INDIVIDUALITY - THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE.

Individuality – the quality that makes one person different from ALL others.

The garden you see above is called the “Rose Garden.” The Rose Garden was a monument located within a genocide museum located in Kigali, Rwanda. This garden was planted with each plant being a different species of rose/flower representing the individuality of the lost souls. As I sat in this garden, I began pondering on how we often generalize to lessen the pain of such atrocities. There were estimated to be around 2 million victims (in a recent report) in the Rwandan genocide – sound familiar? We generalize every person who was killed into a lifeless buzz word “victim.” In some cases, the people who were killed didn’t just have death come upon them, they fought; they fought for survival, they fought for their families, they fought for life. Each and every person we lose has their own story, whether it is long or short. 

During my interactions with the local Rwandan people I heard stories of extreme grievances, gruesome torture, and countless torn apart families. To give you a few examples, here are two stories I was told on a first-hand account.  I met a man (he will remain unnamed in order to protect his privacy) who had been sent off to catholic boarding school when he was younger. It so happens that because he was in a religious school, he along with his school mates were not harmed in the genocide. When he was released for holiday, he was informed that every family member, excluding his sister and father, had been burned alive in one of the relative’s homes (30 people in total).  The second account that I heard was of a boy who is twenty-four now, but was only four during the 1994 episode. All he remembers is that there was so much killing. He remembers not understanding why everyone was running the streets with machetes and clubs hurting his neighbors. He recalled one moment when he was hiding in the bushes near his home and as he looked across into his friend’s yard he watched all of his friends stand in a line getting hacked by a machete one by one (keep in mind he’s only four). He then returned home to find the same happening to his father and brothers. He was left alone with his sister.

To these survivors, their families and friends, these people were not simply “victims,” they were people they loved, people they played futbol with, people who existed in some of their fondest memories. Yes, these people may have “fallen victim” to the horrible circumstances, but we MUST recognize that each one of the people whose lives had been taken, came from somewhere. They came from families, they had trials, they had hopes and dreams, they had hobbies and jobs, and they were in fact a lot like each one of us. In one of the museums/memorial sites I visited in Kigali, there was a room completely filled with pictures of some of those whose lives had been taken. Some were smiling, some making funny faces, some holding their children or hugging their family members. Each and every one of these people was their own individual with their own life story.

One of the my favorite scenes in the movie Hotel Rwanda (a reenactment of the Rwandan Genocide) that impacted me,  is a conversation between Paul Rusesabagina (hotel manager) and Jack (American Journalist) in regards to video footage Jack had shot of the streets in Kigali:

 Paul Rusesabagina: I am glad that you have shot this footage and that the world will see it. It is the  only way we have a chance that people might intervene.

Jack: Yeah and if no one intervenes, is it still a good thing to show?

Paul Rusesabagina: How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?

Jack: I think if people see this footage they'll say, "oh my G** that's horrible," and then go on eating their dinners.

Now, you must understand that I am I not saying that we should all go and become depressed over the millions of atrocities that occur by the second all of the world including our own back yards (trust me I have taken this route), however I am saying that we need to recognize the fact that the people who these things are occurring to are actually real people (hey imagine that!). We cannot simply override them as “another problem I can’t help fix.” Keep them in your hearts, and at least give them the time of day as to become educated about their situation, or at least pay tribute to them in your own special way. 

 Messages written to pay tribute to those affected by the Genocide

  I use this post, along with the empathy in my heart, as a tribute to the many lives that were taken, as well as the many lives that were affected by the Rwandan Genocide. May God bless their souls, and may they rest in peace.