Justin Blend’s Rwandan Diary - Part 2

In early April we commemorated the 12th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in which an estimated 937 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by 2 extremist Hutu militias. The Jewish connection to this horror is obvious. The similar mass suffering endured by two peoples has created a connection built on the ashes of lost brothers and sisters. We mentioned that a group of Rwandans recently visited Israel where they learned how the Jewish people have coped with their tragedy and educated the future generations to never forget what happened. Now a group of Jewish students has visited Rwanda to learn their story.

This is the second part to a diary of a South African Jewish student who was part of the group that visited Rwanda. Part 1 is available here.

3 April 2006
I woke up this morning ready to learn first hand about the genocide. After breakfast our first visit was to an organization run by women. The organization helps rehabilitate women who have been affected psychologically and physically by the genocide. Although men were the numerically the main victims of the mass murder, Rwandan women have also suffered greatly. In addition to seeing their husbands’ killed (over 50% of Rwandan women are widows), thousands of women were raped—many by men with AIDS. The challenges they face are unimaginable.

We then traveled to a children’s village. It is similar to a large orphanage except that there are no adults in charge. The village houses children who lost their parents in the genocide and have now been forced to become the heads of their households. Most of the households are formed from displaced kids for different families who have been put together. The eldest child (between 17-25 years) becomes the head of the ‘family’ and must act as the younger children’s parent - do their homework, take care of them when they’re sick, feed them, etc. It was extremely upsetting to see how such young kids have to grow up with such responsibility. Worse, the lack of funding means that things are unlikely to get any better. The hope of a brighter future is so far out of reach.

I was given the opportunity to interact with one of the survivors who lost her entire family (7 brothers and her parents) in the genocide. Her personal story encapsulates the horror of an entire people. Her Hutu next-door neighbors forced her to watch while they murdered her mother and then proceeded to rape her. She fell pregnant and now has an 11 year old son, whose father was her family’s killer. We can not possibly comprehend the physiological horror she continues to endure. When I asked her why she thought her neighbors had done this, she responded- “Because we were Tutsi”.

Our day ended with meeting the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports. He is a young man and it was quite inspiring to listen to him as he had so much hope for the future of his country. He told us that today there is no Tutsi or Hutu, only Rwandan. The youth are sent to a camp once a year where they have discussions about the genocide. They are trying to educate the youth in such a way that the old tribal mentality of Hutu/Tutsi is becoming a thing of the past. The minister said that the youth are so patriotic and focused on building a new Rwanda that the future is very promising.

Final thought:
Jews could leave Germany after the Holocaust; Tutsis had to continue living in Rwanda. For me the hardest part to stomach is the fact that the day after the genocide ended people were forced to go back to being neighbors—survivors next door to their own families’ murderers.

Comments

[Mike]

I don’t think we could possibly comprehend the psychological horror that the victims are still forced to endure daily. Reminders of their suffering are everywhere from their murderous next door-neighbors to their own children.

I find the Rwandan solution to the post genocide reconciliation seriously flawed. Do they honestly believe that by denying ethnic identities they will prevent future violence? It was not difference that was responsible for the killing but the intolerance of difference. ‘There are no Tutsi or Hutu, only Rwandan’ is a serious problematic approach. Rather they should be educating the next generation that there are Tutsis and Hutus and both are Rwandans. We should do all we can to explain to them the merits of the Rainbow nation approach that we adopted here in South Africa. As South Africans and as Jews we are in a unique position to help.