Reflection on Rwanda Genocide Site
An African Journal
Written by: Staff
Post Date: May. 26, 2005
A final reflection on our time in Rwanda and at the Kenya Memorial.
As a writer I can best capture my feeling and thoughts about the places and events that I experience through my words. I hope you take the time to read and pray for Steve and me as we continue our time in Africa for another 6 weeks to help get the container shipment through to the children at the orphanage in Kenya.
God's blessings to all of you, Love Carol and Steve.
One thing I have not written about are my feelings concerning our visit to the Genocide Memorial Site in Kigali, Rwanda. It's been three weeks since we visited the memorial site. Like all memorial sites, which represent the loss of a person or many, their losses have often been caused by some kind of tragedy. This was not just an individual tragedy, but also one that changed a nation.
Not one family in this small land-locked nation of Rwanda is left without some kind of scars surrounding the events that took place almost 11 years ago. It was a civil war, the roots of which can be traced back to key causes. The involvement of race, politics, religion, colonization, prejudice, and greed combined together creating a deep seated hate and discrimination exploding into a tribal war between the Hutus and the Tutsi. There are estimates that up to a million people were killed in the 110-day war. No one knows for sure. At the site in Kigali alone they estimate the bones of 250,000 men, women and children were respectfully laid to rest on a hill site with mass graves carefully placed in tiers on the side hill surrounded by beautiful gardens. Inside the memorial site visitors walk through the historical display of the causes contributing to the tension within the country before the war.
Rwanda was a peaceful nation with two main tribes with physical features that often set them apart, one tribe being very tall, the other being smaller in stature. They worked and lived peacefully together, even inter marrying, living a peaceful life side by side for centuries. The source of this tragedy can be traced back to the influence of the colonization of the area in the early 1900's which caused a separation in the tribes; one tribe was given more rights, privileges and prestige than the other. An environment of discrimination became prevalent through out the country. One tribe being put in a place of preference over the other that creates an open door for social and political opportunities of racial superiority and favoritism to flourish with in the nation.
I have purposely not stated which tribe played which role, as each tribe suffered terrible losses because of this tragedy. I don't want to be the cause of further unforgiveness or hatred towards either tribe. The people, as part of their healing, often choose to call themselves Rwandans, not by their traditional tribal names. The problems in Rwanda are similar to some of the racial tensions experienced in many countries including America. Problems were caused by one culture being suppressed and enslaved and one given a place of honor and privilege over the other. In both societies it created not just a civil war, which pitted brother against brother, killing, so many, it also rippled down through generations creating cultural and racial tension as well as other problems. Issues which are still being addressed by American society today.
When I first visited the memorial site four years ago, it was under construction. There was no visitor center; our team walked down to the bottom of the hillside and went into a make shift tent. There we found simple tables with piles bones which included those of men, women, and children. Bones neatly stacked with skulls on one table, leg bones on another and so forth. The bodies had long ago lost the flesh that held the bones together. I remember having such an overwhelming sense of guilt and grief as I walked around each table carefully looking and trying to absorb it all. My heart cried out "Forgive Us, Forgive Us".
Some might say the majority of the world ignored the killing of each one of these victims as the horrible genocide went unnoticed in the world for 10 days, which was when the majority of the people were killed. However, even afterwards when the news of the genocide broke in the world news, little help was sent to put a stop to the genocide for another 100 days. People hid along the banks of the rivers as an estimated 60,000 bodies floated down stream. Disease and starvation became a reality for those who remained in hiding, out of fear of being killed. Whole families, generations were wiped out. Rape, mutilation, torture became a means, not only of killing but a way of revenge for the oppression felt for generations between the tribes. I studied the skull of one child with a bullet wound through its head, another child's skull crushed by a machete and wondered why and how could an individual be driven to do such a thing to a child, an innocent beautiful child. I cannot imagine how someone could lift their hand with the weight of a machete and see a child's eyes cry out of fear for mercy and still strike the child with a killing blow. What harm could a child possibly cause in that society? A child totally dependent on adults to care for them, love them and provide for them. No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we may only enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a small child.
The children are the true victims of this war, the ones who were killed and the tens of thousands of those left wandering the streets hurt, hungry, lost. Often clinging on to their dead parents or wandering the streets, they disappear. The orphans became a pivotal point in the country, as the slow process of healing after the war began. The cries of the children were not left unheard. The country began to pull together to help them, creating orphanages and eventually placing the children in new homes. The hardest thing to see now is the children that are often found running the streets, street kids, who were the innocent children born from the rape of their mother. Rape is used as a weapon of war. Many of the men in the army who were responsible for the killings and rapes were infected with AIDS. These are their children unwanted, often abandoned, and left to fend for themselves, their mothers having long ago passed away. I pray that someday their every need will be met, that there is a way found to fill starving childrens stomachs with food, educate it, provide a home and give them the love as Christ would, love filled with kindness and dignity. I am reminded daily that I am human. I can strive to do all these things to the best of my ability, but I always seem to fall short of the overwhelming need. I do what I can by telling their stories and sharing about Jesus as being the only way to salvation and life. Sharing what I do have, I cry out to the Lord for mercy on the hands of the starving, begging children of this land.
