Yesterday we went to the Acagara game park, where we drove around for six hours, and saw many zebras, the ears and eyes of many hippos, a few impalas, and some cow-like creatures (I can’t remember their name). We saw no lions, giraffes, rhinos, or elephants. To tell you the truth, by the end of the drive, I was half wishing for our own “when elephants attack” story, just to throw some adventure into the mix.
But today. Today I saw the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen…
I saw dignity
We started our day with a visit to the “Catch Up School”. It is a section of the primary school dedicated to providing accelerated education to older students. Unlike the students in Canada, these students crave education, but were unable to attend school because their parents died and they had to raise their siblings. Or because one parent died, so they must work to feed the family. Or because their parents could not afford the uniform.
Rather than putting the students through the embarrassment of Primary 1 to 6, the classes are divided into Levels 1 to 3, with students aged 8 - 20 in all classes. I would love to show the kids back home how much these students want to go to school!
Several shared their story with us. Samson is 20 years old and attending school for the first time. Another young man (I didn’t catch his name) stood up and told us that he was a “houseboy” in Kigali for all of his life, and that World Vision convinced him he must go to school. They provided him with a uniform, school supplies, and soap, so that he would be able to start. He now wants to tell others in his situation that they must go to school; he is so proud. As we told the students that they were very courageous for starting school as young adults, one stood up and told us that many of his colleagues (from previous work) make fun of him for going to school with young children, but that he continues to encourage them to follow in his steps, so that they may have a better life.
I saw dancing
One of the classes wanted to give us a gift. As we sat down in the desks, a drum started beating louder and louder, building up the anticipation, increasing our heart rates. As the drum reached it’s loudest, bells began to jingle outside. Dancers, dressed in traditional garb, complete with headdresses and bells on their ankles began to weave into the room. A choir began singing a beautiful song which filled the room, so loud you could feel it in your chest. I looked for the choir, and realized it was only four girls!
The girls’ feet danced with vigour, yet their tops moved with the elegance of a ballerina. Two boys danced around them with spears (fake), waving their long, straw headdresses around like head bangers at a heavy metal concert – only graceful and joyful.
The song the children sang was written for NGO’s, government officials, and foreigners. The message is that child labour must be stopped and education is the only way children will be able to shape their future. Pretty powerful coming from children and young adults who have been digging ditches, fetching water, scrubbing latrines, and herding goats since they were four years old.
I saw peace and reconciliation
Later, we met with people from World Vision’s HPR (Healing, Peace building, Reconciliation) group. I’ve read stories, but I never believed people like this existed. What powerful testimonies.
The genocide was planned for a very long time. Since childhood, Hutu children were taught that Tustis were dangerous, not to be trusted. They were told to sit apart in school. They were told not to play with one another. They were even taught that one day there would be a war, and the Hutus must win. The government spent many years teaching them to hate.
[Warning: This next paragraph is graphic.]
Alice was a Tutsi. In 1992, she was about to begin secondary school, but was turned away because the government has decided to stop wasting education on Tutsis… they had already decided that Tutsis were dead men walking. She married, had a baby, and continued on living. Then, her house was burned down. The government apologized and promised there would be peace ahead. But, on April 10, 1994, Alice found herself crammed into the small Ntamara church with 5000 others believing that the militia would not kill them in this holy place. As the militia entered, Alice and her husband fled, losing each other along the way. Alice was found by the militia, stripped to her underwear, and beaten in the head with a club covered in nails. The militia tossed her baby into the air and cut her in half in one slash of the machete. As her baby lay beside her, the militia drove a spear through Alice’s arm, chopped off her hand, and left her for dead.
Alice’s husband survived, as did Alice – barely. She went on to have five beautiful children, never forgetting the one she lost. In fact, one of her children is sponsored by one of our team members.
Emanuel White (there were two Emanuels, one wore white, the other blue, so I will refer to them this way) told his story. Alice rubbed his arm and encouraged him as he told the story of being recruited by the militia, raiding Tutsi homes, and murdering in cold blood. Emanuel White was the one who beat Alice and cut off her hand.
Emanuel White was released from prison in 2003, and found Alice to beg for her forgiveness. She did not recognize him, but he admitted to what he had done. She forgave him, and together they went to World Vision’s HPR group. Today, they are good friends. He gives her rides on his bike when they have meetings together. When he needs something, she shares with him; when she needs something, he shares with her. Emanuel White has shown remorse to the entire community and is now the chairperson of their village’s World Vision Sponsorship Committee. Alice is the Secretary.
Emanuel Blue (blue shirt) told his story once Alice and Emanuel White were finished. As Beatrice sat beside him, occasionally holding his hand (hand holding is very common here, even between men), he spoke of how he killed her five children. She escaped, and he was angry with her for that, so he stole the tin sheets off of her home.
As the RPF (the “good guys”) began taking over the country, Emanuel Blue fled to the Congo. Then, in 1996 he decided to come home and turn himself in. He spent the next seven years in prison, where he received counselling – along with other prisoners – to accept what he had done. This may seem odd to you, but you have to realise that years and years of brainwashing by the government and schools led up to the events of 1994. When he was released in 2003, he went to Beatrice for forgiveness and she refused. He went back again, this time with his whole family, to kneel and beg for forgiveness. This time she accepted.
Emanuel Blue knew he could not give Beatrice her children back, nor did he have any money to help her financially. But, after nine years, her saw that the sheets of metal he had stolen off of her house were never replaced. So, he went to World Vision to ask for their help. World Vision provided him with the metal (essentially killing two birds with one stone, by providing Beatrice with shelter and aiding the reconciliation process), and he repaired her home.
Like Emanuel White and Alice, Emanuel Blue and Beatrice are good friends. After sharing their testimonies, we ate lunch, and I saw that the forgiveness and friendship is genuine. They laughed with each other. Emanuel White cut Alice’s food for her. They hugged.
As we left, both Emanuels told us that they know of some genocide perpetrators that are hiding in Canada. They wanted us to find these men and tell them to go home and face the consequences, and that Rwanda is now a free country with no capital punishment.
On the way home we drove past the Ministry of Defence and our translator, Costa, informed me that the Minister of Defence was a member of “the army that lost” (meaning the government army that fought the RPF). The current president, Paul Kigami was the leader of the RPF. I couldn’t understand how this man (the minister) was allowed to be in power. Costa told me that he was not part of the genocide; he only fought the RPF. I asked, “then wasn’t he Kigami’s enemy?” To which Costa replied , “that is peace and reconciliation.”
