I arrived in Rwanda on the 21st of January from Uganda. Rwanda is my 79th country. I was supposed to come in directly to Rwanda from DR Congo but was advised not to use route as it is was not safe. Therefore, I made a detour back to Uganda and started my way up to Rwanda from there even though it meant few extra days on the trail.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to expect when I arrive in Rwanda but a visit to Kigali Memorial Center made me realize the magnitude at which the killings had occurred in 1994. It is estimated as many as 1,000,000 people were brutally murdered from April 7 to mid-July 1994 in approximately 100 days in what we know today as “The Rwandan Genocide.” It is hard to believe that 20% of the country’s population of which 85% of Tutsi ethnic population were slaughtered in such a short time.

As I walked around the center, I was numbed with fear and confusion. I have no words to express the horrific nightmare that took place with children, women and men screaming for mercy before they were hacked to pieces with machete. Rwanda in so many ways is like Nepal, landlocked with green rolling hills, terraced farms and peaceful hamlets. Rwandan’s people like Nepalese are so warm with their affections and getting acquainted with them was not tasking at all. They are such friendly people that I felt one with them. Everyone was just smiling at each other, hardly ever holding a reason to be angry with someone and you would expect otherwise after learning of their tragic history.

The genocide left thousands of Rwandans frightful of their future and that gruesome incident did leave a dent in the history of Rwanda and the survivors had a thing to hold a grudge on. But instead, they did the best thing they could have ever done, to commemorate the dead and to respect their country, they moved on with the thought of a bright future ahead after the initial shock. Looking back at them now, you would forget about the injustice done to them but I am sure that wretched memory is still etched somewhere in the back of their minds. I hope to learn and share with the world Rwandan people’s courage, willingness to forgive and resilience.

The Rwandan Genocide has made the citizens of Rwanda much able people today and I could never be proud as I am for them. Nepal is scarred from decade of civil war and has now chosen Rwanda’s path of healing and reconciliation that offers hope to future generations. Rwandan people are striving to build an inclusive society for all that rejects all form of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred. This, we must learn from Rwandan people. Kigali Memorial Center ensures that the world will not forget the horrors that happened in 1994 and will remind the world to never let another such terrible event from repeating.

I would like to thank all the people especially Honor Gatera and David Brown at the center for giving me access to the place that truly matters and all the Rwandan people and the Nepalese people I have met in Rwanda. I am grateful to every one of you for your hospitality, friendship and brotherhood. I will carry with me the messages of hope and courage of Rwandan people. I wish all of you a good day.

Peace and harmony to you. Take care.

Furtemba Sherpa.