Rayon Sports Football Club staff and players visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial on Wednesday 13 April 2016 to pay respects to the victims of Genocide against the Tutsi and learn about the causes, reality and consequences of the Genocide. The club is the first sporting club to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial during the Kwibuka22 period.
The Rayon Sports players were accompanied by the club president, Denis Gacinya, team secretary, Olivier Gakwaya, their coach Djuma Massoudi and members of the staff. Their visit began with a tour of the memorial’s exhibition and grounds, followed by the burial place where more than 250,000 victims of the Genocide are laid to rest.
After watching a short movie about Genocide survivors, they continued their visit by laying wreaths on the graves. During the visit to the exhibition, they players had the opportunity to learn more about the Genocide against Tutsi and other genocides that have taken place around the world.
Rayon Sports Captain, Eric Ndayishimiye, President Dennis Gacinya and Coach Djuma Massoudi laying a wreath on the burial place.
After the visit, Rayon Sports players left messages saying that what happened should not happened again. Davis Kasirye, a Ugandan player said that what he saw is very horrific.
“I am Ugandan and it’s my first time to visit a memorial site. When I was in Uganda, I watched movies about the Genocide, but I saw that visiting the memorial is the best way to understand what happened as it is. I will be a witness of what I saw, and it is not the last time to visit the memorial site”.
Muhire Kevin, a young player of Rayon Sports born after the Genocide said:
“I am happy to visit the memorial site. What I saw here was a sad history, but the lesson that I got is that we have to use sports in order to unite Rwandans again”.
Gacinya Denis, the president of Rayon Sports said that they are not going to stop by only visiting the memorial, but that they are going to help Genocide survivors together with the Rayon Sports Family. He added that they are also collecting the history of Rayon Sports during the Genocide so as to pay respects to Rayon Sports family members who were victims of the Genocide.
