This is one of Rwanda’s six National Genocide memorial sites which was desacralized by the Roman catholic church on 11th April 1997 and transformed into a memorial to the victims of the genocide.
Close to 50,000 people gathered at Nyamata church seeking for shelter during the genocide. The frightened innocent people had locked themselves in the church for safety but perpetrators found their way inside and killed all of them using the grenades, others thrown into latrines and deep wells.
The chapel/church at this historic site, houses victims’ clothes and their belongings, stained clothes with blood, skulls, bones, different national identity cards, and fighting equipment such as matchets that were used by the Hutu fighters. One of the victims was buried inside the church/Chapel.
Beneath the chapel, there is a room displaying the remains of victims. Mass graves are behind the church, with a vault that houses the skulls of victims and other remains.
In addition, the memorial site has got the grave of Antoinette Leocatelli with a placard explaining her life and work in Rwanda, and her eventual murder in 1992.
Nyamata site is about an hours’ drive and if you have an extra day or half day at the start or end of the main Adventure Consults’ trip, a visit to Nyamata genocide memorial is worth considering. Talk to the team – sales@adventureconsults.com.