The delegation, led by Satguru Travels Rwanda Country Manager Sunil Kumar Nair alongside Satguru Cargo Regional Manager Ravi Tejwani and Satguru Travels Rwanda Managing Director Bharat Tolani, brought together employees from different business divisions of Satguru Travel Group, which has operated in Rwanda since 1989.
Company officials said the visit, which took place on June 26, reflects Satguru’s long-standing connection to Rwanda, where the firm was founded and continues to operate, with the majority of its workforce made up of Rwandan nationals.
Speaking about the initiative, Sunil Kumar Nair said the visit was rooted in the company’s responsibility to honour the country’s history and support values of peace and unity.
“Satguru was founded in Kigali in 1989, making Rwanda the birthplace of our organization. Even as we have grown globally, Rwanda remains our home. With more than 90% of our workforce being Rwandan nationals, we believe it is our responsibility to honour the country’s history and reinforce the values of peace, unity and humanity,” he said.
The visit has now become an annual remembrance initiative for the company. Last year, Satguru combined the memorial visit with direct support to a survivor family, including medical insurance.
The team moved through key sections of the memorial, including the mass graves and the Garden of Memory, where they were briefed on the history of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and its planning by the then extremist regime.
They paid their respects by laying wreaths at the mass graves, where the remains of more than 100,000 victims from Nyanza Hill and surrounding communities are buried. Many of the victims were killed after UN peacekeepers abandoned them at the former ETO Kicukiro site.
The Garden of Memory, which spans several symbolic landscapes, was highlighted as a central educational space. Its features, including dry gardens representing lost lives, water elements symbolising rivers where victims were thrown, and monuments reflecting resilience, are designed to teach visitors about the scale of the tragedy and Rwanda’s path to recovery. A prominent Flame of Hope monument stands as a symbol of dignity and national renewal.
Participants also reflected on lessons of unity, with employees noting the importance of rejecting division and safeguarding peace.
Flavia Umutesi of Satguru Holidays said the visit provided a powerful learning experience about Rwanda’s history and reconciliation journey.
“Rwandans are no longer divided. There is no Tutsi, there is no Hutu; they are all one. We learned resilience and the importance of ensuring genocide never happens again anywhere,” she said.
Another employee, Rwagasana Alexandre, urged young people to remain vigilant against genocide ideology and to keep engaging with memorial sites to understand history and prevent repetition of such atrocities.
“We urge Rwandan youth not to fall into the temptations that led to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We should keep visiting these places so that we understand and avoid any behaviour that undermines its lessons,” he said.
Company management reaffirmed that remembrance will remain part of Satguru’s long-term corporate culture, coupled with continued support to survivor communities through employee engagement and social responsibility initiatives.
Nair emphasized that the experience was humbling for staff, adding that remembrance must be paired with action.
“We honour the memory of the victims, pay tribute to the resilience of survivors, and recognize Rwanda’s extraordinary journey of reconciliation. May we remember the past with dignity, live the present with compassion, and build the future with unity. Never Again,” he said.
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