Sad History, Great Hope (Day 12)

Friday May 24, 2013

This blog post was written by Korey Banks

We’re on the home stretch!  I think I can speak for a lot of the group in saying we’ve enjoyed our time here.  However, we are excited about coming back home.  It will be nice to share the stories and experiences of Rwanda that we’ve not been able to blog.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers.  We’ve had a few members of our group get sick over the last couple of days and do not want to continue to have these issues. 

Today was our “touristy” day.  We spent the morning shopping in the markets and some of us can now add, “haggling in a Rwandan market” to the list of skills that we now possess.  We made a few friends in the shop throughout our experiences.  The new friendships resulted in good deals, or at least that’s what we’re telling ourselves.  We finished the day with a nice family dinner at the Hotel des Mille Collines from the movie, Hotel Rwanda. 

Open Grave at the Genocide Museum

We spent a large portion of the day at the Genocide Museum.  What an experience!  If you’ve not seen Hotel Rwanda, I recommend you do so.  The Rwandan genocide was a result of the civil war between the Hutu and Tutsi socioeconomic classes in Rwanda.  I, naturally, sit in my safe position in the US and relax, “knowing” that such an experience will not happen to me.  Sometimes, I don’t even pay attention to the fact that such things have happened in the world.  I’m definitely not paying attention to the fact that these events have happened so recently.  Just to put this in context, there were 800,000 confirmed deaths in a period of around 100 days.  Many counts have put that death toll at up to 1 million people - men, women, and children.  This does not take into account the scars of the survivors.  With about 12% of 1994’s Rwandan population decimated, almost every Rwandan above the age of 19 or 20 years old is very likely to have lost a loved one in the genocide.

Burial Plots at the Museum.
There are 250,000 people buried at the museum.

In the 90’s, the US had an opportunity to step in and intervene.  Due to the fact that we had “no interests” in Rwanda, we did not intervene.  I asked Tripp if there were any hard feelings towards Americans from Rwandans.  He responded with “I don’t know… But I just can’t believe the Rwandans forgave each other.”  Today, 19 years after a very tragic and tense situation occurred and touched the majority of the nation, these people are now living as one.  They truly forgave each other.

Joseph Umugisha
Last name means "Blessing"

During our time here we’ve had a guide named Joseph, who lost his brother and father along with 5 uncles to the genocide while his grandmother and he hid in the bush.  His mother was sexually assaulted during the attacks and passed away several years later due to a resulting HIV infection.  His life was filled with anger.  He wouldn’t smile or laugh because he was so angry.  Joseph met Jesus 5 years after the genocide in 1999.  In looking at this tragic situation and speaking with Joseph about his experiences, one can understand his anger and frustration.  It would be virtually impossible to smile through these circumstances.  However, when Joseph speaks of this time in his life he has an amazing peace about it.  His life is filled with smiles and laughter now.  Joseph, like many other Rwandans, gave the simple phrase,  “God is good” as the reason for his joy.  He spoke of deliverance and true healing through his new relationship with Jesus.

It’s so hard to understand at times how simple this is.  No matter what happens, God is good.  This experience with the Genocide museum today and the conversation with Joseph caused me to open up to Romans 8:38 – 39. “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”