Final Reflections on Rwanda

Final Reflections on Rwanda 

Image by Annalise Nielson.

As a way of concluding this blog about our pilgrimage to Rwanda, some of us have chosen a favorite photograph from the journey and have written a final reflection to accompany that image. Once again, we thank you, our readers, for joining us on this pilgrimage to a land of past nightmares and of dreams coming true. Your reading of the blog and your prayers and good thoughts have carried us through all we have seen and heard and experienced. We hope we have shown you a window into what is possible when people of faith decide that healing is more important than nursing hurt, that reconciliation is more important than cultivating division, that living with love is more important than stewing in hatred. All of us have been transformed by our journey to East Africa--we have seen that, by loving others and the God who made us all, it is possible to overcome great obstacles of history and politics, of socio-economic disparity, and of fear to make a better world together. For that vision, shared by the gracious people of Rwanda, we are most grateful. ~ Shan Overton, Boston College graduate student

Forgiveness and Memory at Nyamata

By Kevin Johnson, Northeastern University graduate student

It wasn't "one genocide," as we read at the museum in Kagali, "it was a million murders."  In Nyamata, 10,000 people were killed, 2,000 of which were hacked and bashed to death inside the House of God.  Our tour guide was a young man who had experienced the genocide as a little boy in the Western province of Rwanda.  With an even and tender voice he lead us through the atrocities that occurred at that Catholic Church turned killing ground turned memorial.  "You can see, this person was killed by a machete, this person by a club..."  The images are sickening and disturbing, the numbers are unspeakable.  Over 45,000 remains are interred in the three catacombs on the site.  Inside one of them, surrounded by human skulls, we asked our guide, "How can you work here?  Why do you do this?" He replied, "It's my country, it's my people. To let [others] know what happened to my country, that is why I work here."  He wasn’t seeking revenge, he wasn’t hiding.  He was being honest.  According to the REACH program, honesty is the first step toward healing.  Admit what you have done, honestly and fully.  Only then can you begin the process of reconciling and forgiving.  Forgiveness is possible, as we saw just 10 minutes down the road. There, forgiven offenders work alongside survivors to make soap (how apt is the symbolism).  Laughing, singing, and dancing together, they all experience the joy that the Spirit brings when the heart is not burdened with unforgiven atrocities.  Perhaps we can learn from the Rwandans.  Perhaps we can learn to forgive.

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Seeing God in the Beauty of Creation

By Annalise Nielson, Northeastern University undergraduate student

Throughout the trip, the thought I have tried to wrap my mind around was how could such beauty coexist with such horror. Rwanda is home to wonderful people, rolling hills, and unique animals. At the same time, almost every part of the country was a site upon which horrible events took place. It was almost too much for me to bear, and I wondered how the Rwandans could deal with it on a daily basis. The more I learned about the genocide and the more tragedy I witnessed, I questioned, “Where is God in all of this?” When I look at my own life and the loss I just recently have had, it’s something I struggled with. I don’t know if I will ever have an answer to where God is when it comes to tragedy. I do know that I saw God in the beautiful creation I witnessed on New Year’s Day on safari. I saw God in the smiling face of a young girl who just came up to me and gave me a hug. I saw God in the reconciled women of Nyamata. They are so strong to come together in the way they have. They were so full of joy and love, it was infectious. I also saw God in the kindness and support of my fellow college pilgrims and our leadership. When they listened to me talk, rant, or cry, offered me a tissue, or made a silly joke to get me to smile. I’m grateful for this opportunity; I have learned so much, and even though the timing was not ideal for me, I feel I was meant to go.

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The Women of Nyamata: Promise of Resurrection

By Karen Burger, Northeastern University undergraduate student

Today, I had the great honor of being in the presence of an incredible group of heroes. These women, widows of the genocide and wives of offenders, had reconciled through REACH. Now, they love one another and work side by side making soap. Though we have been learning about the genocide these past several days, I was hardly prepared for how deeply moved I would be by this group and their testimonies. (Or, more accurately, their eyes.) It feels, for me, as though the whole trip had been leading up to this one gathering.

            They invited us in with song and dance; their joy and excitement was infectious. It was precisely what my soul needed after visiting the Nyamata church in which so many were senselessly killed.

