Churches of Refuge?

September 25th to October 3rd, 2007
(I can finally post my blogs! Hurray!)
I am sitting on the porch that connects to my room here in the guesthouse in Kigali, Rwanda. I have to admit, since I was able to come before anyone else, that I was able to pick the nicest room. It’s spacious and has a porch and a table. Very nice. The only complaint I have is that the beds are squeaky and since their bunk beds, that can be annoying sometimes.
As we continue to live in this city, I have continued to fall more in love with it. the people are very friendly and it is much less congested than Kampala, Uganda. We have had our one class about peace-building and issues of conflict and it has been pretty good. we constantly talk about the genocide. We have had two guest speakers now as well. yesterday we had a guest speaker who spoke about the church’s role in the genocide and how they’ve helped with reconciliation and things like that. I really enjoyed that and it will help with my presentation since my group is talking about that very subject.
This weekend was relaxing because I went to a coffee shop with some friends (Kate and Caitlin). I drank a whole cup of coffee myself, which is not usual at all. It was good for coffee. It was called a vanilla kawaccino. Then Caitlin and I walked around town and looked at shops. At one of the shops we met a guy named Paul and he was very nice. He seemed really genuine. The shop that he works at is owned by his aunt who helps women make money by teaching them how to make crafts. He said that we could come back any time and speak to him about the genocide. I was surprised that someone that we just met would be so open to talk about his experiences concerning this terrible ordeal. So Caitlin and I are going to return to his shop on Friday.
On Sunday, we didn’t attend church service, but instead, we got to attend trials. They are called the Gacaca Courts and the people who are tried there were allegedly involved in the genocide. The man whose trial we witnessed was accused of being in possession of firearms (because it is illegal in Rwanda) and providing them for other people. he was also dressed like the Interahamwe which is the trained Rwandan army that was killing people in the genocide. Some people said that although he had weapons, they never saw him do anything like kill people. Others said that he used his weapon to protect people. but who knows who is telling the truth. That is the difficult thing about those trials. The genocide happened 13 years ago so it’s hard to get the whole truth without it having become distorted over the years. But I can see that the courts are still a very positive thing in Rwanda. It helps people acquire some justice and get some closure.
For me, it is amazing to believe that genocide occurred in this country. It is so peaceful and the people are so friendly. You would never guess what happened. They have definitely come a long way from the genocide in so many ways. I even feel safer in this city than I do in Kampala. I think because it’s less overwhelming, less congested, and cleaner.
On Monday we went to two more memorials. The first one was a small church with a few buildings around it. They said that 5,000 people had been hiding in that church and had been killed with bullets and grenades and other terrible weapons. When they said 5,000 people I could not imagine it. It was a tiny church, possibly the size of a small chapel in America. We could see holes in the walls of building where grenades had been thrown in. There had to have been layer upon layer of bodies. They laid the bones of many of the people out for everyone to see. One shelf would have skulls and others would have other bones. A couple of coffins held the bones of many people. Hanging against the walls and from the ceiling was the clothing of the people. There were so many clothes! The clothes were dirty from years of weather and because they had once been on dead, decaying bodies. As I looked around I saw a small child’s dress. All of these innocent lives, gone. People had left baskets of flowers to remember the dead.
The next location was another church, but larger. 10,000 people had been hiding in that church and in the fenced in area that belonged to the church. All but two people were killed there. They were both young children. even though the church was about 4 times larger than the other one, I still could not imagine 10,000 people hiding in it. once again there were some bones laid out in the church and flowers. We observed many bullet holes and grenade shrapnel holes that had punctured the tin entry way. Some of the bars on the door had been broken off so they could throw the grenades in. Even the cement was eroded from the carnage. Below the church there was an area where bones were kept as well as some of the people’s personal items. There was a glass case so we could see even farther down that there was a coffin with a cross on it. It was an eerie, dark place. We were told that a lady was buried in it. She had been dug up and they saw the disgusting things that had happened to her. She had been stretched and torn and then a stick had been shoved up her private area. It was a gruesome story that made me shudder. It reminded me that this is only one of the horror stories of things that happened to these people.
Next, we visited the graves of two white people who had been killed and one of them was an Italian lady. She had been a journalist or at least some sort of communications person. She had tried to communicate with other countries about the horrors that were happening. When the government found out, they had her killed. Behind the church we visited a mass grave area where bones were either laid out or kept in coffins. I was glad that there were no bodies preserved so that they looked like they just died. I don’t know if I could have handled that. In some memorials they have thousands of bodies laid out with lime poured over them so they are preserved. Usually the pastor who teaches our class takes the students there, but he decided not to this time. I was glad.
So, on a happier note, (sorry to depress you again), Rwanda is slowly building peace and reconciliation. People are able to live side by side even if they do have a bit of hard feelings toward them. Many programs have been made to aid people who are impoverished and who have been traumatized by this experience. But there is still so much to be done. The government has realized its error and makes laws to make sure this doesn’t happen again and to take care of its people.
The guest speaker yesterday said something that really made sense and made me think. He said that one of the reasons that the people so willingly carried out the genocide was because the government ordered it and they always follow authority. This is because they believe that all authority comes from God. they get this from Romans 13 toward the beginning, I believe. While this can be a negative thing like it was in the genocide, it can also be a positive thing. Since the genocide, they have been working toward the good of all as a result of orders from the government. In other words, they obey whether it is for good or for evil. So when there are positive goals in mind, then they are able to carry them out very well. One of the stories he gave to me to illustrate this point was that one policeman with one gun is able to shepherd 100 or 200 prisoners at one time back to prison. They aren’t handcuffed or shackled in any way. I found this amazing, myself. In America this would never work because Americans have rebellion deeply rooted inside of their culture and lives. The guest speaker, his name is Antoine by the way, also said that although the people are obedient, that does not make them passive. They can be very passionate about things.
Antoine also said that the church’s role in the genocide was 'very confused.' There were some who had prophetic voices and spoke against it, but there were those who gave up their congregations to the killers for the cause of following authority in the name of God. usually those who spoke against it were killed. But the most interesting thing about it is that the most effective thing the church could have done is cried out. The catholic church was the major church here at the time and if they had gotten the news to the pope, he would have told them that it was against God’s will and because he is a huge authority, they would have stopped the killing. This shows how much of an impact the church can have on our world, whether for good or bad. Anyway, I have all this stuff running through my head and it interests me. I’m sorry if it doesn’t interest you, kind of. It is important for us all to know what is going on in the world. I have enjoyed my time in Kigali and I’m sure I will continue to enjoy it. This weekend we are going to a rural area, so I’m excited about that. Seeing more of this beautiful country will be an adventure.