This week I visited another memorial site. The site where the America Embassy once stood near the Times Tower in the heart of Nairobi, Kenya. In 1998 two young suicide bombers drove their pickup truck into the parking garage of the Embassy and destroyed it. The blast rocked the city, the nation of Kenya, and the United States. There were 219 men, women, boys, and girls crushed and killed beneath the rubble of this once peaceful site. Each country lost many of their own. United States service men and women, diplomats, local Kenyans, support staff, officials and even innocent victims walking on the streets lost their lives in this senseless killing. The roots were based in cultural, political, and religious hate. What kind of a God would send young boys to do such a devastating thing? Not a God that I would want to serve. I wondered as I walked the beautiful park that now stands as a memorial to those who perished. Why did they need to die? Why were their lives cut short because of someone else's choice? Innocent, unsuspecting and taken by surprise, they died a senseless death.
Local artist have illustrated the effect of this tragedy, graphically painting the event. The screams of the people running from the place, the power of the explosion ripping a wall carries the names of the victims, the outline of Kenya etched in stone, the Dove of peace symbolically placed in the center. Some interesting points of similarity to the genocide in Rwanda and the US Embassy bombing in Kenya is that both roots could be traced to hate. Both killed innocent victims and both in their recovery and healing have chosen to look towards the future through the children who survived. In Kenya there is a display of all the children whose mothers survived the blast, who were born after the bombing. Kenya celebrates the lives of these children. Children who are the triumphant survivors of this hate crime. Rwanda celebrates their lives and survival through the thousands of children whose eyes cry out asking for help. The nation is helping those who survived the genocide be triumphant in living each day and being long term, successful survivors of a horrendous hate crime.
It is only through the blood and love of Jesus Christ that each nation can find healing, forgiving the past and modeling a peaceful life for these children. These nations choose to place hate aside and share Christ like love for each other and themselves, raising up the children, victoriously choosing to bring love into their future and lives.
PS from Steve:
I agree with what is written here. One added footnote:
Visiting the August 7th Memorial at the site of the bombed out US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya reminded me of the times I have visited the traveling Vietnam Memorial of 'The Wall'. It hurt just as much.
As a writer I can best capture my feeling and thoughts about the places and events that I experience through my words. I hope you take the time to read and pray for Steve and me as we continue our time in Africa for another 6 weeks to help get the container shipment through to the children at the orphanage in Kenya.
God's blessings to all of you, Love Carol and Steve.
One thing I have not written about are my feelings concerning our visit to the Genocide Memorial Site in Kigali, Rwanda. It's been three weeks since we visited the memorial site. Like all memorial sites, which represent the loss of a person or many, their losses have often been caused by some kind of tragedy. This was not just an individual tragedy, but also one that changed a nation.
Not one family in this small land-locked nation of Rwanda is left without some kind of scars surrounding the events that took place almost 11 years ago. It was a civil war, the roots of which can be traced back to key causes. The involvement of race, politics, religion, colonization, prejudice, and greed combined together creating a deep seated hate and discrimination exploding into a tribal war between the Hutus and the Tutsi. There are estimates that up to a million people were killed in the 110-day war. No one knows for sure. At the site in Kigali alone they estimate the bones of 250,000 men, women and children were respectfully laid to rest on a hill site with mass graves carefully placed in tiers on the side hill surrounded by beautiful gardens. Inside the memorial site visitors walk through the historical display of the causes contributing to the tension within the country before the war.
Rwanda was a peaceful nation with two main tribes with physical features that often set them apart, one tribe being very tall, the other being smaller in stature. They worked and lived peacefully together, even inter marrying, living a peaceful life side by side for centuries. The source of this tragedy can be traced back to the influence of the colonization of the area in the early 1900's which caused a separation in the tribes; one tribe was given more rights, privileges and prestige than the other. An environment of discrimination became prevalent through out the country. One tribe being put in a place of preference over the other that creates an open door for social and political opportunities of racial superiority and favoritism to flourish with in the nation.
I have purposely not stated which tribe played which role, as each tribe suffered terrible losses because of this tragedy. I don't want to be the cause of further unforgiveness or hatred towards either tribe. The people, as part of their healing, often choose to call themselves Rwandans, not by their traditional tribal names. The problems in Rwanda are similar to some of the racial tensions experienced in many countries including America. Problems were caused by one culture being suppressed and enslaved and one given a place of honor and privilege over the other. In both societies it created not just a civil war, which pitted brother against brother, killing, so many, it also rippled down through generations creating cultural and racial tension as well as other problems. Issues which are still being addressed by American society today.