            As I listened to the women, I saw both great pain and resilient hope in their eyes; a deep sadness that gave way to joy as stories transitioned from the horrors of genocide to the present. Women embraced the wives of their husbands’ killers, and, more than that, they called each other friend. I could barely wrap my head around it, but my heart understood. I was witnessing God’s promise of resurrection being fulfilled in a humble building tucked away in Rwanda, far from my home and any church I’ve ever attended. These women showed me what resurrection is truly about. I finally felt God’s promise. I finally understood.

            Coming to understand is not without pain, suffering, struggles, and sadness. At times it is dark. So dark that the darkness seems to consume you and pull you under with its weight. I know because I am at a time of darkness in my own life. There are moments when it seems the light will never come, that there will be no resurrection.

            But these women said otherwise. They were a beacon of hope and light that pierced my personal darkness. And I found not only hope, but also my voice. To stand and share with those women what they had just taught me and how much they meant to me was an incredible honor. I was especially moved by how I was received by the women and the bond we formed in that vulnerable, tender moment. So much can be shared when we lock tear-filled eyes with one another.

            Those women will stay in my heart as a reminder of God’s promise of resurrection for the world, and for us as individuals. I owe them so much, and they have so much to offer in terms of healing and reconciliation- not just to Rwanda but also to the entire world.

Our pilgrimage group with the women of the Nyamata soap-making collective.

Photo by Annalise Nielson.

Our Last Day: Memorial and Celebration

Thursday, January 12, 2012

So we’re back among you by now, glad to be home but already missing Rwanda as we get back to the daily grind of school and work; but our blog is yet incomplete, missing the final full day of our trip. So here it is:

Day Nine--Thursday, January 5, 2012

We began our last full day with the REACH Rwanda staff in front of their beautiful office. 

We spent the better part of the day in the town of Nyamata, in the Bugesera district in southeastern Rwanda. Our first stop was at the town’s genocide memorial, a small brick building that once stood as a Catholic church before genocide struck. Over ten thousand souls died here on the church grounds, terrified men, women, and children who believed they could find shelter and safety within a house of God. But, as it was all over Rwanda, the church and its clergy offered no protection and, in fact, many in the church helped to bring about the genocide with their words and actions.

Memorial signs outside the Roman Catholic church where 10,000 people died.

The doors to the church at Nyamata. 

The people taking shelter inside damaged them so that those committing the genocide could not enter. The murderers, tipped off by priests who helped orchestrate the genocide, used grenades to blast through the doors (see the hole in the right door and scarring on the floor) so they could get inside to kill everyone--women, children, and men.

 Looking through the doors into the church, now decommissioned. 

The purple ribbons symbolize mourning.

            As we stepped through the doorway, the concrete beneath our feet scarred by a grenade blast that tore through the barricade that the refugees had hastily constructed, we beheld the musty interior of the church. Piles of bloodstained, dusty clothes lined the pews like some ancient congregation had been raptured here long ago, a last testament to the thousands who had been shot, stabbed, or bludgeoned to death within the bullet-pocked walls. Our guide led us downstairs to a small chamber that had been constructed since the genocide, home to a glass display that housed dozens of skulls, bones, and far below the grave of a pregnant woman who was raped by 29 men and then murdered in a most horrific way. Because of the severity of her story, her grave is considered to be representative of all of the women who suffered such crimes during the genocide.

The blood-stained clothes of the many thousands of dead are piled on the pews, reminding us of people who will not worship God together again.

            Outside lay a few mass graves, eternal homes to the bodies of some 45,000 Rwandans – those that died at the church, as well as bodies gathered from the surrounding areas. These graves were open for viewing, and as we descended into their cramped depths, we were again struck by the sheer numbers of the tragedy; hundreds of large wooden boxes lined the sides of the graves, and within each were the remains of ten Rwandans, our guide informed us. Sheets of white and purple covered these boxes, the color purple symbolizing mourning.

The mass graves outside the church at Nyamata contain the bones of 45,000 people.

We were able to walk down into these graves and were sobered by our descent.

We pray for the eternal peace of these souls.

