Rwanda’s genocide history has made its way all around the world. Having read about it in history textbooks or heard about it in the news, it is a tragic story tucked away behind the back of our heads.
Last week while teaching in Rwanda, however, Rwanda’s history became real. It hit much closer to home.
When Cliff and I were asked to teach for a week at the Bible School in Rwanda, nothing prepared us for this special class of Rwandan students. While our students back in Uganda were loud, exuberant and expressive, this class was quieter, through twinkling with brightness and curiosity, diligently poring over their bibles and notes using torches at our night classes, and asking thoughtful questions.
Cliff teaching on David and Goliath
While we were there, it was the season of the 100-day memorial, to commemorate the brutal 100-day killings in 1994, where a million people from the Tutsi tribe were killed. That is 10’000 lives lost a day, for 100 days.
Names of the countless lives lost
Our visit to the Rwandan Genocide Museum during this season of mourning, put into context the beauties, strength and tragedy of this beautiful land, known affectionately as the Land of a Thousand Hills.
The students we had grown so fond of, were either genocide survivors or children of victims of rape, near-death or brutal murder by machetes which are long, flat knives. While a few had grown up in Uganda, when their families managed to escape, they had returned to Rwanda out of a love for their country.
Our dear friend shared with us, that she watched her own husband killed in the genocide, leaving her with 4 children.
Our amazing class of bible school students
It reminded me of Emmanuel* (named changed to protect privacy), a young teen orphan we had met during our time in Burundi where we taught. Burundi, being Rwanda’s geographical neighbour, suffered similar brutalities- but having a lower profile on the international eye, received far less aid and media attention. It is still one of the world’s poorest countries today, a far cry from what Rwanda has progressed to.
Emmanuel lives with his Uncle, who was absent during our stay in Burundi, due to his travel commitments. Through our time with Emmanuel, we learnt that the quiet boy, with a love for God and a dream to pursue photography and videography, had lost his mother in the killings. After seeing her killed, his own father abandoned him, refusing to have anything to do with him.
Through us, God provided a donor to support Emmanuel’s education in film-making in a fairly established Rwandan tertiary institution. Due to the unstable political situation in Burundi right now, where killings and violence have started, Emmanuel has had to flee to Rwanda temporarily. Even as drove home to Uganda, we saw bus-loads of Burundians fleeing their beautiful country.
While the ravages of the genocide still haunt many today, it has encouraged us to see the leaders of this generation determined to make a difference to their nation.
Beautifully-paved roads, sidewalks, streetlights at night and an organized city are just some of the sights which shocked us when we drove into Rwanda, after living among the dirt roads of Uganda for so long. While Rwanda started with so little and with much hurts, their people are determined to progress. Their President took Singapore as a role model in terms of development- I had a moment of dejavu when I saw their roads, sidewalks and pavements, looking so much like home!
Known as the “Singapore of Africa”, Rwanda has progressed leaps and bounds ahead of its East African neighbors. To preserve the cleanliness of their nation, their government banned plastic bags! Such steel in policies remind me of the hoo-ha surrounding Singapore’s “no chewing gum” policy several years back. In a way, both Singapore and Rwanda have displayed much steel in moving forward.
Beautifully clean roads-
the banner “Kwibuka” means “Remembrance”, reminding Rwandans to band together as one after the genocide
Our students, leaders in various churches and NGOs, are full of hope and faith to rebuild this beautiful country.
Cliff preaching on a pure heart in a large Rwandan church
“Tomorrow is Umuganda (grass) day”, our Rwandan friends told us, referring to the last Saturday of the month when the entire nation sets aside for community clean-ups and community building activities. The mass killings and decades of genocide-planning had fostered distrust among the two main tribes (Tutsis and Hutsis), making it necessary for the people to rebuild their unity again.
While many Africans might say Rwandans are cold, attributing their aloofness to the tragedy of the genocide, our experience was far from that. Our Rwandan host was warm and thoughtful, making sure we had fresh, home-cooked food every day during our stay at her home.
A typical Rwandan meal- (From top), a tomato-onion gravy (sometimes with bits of meat),
spinach (known as “Dodo”) and
Ugali (a delicious steamed dough made with Cassava flour, a typical African staple!
Cliff and I love Ugali- given they don’t have this in Uganda.)
Our students and friends were warm and kind, filled with open arms and open hearts.
Our Rwandan bible school supervisor and I
What a privilege to visit this beautiful and unique country of East Africa.
We hope we’ll be back.