A Light to the Nations

I’ve been really hesitant in writing about the genocide. Mostly because the genocide has so many facets to it, and I fear that I will only paint one side of the story. Even more, I don’t want to confirm the idea that Rwanda is only defined by the genocide. But the reality is that you can’t understand and fully appreciate the miraculous work of reconciliation in Rwanda without understanding the horror of the genocide.

There’s a lot of history involved with understanding the genocide. A LOT. There’s political aspects, social aspects, spiritual aspects…a lot. I’ve researched the history leading up to the genocide for hours and hours back in the States, and here I’ve probably spent even more time in discussion with people who lived through its history. And yet I’m still learning something new in every conversation.

It’s impossible to capture all of it in a blog post, mostly because I can’t even begin to understand it. So I’ll give you the highlights of what I’ve learned; what has been the most shocking and the most surprising.

1). The genocide did not spontaneously appear. Ethnic tensions are not apart of Rwanda’s history before colonialism. Belgian missionaries came to preach the gospel; unfortunately they were affected by their own perceptions of ethnic stereotypes from their own context and applied this in their teachings. They began to favor Tutsis over Hutus, claiming one group was inherently more intelligent and capable of ruling than the other. Rwandans began to internalize these beliefs of ethnicity assigning superiority or inferiority. When the Revolution of 1959 took over power from the Belgians, Hutus ruled from a sense of revenge and anger after being oppressed. This caused massive groups of Tutsis to flee to neighboring countries and began tensions and false prejudices of each group. This was just the start to the long history leading to the genocide.

2). The genocide in Rwanda is truly like none other. There’s a saying here that genocides in other countries are country against country, individual against individual. But in Rwanda, it was brother against brother. People tell stories of fathers who killed their children because the mother was a Tutsi, or the Hutu mother’s family killing her children and Tutsi husband.

3). The genocide was horrific. People didn’t just kill to kill, but killed with torture in the most unimaginable ways. Everyday tools became weapons, most notably the machete and club, to inflict slow, pain, humiliating deaths. HIV positive men intentionally raped women so that they would die in years to come.

4). Women and children were the targets. There was no mercy. Women and children represented future generations of Tutsis, and so they were the targets of mass killings. The Gisozi Genocide Memorial has a section dedicated to the children of the genocide, and by far it was the most difficult exhibit for me to experience. There were pictures of the children who were killed (donated by their surviving parents) and underneath would read something like this:

Name: Joseph

Age: 3 years old

Favorite candy: Chocolate

Best friend: Mommy

Last words: “Gousanga” (pray)

Cause of death: Smashed against a wall

5). “The church failed.” These words rang throughout my body when I first heard them in a conversation with a Rwandese man. The church failed. Many Christian leaders often took an active role in perpetrating the genocide. The biggest Catholic Church in Kigali was the refuge for 20,000 people during the genocide. But the leader of the church worked with the militia to turn in Tutsis to be killed. People consider this church lucky because not everyone died. I pass by it all the time, and never knew what happened in it 20 years ago.

But for all these lists of tragedies from the genocide, Rwanda is just as much a country of hope. It is rebuilt by its people, for its people. There is a sense of strength, a sense of “Rwandan” that overrides any ethnic identity. For born again Christians, there is a commitment to forgiveness and tireless efforts to bring others healing from their trauma and suffering. There is a resolve to never let the genocide happen again, and people backing this with action to bring reconciliation to their people. There is a remembrance dedicated to the victims, and a resolve to move towards a better future in their honor. Most especially, there is thankfulness for what God has done to make Rwanda, which 20 years ago was a place robbed of hope, a light to the nations.

When many people hear “Rwanda,” they think “genocide.” I hope one day we will instead think “reconciliation.”  

A village from the Southern district remembers their family
who died in the genocide