Sunday, January 8, 2012

Memorial, Mashirika, Moments...


We got up, took our malaria pills, drank coffee, ate breakfast and headed to the Kigali Memorial Center. This is the biggest memorial in Rwanda. The inside and outside of the building is so beautiful. There are palm trees, beautiful gardens, and waterfalls surrounding the center. The first thing we did was gone to the back of the memorial where there were more beautiful trees and gardens where there were huge mass graves containing more than 250,000 victims. Every one took a minute of silence to pay respect.  
We had to pay a little fee to take pictures inside the memorial and it was so worth it. I learned so much about the Rwandan genocides and about other genocides all over the world. When we first walked in we had a man take us on a tour, but just in the beginning. There are big boards on every wall that have pictures, and tons of information about the details of the genocide. There were also videos playing on different walls that we walked by. Everything started with the history of Rwanda and when hatred started coming about---which was way before 1994, when the genocide here actually occurred. I learned so much about how the genocide started and a lot of it just upset me so much. Hatred towards Tutsi and the people in government started planning this attack on Tutsi around 1950. People were given ID cards that were partially affected by how many cows their family owned.  After the history about pre-genocide came the actual start and end to the genocide. The detailed descriptions, pictures, videos, objects and items just brought me a pain in my heart and tears to my eyes. The pictures were just horrifying. What the women and children went through was by far, the worst. Then the post genocide which also made me very upset because there were moments when the UN (United Nations) or other countries could’ve stepped in to stop the genocide were “had no idea” how horrible the events in Rwanda were. They didn’t believe there was really anything happening in Rwanda. There were enough people dead for it to be called a genocide…When does it become one? How does a person define that?!! “Not 100 but 101 people must be dead…” I don’t know there were so many reasons and proof that showed that other countries are completely responsible for the genocide occurring or being as bad as it was. President Clinton (and not until after he was President) said after millions were dead that it was his biggest regret by not helping the country of Rwanda. Once the Belgians felt tension in Rwanda which started because they created it---they fled in the 1930’s. The French were responsible for many reasons and one being that supplying huge amounts of weapons and things for the genocide to occur. There were kids without their parents, parents without their kids, brothers without their sisters. So many orphans that either had no idea what happened to their family or had watched their family die. They will forever live with that horror. Rwanda was completely ruined. Houses were damaged, burned, and the country reeked of death.  
In another part of the museum there was clothing that came right from the people who were killed. Everything was behind glass and each article of clothing was hung up. The clothes were very worn, shredded and dirty. Another big room contained just tons of skulls and bones from those massacred. There were bullets in some skulls, some skulls had big parts missing… Another huge room contained all pictures of those that were killed. Pictures were brought in by family and friends. Looking at these pictures of kids, grandmothers, fathers, soccer players, teachers, pastors, a mother expecting…etc was so extremely powerful. There was another room that had big wooden sculptures depicting everything before, during, and after the genocide. Those were really cool.
Now the second floor where there were the same kind of boards on the wall from the first part of the memorial now contained information and details about so many other genocides that happened. Cambodia, Germany, Kosovo, and Turkey were all places genocide happened where each one massacred thousands of people. It was really interesting to learn about the ones I had never been told about before. The last part of the museum is a section just respecting children. There were huge pictures of a child and their name on the wall with a marble sign in front of it sharing info about their personal life. Their age, favorite sport, favorite food, and how they died were all included on that sign. Another section where there were just pictures that had been brought in by their loved ones.
I am so glad I got to visit this memorial. If you ever have the chance, go and see it because it will change your life.
After that we had lunch at the same buffet place we had went to the day before. I am eating so many veggies! I look forward to every meal to great anticipation (and if you know me you’re probably so surprised to hear that I couldn’t wait to eat……) because the food is so good here! 
Next on the agenda was to have a rehearsal with Mashirika Theater group. The more we see the guys and girls in this group the more I can picture them back at Buffalo State. We all feel as if we’ve known each other forever and it makes our time with them even more special that it already is. The artistic director, Hope took us through a bunch of exercises that we could help to become more connected to our work on a more personal level. And she wanted to use exercises that would help us express ourselves, through Theater, from what we had seen and learned about at the memorial. Side note---Hope, who is just stunning, looks and reminds me of “Neytiri” from Avatar in so many ways, it’s so awesome! I told her that and she thought it was the funniest thing.
Each exercise helped me as a person, an actress, and a closer family member to those also present. They were fun, creative, and challenging. We sang, laughed, laid on the floor, played games, and spoke truth about our feelings. Each person in the Mashirika Company teaches me something every second. I feel that because their culture is different than ours they express things in their own way which makes them open and so much more confident about sharing the truth.
After rehearsal with them, Rosette (One of the girl's apart of Mashirika) invited us to have dinner with them at her home. Again, dinner was fabulous but the company was better. I taught them a couple riddles that were pretty fun and then we had a dance party… Mashirika mostly danced for us. One of the boys, Arthur is quite the dancer and once he started and didn’t stop. He also made me feel like the worst dancer on the planet. All the Rwandans can move their bodies in ways that mine isn’t supposed to move. It was great fun, they taught us some steps, we laughed, and got to know each other even more. I can’t wait to see them again.
This trip is the adventure of a lifetime!!!!      

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