Rwanda’s Traumatic History Has Not Stopped Them From Building Something Beautiful

Rwanda wasn’t on our original list for this year.  In fact, we were going to skirt Africa entirely – it has been on our life list for a long time, and we thought it would be a good stand-alone trip at another time.  But then we met Sylvia and Jimi through People Like Us.  Sylvia is Egyptian, but was raised in Wausau, Wisconsin.  Jimi is from New York.  Sylvia and Jimi are international aid workers, and in between international postings, they stayed at our cabin up in Irma, Wisconsin.  They were kind enough to offer to let us stay with them in Rwanda, which was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

In getting to know a bit about the country we would be visiting, I found that the biggest focus on Rwandan history is the genocide that occured over about 100 days in 1994. I’ll try to give a short history, but will likely only scratch the surface.  Before colonization, Rwandas used the terms Tutsi and Hutu to describe 2 flexible groups in their society, based mostly on occupation.  Hutus (~85% of the population) were largely crop farmers, whereas Tutsi had livestock, which provided more financial freedom and privilege.  You could move between these two social groups by gaining or losing wealth and status.  When the Germans, and later the Belgians arrived, they formalized the two groups, assigning each individual an identity based not only on wealth, but even things like also on height and nose shape.  They made movement between the two groups virtually impossible.  They also strongly favored the Tutsi, providing them with choice positions in government and a great deal of privilege. 

In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, the Hutus rebelled against the Belgium colonizers and Tutsi privilege and gained control of the government when Belgium decided it was time to decolonize.  When Rwanda was granted independence in 1962, there was a great deal of violence between the two groups, and many Tutsi fled the country.  The Tutsis in exile created a rebel army, and from 1990-1993, Rwanda was in a civil war.  Peace was almost achieved in 1993, when the president of Rwanda signed a peace treaty; however, this was pretty unpopular and, on April 6th of 1994, that president’s plane was shot down (they don’t know for sure who did it, but a popular belief is that his wife was behind the plot as she was a leader in the Hutu rebellion pushing for a genocide against Tutsis).  That was the spark that led to deaths of approximately 800,000 in just 100 days.  Word went out on the radio that all Hutu were supposed to hunt down and kill every Tutsi they could find.  Neighbors, coworkers, friends, and even children – the cry of Hutu power meant that every Tutsi must die.  Eventually the rebel Tutsi army won control of Rwanda, and the current government was established.

The current President, Paul Kagame, has been in power since the year 2000.  He is pretty popular, based on what we could gather. He has made it illegal for Rwandans to talk about their ethnicity, has prioritized opportunity and growth for Rwanda’s young people, and is extremely focused on Rwanda increasing its tourism industry.  His guiding principal has always been around peace and unity.

We were able to visit the Camp Kigali Belgian Memorial, and it was a really powerful experience.  When the president’s plane was bombed, 10 UN peacekeepers from Belgium were tasked with protecting the Prime Minister. They were surrounded, and asked to surrender their weapons in exchange for safety.  Instead, all 10 men were brought to Camp Kigali, where the Hutus began to beat them.  They retreated to one of the buildings, and made a final stand with two guns they had managed to smuggle in. They died there.  

The buildings in the memorial are riddled with bullet holes. The walls have an explanation of history, and there are messages from the families of the 10 soldiers. The most striking part of the memorial is a ring of 10 granite columns, each one marked for the soldiers who were killed.

I am absolutely amazed by this country. For a country that was gutted by a genocide of this magnitude just 32 years ago, the recovery is inspiring.  Before visiting, all the resources I could find about modern day Rwanda focusing on forgiveness, being one people, and moving forward.  I was hesitant – it seemed too easy – too rosy a picture of a people who chose to live peacefully and forgive after such atrocities.  And then we arrived.  We met Ben (there will be a whole post about Ben later!), and talked with a number of people from Kigali and the surrounding countryside. From what we can gather, the stories of forgiveness and growth are mostly true. Ben’s grandmother was killed, his mother is a survivor, and his father fought for the rebels who recaptured the country. Yet he shares a message of hope. The Rwandan people experienced the unimaginable, and now they are focused on forgiveness, healing, and growth.  The memorial was somber – it didn’t try to hide the atrocities that happened.  It acknowledged them, mourned them, and encouraged moving forward.  

This is an absolutely inspiring country.