Genocide in Rwanda
War is rampant in this world. There is no peace in sight. It is hard to swallow hearing about the Holocaust, hard seeing the effects of the Khmer Ruge (Cambodia genocide) and even worse living amongst victims of the Rwanda genocide of 1994. The people of Rwanda are lucky to be alive today.
I spent an afternoon at the Memorial and grave site for the over one million victims that died during the one month mass murder of the Tutsi tribe. See, when Belgium and France came into power (forcefully) of Rwanda some forty years ago, they divided the people of Rwanda into two categories, Hutu and Tutsi. They decided based on wealthy and poor and later turned it into big nose versus small nose and darker black skin versus lighter black skin. They raised the Tutsi as leaders, but later the Hutu’s took power and were the “chosen ones” by France and Belgium. They became an independent country, and began the Hutu Rule straight from Hell. If you think that is dramatic, just imagine half of the US population being slaughtered in one month. Children watched their mothers be raped because their husband was Tutsi. The children were killed based on the ID saying Tutsi, or even remotely looking lighter skinned than the Hutu killers. The government staged the president’s death April 6, 1994 and immediately the genocide was full throttle. Husbands killed their wives, children and neighbors. Sixteen-year-old soldiers killed their friends and classmates. How is this possible? I mean, really if you think about it, there is NO good answer. There is not one scenario that would make this all make sense. Greed, pride, envy, hatred, and Satan are all culprits of this atrocity.
I can’t believe that people my age watched their parents die. I cannot believe there was NO foreign aid brought in to stop the violence. I can’t believe the French encouraged the Hutu rule. So many things that make me sick.
We were lucky to be born in America, I am proud to be an American. I love that people work hard and treat each other with respect and have social classes other than filthy rich and living in a mud home. I also love Africans, Asians, and everyone in between. God did not tell Adam to be ruler over all the earth, the vegetation, the animals, the land, and the other groups of people that exist from his lineage. NO, God said, “Love your brothers, your enemies and strangers”.
The point is not to make you sick to your stomach or sit and think about how sad this is, but to make you proactive in praying for this hurting nation and more inclined to empathize with those around us!
I am now in travel to Kenya for month 8 of my World Race!
