How many people are actually aware of what happened in Rwanda in 1994? This country suffered so much hardship so many wound still need healing.
I'm still having difficulty understanding how such an atrocity could have occurred on so many different levels.
Firstly, where was the international community when Rwanda needed us the most? The UN declared after the Holocaust 'Never Again', yet the whole world sat and watched while atrocities on an unimaginable scale took place. The UNAMIR force was made up of 2500 troops, however, their 'monitoring mandate' disabled them from intervening. The UN spent 8 hrs discussing the crisis in Rwanda never once mentioning the word 'genocide'. Had they used this term the UN Security Council would have been legally bound to intervene and prevent and punish the perpetrators. Arguments over costs and the provision of equipment delayed the UNs decision to send 6800 troops and police to help defend the civilians. It wasn’t until June that the French decided to send 2500 troops to Rwanda. On July 4th the RPF captured Kigali and set up an interim government, the Hutu government fled.
Why did it take so long for the world to respond? What could be more important than saving the lives of 3 million innocent people? How can you put a cost on these lives?
Quote: "When the UN declared 'Never Again' was it meant only for a certain group of people?"
People weren’t just murdered in the genocide they were tortured and died in the most horrendous ways. Machetes, clubs, arrows, spikes and many other items were used as well as shotguns. The H's went on a killing spree throughout the whole country sparing not even the youngest babies. Heads were smashed with clubs and sliced with machetes, limbs were amputated, women were raped, children were shot, killed with machetes or clubbed to death. The H's behaved like animals killing their prey. These acts aren't just acts of war or genocide they convey pure hate and evil. It amazes me that people can generate so much hate towards each other and kill others in such brutal ways. The H's hated the T's so much that they smashed babies against the walls - swinging them by their legs until their skulls cracked, they stuck a pole through one women’s vagina until it came out her head this was after they had gang-raped her...How cam people hate each other so much that it cause them to commit such acts? These acts convey animalism and pure evil.
Today it would seem that the H's and the T's are living happily together, in any case they aren't classified as such anymore - they are all Rwandans. I asked a few people and they all say that there aren't any more problems. Surely there must be feelings of anger? Things like this don't just blow away. Perhaps there still is conflicts happening in Rwanda but the "world" just doesn't deem it important enough to put in the headlines, after all surely things like Pitt and Jolie's marriage mean so much more to us? Or the latest evictee on BB? Asking one man, who was 1 of 10 survivors in a 4000 people massacre, how can you carry on living here knowing that you family's murderers live right next door to you? He replied that he had forgiven them by the grace of God. Wow! What a powerful statement - all his family died in this particular massacre, he was injured and had to hide for many days - yet 14 years on has he forgiven the perpetrators and life just goes on - obviously grieving but not dwelling on his past so much so that it hinders him from working, raising his children and being a guide at the very sight were he witnessed so much bloodshed.
As we were walking towards Nyamata (one of the massacre sites) (in the region of Nyamata 40,000 were murdered) I couldn't help but feel this overwhelming sense of guilt. All these crowds we were walking through knew why we were here in Nyamata - they know the only reason Mzungus come to their town is to visit the genocide sites. As we got closer I just wanted to turn around and walk away. I guess I was scared of what we might see but I also didn’t want to be that tourist who just comes to look and take photos. Often we visit countries and behave like we are visiting monkeys in a zoo. We have in our culture a need to visit places where atrocities took place: Auschwitz in Poland, WTC in NY, even the dungeons in London or Edinburgh (I'm guilty too!) Why do we visit such places? Does it make us feel less guilty? Is it our way of helping? Remembering? Why are so many of us fascinated by such morbidity? We come and look, we point, we take a few photos and leave a small donation forgetting what really took place.
I left the church feeling heavy-hearted knowing that the world had just turned a blind eye to all that had happened. But feeling guilty and heavy-hearted isn’t enough, I wish there was something I could do, something real, something meaningful.
I found it so hard standing in the churches knowing that so many people had died there whilst seeking refuge, knowing that so many atrocities had been committed in my lifetime in the very spot I was standing. What made it harder was seeing the skulls all lined up by the hundreds, the thousands of bones. The clothes all piled up on top of each other in a small room is what made it all seem so real - the smell of death, the bloodstains...the schoolbooks, exactly the same ones I use with my kids, torn and covered in blood.
I felt that as I was walking away, out of the church that I should look solemn. I felt guilty standing there and laughing with my friends, knowing that for the people around us the genocide was so real, it felt like I was disrespecting them in a way. But then I also felt l shouldn't feel sad because these people have been through so much - their tears are filled with vivid memories and physical pain yet my tears can be perceived as tears of pity and sympathy.
In any case, I don’t regret visiting either of the sites, one of the men who survived told me that they welcome visitors, they want people to take photos and tell others about what happened in Rwanda. So this is what I'm doing, and rather than giving you just facts I felt that maybe recounting my visit with my feelings might help you understand or at the very least learn a little bit more about what took place here in Rwanda. Perhaps in the vain hope that we can all learn what hate may eventually lead to, and understand what happens when we turn a blind eye to our fellow humans around the world. Perhaps we will learn from history?
SOME STRIKING FACTS: UNICEF stats 1995
99.9% of children in Rwanda witnessed violence
79.6% " experienced death in the family
69.5% " witnessed someone being killed or injured
61.5% " were threatened with death
90.6% " believed they would die
57.5% " witnessed killings or injuries with machetes
31.4% " witnessed rape or sexual assault
87.5% " saw dead bodies or parts of bodies
(l to r)
bloodstains on wall where kids were killed whilst sheltering in their Sunday School building
skulls lined up by the thousands
bones piled up the millions
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