Staff and Students of Kepler University on Friday visited the Ntarama Genocide Memorial site in Bugesera District to pay tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. At the memorial, students were briefed about the history of the Genocide in the district. Aurore Umutesi, the Academic Director at Kepler explained that the commemoration is important for their students to understand the history of the country, what happened, why it happened and the country’s efforts to prevent a similar occurrence. “Most of our students are too young as most of them were born around or after the Genocide; they have scanty information about what happened during that time. So for us it’s very important that they learn the history, the failures of the previous governments and the measures today’s government has taken to rebuild the country,” Umutesi said. Joe Felix Ntwali, the student leader, said commemorating the Genocide as youth, is part of a learning process to preserve and sustain what the country’s liberators sacrificed for. Emmanuel Twahirwa, the national coordinator for Association of Student Survivors of the Genocide (AERG) called on the students to fight genocide denial which he said is still rife. As part of the commemoration also, Kepler donated household materials to ten families of Genocide survivors in Ntarama sector. editorial@newtimes.co.rw
