Rwanda

Rwanda - a land I've heard a lot about and have now experienced. My first impressions were - it's so clean! I haven't known any African cities that are this clean. I didn't see a bit of trash on the street anywhere. Everyone is issued three large bags per week - one for rubbish, one for recycling and one for food waste. Plastic bags are not used in the country. I wonder if this could work in Maputo?


The Congo microfinance board that Steve is on decided to have a board meeting and retreat in Rwanda across the lake and border from Goma. They chose a beautiful place to meet in Kibuye at Bethanie Center right on Lake Kivu.














Notice the active volcanos in Congo across the lake.

These men had some entertaining conversations at mealtimes, mostly about sports and politics.

When we passed St Jean's Catholic Church close to Bethanie, someone mentioned that there had been a massacre there during the genocide. I looked it up online and found out that 2,000 Tutsi people had run there for safety. Later they were all killed inside the church.



Much later the church was rehabilitated with new stained glass windows and this memorial center was built. You can see some skulls inside under a sign that says "Never Again" and they have two mass graves in the front.













They happened to be having a Maundy Thursday service with a beautiful children's choir singing.



I also learned online that there was another massacre of 10,000 people in Kibuye at the town stadium. People were encouraged to run there by the government and others. They were locked in without food and water for three days. Then they were killed with machine guns and grenades. To be in such a beautiful place and realize the horrors that happened there 18 years ago left me wondering how people could be so filled with evil toward their own neighbors and friends.

When I returned home I re-read Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza and was surprised to find that her story is set in Kibuye Province, where we were. The only way she survived was because a pastor hid her and 7 others in a tiny bathroom in his house. They were there for three months until the French army came and set up some places of refuge. It is an inspiring story because of her faith and the way God rescued her many times and her determination to not let bitterness take over her soul but to forgive. It is also a story of the horrible things that happened in Rwanda.

The beginning of the genocide happened on April 7, 1994. Every year the country has national days of mourning April 7-8. We were back in Kigali by then and told to keep a low profile, so we spent the day reading and resting at a WR guesthouse. The 8th was our 34th anniversary and also Easter. I wasn't sure if there would be much joyful singing in church, but the worship service was well done, celebrating Christ's death and resurrection and also reflecting on what happened. Because of Jesus' example of "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" we can also forgive. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Rwandans have a lot to forgive and work through as every family has been affected in some way.