I’ll never forget
The first two days of Rwanda.
I’ll never forget
The emotion, the knowledge, the feelings.
After we arrived in Rwanda- it was dark outside, the bus stopped in a big parking lot- we all got out of the bus and our specific contacts picked up our team and our luggage and drove us to their house.
It was Sunday night and after eating dinner, our contact told us that our off day would be on Monday- because that it a good day for the pastors to have to rest as well. Our Rwandan mom, Vanacia, then started talking about Rwanda. She mentioned the “big thing that happened in 1994, that I’m sure you know about”. I vaguely knew what she was talking about. A couple of my teammates and I had talked about a movie called ‘Hotel Rwanda’. They were saying how we needed to watch it. So, I gathered something big in the country’s history had happened then, but beyond that- I knew nothing.
I didn’t want to say anything then to her, asking what had happened. I didn’t want to possibly offend. So, I asked a couple teammates later- I was surprised that they really didn’t know anything either. So, I decided that I would find out later.
On Monday, we went into town. Near the end of the day, our contact took us to the hotel that was portrayed in ‘Hotel Rwanda’. (On a side note, if you haven’t seen ‘Hotel Rwanda’ you need to go watch it right now)
I by no means know everything, but in 1994– in my lifetime- when I was five- the people in Rwanda were split into clans/groups. There were the Hutus and the Tutsis. Friction and division were caused and the people of Rwanda had a huge genocide.
Just 20 years ago.
Over a million lives were taken.
But, let me get back on track…
The hotel was basically an attempted ‘safe haven’ (although it was not safe in the end) for Tutsi people.
We just walked into the hotel.
THE hotel that was such a vital part of Rwandan history.
When my team walked into the hotel lobby, they were playing ‘As The Deer’.
Besides ‘As The Deer’ being from the Psalm that God continually brought up this summer- which is huge in itself- ‘As The Deer’ was the song that I sang and taught to my Ugandan family the first night that I was in their home. It is the song that I sang with my Ugandan sister, in the New Year’s Eve service in Uganda.
Am I surprised?
NO.
Our God is SO mighty and awesome! He does not do anything without a purpose!
We then went out to the pool deck area where a jazz band was preforming ‘You are My All in All’ and ‘How Great is Our God’. They also played a song in French about loving Jesus. It was awesome. This place that was a place of such sorrow, such pain, was so full of redemption. Our contact, Pastor Innocent, runs into people all of the time that he knows. He ran into a fellow Pastor on that pool deck and just started talking about God. God used this place of sadness and turned it into a place for His glory. Ummm, how AWESOME is our God?
SO AWESOME.
But, that was just day one. Day two, we went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. We were able to read all about the genocide. It was a really heavy morning. There were many many tears and sniffles that morning. I felt sick with the stuff that I learned.
Belgium sent soldiers into the country to remove all of the white foreigners. The amount of soldiers that they sent in could have stopped the genocide if they had tried. But, they only went into the country to escourt white people.
Rebels ran into a school and told all of the children to split into Hutu and Tutsi. The children responded that There were no Hutus and Tutsis. There were only Rwandans in the classroom. After that response, the rebels threw a grenade into the classroom, killing 6 children and injuring 20.
The saddest part to me is that this horrific, ginormous, historical event took place in Rwanda and so many people don’t even know about it and didn’t know about it when it happened.
In the movie, a man said that the footage from the killings was bad, but if it was shown in America, the people may look at the TV, say -Aw, that is too bad- and then go back to their dinners.
The Rwandan people have so much forgiveness for that whole time in their history though. The have so much love in their hearts. They are not Hutu or Tutsi anymore- the government doesn’t acknowledge that- everyone is Rwandan. They lost over a million people- mostly women and children, because the children were to be the future of the country- and no body helped them. I know that my response would be to be bitter. But, they aren’t. They love Americans/Canadians. We get so much respect and love from not only our contacts but also from all of the Rwandans on the street. Our contact constantly tells me that America and Rwanda are friends, and everyone in the country is so happy that we are here. I can’t believe the forgiveness and love.
God is working and moving ALL THE TIME.
It’s INSANE.
There are things that we don’t even know about that God is STILL moving and working in.
Rwanda is just one example.
I’ll never forget
<3 Ash
