“I lay down again among the dead bodies. It was three days after the killings, so the bodies stank. The Interahamwe would pass by without entering the room, and dogs would come to eat the bodies. I lived there for 43 days . . .”
This is Valentine’s story from April, 1994 in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa. Valentine was a Tutsi. My lifetime in Minnesota, could distinguish Norwegians from Swede’s in similar manner that Rwandans could distinguish Tutsi and Hutu’s in their country. Names, family background, and physical features often make a distinction. Sometimes it requires asking the person.
Interahamwe (Kinyarwanda, meaning "those who stand/work/fight/attack together") was a Hutu paramilitary organization and they knew Valentine was a Tutsi. Her story can be read at Kigalimemorialcentre.org which is the website for the Kigali Memorial Centre. In April 2004, on the 10th Anniversary of the genocide that split Rwanda apart, the Kigali Memorial Centre was inaugurated. The Centre provided an opportunity to offer a place in which the bereaved could bury their families and friends, and over 250,000 victims of the genocide are now buried at the site - a clear reminder of the cost of ignorance.
I visited this Centre on 2009, four years after it opened. The Centre also reminds visitors of genocides that have occurred in other places during the 20th-21st centuries: Congo, China, Germany, Cambodia, and others. The pictures are gruesome and the history grim.
There will be a day when the Kingdom of God ends all hatred and violence. There will be everlasting shalom. Full peace.
This is Valentine’s story from April, 1994 in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa. Valentine was a Tutsi. My lifetime in Minnesota, could distinguish Norwegians from Swede’s in similar manner that Rwandans could distinguish Tutsi and Hutu’s in their country. Names, family background, and physical features often make a distinction. Sometimes it requires asking the person.
Interahamwe (Kinyarwanda, meaning "those who stand/work/fight/attack together") was a Hutu paramilitary organization and they knew Valentine was a Tutsi. Her story can be read at Kigalimemorialcentre.org which is the website for the Kigali Memorial Centre. In April 2004, on the 10th Anniversary of the genocide that split Rwanda apart, the Kigali Memorial Centre was inaugurated. The Centre provided an opportunity to offer a place in which the bereaved could bury their families and friends, and over 250,000 victims of the genocide are now buried at the site - a clear reminder of the cost of ignorance.
I visited this Centre on 2009, four years after it opened. The Centre also reminds visitors of genocides that have occurred in other places during the 20th-21st centuries: Congo, China, Germany, Cambodia, and others. The pictures are gruesome and the history grim.
There will be a day when the Kingdom of God ends all hatred and violence. There will be everlasting shalom. Full peace.
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