            Our next stop after the memorial was much more uplifting; we visited the soap projects of Nyamata. It is home to twenty or so ladies who make and sell soap, using the profits for the care of well over a hundred orphans. All are trained by REACH counselors, and many are wives or widows of survivors or perpetrators of the genocide. Theirs is an uplifting story, an ideal model of the forgiveness and reconciliation that REACH strives for.

The beautiful women of the Nyamata, whose work of reconciliation has come to include a soap-making collective that benefits them all socially and economically. They are a sign of hope in a broken world. 

Two women, reconciled after the genocide, tell their story. 

One is a widowed survivor; the other is the wife of the man who killed the survivor's husband. 

The women of the Nyamata soap-making collective dance and sing to welcome us.

The Rev. Judith Stuart, our trip leader, speaks to the women, thanking them for their witness to us of the power of healing and reconciliation and of their deep faith in themselves and God.

Liz sings to introduce us to the women. 

Her song is so beautiful, that all of us have tears in our eyes.

            If we were at all excited to see them, they were more excited to see us. The ladies greeted us with a very energetic song and dance. Few of them spoke English, but they could not have communicated their joy and welcoming to us any clearer even if all were fluent. A few shared their testimonies with us – traumatic and inspiring at the same time – and a few of our group responded with some heartfelt reflection. They sang another song for us, persuading even the most reluctant of us to dance, and then we happily cleared out their soap stores in return for francs that would go to those who need it.

The women teach us to dance!

Spending time with these women, you can't help but smile and laugh.

We all get into the celebration!

Soap drying on the table.

The wonderful-smelling eucalyptus soaps produced by the women's collective. 

The colorful wrapper on each handmade soap bar reads:

"TURIUMWE ~ 'We are One.' ~ Community Reconciliation through Socio-Economic Cooperation."

Just before leaving, we stop for a photograph with the women's collective.

We are so blessed to have met them.

            It was midafternoon by the time we left, and the rumblings of our stomachs were rivaling that of the bus, so Father Philbert took us to La Palisse Hotel for a late lunch alongside the beautiful Lake Rumira. We then returned to CUP for some time to relax before dinner.

The lake where we ate lunch. 

We kept one eye on the water at all times, as crocodiles are known to surface rapidly!

An after lunch photo shoot.

We can't believe it's our last full day in Rwanda! We are sad to leave. 

            That night, Father Philbert threw us a party to celebrate one last time before our departure back home. A group of traditional dancers put on a show for us, we all shared on-the-spot reflections, and Philbert and a few of his fellow priests even sang for us – he’d been holding out on us all trip long! It was a wonderful night to bring a close to our time in Rwanda.

A silly photo of The Rev. Philbert Kalisa of REACH Rwanda!

We are grateful to Fr. Philbert and his staff for their care of us during our visit. 

We deeply admire the work they are doing with the poor toward healing and reconciliation in Rwanda.

            The next day, as you all know, we returned to the States after a grueling near thirty hours of flying and stopovers. It’s good to be back, among our families and comfortable lives, but our trip is not over. To go back to work and school, indifferent and unchanged by what we have seen, is an affront to all that REACH and Rwanda itself have done and continue to do. It is the people of Rwanda who forgive each other and work to heal themselves and their country after the tragedy of genocide, but the message of reconciliation is universal.

            Thank you all for following us on our journey, and God bless,

            ~ MacLean Cadman, Boston College senior

All photographs were taken by Annalise Nielson, Northeastern University undergraduate.

Learning About Rwanda's Electoral Process, Then A City Tour

Day Eight--Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Today, we are meeting with Executive Secretary Charles Munyaneza of the Rwanda’s National Electoral Commission. We leave the CUP (Center for Unity and Peace) on the early side and soon we are arriving at the clean and imposing government compound that houses both the election commission and the Rwandan IRS. A crew of men in blue jumpsuits squat on one of the manicured lawns weeding the grass by hand. The cheap cost of labor continues to amaze us and the uneven dirt road we arrived on remains fresh in our minds as we watch the men groom the lawn, sometimes pulling at stubborn weeds with both hands. For many of us, the wildly fluctuating level of infrastructure quality and maintenance within the same city continues to be a source of confusion.

The complex of buildings that houses, amongst other government offices, the National Electoral Commission. These are newly built, as are many of the government buildings in Kigali. It takes time to rebuilt a nation after an event like a genocide. With increased stability in the last 10 years, Rwanda has been able to focus more on the development of infrastructure than it had in the immediate aftermath of the genocide.

