Murambi Memorial Centre (Murambi, Rwanda)

My goodness – they certainly know how to do museums RIGHT in Rwanda!! Instead of laying out a thousand pairs of shoes or hairbrushes to represent the deceased as our Holocaust Museums might do, in Rwanda, they lay out the actual BODIES!  

I step into the first room. The smell of decay hits me first. The dead are laid out on slatted wooden tables. The partially decomposed bodies have been preserved with lime. It gives them a chalky look. They are shrunken and brittle. At first I don’t see individual bodies, just shapes. Then my eyes begin to focus. It’s not the skeletal remains that are shocking. It’s the stories that are written on those remains. You can see where machetes have sliced off limbs, where clubs have smashed skulls. You can see faces screaming in pain, upper bodies twisted in flight, hands contorted in anguish. Some torsos still have shirts on. Some hands still sport wedding bands. Some of the dead are children. Suddenly I realize the others are waiting for me. This room is just one of dozens. We move on. The next room is similar. And the next.

Talk about a Morbid Must-See!   Thanks to Laura for the suggestion.