Dio Mass College Pilgrims: Meeting REACH Rwanda, Learning About the Past

DioMass College Pilgrims, one and all!

Following this morning's breakfast at the Center for Unity and Peace, Kigali.

Mwiriwe, family and friends!

Get out your notebooks: Mwiriwe is "good evening" in Kinyarwandan, one of the official languages of Rwanda. Though it's more night than evening by now, we're finishing up our first full day in the beautiful city of Kigali. We're still sluggish with jet lag but eager to take anything Father Philbert and his REACH Rwanda team can throw at us. And it is a pretty amazing organization - including the kitchen and service staff, who have been cheerfully teaching us various words of the local dialect while serving our meals and assisting in a multitude of ways. After we woke this morning, we were treated to a breakfast of African and chai tea, fresh fruit, rolls and a creamy-looking cheese that turned out to be butter masquerading as cheese, which we discovered in a startling and palate-befuddling manner.

This is where we are staying--The Center for Unity & Peace (CUP), Kigali.

Bishop Tom Shaw of the Diocese of Massachusetts

with Fr. Philbert Kalisa of REACH Rwanda outside CUP.

Afterward, we meandered over to the Center for Unity and Peace's conference room, where three of the REACH Rwanda staff - Father Philbert, Fidele and Rob had prepared a presentation for us. Father Philbert gave us a brief personal history - how his parents fled with him to Burundi as the violence that began in the late '50s continued into the '60s; the murders of many of his relatives who stayed in Rwanda; his difficult childhood in a refugee camp; his education in England during the early '90's, including during the 1994 genocide; and his vocation to return to his homeland a year later to promote reconciliation between the survivors and offenders. He was rather modest, however, about the enormous efforts that he must have put in to transform a team of a few determined Christians into an internationally-recognized reconciliation program that is run by over 60 volunteers and has trained thousands of counselors to facilitate healing for the people of Rwanda.

The REACH Rwanda Team.

Fidele spoke of some of the difficulties the team dealt with in creating a viable program. A year after the horrific genocide, not many were interested in reconciliation; offenders were being imprisoned, while victims struggled with the trauma of the violence and the pain of losing their family and closest friends. With a fifth of the country's population dead and many more displaced, its economy was devastated and the future of a whole generation was in question. But as Father Philbert and his team have proven, reconciliation and forgiveness can exist even in the worst of circumstances. Finally, Rob, an Australian (complete with accent) who moved to Rwanda a few years ago, described his work to combat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with programs like Empower, which seeks to help traumatized people safely and healthily process their distressing memories.

DioMass College Pilgrims in dialogue with REACH Rwanda staff.

Come afternoon, we drove to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre, our driver skillfully navigating the streets clogged with dirt-bike taxis and pedestrians struggling with heavy bags, baskets, and boxes of all colorful sorts.

On the bus, riding through busy Kigali.

Military and police presence are heavy in the city, as are interesting advertisements.

Outside of the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

Our group waiting at the garden entrance to the genocide memorial.

The memorial is a beautiful and sobering place, contrasting the heartbreaking exhibits of its dim interior with the beautiful gardens and fountains outside. The tour provided a depth of understanding of the genocide and its aftermath that cannot be matched by any movie or textbook. For any who aren't familiar with the history (I'll admit I wasn't), here's a brief summary: The Belgian colonists, in the 1930s, began to establish a divide between the peaceful Hutu and Tutsi people, beginning by identifying Tutsis as those with ten cattle or more, and Hutus as those with less than ten cattle. The schism heightened when the colonists issued ID cards identifying their carriers as Tutsi or Hutu, and placed the minority Tutsi in power. They were soon overthrown by the Hutus in the late '50s, however, and sporadic violence against Tutsis began, only increasing when General Habyarimana seized control in the '70s. Habyarimana began preparing for the extermination of the Tutsi people, creating death lists and enlisting and training militia called "Interahamwe." When his plane was shot down in 1994 (by whom is still uncertain), the genocide began instantly: over the next three months, the Interahamwe and regular Hutu citizens, spurred by the urgings of radical Hutu leaders, murdered nearly one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus who refused to participate in the violence. The genocide was largely ignored by the UN, despite the warnings of one of its generals in the country, and was only stopped when the Rwandan Patriotic Front - a force of previously exiled Tutsis - invaded and took control of the country, sending millions of Hutus fleeing to surrounding countries. But despite suffering one of the most horrific genocides of modern history, Rwanda has since become a model of recovery and reconciliation.

A mass grave.

Under these concrete slabs lie the bones of thousands killed in the 1994 genocide.

Roses on a mass grave.

The rose garden with all sorts of roses planted to honor the many different victims of the genocide.

A view of Kigali from the genocide memorial.

In this land of stunning beauty and warm people, it is hard to imagine such atrocities that took place.

Our trip back to the CUP included a stop at the Hotel des Mille Collines, the basis of the film "Hotel Rwanda," where manager Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of more than one thousand refugees by sheltering them in the building. It was a welcome relief, visiting the site that served as a beacon of inspiration, heroism and hope in such a dark time.

Hotel des Milles Collines, the site where over 1,200 Tutsis and Hutus survived the genocide.

We drove through the compound and may return to the hotel restaurant for dinner.

The set of the film, Hotel Rwanda, was in South Africa, not Kigali.

We returned eagerly to a much-awaited dinner, which we enjoyed with the company of a similar team from Japan. Afterward, we gathered for prayer and reflection, the serious mood of the meeting bolstered by songs from our emphatic and very talented music team.

Our Pilgrims Choir--MacLean, Trotter, Sarah, and Liz.

They have the voices of angels!

Now, most of the team wanders off to bed as I write this, as we have an early morning with a long drive that will eventually take us to Akagera National Park. We'll check in again tomorrow night with stories of more exciting adventures. Thank you all for reading, and God bless!

Text by MacLean Cadman, Boston College senior
Photos by Annalise and Judith Stuart.
Additional photographs below.