Museums and Memorials

This blog entry is dedicated to the museums and memorials of Rwanda. I recently visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Center in Kigali and the Rwanda National Museum in Butare with my colleagues. One provided a cultural, geographic, historical, political and economic account of the country while the other provided a sobering portrayal of a society gone wrong.

The National Museum displayed an introductory panel stating that 25% of the world’s surface is fit for human habitation of which 4.3% is in Africa. At the Memorial in Kigali we were welcomed by a guide who explained that the site held 256,000 people buried in graves 4 metres deep – enough depth to stack 4 coffins, each carrying 4 to 5 bodies. We were stimulated intellectually and emotionally by those visits. In very different ways, they served to strengthen our understanding and admiration of this country's vision of the future.

I thank you Rwanda for allowing us to better understand you through your excellent museums and memorials. Even my little Rwandan friend from Butare has his thumb up in agreement...

Next on deck: Back to Civil Service Reform with a thought on strategic goals.