotel Bethany. While staying in Kibuye we ventured to visit a genocide memorial called Bisesero. Our guide book told us that the memorial would be approximately a 30km away from the town, which would seem to be a short drive, this was not the case. It took more than two hours driving on very bumpy roads, but we finally arrived at our destination. The long bumpy drive was facilitated by our excellent driver, and it was well worth it in the end. Bisesero is the site where the largest resistance effort took place during the Rwandan genocide. Here is a link to more information on this memorial www.genocidearchiverwanda.org.rw/index.php?title=Bisesero

. The memorial was being renovated when we arrived but we were still able to get a tour and our guide gave us an understanding of what it will be when it is finished. In traditional memorials Rwandans emphasize the display of the victims bones. It was hard to see this for all of us, however by seeing the bones of victims we were able to better understand what took place on this hillside. We have all been studying this genocide for months, but seeing the victims bones made it disturbingly real. We spent the following day on the shores of peace island in order to debrief from our experience. Below is a description that Kelly has written for a research project, she will return to Bisesero on June 27th for the commemoration ceremony:


     Bisesero is the site of the largest resistance that took place during the Rwandan Genocide. For three months, approximately 50,000-60,000 fought courageously against the interahamwe with weapons such as spears, rocks, and a few guns that were taken from their enemies. The leaders of this group were A. Birara and his son, who had previously been shepherds (umushumba) in the community. Unfortunately, when the resistance began to run out of food, the genocidaires gained an upper hand. Of the 50,000-60,000 brave men and women who fought for their lives at Bisesero, a mere 1,300 survived the massacres. 
     The memorial that was created to remember the great acts of courage that were displayed at Bisesero sits atop a hill, overlooking the rolling hills and valleys that make up the western part of Rwanda. The memorial itself houses the remains of the individuals who perished while fighting for their lives. Within one part of the memorial, there are three individual graves and four mass graves. The individual graves house the remains of the resistance leader, the leader’s son, and an unidentified soldier who represents those who perpetrated the genocide. Although our guide did not directly tell us why this last grave was included, I have thought that its presence may represent the movement towards national unity within Rwanda. In addition to the graves, there is a building that has nine rooms. Within each room, the bones of individuals who fled to Bisesero from the nine sectors within the former Kibuye district are displayed. As pointed out by our guide, who was also a survivor, the bones can tell you how that person was killed (clubs, machetes, fire, or bullets).
     This memorial is a solemn reminder of what people are capable of doing to each other. Those who were once peaceful neighbors became enemies, and thousands of innocent men, women, and children lost their lives as a result of human ignorance. The experience that I have had visiting Bisesero reminds me, and others as well, that we all have the capacity and responsibility to prevent acts of genocide and mass atrocity from occurring. 

On our way back to Kigali we stopped at a local memorial called Nyange. While here, we were guided through the memorial's history by an individual who survived and experienced it himself. This is very rare, and our gratitude for the experience is boundless. We were all deeply moved and the experience will stay with us forever. Kelly has recently been working with the survivor who led us through the memorial to document his story and what had happened in Nyange.

We must apologize again for the sparsity of posts thus far. While attempting to post this information the cafe we were in experienced a power loss. This is something that often happens here. Nobody is in great distress when it occurs and we have learned to adapt in order to fully experience Rwandan culture. Internet connection at the moment is also very slow so pictures will have to be posted at a later time.