I spent this past week in the capital city of Rwanda, Kigali. Rwanda is called the “Land of a Thousand Hills” due to its beautiful hilly landscape of the mountains and lush green lands that surround it. My experience in Rwanda was one that I will never forget. It was an experience that for me was filled with happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, disappointment and hope. After studying about the genocide in Rwanda for the past couple of years, actually being there and experiencing the aftermath of it myself was a life changing.
The highlight of the trip was the people that we met. Upon arriving at the airport, we met a friend of Melissa’s, whom we have nicknamed “Peace” and sometimes refer to as “King Julian” from Madagascar because he made us laugh and “loves laughing”. Peace is one of the most amazing people that I have met in a while. Despite the struggles he has faced in life and continues to face, he has the most humbling, kind, and forgiving spirit. Peace lost many family members in the genocide and was recently fired from his job as a journalist because he refused join the political party that is controlling the government. Peace spent the whole week with us and was very patient as we asked him 50 million questions, some that were very intimate about his experiences during the genocide. He accompanied us to the Genocide Memorial Museum and 2 genocide sites where thousands of people were killed. I am grateful that Peace took the time to spend with us this past week b/c I don’t think we would have had as great of an experience if he was not there. A benefit of knowing Melissa who knew Peace, was also meeting his friends who were equally as friendly and welcoming. We met his roommates, his cousin and other friends. Everyone wanted to make sure that we had the best time in Rwanda and did what they could to accommodate us.
Throughout our time in Rwanda, we met other locals here and there that Peace conversed with. At one of the genocide sites, we met 2 young ladies that were living in child-headed households and taking care of each other due to losing their parents during the genocide. We also met a little boy in the same neighborhood that was thoroughly excited to receive a pen from Eunice. As he ran away, Peace said, “He is so happy, he is running because he is happy!”. At another site, we met a woman who had recently been attacked by some men with a machete to the head and left to die. She survived but was too afraid to speak out against her attackers for fear of further violence.
As we left the airport the first things I noticed was a drastic difference between Arusha and Kigali. Since the genocide, Kigali has drawn a lot of international attention. I wonder how many lives could have been saved if Rwanda was able to draw as much attention during the genocide. As I observed the nicely paved roads, the new buildings, fancy hotels, upscale coffee shops, malls, and fancy supermarkets, I was really excited because it is more of the type of lifestyle that I am used to in the US. My excitement soon faded when I realized that all of this development came at a price, namely 800,000 people were killed during the genocide in 1994. My thought became even more disheartening when I realized that violence was still continuing today, despite all of the progress that the country is making and everything that I had learned about the reconciliation process in Rwanda.
During our time in Kigali, we stayed at St. Paul’s Guest House. St. Paul’s is also a church that was instrumental during the genocide. Many people sought refuge there and the pastor of the church was able to keep the people in hiding and saved many lives. In stark contrast, St. Famille, the church right next to St. Paul’s was also a church people fled to for protection, however, most of the people there died because the pastor was conspiring with the Interharmwe militia. Today, the church has been reopened and people fill the church each morning for worship service. We attended one of the services and while it was encouraging to see people progressing and getting back to “normal” life, it was also a weird feeling to be in a place that had been a part of taking so many people’s lives. We asked Peace how the church managed to reopen and thrive again and he explained that one of the reasons was because people thought that another genocide was eminent so they were convinced to come back to church and get saved so that if they died they would go to heaven. That was a perspective that I never would have thought of and it is something that I am really struggling to understand today.
The Hotel de Mille Collines was another place we visited that felt strange to be in. This was the hotel that the movie Hotel Rwanda was based on. Many people also sought refuge here during the genocide and most of them managed to survive thanks to the efforts of Paul Russesabagina, one of the hotel managers. Today, business as usual is conducted at the hotel and it is even undergoing construction. We went there for lunch one day and it was strange because images from the movie kept popping up in my head as I thought of what a safe haven this was for the people that were able to hide there.
We also visited 2 memorial sites in Nyamata and Natarama where massacres occurred. These sites are living reminders of the genocide that took place as they have been left in the same condition that they were 15 years ago. Clothes, shoes, belongings, and even bones of the people who were killed are still there. Words cannot describe what it feels like to see these type of reminders of the capability of mankind to treat one another with blatant disrespect and disregard for human life. At these sites, no one was spared, not women, men, children or babies. I had a hard time at first trying to convince myself to actually go into the churches but then I looked at Peace and he helped give me that courage. If he, (a person directly affected by the genocide and the aftermath of it) could do it, then I, (a person who has never had to really experience pain and suffering in her life) could do it.
People often talk about the poverty line and what it means to live below or at the poverty line and this was a concept that was illustrated for us in Kigali. Michelle took a picture as we were driving one day that showed old shacks and very basic houses on one side and luxurious new houses on the other side. She remarked that a good description for the picture would be “poverty line”. You could literally see the drastic distinction between the neighborhoods that appeared to be so close together. Peace explained that one thing the government was doing in the name of development was to “buy” up peoples’ properties and then use the land to build these new houses designed for foreigners and high ranking officials that could afford them. The people that were moved out of these areas could certainly not afford to live in the newly built houses and many were forced to relocate out into the villages. This immediately reminded me of the re-gentrification movement in Atlanta where many of the projects are being torn down and people are given money to relocate but similar to the situation in Kigali, cannot afford to move into the newly built houses. This does not help relieve poverty; it only spreads it out instead of it being more concentrated. The similarities of what I saw in Kigali and what is happening in Atlanta and other cities throughout the US was really baffling but it also showed that we are more connected than we think.
The visit to Rwanda is one that will stick with me more a long time and one that I hope I will continue to reflect upon. The people we met and the fact that we felt very comfortable and safe there, made the trip so much more enjoyable. The insight that we gained from being able to bear witness to some of the aftermath of the genocide, both positive and negative, helps to give me a better framework and understanding of the social life of post-conflict societies. However, I don’t think that I will ever be able to fully understand the depth of the circumstances, struggles, hopes and fears that the people of Rwanda will have to contend with for generations to come.
I leave you with a list of things that you can see/do/hear in Kigali that you do not see/do/hear in Arusha:
- Traffic signs, traffic lights, and crosswalks (Arusha has one stop light and I have not seen any traffic signs)
- There is a quietness that fills that air in Kigali. Arusha is very noisy in comparison (i.e. dogs barking, the call to prayer 5 times a day, horns and music constantly blaring, people shouting- these are all sounds that were a lot less frequent in Kigali)
- Hills (these were evident in all of our walks and drives around town. You could not go anywhere without going up and down a hill.)
- Kigali has much more development, paved roads, new houses and buildings, more of a metropolitan feel than Arusha. In contrast, Kigali seemed a lot less touristy than Arusha.
- In Kigali we felt very safe. People constantly ensured us that it was one of the safest cities in Africa and that it was OK to walk after dark which is something we could never do in Arusha.
- On the other hand, genocide memorials and museums are ever present in Kigali but not in Arusha. It is strange how a city in a country that has lived through a genocide is safer than a city in a country that is known to be one of the most peaceful in Africa. Tanzania does not have any history of war, conflict, ethnic strife or genocide whereas Rwanda has suffered from several genocides throughout history.
- Purple flowers were planted all throughout Kigali as a symbol of grief and morning.
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