The Aegis Trust welcomed Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of Barbados at the Kigali Genocide Memorial yesterday, where she came to pay respects to the more than one million victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
Accompanied by Rwanda’s Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, Hon. Dr Bizimana Jean Damascene together with Rwanda’s Minister of ICT & Innovation, Hon. Paula Ingabire, Hon. Mia Mottley came to the Memorial as part of an official visit to Rwanda.
The tour began with a laying of wreaths on the burial place where 250,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi are laid to rest. Hon. Mia Mottley was then guided through the museum, learning about the history of the Genocide, from the colonial roots of ethnic division through to the horrors of the killings.
During this visit, Mia Mottley also had the opportunity to learn about the efforts by Rwandans to rebuild and reconcile after the Genocide and the work of Aegis Trust in Genocide prevention and peace education in Rwanda.
To conclude this visit, Hon. Mia Amor Mottley left a message in the memorial guest book.
She wrote:
Words really cannot express the horror that is captured here. Those who stood to divide, rape, torture and kill on the basis of ethnic differences must FOREVER be condemned.
Those who come after MUST forever learn from this horrid experience and loss of lives – of families, of children.
That this country has sought to rise above this in RECONCILIATION is the greatest example to us all who must strive to build platforms of peace, love and development. WE ARE CAPABLE OF BETTER. THIS REMINDS US OF WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE CHOOSE NOT TO BE.
May the people of Rwanda be blessed in the knowledge that the sacrifices of your people in the past SHALL not be in vain. BUT stand as a beacon as to what can be built even against the greatest examples of decades of hatred and division.
Love & Blessings always from the people of BARBADOS
Mia Amor Mottley
Photos of the visit can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/142016030@N02/albums/72177720303588968
