We have been in Rwanda for about a week now, and it is crazy to see the way the Lord can stir your heart for a people and nation in such a short amount of time!
Over this past week the Lord has both broken my heart for what breaks His, and opened my eyes to His incomprehensible restoration, grace, and love.
Rwanda is absolutely beautiful. It is full of hills and trees. It is clean and green. (Fun fact: it was actually named the third greenest country in the world!) And in most ways, it appears Rwanda is becoming a more developed and successful country by the minute! The major roads and infrastructure are nice. If you were to stay in cities it wouldn’t really appear like a third world country at all.
And yet, past the hills and trees and clean and green, there is a lot of history in this place.
Earlier this week my team and I went to the Rwanda Genocide Memorial in Kigali – and honestly, as I reflect on it, I am often still left speechless.
A brief history on the genocide – the genocide took place in April of 1994 because of division between two ethnic groups, the Hutus and Tutsis. According to the memorial in the 1930s the Belgians classified Rwandans who were taller and possessed 10 or more cows as being Tutsi. That’s it, your height and possession of cows is what determined your ethnicity.
The Belgians reasoned that these physical and social differences made Tutsis more intellectual, “European,” and “elite.” Therefore, they showed favoritism to the Tutsis and provided them with better educations and governmental jobs. The Hutus, which comprised the majority (84%) of the population, became oppressed and angry.
This led to the first acts of genocide in the 1950s when Hutus began murdering Tutsis. When Rwanda gained independence in the 1960s power was left in the hands of the Hutus. Tensions continued building over the years between the two ethnic classes and Hutu extremists created plans to “exterminate” the entire ethnicity of Tutsis – a plan that involved killing over 1,000 people every 20 min. On April 7th, 1994, this plan went into action.
The world watched.
For 100 days, the world watched as over 1 million people were killed. 1/8th of Rwanda’s population. 300,000 children became orphans. 85,000 children became head of their household. 80% of children that survived had a family member die. 70% witnessed a family member died. And that is of the children that survived.
In all of Rwanda, one American stayed to help. On day four UN and Belgium soldiers came to evacuate foreigners. By day twelve, 90% of those soldiers left.
Most of the stories shared throughout the memorial were too graphic to blog. However, there is one that hit very close to home when it comes to characterizing ministry in Rwanda.
A woman shared a story from day one of the genocide. She was sixteen years old. Her family was Tutsi, their neighbors were Hutu. The two families were extremely close. The father of the neighboring family was her and her siblings godfather. Her dad was the godfather of their children. The families did just about everything together.
The day the genocide began this sixteen-year old’s mother ran over to the neighbor to ask if he would hide her children (his godchildren). He said no. He drug the mother to the Hutu army and she was killed in front of her children. The neighbor’s children called the army over to kill her siblings. Somehow she escaped.
She now doesn’t know how to trust people. Can you imagine?
A few days ago, a man named Theo drove my team and I out to the town of Rwamagana. Theo is a kind man, but he is also a little more reserved, a little more closed off.
As he drove us through the neighborhood he grew up in (which also happened to be the neighborhood we were staying in), he pointed out a memorial in the middle of it all. “That is where my father, mother, brother, sister, and 9-month-old niece are buried.”
Theo was 12 when the genocide occurred. He disguised as a girl when it first broke out because the militia sought after the men first. His mother, sister, and niece were still killed.
Since the genocide the people of Rwanda have received help restoring and rebuilding the country. And there’s always more room to help when it comes to doing within a country; homes that need building, children that need teaching, healthcare needed for those without. But this country isn’t as desperate for the “doings” of people, as they are for being in relationship with people.
So many of these survivors have repressed their scars from the genocide for years. So many of these survivors lost the people they used to cry and laugh with, share sorrows and celebrations with. And now there is a little more hesitancy when it comes to being in relationship with others; a little less openness, a little less trust. And it only makes sense.
And yet, in the midst of it all, there is no bitterness and there is no hatred.
Instead, there is forgiveness, there is love, and there is unity.
It is so easy to look back at all the tragedy and pain and none of it make sense.
And yet, the forgiveness, love, unity and restoration is far less comprehensible to me.
As my team and I left the memorial the other day there was a picture of a man on the wall near the exit. This man was one of the many men who took part in killing so many during the genocide. Next to him was a quote. Within the quote he talked about how after the genocide he spent years in prison for his part. Now that he is out of prison, he explained, it is his own conscious that convicts him. Now, he does his best every day to help and do good to others, because he could never imagine inflicting pain on someone again.
This man is now a priest.
I had to do a double take. And suddenly it hit me right in the heart.
This man was an oppressor.
And yet, after everything he did, Jesus fought for this man to know Truth; to turn from his ways, to be forgiven, to be restored, and ultimately to have a relationship with Himself. And it blows my mind!! – how Jesus can love the oppressed so much, and fight for the light to overtake the darkness in their lives!
And yet, still love and fight for oppressor. For light to overtake the darkness of his life; for him to know and be in relationship with Him as well.
This is the gospel.