When I first visited the memorial site four years ago, it was under construction. There was no visitor center; our team walked down to the bottom of the hillside and went into a make shift tent. There we found simple tables with piles bones which included those of men, women, and children. Bones neatly stacked with skulls on one table, leg bones on another and so forth. The bodies had long ago lost the flesh that held the bones together. I remember having such an overwhelming sense of guilt and grief as I walked around each table carefully looking and trying to absorb it all. My heart cried out "Forgive Us, Forgive Us".
Some might say the majority of the world ignored the killing of each one of these victims as the horrible genocide went unnoticed in the world for 10 days, which was when the majority of the people were killed. However, even afterwards when the news of the genocide broke in the world news, little help was sent to put a stop to the genocide for another 100 days. People hid along the banks of the rivers as an estimated 60,000 bodies floated down stream. Disease and starvation became a reality for those who remained in hiding, out of fear of being killed. Whole families, generations were wiped out. Rape, mutilation, torture became a means, not only of killing but a way of revenge for the oppression felt for generations between the tribes. I studied the skull of one child with a bullet wound through its head, another child's skull crushed by a machete and wondered why and how could an individual be driven to do such a thing to a child, an innocent beautiful child. I cannot imagine how someone could lift their hand with the weight of a machete and see a child's eyes cry out of fear for mercy and still strike the child with a killing blow. What harm could a child possibly cause in that society? A child totally dependent on adults to care for them, love them and provide for them. No wonder the Lord Jesus Christ tells us that we may only enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a small child.
The children are the true victims of this war, the ones who were killed and the tens of thousands of those left wandering the streets hurt, hungry, lost. Often clinging on to their dead parents or wandering the streets, they disappear. The orphans became a pivotal point in the country, as the slow process of healing after the war began. The cries of the children were not left unheard. The country began to pull together to help them, creating orphanages and eventually placing the children in new homes. The hardest thing to see now is the children that are often found running the streets, street kids, who were the innocent children born from the rape of their mother. Rape is used as a weapon of war. Many of the men in the army who were responsible for the killings and rapes were infected with AIDS. These are their children unwanted, often abandoned, and left to fend for themselves, their mothers having long ago passed away. I pray that someday their every need will be met, that there is a way found to fill starving childrens stomachs with food, educate it, provide a home and give them the love as Christ would, love filled with kindness and dignity. I am reminded daily that I am human. I can strive to do all these things to the best of my ability, but I always seem to fall short of the overwhelming need. I do what I can by telling their stories and sharing about Jesus as being the only way to salvation and life. Sharing what I do have, I cry out to the Lord for mercy on the hands of the starving, begging children of this land.
This week I visited another memorial site. The site where the America Embassy once stood near the Times Tower in the heart of Nairobi, Kenya. In 1998 two young suicide bombers drove their pickup truck into the parking garage of the Embassy and destroyed it. The blast rocked the city, the nation of Kenya, and the United States. There were 219 men, women, boys, and girls crushed and killed beneath the rubble of this once peaceful site. Each country lost many of their own. United States service men and women, diplomats, local Kenyans, support staff, officials and even innocent victims walking on the streets lost their lives in this senseless killing. The roots were based in cultural, political, and religious hate. What kind of a God would send young boys to do such a devastating thing? Not a God that I would want to serve. I wondered as I walked the beautiful park that now stands as a memorial to those who perished. Why did they need to die? Why were their lives cut short because of someone else's choice? Innocent, unsuspecting and taken by surprise, they died a senseless death.
Local artist have illustrated the effect of this tragedy, graphically painting the event. The screams of the people running from the place, the power of the explosion ripping a wall carries the names of the victims, the outline of Kenya etched in stone, the Dove of peace symbolically placed in the center. Some interesting points of similarity to the genocide in Rwanda and the US Embassy bombing in Kenya is that both roots could be traced to hate. Both killed innocent victims and both in their recovery and healing have chosen to look towards the future through the children who survived. In Kenya there is a display of all the children whose mothers survived the blast, who were born after the bombing. Kenya celebrates the lives of these children. Children who are the triumphant survivors of this hate crime. Rwanda celebrates their lives and survival through the thousands of children whose eyes cry out asking for help. The nation is helping those who survived the genocide be triumphant in living each day and being long term, successful survivors of a horrendous hate crime.
It is only through the blood and love of Jesus Christ that each nation can find healing, forgiving the past and modeling a peaceful life for these children. These nations choose to place hate aside and share Christ like love for each other and themselves, raising up the children, victoriously choosing to bring love into their future and lives.
PS from Steve:
I agree with what is written here. One added footnote:
Visiting the August 7th Memorial at the site of the bombed out US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya reminded me of the times I have visited the traveling Vietnam Memorial of 'The Wall'. It hurt just as much.
