If you know anything about the history of Rwanda, then you’ll know about it’s broken past between April 7th-July 4th 1994. As those 100 days marked one of the biggest genocides in the history of the planet.
It was an ethnic cleansing. They forced civilians to kill their neighbors, and husbands to kill their wives or be killed themselves. Women and children were raped and enslaved while bodies were thrown in the river and piling up on the streets. People were either dismembered by machetes, or were running and hiding for their lives. 100 days and 1,000,000 people murdered. That’s an example of genocide. That was only 25 years ago. I was just four years old.
I had studied and researched this tragic event back as a senior in high school 11 years ago. I also remember watching the movie Hotel Rwanda in 2013, crying at the thought that no one in the states cared enough to help the victims. Here I am, 9 years later, and 25 years after the genocide, and never did I imagine I would ever get the privilege of walking these streets today.
This blog post shares my experience of my first week in Rwanda. I attended the Genocide Memorial Museum, and I’ve also attended the 25th anniversary of Liberation Day from genocide. If you’re interested in learning about the details of the start of this genocide and what happened, please read to the bottom of this blog. Otherwise, you can read about my personal experience of my first week in Rwanda.
My squad and I were supposed to spend our July, month 10, in Uganda not here in Rwanda. We were supposed to end the race, our month 11, in Rwanda. But plans got switched and we got to be here in July instead. I believe God purposely changed our route, because then we gratefully got to experience the celebration of liberation day on July 4th. This month I got to see his miracles of how he transformed an entire nation to heal, forgive, and redeem.
It was a privilege and honor to be apart of the 25th anniversary of the ending of such a day. I never imagined when I studied it in high school that I would end up here for this celebration. People from all over the nation and streets of Kigali woke up at 5am to get to the main stadium, wait in line and get a seat to watch the celebration. Rwanda’s President, Paul Kagame, who commanded the rebel force that ended the genocide, was present at the event. Other prime ministers and presidents from other countries in Africa came to this stadium to celebrate as well. We watched as these presidents pulled up in their fancy vehicles, and walk to their seat to watch the performance. How cool to think I was in the same location as 6 different presidents of Africa. The celebration consisted of watching Rwandan soldiers, police officers and armed forces come together to march in sync with their rifles and flags. An acting group performed an inspirational skit, a dance group danced to traditional Rwandan dances and women beat on drums drumming in unity as if they created the sound of the heartbeat of Rwanda.
It was like a visual statement: We won’t let the past happen again. We got you. We will protect you. No darkness can come through us ever. God has our back.
Their performances said thank you to the fallen soldiers: those whose lives were sacrificed and those who choose to rebuild and renew. They also acknowledged the many children whose lives were lost. It’s hard to imagine this is the same place that 25 years ago held bodies of people who were murdered.
However, do you want to know the most beautiful part of their celebration? The crowd. The audience. To be a part of the bleachers of many survivors and whose ancestors come from both tribes: Hutus and Tutsis (the perpetrators who killed the victims).
Liberation, victory, reconciliation and healing walk these streets of Rwanda today, while dancing, singing, chanting and joy filled the stadiums on Liberation Day.
How did this nation transform 25 years later? People say God and the government. President Kagame is a Christian who has Christian values. He enforced those values onto the nation. Most of the population was Hutu, the perpetrators, and you can’t put an entire nation under the death penalty or locked up. But you can’t let them roam free like no big deal either. The most severely ranked perpetrators of the Hutu groups are either locked up or had fled to the Congo without justice. Most of justice has been served. However, for those Hutus who murdered family members of neighbors from manipulation, and are still alive, local peace initiatives took place between Hutus and Tutsis. Perpetrators faced those families in community based circles, explained themselves, and asked for forgiveness. It sounds impossible, but actually that’s what happened. Forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, love, mercy, and grace are many of the main themes Jesus Christ preached when he walked this earth, and this nation has been redeemed as they followed through on those actions toward opposing groups. God’s love is so evidently present here in Rwanda. He helped and is still helping many individuals through this process. Counselors/therapists, churches, faith-based organizations flooded the nation with peace education after the end of the genocide and helped traumatic victims. Forgiveness, restoration, and healing took years to process, but it’s been done. There is no longer racism. No classism. There’s a new flag, new national anthem, same language and no more division between ancestral tribes. They are one in the same: everyone is Rwandanese. Today both tribes live, and work together. In fact, no one identifies them by tribal name anymore. Everyone has been taught to treat each other equally and with respect. You can walk down these streets without any thought that at one point there was a genocide that occurred. You can tell how deeply God has been with them from the beginning to now, and he has no plans on leaving them. We can learn a lot from this country.
These were the words that hung high in decorations and flags:
Remember, unite, renew. Kwibohora.
Together we prosper.
For those of you who are not familiar with the history of Rwanda and would like to know more, check out this link or continue reading! Most f my information are from locals I’ve personally talked with:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486
In a nutshell, I will do my best to explain what happened. Before Rwanda was colonized by Belgium in 1916, the two ethnic groups, Hutus and Tutsis, lived amongst each other in a civil matter. There really wasn’t anything different between the two groups other than Tutsis were more taller, thinner and lighter skin compared to the Hutu group. However, they all spoke the same language, followed the same traditions and lived in the same area. When Belgium colonized, they separated the two group with an ID card and played favoritism among the group choosing the Tutsis over the Hutus. Better jobs and educational opportunities were given to Tutsis. This caused animosity among the groups that led to segregation and unequal rights for the Hutu group. Riots happened throughout the years that led to deaths among the two groups. When Belgium relinquished its power and gave independence to Rwanda in 1962, Hutus took control and blamed the Tutsi’s as their scapegoat for every bad thing that happened in their country. The same situation occurred when Hitler blamed Jews for everything before the Holocaust. Blaming a group of people didn’t mean it was true, it was just an excuse to blame, hurt and segregate a group of people. Tension got worse as the years went by. Then in April of 1994, the Hutu President’s plane was shot down and he was killed. That was when tension of pay back/ revenge erupted amongst the Hutu group. No one knows for sure who did it: either the Tutsis or Hutu extremist groups, but either way- it led to the start of genocide.
Organized Hutu gangs, politicians, rebel leaders and police started the slaughter of Tutsi families. It was an ethnic cleansing. They forced Hutu civilians to kill their Tutsi neighbors, and Hutu husbands to kill their Tutsi wives or be killed themselves. Women and children were raped and enslaved while bodies were thrown in the river and piling up on the streets. People were either dismembered by machetes or were running and hiding for their lives. 100 days and 1,000,000 people murdered. Genocide.
July 4th, the Tutsi president and his armed forces successfully forced the Hutu extremists to surrender or flee the country. Those that fled to the neighboring countries are still being searched for. July 4th of 1994 became known across Rwanda as Liberation Day.
So as tragic as that history was, it is encouraging to know that God has a plan to transform and redeem any kind of brokenness to life. If the citizens of Rwanda can get through something as tragic as their past, with the help of Jesus Christ, I firmly believe that any individual or nation can transform as well.
Thank you so much for reading,
Jasmine Jaurigue
