On Thursday 19 May, over 500 members of COOTAMONO Ubumwe, a cooperation of taxi motorcyclists from the Musanze District, visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial to remember the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and to learn about the history of the Genocide.

COOTAMONO, which stand for Cooperative des Taxis Moto du Nord (Cooperation of Taxi Moto in the Northern Province), Ubumwe, hails from the Musanze district. The group was led by Safari Mureruya, the President of the Cooperative, Martin Ntirenganya, Community Development and Social Affairs Officer of Musanze, and Celestin Ntaganzwa, National President of all Taxi Motorcyclist Cooperation.

“We chose to visit Kigali Genocide memorial in order to get an opportunity of learning genocide history stored in the memorial museum. We expect to learn much from out visit,” Safari Mureruya COOTAMONO President.

The group began their visit by visiting the memorial’s exhibition to learn more about the history and causes of the 1994 Genocide, and to learn about fighting Genocide ideology. The group concluded their tour by laying wreaths on the mass graves, which are the final resting place for over 250’000 victims of the Genocide, and by observing a moment of silence in tribute to the victims.

“On behalf of Musanze district, I thank these motorcyclists for visiting the memorial site. They contribute so much to community development activities like Umuganda. We hope that they are going to help us to teach other residents of Musanze District.” Martin Ntirenganya, community development and social affairs officer, Musanze district.

“What we saw and what happened during genocide against Tutsi in 1994 is a sad history. It is sad to think about how Tutsis were killed because of their ethnicity. We learned so much from this visit. Only 500 motorcyclists visited the memorial, but we will teach others in order to spread what we learnt and eradicate genocide ideology. Safari Mureruya, COOTAMONO President.