It’s our first week in Rwanda. We were supposed to finish the Race here, but ended up with a route change that has us finishing in Uganda instead. It’s been a very unusual first week, compared to the other nine countries we’ve been to. The majority of our time has been spent diving into this country’s history, which not a lot of people may even be aware of. I know I wasn’t.
As Americans, when we hear genocide our thoughts automatically go to World War 2 and the Holocaust that happened to the Jews as well as other certain groups of people. We also have a habit of pushing that off, saying it was so long ago, however it isn’t the only one and they’ve been even more recent.
Back in 1994, the country of Rwanda was liberated from a horrific genocide which claimed the lives of so many innocent people. We went to Kigali’s Genocide Memorial and Museum to learn more about it after having seen the movie Hotel Rwanda. And not only that, but to the Belgian Peacekeeper’s Memorial where 10 young men lost their lives. I would have to say that last memorial as well as the children’s room in the museum were the heaviest places for me to go to.
I won’t be going into detail about all of the history leading up to what happened in 1994, but I would encourage everyone to look into it to learn and understand.
Not only did we learn about the history, but we were able to witness a part of Rwanda’s history as they celebrated their Liberation Day, July 4th when the genocide was ended. We walked up the city’s hills through streets and alleyways in order to reach the stadium (a key place in what had happened all those years ago). It was so interesting to be in a place where darkness reigned for many days and to see it now as a place of celebrating the end of such evil and striving for peace, unity, and especially healing.
As the president of Rwanda said before us, “The proof was in actions not words.”
We can see these beautiful people in a beautiful country working to heal from such a horrific trauma. We’ve been hearing story after story from people who lived through what happened, and I know God has a beautiful future for these people.
We can’t forget what happened in our planet’s history. We need to learn and understand how evil works its way into our lives, because the enemy—our true enemy—is bent on destroying us. We need to know it all so we can learn how to keep it from happening again, whether it’s in our own borders or someone else’s. We need to keep in persistent prayer for healing and come together.
As the president also said, “Liberation is a battle.”