The day is hot and bright. A Rwandan flag flutters vigorously in the light breeze as we crowd under the commission entrance’s shady overhang. Two soldiers with machine guns exchange greetings with us as we wait for our bags to be checked in turn before entering.

Flags at the government offices flying in the hot, equatorial breeze.

We enter the National Election Commission building after being screened.

Inside, the building is spacious, modern and the white marble surfaces are familiarly spotless. Now, it is easy to forget the bumpy dirt road we took to get here. We are ushered through the building to a comfortable upstairs conference room.

The presentation by Executive Secretary Munyaneza gives us a general overview of the Rwandan democratic process in the wake of the 1994 genocide. As a speaker, he is clear and insightful.

Charles Munyaneza, our speaker, is the Executive Secretary of the National Electoral Commission.

He tells us that he has worked his way up the ranks of the Kagame Administration to his current cabinet post. Despite his busy schedule, he takes an hour with us.

We come to understand from Munyaneza’s presentation that almost all new laws are being made in the context of post-genocide Rwanda and with the ever-present goal of a unified national identity in mind. The huge role propaganda played in the genocide has led the government to enact what it sees as a series of restrictive yet necessary policies surrounding political campaigning and free speech.

We learn how the road to Rwanda’s current manifestation of democracy has had its bumps. In 1994, in the face of other more pressing post-genocide issues, election reform was put on the back burner. Widespread poverty made the Rwandan poor’s priority not elections, but survival, and the Rwandan government faced the considerable challenge of coaxing the return of its many citizens living outside of its borders, almost 50% of its former population.

Founded in 2001, the National Electoral Commission has worked to convince the Rwandan people that elections can directly improve their living situation.  Eighteen years after the genocide, over 90% of Rwandans vote. This impressive turnout says a great deal about Rwandans’ commitment to taking charge of their country’s future. When we consider that voter participation is well below 50% in the US, Rwandans’ level of civil commitment is truly breathtaking.

Rwanda has had considerable success in designing an electoral system that caters to its specific past and its vision for its future. A quota system ensures women make up at least 30% of all governmental bodies and the parliament is currently composed of more than 50% women. Many of us get the sense that strong female representation is one of key factors in Rwanda’s unique approach to and success in its own reconstruction.

A group photo in front of the National Election Commission with Mr. Munyaneza's press secretary.

Sculpture at the National Election Commission symbolizing Rwandans' rebuilding of their nation.

Post-presentation, we stop for coffee at Bourbon Coffee, the Kigali ex-pat hotspot. We all relax and recharge with a combination of lattes, ice-cream and light conversation. We discuss our amazement at local women’s poise while carrying often very heavy loads on their heads. Father Philbert assures us this ability is shared by male Rwandans and is quick to demonstrate with the wooden block that numbers our table at the café.

Later, as we enjoy a leisurely lunch out on the patio at CUP, we consider all that the US with its many sectarian divisions might have to learn Rwanda’ newly united national identity.

After lunch, we drive through the downtown. Everyone hangs out the bus windows, basking in the contagious energy of Kigali street life. There is a considerable amount of hustle and bustle as men push past each other with four boxes of merchandise piled high on their heads. The streets are lined with moto-taxis whose operators wait for patrons near their bikes chatting in small clusters.  Other bikes shoot by our bus. We are amazed at these drivers ‘ability to weave in and out within the maze of pedestrians and cars.

Busy street life in Kigali. 

This will be Kigali's new city hall.

Much of the city is under construction. We noticed that there are paint and building supply stores everywhere, attesting to this construction boom.

A completed office and retail building in Kigali.

The American Embassy, Kigali.

We have the chance to stop by the Anglican Diocese of Kigali to admire the light-filled windows of the cathedral and take a walk through the beautiful grounds, including a children’s playground.

The inside of the Anglican cathedral.

Does Trotter think he's a bishop?

Caroline and Annie play the drums!

MacLean, Sarah, and Trotter at play.

Some of us pose outside the Anglican Cathedral of Kigali.

