Monday - Rwanda - a new vision

The internet here is hit or miss because the country is currently on satellite internet. However, they are digging trenches for fiber optic cables which are coming from Mombasa, Kenya to Kigali, Rwanda, and any day we will be on high-speed internet.

Yesterday we spent the morning at the genocide museum here in Kigali and the afternoon at a church in the small rural town of Nyamata. Our host for the day, Donat, is a Congalese business owner who runs a family oil distribution company in Rwanda (he is the eldest of 13). Donat moved here in late 1994 after the genocide (June-August, 1994) and had never been to the church so it was a powerful experience for all of us.

In 1994, 4,000 Tutsi’s and Hutu moderates hid in this church. The Catholic priest and nuns that ran the church “sold them out” and militia came and killed them inside the main chapel. There is still blood on the walls and the alter cloth is stained from a woman who was brutally raped and then her 3 month old baby killed.

Behind the church is a mass grave for the 40,000 victims of Nyamata and the people that were killed in the church are laid to rest here. Inside the church, are piles of clothes from the 40,000 victims. It was heart breaking to see these layers of hats, socks, underwear, pants and shirts that are blood stained and soiled.

This is the recent past for Rwanda, but not their identity for today. Donat was obviously impacted by this site and our car ride back to Kigali was quiet, but as we drove through the fields, watching people go about their daily chores and lives we started talking about the future and hope that you can see everywhere. Donat is planning to build a business school and medical clinic soon. He, and a group of (approx) 10 other Christian business men, have bought land for the project and it was a thrill to see and hear his dream and vision as we stood on a hill that overlooks his future business school. We have taken many pictures of the day and video which I’ll upload when I return in January

Later in the evening, we went to dinner with Sindrali, an architect (he built the genocide memorial) and his wife Imaculee owns and runs an Aids clinic in Kigali. Sindrali talked about the “devil coming to Rwanda in 1994,” how there there is hope for Rwanda, and how “God has now filled their hearts” (referring to those that lived through the genocide as well as the persecutors. Both Sindrali and Imaculee have dedicated their lives and businesses to helping grow their country. Imaculee, who is a doctor and was training in the Congo, is working on an aids project with Harvard University’s public health department and is earnestly awaiting the results of a multi-multi international study they have been working on to discover “what the effects of not treating AIDS in children today will be on the burden of the health system in the future.”

After dinner, on our way home we came across a car accident. A car full of men had crashed into a ditch and the car was tilted on its side. Sindrali stopped immediately to see if they needed help and Imaculee was alert to see if she would be needed. After a short time, Sindrali came back to tell us that the men were drunk but that none of them were hurt, just stupefied. In turns out there are no tow trucks to call and they would be arrested if they called the authorities.

It’s hard to believe I’ve only been here a few days because I feel like I’ve been here a lifetime, and I look forward to the rest of the week and all Rwanda and it's people have to teach me.