Bugesera Reconciliation Village is located in Bugesera district, 30 km away from Kigali town roughly one hour’s drive from the capital of Kigali, Mbyo Reconciliation Village is where perpetrators and victims, murderers and survivors, Hutus and Tutsis, are neighbors. It’s a very rich area with several water bodies like Lakes Rweru and Cyohoha (and Rivers Nyabarongo and Akanyaru. Despite all this, Bugesera is a very dry area with dry savannahs, shrubs, and short trees due to its high temperatures, sometimes it turns drought. This explains why the Rwanda government is planning an airport in this region in addition to Kigali International Airport.
Bugesera district is covered by several villages inclusive of Nyamata and Ntarama which featured in the 1994 Rwanda Genocide outbreak between the Hutu and Tutsi cohorts of Rwanda. It basically broke off in April 1994, after President Habarimanya plane, was shot down in the Kigali capital, this sparked off a great massacre and killings. Lot of women who survived were left widows and children left homeless with losing either both of their parents and relatives. Food crops, gardens and properties were brutally destroyed and burnt. The killings began in early April of 1994 and continued for approximately for one hundred days until the Hutu Power movement’s defeat in mid-July.
The atmosphere was home no more, only sounds of the crying widows and orphans could be hardly heard, but jubilations from the winning party and gun shots covered the atmosphere. Hunger later struck the families of the survivors because there was nothing left to eat, and they felt insecure to move and look for food. This led to great famine and diseases, as people slept in bushes and forest to take cover, strong ones managed to be fled to the neighboring countries, with weak ones, left with no options, but to meet death.
It’s a sad story to share, but you can take a visit to the reconciliation village’s true history – a traditional history full of genocide massacres, sufferings, crime and scandal and today’s life. You will be able to hear live testimonies from the genocide victims, survivors and the killers, who live today harmoniously as neighbors. This is the way of humanity. Take a tour to this great place as you include it into your gorilla tour or wildlife tour in Rwanda.
The genocide did not only take human lives, but it also destroyed the livelihoods of many families, family leakages and ties were broken too. Victims couldn’t return to their villages. Perpetrators who have been in prison didn’t have a place to go, so officials created six Reconciliation Villages including Mbyo where 60 families are living currently. Join us for this exclusive tour of Mbyo’s treacherous past. Our licensed and experienced tour guides will take you on a fascinating tour of Mbyo reconciliation village. This tour will give you a real picture of the 1994 Rwandan genocide effects which is believed to be one of the greatest mass killings of humankind. There is a lot to share and learn from on your visit.
It’s been more than 23 years since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda that left about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead. Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who was re-elected in August with 93 percent of the vote, says now there are no longer Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda, only Rwandans. As a test of how well the different ethnic groups can live together, victims and perpetrators of the genocide are living side-by-side in a small community known as the Reconciliation Village.
In Rwanda, after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, which left a million innocent people dead, genocide was perpetrated against Neighbours by Neighbours, and it would not be cynicism for one to think that this ‘neighborliness’ would not reemerge for generations to come. However, twenty-one years later, survivors and perpetrators have made significant steps towards reconciliation. Besides the harmonious union in villages where the survivors currently live with no fear, next to the perpetrators, they work together, eat together, but most of all, they have embraced reconciliation through intermarriages.
Core Value of Bugesera reconciliation village
Your visit may have a great impact to the livelihood of these genocide victims, book a tour with us, and have a chance to visit this Reconciliation village. Become a psychotherapist and help someone to conquer post-traumatic stress disorder during the trip. Whole Day Tour to any of Bugesera towns like Mbyo, is quite a rewarding experience to travelers / tourists, that you will live to remember, and imagine the humanity showcased here.
In your day tour to the Mbyo Reconciliation Village, you will get to experience a number of activities ranging from; visiting local shops and markets with African fabrics made by the victims themselves as ways of earning, woven baskets, Entertainment in form of traditional dance, from the local survivors singing and dancing as they jubilate and appreciate your effort to visit, Storytelling from the survivors as they narrate their past dark experiences during the occurrence of the genocide incidence and life story after the incidence, what they went through, learn how to cook and taste local Rwandan dishes, as you sit and dine with the victims.
The day tour to Mbyo, gives you a deep understanding of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide incidence and its impact to the life of Rwandese; You will get to learn about their way of life (day – to – day life) good enough the Rwandese are very hospitable people. For bookings, email our sales team, so that you have your safari booked or the visit included in your tour to Rwanda and African safari holiday package.