Many of you back home have probably heard a little about what happened in the country of Rwanda in 1994, or at least I’m pretty sure most of you have probably watched the movie Hotel Rwanda. I’ll be honest before coming to this beautiful place all I really knew about it was what I’d seen in that movie. Some of my squad mates and I actually watched Hotel Rwanda on the bus ride down to Kigali, and I’ll offer some more honesty, I didn’t really know what to expect once we got there after watching that and knowing the limited amount of history that I did. What we found was the most beautiful African city and country I have been to yet. Seriously, walking around the city of Kigali you would never imagine the atrocities that were occurring on those very streets just 17 years ago.
Our team got the chance during one of our last week to go to the main Genocide Memorial Museum; it blew my mind and broke my heart. Literally millions of people were killed due to forms of identity and class distinctions imposed on them by the people who colonized them so many years ago. Reading about the history behind it all made me wonder how we could ever look at what had been done and think that colonization brought any sort of civilization when it led to such destruction and mass loss of precious human lives… nothing about that is civilized. The memorial though, while remembering such gruesome historical events, is a rather beautiful place; the building and grounds that it is on are simply beautiful. As you walk through the exhibits you start by reading all about and looking at pictures from the history of what led up to and what was the Rwandan genocide. The next section broadens your view a bit and fills you in on the many different genocides that have occurred globally and through out all of human history; there are more that have occurred and some more recently than you probably know about or would ever guess. The third and last section of the exhibit shrinks your view back down and opens up a whole new level of understanding and sorrow as it displays the stories of children who were killed during the genocide in Rwanda. This is a brighter room than all the others and all around you, you see these giant photos of children. Initially I wanted to smile because these pictures were far more cheery than any I’d seen hung on the walls yet, but then my eyes found their way to the black plaques in front of each smiling child. On the plaques were facts about each of them, what their favorite food was, what their favorite games were, their first words, their personality type, their favorite past times, their favorite person or best friend, and at the very end of each… how they were murdered. This room brought a whole new reality of what had truly happened to my heart. I did not really know what do to with the weight and emotions of it, and I am a mere visitor walking through a memorial museum… I couldn’t imagine what it was like for all of those who had actually gone through those events and were now still living in the place they had witnessed it all.
About a week after that visit to the memorial however, my team and I were blessed by getting to visit our pastor’s, senior pastor. He is one of the most inspiring men of the Lord I have met my entire life. Because the genocide is such a fresh thing in the history of the people here, it’s not talked about often, definitely not in public, and still rarely even in private. So, for the first good chunk of our time in Rwanda we didn’t hear much about it. During this visit though we were blessed by his testimony about it. He told us about how their church had started in 1988 and continually grown year after year until 1994 when the congregation had reached just over 200 people. At that time he had been serving as a regular pastor. Most anyone we had talked to so far about everything hadn’t actually been in the country through out the whole time, but had ended up fleeing and therefore surviving. He, however, told us about how he and his wife and family had remained in Rwanda through out everything. He told us about how nearly the whole church was killed, and how everyone in his family other than his wife and children (so his parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, ect) were also killed. I could not help but wonder how he could live through the things he described for us and still emit the kind of joy he did when we met him.
[I know this next part might seem cheesy and cliché to you all, but if you find it that I’d like for you to consider for a second loosing nearly your entire extended family and church family in a mere matter of months, and not only loosing them but knowing that all of them were unjustly and brutally murdered.]
Through out it all he told us about how he found his hope in the word of God and how he and his family would read it’s truth and the Lord’s promises everyday, believing in Him for the protection of their lives. He told us that he rejoiced afterwards because they were spared and kept safe by Him. He trusted the Lord, and more than that, he went on to tell us about how much the Lord is worthy of our trust because of His unfailing love.
As the depth of pain and the magnitude of his loss sank in, I was stunned that he didn’t once tell us of a time when he doubted the Lord in it as he was overwhelmed by the evil going on around him. He didn’t tell us that because he never did doubt the Lord nor did he ever hold the evil of mankind against Him. In his sorrow instead of turning away from the Lord out of anger or confusion he sought and attained refuge through his faith in the love he knew to be true of his Father in Heaven. Despite all circumstances, he trusted in the Lord. He told us about how after the genocide ended there were only 8 people left from the entire church. He was the only pastor remaining and so he took on the responsibility of rebuilding the church out of the brokenness of what was left. He, his family, and 8 others met in his home and continued in their pursuit of love despite all the hate they had just endured.
He reminded me how worthy the Lord is of our trust, and how His love is so true and genuine. When I was walking through the museum, getting bombarded by all these photos of dead bodies and destruction, one line of a song kept running through my mind… “Death couldn’t keep Him down”. The Lord reminded me of his resurrection and His victory over death for us in that moment, and He reminded me of it again through this senior pastor. Jesus’ love for us was poured out despite all the slander, persecution, beatings, and murder that were inflicted on Him, and because of that He has beyond proven worthy of our trust. We have no reason to doubt the magnitude and power of His love. No human action of hate against us will ever change the fact that our God is good and is worthy of our love, faith, and worship. Through Him we have victory, through Him we have even overcome death.
