Wounds still run deep in Rwanda after the genocide in 1994. Everybody has a story.
My husband and I heard some of them recently when we were in Rwanda on a medical mission: the baby who nursed on the breast of his mother while she lay dead in the streets; the man who peeked out through a hole in his fence and witnessed the massacre of 100 people as they tried to scramble up a hillside and escape; the woman who has no living relatives because they were all killed in the genocide; the rich man who became a beggar.
Rwanda is a picturesque country in central Africa known as the land of a thousand hills. Rwanda borders the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi.
Today, Rwanda is a success story with a stable government. Divisive tribal talk is illegal, punishable with a jail sentence.
Historically, ethnic tensions ran high among extremists from two tribes: the Hutus and the Tutsis. Teachings that polarized people into groups resulted in contempt and, eventually, annihilation. Neighbors turned against neighbors.
In 1994, the signing of a peace agreement between the Hutus and Tutsis followed by the assassination of the Rwandan president triggered the genocide and led to the rise of Hutu Power by extremists. Their goal was ethnic extermination of Tutsis and Hutu moderates.
In three months, approximately one million people were killed and 500,000 women and girls were raped.
The radio played an integral part in the carnage. Hate speech filled the airways, beginning with propaganda about the superiority of one group of people over another and culminating in overt demands to "kill the cockroaches."
Immaculee Ilibagiza tells her story in "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust." Immaculee and a small group of women hid in a tiny bathroom in the home of a pastor. They survived on table scraps and water. When Immaculee entered the bathroom she weighed 115 pounds. Three months later, she was 65 pounds.
"Kill them big. Kill them small. Kill them, kill them, kill them all," Immaculee heard the killers chanting outside amidst the sound of breaking glass and exploding grenades.
Killers stormed into the pastor's home repeatedly in search of the women they suspected the pastor was hiding. As the women cowered behind the bathroom door, which was obscured by a large wardrobe, the killers on the other side of the bathroom door overturned furniture and uttered death threats.
Terrified, Immaculee prayed. But demons whispered in her head, "Why do you call on God? Aren't you as guilty of hatred as the killers are?"
Immaculee struggled with feelings of hatred and anger. The demons taunted her, "How can you say you love God, but hate so many of His creation?"
Immaculee began to pray feverishly, sometimes for 15 to 20 hours a day. She discovered when she focused on God, the terror and evil thoughts that consumed her lessened and she was able to experience peace.
Immaculee's is the story of her journey into faith, forgiveness, and hope.
"You are all my children," Immaculee heard God's voice telling her, in spite of the fact that she knew the perpetrators needed to be held accountable and punished for their viciousness.
Immaculee had heard God's unwavering truth: "You are all my children."
Regardless of tribe, race, gender, or sexual preference, Immaculee had heard God's truth.
Chris Karcher is the author of "Relationships of Grace" and "Amazing Things I Know About You." Chris can be reached at www.relationshipsofgrace.com.
Comments