Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Unfortunately,
Rwanda has become a name that we identify with the worst side of
humanity. We have had a wonderful visit to the country, but on our last
full day in Africa we do the most difficult thing and visit the
Genocide Museum in Kigali.
It is a modest structure that sits on a hillside overlooking the heart
of the capital and serves both as an education tool to humanity and as
the resting place to the remains of 300,000 who were killed in this city
alone - many by their neighbors, relatives, or those who they thought
of as friends. They are only some of the million or so who were killed
in the name of something that is hard to understand, but has happened
more than once in our world. We come as tourists from another land and
try to get our heads around what happened, and more importantly what
this country and its people must do to heal. After the visit to
heartbreaking exhibits I look over the city which is now clean, tidy,
and full of commercial enterprise and new construction – I try to
imagine what is below the surface that people here deal with every day
. Much has happened since the horrors and all outward signs
are remarkably positive while this country trys to learn and create an
identity based on country, rather than tribal bonds. On the two hour
drive from our last lodge, we passed through a beautiful hilly farming
country and an amazing number of people on foot, sharing the road with
our vehicles. They all have daily chores that occupy their thoughts, but
each has some painful memory of the madness that they must deal with.
Easy for me to dismiss it as madness, but the government here is making
an extraordinary effort to learn from what happened and not to sweep it
under the rug. I came to the Museum foolishly thinking that it would
explain all of this to me. For me, I admit that I still can't
understand.
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