June 22: Survivors’ Centre, Kamonyi
Today, we met with a representative of SURF UK to view the Survivors’ Centre in Kamonyi.
This all came about when we contacted Jules Shell of Foundation Rwanda, who connected us with David Russell of SURF, who, in turn, asked us if we would be interested in meeting up with SURF Rwanda coordinator Gabo Wilson to visit the site.
We said we’d be pleased to.
The Centre is about 40 minutes outside Kigali, and we had passed the genocide memorial next to it numerous times on our way to do projects. Everyone came on the trip; for some it was work, for all it was educational.
David sent us an information sheet in preparation. The sheet was informational; however, it did not prepare us for the scope of this undertaking, which, to put it mildly, is impressive.
The building is massive – three stories. Currently, there are several administrative offices housed there. However, soon it will serve as the main repository for information about the genocide. Among other features, there will be a room to record songs and poems, a dark room to develop photographs for display, a computer lab and virtual library for academic research, as well as rooms of original documents and transcribed testimonies from survivors. SURF is currently working with several academic institutions in the U.S. on the project.
The Centre is scheduled to open in May 2010. We look forward to seeing its progress.
Ashley
