Kigali Genocide Memorial welcomed members of Ndayisaba Fabrice foundation (NFF) who have come to pay tribute to victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi. The group was accompanied by Miss Rwanda 2017, Miss Elsa Iradukunda.
Fabrice Ndayisaba is the founder of Ndayisaba Fabrice Foundation (NFF), a local non-profit making foundation located at IPRC Kicukiro. The foundation brings together children during school holidays to keep them busy with various sports disciplines-mainly football. The foundation was initiated and founded in 2009 when Ndayisaba was only 14 years old.
Guided by the memorial staff Pacifique Bonheur, these young people toured the memorial’s exhibits to learn more about the history of Genocide against the Tutsi. They first laid a wreath on the burial place and observed a minute of silence to honour victims of the Genocide. They used commemoration songs and poems to pay tribute to victims.
After their visit at the memorial, they shared their impressions and lessons they learnt from the visit.
“I saw children who became victims of 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. Some of them were the same age as I am now, it is so sad and unbelievable that they were killed at that age. I learnt about reconciliation when listening to Olivier’s story who was young during Genocide. He was brave to forgive those who killed his parents. I will share about forgiveness and reconciliation with other children of my age,” Jules Manzi, 10 years old said.
Miss Rwanda Elsa Iradukunda explained why she accompanied these children to the memorial:
“I want to support young Rwandans during this commemoration period. If we want to eradicate genocide ideology, we have to start by teaching children because they are the future. I will continue sensitizing the youth of Rwanda to visit the memorials so that they can learn about genocide history and how to fight its ideology,” Miss Elsa said.
Fabrice Ndayisaba, the founder of Ndayisaba Fabrice Foundation said that they organise same event every year. Speaking on the purpose of the visit he said:
“The purpose of our visit is to remember children killed in 1994 genocide against the Tutsi but we also bring these children to the memorial so they can see what happened and learn about genocide prevention”.
