Rwanda Day 5: Memorials, Market, & Reconciliation

First, an update on last night. We wandered along a new path and eventually found an Ethiopian restaurant. We were all excited to try it, because even if it's not Rwandan, at least it's African. It was quite good, with several blobs of different foods placed on top of a huge piece of flatbread. After that we came back to the hotel, where we had discovered that they have 10 flavors of home-made fruit sorbet. I tried the passion fruit, which was amazing (even though it took about an hour to get the order right).

So, this morning we started the day by visiting two genocide memorials. They were both a bit out of town, and on the way we passed a large swamp where many Tutsis tried to hide from the killers. Most were not successful.

Both of the memorials we visited were in Catholic churches. A very typical story in Rwanda in 1994 was that the local Tutsis ran to the churches, hoping for mercy. In one of the churches today, the guide said that the priest basically traded his own life for the lives of the congregation, and the Tutsis being gathered in one place simply made it more efficient to kill them. In the other church, a nun is remembered for standing up to the killers, holding them off for some time, but eventually they shot her, then killed the 2000 people hiding inside.

Both memorials were moving and depressing. In one, they had gathered school books into a pile, showing how teenage Tutsis continued to study until they were killed, hoping to go back to school after being saved. In another, they showed us the stained brick wall where Hutu killers smashed babies to kill them, in order to save time and bullets.

On the drive back, our driver/guide Andrew told us the story of his own family. His parents were both Tutsis who left Rwanda to escape the earlier genocide in the 1960s, and they became refugees in Uganda. They had known each other as childhood neighbors, and eventually they married. He was born and raised in Uganda, and in 1995 returned to Rwanda to begin his life here. He's now married with four children.

He told us that we had time to visit two markets, for some souvenir shopping. The first one we visited was a market that is used mostly by local Kigali people, and it had food, used clothes, fabric, and a few shops with hand-made crafts. One of Rwanda's historical industries is basket weaving, and most of us purchased some wicker bowls made by Tutsi survivors to earn money. We then went to an "artist market" where they had all the same stuff for five times the price, because that market is where most of the tourists shop. We all thanked Andrew for taking us to the authentic local market first!

In the afternoon, we met with a great man named Issa. He's lived here for several years and has worked on or developed several programs relevant to reconciliation, peace, and human rights. He described many of the programs to us, including things like using soccer as a "theatre of the oppressed," staging skits on the street where players get into an argument, then ask the audience for ideas on how to resolve the problems.

My favorite program he described was called "The Rescuers," and it seeks out stories from Hutu people who acted to save Tutsis from the genocide in various ways. These are people who protested the genocide by risking their own lives to save others. He described that the purpose of this program is really twofold. First, when Hutu killers claim that they had no other choice, presenting them with stories from the Rescuers prevents their argument from holding weight. Second, when Tutsi survivors claim that all Hutus are evil, presenting them with stories from the Rescuers prevents them from being prejudiced against an entire group of people (which was the cause of the problems in the first place).

Tomorrow morning, we decided to visit one of the programs Issa oversees, to learn more about the details of what is happening. It seems like he has many ideas for ways to reach the next generation as a prevention methodology. We're looking forward to it.

Tonight, we're also looking forward to dinner with several current and former BVU students who are living in Kigali with their families.

Below are some photos from today (the blog program won't let me put them in order). The first one is the blood stain on the church at the first memorial. The second is a fabric stall at the local market. Third is the swamp where many Tutsis hid during the genocide. Finally, the school books found at the first memorial, where children hoped to be spared and return to their normal lives.