Since November 2018, the Forum pour la Mémoire Vigilante, FMV, has already made four visits to the site of the Genocide Memorial located in Gisozi in Kigali, Rwanda. In this site rest more than 250 thousand victims of the genocide committed against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
According to the legal representative of the FMV, to go to this site, is a duty of memory. “We have come here to honor the victims of the genocide that lie here,” said Ferdinand Ndayiragije, the FMVF’s legal representative, after one of these visits.
According to him, this site is a library filled with peace teaching. “Anyone who comes here does not go home empty handed, but rather he leaves with a spirit of peace and reconciliation. As Burundian refugees, we want to draw peace here to teach it at home and especially to immigrants and refugees to heal first of their psychological wounds and trauma in order to be peacemakers and peacekeepers, messengers of love and reconciliation, “he added.
More than 50 people, both FMV and non-FMF members, have already taken part in these guided tours of this forum. Most of them are Burundians.
At the end of each visit, the forum takes an opportunity to conduct some kind of discussion-debate in order to draw lessons.
“In any case we have seen the gravity and horror of the crime of genocide through these videos, images and explanations of the guides in this site. I can only bow and preach peace and social non-discrimination, “said some FMV guest attendees in a hall set up in the site by the British NGO” The Aegis Trust “.
This NGO, a key partner of the Forum pour la MémoireVigilante, is committed to the prevention of genocide since 2000.
Participants in these various guided tours are often overwhelmed by the degree of national reconciliation after the genocide against the Tutsi that has claimed more than 1 million lives in 100 days.
“This is really the result of high-level leadership, to see how the ethnic group that perpetrated the genocide cohabit peacefully with the ethnic group victim. We appreciate this reconciliation and we are committed to educating our children and future generations, “they said.
The Forum is happy for these commitments and appreciates results from the study visits. “We are glad that people are aware of what happened in Rwanda in 1994 to live with” Never again “in their hearts,” says the FMV legal representative, adding that it’s a program that will continue to reach out to as many people as possible.
The Forum pour la Mémoire Vigilante “FMV” is a Non-Governmental, National Organization working for the general interest, whose main mission is education on genocide and assistance of the survivors and victims of the genocide.