Woke up from a very good nights sleep feeling much refreshed
from the previous day and a half's journey. I was reminded by a big stack of
cards that it was my birthday, thank you all who sent them particularly
from the one with the amafranga in, which bought four of us a lovely lunch. At
breakfast more cards and lovely presents.
Breakfast consisted of beautiful fruit the most juicy pineapple and african
fruit salad dumped over a weetabix .
Rob and Jan and the Griffiths had various meetings
concerning the water filter trial project. We dropped in to the "lawyers of hope"
office which is now situated at Solace Guest house to drop off a letter and
someone gave us a little presentation of their work. Basically they a Christian
group of lawers who provide their services free for the poor and young people,
Rwandan lawyers cost over £500 to hire which is beyond the means of all but the
priveledged few. They also educated local leaders to report to them episodes
where young people were abused or taken advantage of; also they work in the
prisons with ofenders to stop young people re-offending.
We then walked over to the main Gisosi genocide memorial site, situated
on side of one of the hills over from the one where the guest house is situated.
We walked up past many government offices then through a more commercial section
with many little shop workshops where they manufactured for example coils for
motors with great reels of copper wire seen through the door. The site is set
in beautiful garden and is very peaceful. It consists of large mass graves and
an educational exhibition and museum. It remains a very painful place to visit
but we were able to take a large part of the day walking around the exhibits
and reflecting on that very recent past. Looking over to the hill on which the
rising commercial tall buildings going up it becomes more difficult to imagine
a city total consumed by carnage and filled with mutilated bodies.
So how is it that this beautiful peaceloving people
turned into killers? Why did Cain murder Abel?
The process probably started back in colonial days before
there were many tribes living in relative easy co-existence then the colonist
categorised them into two ethnic groups and gave them identity cards. So they
were labeled. Slowly, percieved inequalities and injustice led to escalating
violence.
I have been reading a book by Miroslav Volf on the
origins of Genocide called Exclusion or Embrace.
How do you kill your brother? It is not easy but if your
brother becomes the other, the outsider, excluded from your presence it is easy
to denegrate him and rename him. Once he becomes a “cockroach” he is easily
stamped out. We have a choice either we exclude the other, the enemy or we
embrace him. Embrace is typified in the Christian bible by the story of the
prodigal son, the command to love your enemy; basically it is the message of
the cross.
On our way home to the guest house we visited an art
project, it was a riot of jubilant colour, full of very joyful young artists
expressing themselves in very vibrant African colours and themes but in very
new and creative ways. It made a
wonderful counterpoint to see these young Rwandans expressing just the joy of
being alive.
The new arena at the memorial
A peace statue
An old volkswagon they were painting at the art centre
It was wonderful to see the bright african colours painted and woven into modern retelling of traditional African art this artist shows a wonderful optimism for the future of the country.
We arrived back to a much needed rest and reflection. Yet
another little incident before our evening meal I had briefly gone out to buy a packet
of Rwandan teabags (the best in the world) when I came across a little orphan
chap on the pavement begging he was someone called Oscar we had met on a previous
visit as usual he was hungry he lives with his grandma has one eye but even he
goes to school. So he went off happily with a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut
butter to feed his mum.
Finally a lovely beef stew as my birthday meal , plus a
wonderful cake which Jean Marie our cook just rustled up at the end of our
meal.
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