On 5th October, Her Royal Highness Sophie, Countess of Wessex, visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial accompanied by Lord Tariq Ahmad to pay tribute to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
They were guided through the Memorial’s permanent exhibitions, and laid wreaths at mass graves where 250,000 victims of the genocide have their final resting-place.
The Countess described the Memorial as “a whole moving and fitting tribute to those who were lost, but with hope for the future.”
The Kigali Genocide Memorial is the result of collaboration between Rwandan authorities and the Aegis Trust, born from the UK National Holocaust Centre. Opened in 2004, the Memorial became the starting-point for peace and values education now built into Rwanda’s national schools curriculum. Strengthening community resilience against division, it has inspired leaders from divided communities internationally to partner with the Aegis Trust on their own peacebuilding.
