From October 2013 to May 2014, I served as the International Creative Director of Kwibuka20, the twentieth commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which about one million ethnic Tutsi and those perceived to be Tutsi sympathizers were systematically murdered by forces in the extremist Hutu government. My job was to articulate a narrative arc for the commemoration, and work with a team to design and produce the events that would comprise the commemoration in and outside Rwanda.
The annual commemoration of the genocide traditionally begins on April 7, the date the killings began, and continues for a hundred days, through July 4, when Kigali is said to have been liberated. That’s when they say the killings came to an end. Memorial events have always been centered in the capital Kigali—and in memorials throughout the country, where people died.
As a result, commemorative events drew only those Rwandans who identified as or with Tutsi, the targeted group. Hutu—still the majority of Rwandans—generally did not feel inclined to attend—or in any way remember.
The yearly commemoration is called Kwibuka, which is the Kinyarwanda word for memory or remember.
In the twentieth year after the genocide, the Kwibuka20 theme was Remember, Unite, Renew. We decided to begin the commemoration three months before the actual onset of the Hundred Days of Mourning with a project designed to reach out to the entire nation, and all Rwandans.
The Urumuri Rutazima (Never-ending Light) Tour was a celebration of the strength and courage it takes to rebuild after catastrophe, and to plan a path to the future.
The tour was launched on January 7, 2014, at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where three elderly survivors created a spark. Children blew on the spark to create a flame. That new flame was used to ignite a torch, which was carried by a series of twenty year-olds, from district to district.
The flame was received in each district, in stadiums or town squares—places where people live, not where they died. We commissioned a song, which children sang to greet the flame. Speakers in each district included not only local survivors, asked to talk about how they were rescued. Rescuers also spoke about what moved them to defy the government and risk their lives. In several districts, there were perpetrators willing to speak about how they were enlisted to participate in the killing—and express remorse.
Each district created a shelter for the flame, and agreed to maintain it throughout the time of the commemoration.
The flame—in a Welsh miners lamp—was transported throughout Rwanda in a white pickup truck, flanked by Army and police escorts. Soon after the tour began, an increasingly impressive caravan of cars started trailing the truck, arriving with the flame in each successive district. Their occupants—in lively traditional dress—processed behind the twenty year-olds who carried the torch, singing.
Urumuri rw'u Rwanda ni urwanjye nawe
ni urumuri rutazima, ni urumuri rw'ubuzima.
[Receive Rwanda, receive the light that never ends, the light of life]
The flame returned to Kigali on April 7, 2014, where it was used to ignite the National Flame of Remembrance at Kigali Genocide Memorial. And that same new flame became the source for all the memorial lights in every district of Rwanda.
The annual commemoration of the genocide traditionally begins on April 7, the date the killings began, and continues for a hundred days, through July 4, when Kigali is said to have been liberated. That’s when they say the killings came to an end. Memorial events have always been centered in the capital Kigali—and in memorials throughout the country, where people died.
As a result, commemorative events drew only those Rwandans who identified as or with Tutsi, the targeted group. Hutu—still the majority of Rwandans—generally did not feel inclined to attend—or in any way remember.
The yearly commemoration is called Kwibuka, which is the Kinyarwanda word for memory or remember.
In the twentieth year after the genocide, the Kwibuka20 theme was Remember, Unite, Renew. We decided to begin the commemoration three months before the actual onset of the Hundred Days of Mourning with a project designed to reach out to the entire nation, and all Rwandans.
The Urumuri Rutazima (Never-ending Light) Tour was a celebration of the strength and courage it takes to rebuild after catastrophe, and to plan a path to the future.
The tour was launched on January 7, 2014, at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, where three elderly survivors created a spark. Children blew on the spark to create a flame. That new flame was used to ignite a torch, which was carried by a series of twenty year-olds, from district to district.
The flame was received in each district, in stadiums or town squares—places where people live, not where they died. We commissioned a song, which children sang to greet the flame. Speakers in each district included not only local survivors, asked to talk about how they were rescued. Rescuers also spoke about what moved them to defy the government and risk their lives. In several districts, there were perpetrators willing to speak about how they were enlisted to participate in the killing—and express remorse.
Each district created a shelter for the flame, and agreed to maintain it throughout the time of the commemoration.
The flame—in a Welsh miners lamp—was transported throughout Rwanda in a white pickup truck, flanked by Army and police escorts. Soon after the tour began, an increasingly impressive caravan of cars started trailing the truck, arriving with the flame in each successive district. Their occupants—in lively traditional dress—processed behind the twenty year-olds who carried the torch, singing.
Urumuri rw'u Rwanda ni urwanjye nawe
ni urumuri rutazima, ni urumuri rw'ubuzima.
[Receive Rwanda, receive the light that never ends, the light of life]
The flame returned to Kigali on April 7, 2014, where it was used to ignite the National Flame of Remembrance at Kigali Genocide Memorial. And that same new flame became the source for all the memorial lights in every district of Rwanda.