For me, one of the most important decisions that we made was to stay in the Hotel Mille Collines - made famous by the movie Hotel Rwanda. In many ways, it was as though we were staying in a memorial. I was surprised to hear the Rwandans attitude about the hotel's role in the genocide. In the West comparisons are often drawn between the manager, Paul Rusesabagina, and Oskar Schindler; in Rwanda, however, the locals do not have positive things to say. There was a general perception that Rusesabagina had taken advantage of the situation - an attitude which has only been fueled by the success of the film. We thought it was rather telling that there is no memorial at the hotel itself - nor are there "Hotel Rwanda" tours on the premises.

Before we headed out to the western part of the country, we had a tour of some of the most important memorials in the city of Kigali. We visited the place where ten Belgian peacekeepers were murdered by the Hutu extremists - the interahamwe. In addition to the site where bullet holes give testimony to the crime committed, there is a small museum dedicated to understanding the genocide. The first exhibit in the museum lists the genocides of the twentieth century - and the number of victims which each tragedy has claimed. In Rwanda there is clearly an attempt to show that the genocide is not unique. There also seems to be a desire to make it clear that it is not African. Later in the trip, we would visit a school run by Brother Stratton. He told us that in schools there is an emphasis on the genocide, unlike in Bosnia where the topic is deemed politically too sensitive. Brother Stratton told us that when discussing the genocide, Hutu students do not feel the shame which my German students often still show when discussing the Holocaust, sixty years later.

Later in the morning we saw the antennae of the infamous Radio Mille Collines. the Amahoro Stadium - the former UNAMIR outpost - and a memorial stone at the tourist information center - that implored us not to forget. A final stop before we left Kigali was the prison. It is estimated that over 100,000 Hutus fill the prisons of Rwanda. As we pulled up to the prison, we could see the prisoners in the courtyard, dressed in their unmistakable pink uniforms. We were not able to enter the prison, but we were welcomed into the prison gift shop, where we could have bought art designed by those accused of acts of genocide.