Players, coaches and staff of APR Basketball Club on Thursday, April 18, visited Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Gisozi as part of the club’s initiative to honor victims slain during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. April 7 marked 30 years since over a million lives were lost during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in a space of just 100 days. As the commemoration activities continue, a group players and staff of APR paid a visit to the memorial centre which is home to more than 250,000 remains of Tutsi victims. According to club team manager Captain Daniel Zigirinshuti, management of the team wanted the players to visit the memorial to know more about the history of the country before, during and after the genocide and the process of restoring peace by the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) which is attributed for putting an end to the Genocide against the Tutsi. Zigirinshuti thanked President Paul Kagame for taking the first step of leaving his comfort zone and taking the lead in liberating the country. “Today we have a basketball team that will represent Rwanda in the Basketball Africa League, something we don't support for granted like APR and for the players to know about it,” he said. During the visit, the team was offered a courtesy tour inside the memorial centre to understand how the genocide was prepared, how it was executed and how they can play their role in ensuring that the atrocities never happen again. Club head coach Mazen Trakh was part of the group that visited the memorial centre. The American said the visit was important to give him a better understanding of his role as a coach of a Rwandan club, as well as giving his foreign players the opportunity to know the history of the country. Trakh believes sports like basketball can contribute to the healing and unity within communities affected by such profound tragedies like the Genocide against the Tutsi. “I think acknowledging the tragedy is the first step. The next step is...we are playing a game and we want to play this game as hard as possible. We can play the game to a high level and it can make a difference in people following us, connecting with APR and this, I think, helps in the healing process,” he said. After being taken through a tour inside the memorial centre, point guard Adonis Filer said that he learned more than what he had heard before he came in Rwanda. “Before I came here, I had a general idea of what happened during this time but coming here taught me a lot. Really, I can see the strength of Rwandans mentally because, after going through all of this, then you have to forgive as well,” Filer said. Forward Elie Kaje expressed his gratitude to the RPA army which stopped the genocide and restored peace in the country, giving an opportunity for Rwandans who were born outside of the country like himself to come back and live well. I was given the opportunity to play for the army team that managed to save the country. In my opinion, it is of great value and I feel that I must remember that the soldiers gave us an opportunity as youth to rebuild this country,” Kaje noted. APR captain William Robeyns had been to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre before but, he said, he always wants to go back to learn more and more. “Visiting this place and learning about the history is so important because, if we don’t learn history, we cannot give our future the right direction,” he noted. ALSO READ: BAL 2024: A look at APR’s Sahara Conference opponents “For every human being, it is crucial to learn this history of Rwanda, but also history in general elsewhere, to remain united and advance forward, particularly on reconciliation and how to build such a beautiful country like Rwanda,” he added. After the tour at KGM, the club also visited the Campaign Against the Genocide (CAG) museum. Located at Rwandan Parliament buildings, formerly Centre Nationale de Development (CND), in Kimihurura, the museum is home to different monuments that give meaning, in different forms, the four-year liberation struggle that was led by Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) forces. The CND was the home to RPF-Inkotanyi politicians who were in Kigali as part of a peace agreement with Habyarimana’s government. It also hosted some 600 RPA troops who were meant to offer protection to the politicians.