Police on the street near the cathedral. In Kigali, we have noticed at heavy police and military presence. We have been told that this is due to occasional incursions of exiled Hutus who fled the country post-genocide but retain a desire to see a Rwanda freed of Tutsis. 

Many of these men live on the borders of Rwanda, particularly in the Congo, making some borders unstable.

We relax after our tour at Hotel Milles Collines, where the actual events that inspired Hotel Rwanda took place. We have all seen the film and, while much of it was actually shot in South Africa, we are still  very excited to experience the site in person. Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the hotel in 1994, saved more than 1,500 of his fellow Rwandans by hiding them here and protecting them through a combination of his social contacts and political savvy. Some of us took a dip in the spectacular pool overlooking downtown Kigali.

Entering the famous Mille Collines. The hotel does not have any signs telling about what happened here in the 1994 genocide, which we find strange. We have been told that this is because Paul Rusesabagina is believed by some to have only offered sanctuary to those who had money to pay him, meaning that he profited from harboring people at the hotel. We believe that, whether or not you see Rusesabagina as a hero or not, the fact that over a thousand people survived here is worthy of note. 

The patio at Mille Collines--lovely!

The pool at Mille Collines.

Annalise, Karen, and Kevin relax poolside with Fr. Philbert.

MacLean, Trotter, Judith, Caroline, and Brandy chill out!

As the light begins to fade, we board the bus to return to CUP for dinner and a night of thoughtful reflection.

~ Post written by Caroline Merck, Boston College law student

~ Photographs by Annalise Nielson, Northeastern University undergraduate

Visiting the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide

Day Seven--Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Our day began with a visit to the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide (CNLG), located in the heart of Kigali. The organization was created only a few years ago in 2007 to prevent genocide and genocide ideology, address genocide consequences, advocate for survivors, and organize genocide commemoration events, among other tasks. We were greeted by the Director of Memory and Prevention of Genocide, Mr. Karengera Ildephonse, who sat us down at a comfortable conference table for a presentation about the commission.

Our meeting with Mr. Ildephonse at the National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide.

Mr. Ildephonse’s presentation was very extensive and included a discussion of President Paul Kagame’s involvement with the program and the main challenges the commission faces – a shallow budget, a struggle to enact laws regarding genocide ideology, and a lack of cooperation from other countries in arresting and extraditing genocide suspects. But more significant is the progress they have made; several programs are already in place to combat genocide ideology, assist survivors in receiving compensation, and treat many who were traumatized during the genocide, whether they be offenders or survivors.

A mural on the wall at the CNLG offices.

Our chaplain, The Rev. Judith Stuart, talks with Mr. Ildephonse following our meeting.

Annie, Sarah, and Caroline chat with our host in front of the CNLG building.

We then departed the Commission for the Fight Against Genocide, and drove to a downtown Kigali Mall for lunch at a café named Bourbon Coffee. The poor waiters must have blanched to see us coming – they had to push several tables together to accommodate our sizeable group. The food was, if not novel, at least delicious; the burgers, soup, and club sandwiches served as a welcome break to the recurring dinners of rice, bananas, and chicken.

A view of Kigali from the building where we had lunch.

After employing the use of most of Bourbon Coffee’s space and staff for a good while, our guide Alphonsine – who works at REACH – led us across the busy street to a well-hidden collection of shops. There in the tight space of the market, we put to use our almost non-existent haggling skills, trying desperately to drive down the price of a basket or wooden sculpture – usually without success, and sometimes with more than a little embarrassment. An hour or so and many thousands of Rwandan francs later, we left the shops heavily laden with many souvenirs – still trying to figure out how much we overpaid for each – and returned to CUP.

The outside the market in the city center of Kigali.

The entrance to the market.

Haggling and buying in the market. 

We returned early with nearly nothing left on the schedule for the night, and so enjoyed a leisurely dinner and our first reflection without Bishop Tom, who left for the States this morning. But we still have a few more days before reuniting with you all, and plenty to do in between!

Sunset over one of the mille collines (thousand hills) of Rwanda. Gorgeous!

Nightfall, Kigali.

Muramuke – goodnight, and God’s blessing to all,

MacLean

~ Post written by MacLean Cadman, Boston College undergraduate

~ Photographs by Annalise Nielson, Northeastern University undergraduate