Hundreds of Christians from ADEPR Gasave Parish visited Kigali Genocide Memorial to pay respects to victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi and tour the memorial’s exhibitions to learn the history of Rwanda.
The visit at the Kigali Genocide Memorial was part of their commemoration day activities. They started off with a walk to remember where the Memorial was their last stop.
Arriving at the memorial, they started by laying a wreath on the mass graves, and said a prayer dedicated to the victims. They also observed a minute of silence to honour victims then continued with memorial’s exhibition tour prayer.
Speaking of their motivation for visiting the memorial site, Viateur Ruzibiza, National ADEPR Acting Representative who accompanied them said that they wanted to pay respects to the victims buried at the memorial site.
“I came to support Christians from Gasave Parish in their commemoration event to pay respects to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Today we especially remember those former Christians of ADEPR Gasave and some of them are laid to rest here at this memorial,” said Viateur.
He continued by leaving a message to all Christians, and Rwandans in general.
“It is essential to teach our Christians to love each other in order to fight against any form of divisionism. In this week, we have been training our pastors from different parishes to teach Christians more about genocide history and how they can fight Genocide ideology. This memorial site has evidences of Genocide like bodies of victims, historical exhibitions and experienced guides that can help us to teach our Christians. Visiting here was part of our educational program. Let us change our minds and fight against any bad behavior.” He added.
The leader of ADEPR Gasave Parish also reflected on their visit.
“Our parish was among the first founded in Rwanda, so we have to be among the first in contributing to the eradication of genocide ideology in Rwanda, starting by our Christians. We have to be the role model for other Christians. May God help us to achieve our goals,” said Pastor Jean Bosco Bagirakwana
After visiting Kigali Genocide Memorial, their commemoration event continued at the parish where they laid wreaths on the wall of names dedicated to former Christians of Gasave parish victims of the Genocide.
