A Survivor's Story as a Guide at Rwanda's Genocide Memorial | Short Film Showcase

I would say like more than majority of the people, they are very smart. It's a great pleasure you welcome to Kar Genocide Memorial. My name is Gamba. I'm the head guide of the place we're visiting. The tour starts by laying the leaf of flowers as a sign of paying respect to the genocide victims, and then we'll be right back and visit the internal section.

You have then people coming, and then they spend like an hour. You told them about the content of the museum, and they go there, they take their time, they lead, and sometimes they grow up the audio guide. And then at the end, they ask you like, "It's very confusing, so who actually killed who?" You know, there are a lot of aspects of life you get to know as you walk through the genocide memorial. Because this is part of my history, it's heavy, but the more you face it, the more you get to know the reality.

So those are photos of victims. As you know, we have 259,000. [Music] This is my young brother, he's actually a cousin—a cousin brother, because his mom and my mom, there are two of them who survived in a family of nine children. So only both of them survived. This is not a mistake. What is he doing? He wants to put that finish champion.

So when the genocide happened, I was like expecting things to last very short. We had spent some like three or four days without having something to eat, and then I managed to have tea for my father, and I was really very grateful. And he told me like, "Now you have grown." [Music] Up and the next week he was killed.

You look completely H, because the day comes you don’t wish that the night would come. And the night, when it's night, you don’t wish the day would come. Then you live in such a constant fear for days and days and days. We thought like we’re going to die. We are dying. We are dying. Now is the [Music] day. It’s a powerful place, even for us who work here. It’s a powerful place; you feel it.

So his way to make you comfortable, he makes like a terrible joke with you. You know what I was thinking in my heart? I was like, "This guy is joking in this place, how can he laugh?" That was like my second day. Then later I was the one. It didn't take long to be close friends. I thought, what is the term that I used? I said he's "fatting"—he sweats a lot. The workout is so; he's all funny fat.

Hey, I know like no. Say whatever you feel about me. You just go and tell whatever you have. That’s your time. Speak out. He's a soccer lover, kind of Manu; he always talks about football. I hate when we're watching football and at the same time he's on the phone. Actually, in last this commemoration, I remember I had lost the taste of football. I had no taste. I was like, "I don't care."

I have moved to a very positive side where I can face the kill of my father, knowing that after genocide, life can go back to normal. Not to the normal as being normal, but at least people can have hope—a shard of hope. We have seen how not only the dark side of it but also how people can change. [Music] [Applause] [Music]