Nyamata
From the early 1960s, Tutsi families from across Rwanda were pushed out of their home areas and resettled in Bugesera — land nobody wanted, dry and disease-ridden. The result was a district with a predominantly Tutsi population, which is why what happened here in 1994 happened at the scale it did.
When the genocide began in April 1994, people from Nyamata and the surrounding hills gathered at the town centre. The Catholic church and the priests' and sisters' houses beside it became refuges, on the assumption that a place of sanctuary would be respected. According to survivor testimony, around 10,000 people were killed in and around the church on 10 April 1994.
The building is preserved. The victims' clothing covers the pews. The metal roof is perforated with holes. The crypts below hold remains.
Ntarama
Less than an hour south of Kigali, the red-brick church at Ntarama stands among acacia trees in what is now a very quiet place. Around 5,000 people, many of them women and children, sheltered here. Their belongings still cover the floor — clothes, suitcases, a child's sock. The remains are present in the building.
Visiting
These are not curated museums. They are preserved crime scenes, and they are considerably more confronting than the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Go to Gisozi first for the history, then come here if you want to see what it meant. Guides at both sites are survivors or family of victims.
Both are half an hour to forty-five minutes from Kigali and can be done together in a half day. Do not take children. Do not photograph remains.