Sunday was a day of great contrast. Our first visit was to a Rwandan Methodist church in Kigali. We then spent the afternoon at the genocide museum. We first saw a joyful, animated people whose center of gravity is God and community, each other. Children ran about during the four-hour service, and it was hard to tell which children belonged to which parents. Everywhere the children turned, they found a hug or a smile. Hours later we saw the horrors of the genocide at the museum. Horrors that included the brutal, unthinkable murder of children by club, fire and machete.
But to understand what happened in 1994, you must first understand the background. From the late 19th to early 20th century, first the Germans and then the Belgians occupied Rwanda. During their colonization, they planted the seeds of prejudice that would later blossom into acts of hatred. In 1932, the Belgians separated the country of Rwanda into classes based on their physical appearance and relative wealth. Not on their religion, or by geography, or by political class, but by appearance and wealth.
After this imposed identity, neighbors who one day saw neighbors, the next day had an ID card officially proclaiming that their neighbors were no longer just their neighbors, but now Hutu or Tutsi. Then the classes were pitted against one another in the distribution of power. Thus began the all-too-familiar “them versus us” mentality that has torn nations apart for millennia.
The first ethnic cleansing of the Tutsi by the Hutu began in 1959. Tutsi were murdered and exiled to neighboring countries. In 1990, Rwanda fell into a civil war, and the murder of Tutsi continued. In 1994, extremist Hutu in positions of power throughout the country orchestrated the eradication of “Tutsi cockroaches.” The genocide began.
Extremist Hutu targeted all Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Neighbors awoke to neighbors slaughtering neighbors in the streets. Women were raped. Children were tortured and killed. Infants were swung by their feet to have their heads dashed against the wall. People sought refuge in church, only to be locked inside and burned alive.
Approximately one million people were killed over the course of a few months. One million people in three months. Twelve people per second.
Now, the people of Rwanda seek peace and reconciliation behind the leadership of President Paul Kigame. Hutu and Tutsi live and work together as they did before the genocide, and they no longer refer to themselves as Hutu and Tutsi, but Rwandans.
It is hard for me to reconcile what these people did to each other twenty years ago, with what I have witnessed. As with most pluralistic cultures, they put community ahead of self. They are more open with their affection toward one another than we are in America. They hold their handshakes longer, touch and hug, smile and laugh. They treat each other with tenderness.
A great first day, and a sad first day.
Below is a picture of mass graves that have been memorialized at the Kigali Genocide Museum.
But to understand what happened in 1994, you must first understand the background. From the late 19th to early 20th century, first the Germans and then the Belgians occupied Rwanda. During their colonization, they planted the seeds of prejudice that would later blossom into acts of hatred. In 1932, the Belgians separated the country of Rwanda into classes based on their physical appearance and relative wealth. Not on their religion, or by geography, or by political class, but by appearance and wealth.
After this imposed identity, neighbors who one day saw neighbors, the next day had an ID card officially proclaiming that their neighbors were no longer just their neighbors, but now Hutu or Tutsi. Then the classes were pitted against one another in the distribution of power. Thus began the all-too-familiar “them versus us” mentality that has torn nations apart for millennia.
The first ethnic cleansing of the Tutsi by the Hutu began in 1959. Tutsi were murdered and exiled to neighboring countries. In 1990, Rwanda fell into a civil war, and the murder of Tutsi continued. In 1994, extremist Hutu in positions of power throughout the country orchestrated the eradication of “Tutsi cockroaches.” The genocide began.
Extremist Hutu targeted all Tutsi and moderate Hutu. Neighbors awoke to neighbors slaughtering neighbors in the streets. Women were raped. Children were tortured and killed. Infants were swung by their feet to have their heads dashed against the wall. People sought refuge in church, only to be locked inside and burned alive.
Approximately one million people were killed over the course of a few months. One million people in three months. Twelve people per second.
Now, the people of Rwanda seek peace and reconciliation behind the leadership of President Paul Kigame. Hutu and Tutsi live and work together as they did before the genocide, and they no longer refer to themselves as Hutu and Tutsi, but Rwandans.
It is hard for me to reconcile what these people did to each other twenty years ago, with what I have witnessed. As with most pluralistic cultures, they put community ahead of self. They are more open with their affection toward one another than we are in America. They hold their handshakes longer, touch and hug, smile and laugh. They treat each other with tenderness.
A great first day, and a sad first day.
Below is a picture of mass graves that have been memorialized at the Kigali Genocide Museum.
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