Murambi Genocide Memorial, Site du genocide Murambi. 4 survived out of 50,000 that came here to seek refuge. The man telling us the story 's uncle was one who survived. We stand in a building that is being renovated. Rain drips through the roof and down the stairs.We sign a guest book, take flowers to mass graves and have short prayer service. During our visit we had walked down the open hallways and the site guard opens the door of each classroom so we can see the horror of bodies lying on top of low slatted tables. These remains were dug up from mass graves and "displayed " on the low tables, made by survivors. My nose is full of the scent of decay. After we leave the room, the guide slams the metal door and opens another. Even walking by a closed door the pungent sweet odor of decay clings to our bodies. After several rooms full of corpses we see rooms full of just bones stacked . Eventually we say, enough. We have seen enough! We visit a large room...maybe once a library or assembly area. This was a school in 1994. In this room there are clothes hanging on clothes lines. It reminds me of some bizarre art installation. This clothing was removed from corpses when the bodies were dug from the mass graves that the French troops had dug soon after the atrocity. Survivors are angry with the French who played soccer on the new graves. I wade through water and mud, my feet in sandals. The earth and water are brick red.
April 2019
I am writing this remembrance of my visit to Rwanda because the 25th anniversary of the 1994 genocide is here. For 100 days, starting in April 1994 it is estimated that more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered by their Hutu countrymen. The military and interwahamwe militia (dominated by youth trained to kill) along with civic officials, police and ordinary citizens carried out the butchery. The genocide raged on while the rest of the world watched. Even the UN denied the request to increase peacekeeping forces. Instead, more forces were ordered to leave. The genocide stopped when the Rwandan Patriotic Front(many of whom were children of Tutsi refugees that left in early 1960's) defeated the Rwandan military.
This is a very inadequate synopsis, I know that and there is so much more to be said about how and why.
An important point is to know that the Rwandan Hutu government had been gearing up for this for years. The ethnic divide is very old but has not always been so rigid. The government ratcheted it up with denouncing Tutsis as being cockroaches, in other words "the other" and a problem to be taken care.When, in April 1994, the plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down as it approached the Kigali airport, the extremist wing of the Hutu Rwandan government ordered the genocide to begin. This political power crusade incited Hutu men to kill their Tutsi wives and children. This program of hate caused neighbors to murder neighbor and to cause church leaders to abandon their parishioners.
There were many acts of heroics, I've personally heard them told. But I also listened to many stories told by survivors of how they witnessed sadistic and brutal killings of their families and neighbors.
There is so much to learn from Rwanda and so many tears to weep.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In March of 2002, I was part of a small group of Catholic Youth Ministers who were chosen to travel to Rwanda with Catholic Relief services. We were invited to see the programs that CRS and its partners were implementing in Rwanda. Programs that were helping in many areas of Rwandan life. As I am an artist, (as well as a lay minister, at that time), when I applied, I stated that I would create an exhibit of work. I reserved the hallway gallery of the Albany NY diocesan Pastoral Center for its first public show. I had 9 months to create and assemble an exhibit of paintings, drawings, collages of photos along with text. I worked the images from photos, sketches, journal and memory. Some places that we visited, would not allow photos so a quick sketch and notes enabled me to call to mind the visible and what I wanted to create. Other times, drawing and writing was my preferred method to remember. Creating these visual images, along with text, was a good way to process the trip that started on March 14 with a short orientation in Baltimore MD at CRS headquarters and then ended 10 days later. The time in Rwanda was intense and deeply moving. I never laughed so hard nor cried so much with a handful of people who were strangers to me before I arrived in Baltimore.
Once I learned that I was accepted into the CRS Called to Witness: Rwanda program, I tried to prepare in various ways. As side note, while in the Baltimore airport waiting for our flight, one of my fellow travelers candidly asked the two CRS representatives, who were traveling with us, "So, how many people applied to be part of this trip?" We all laughed when, i seem to remember her saying 15 or 18 had sent in an application. Since there were 7 of us who were chosen, there was no reason to feel too special. Just a reminder, this was not many months after September 11, 2001 and some people were still nervous about travel.
To prepare, for visiting Rwanda as an artist, I looked for any information about Rwandan art, specifically, and broadly other African countries and cultures. Very,very briefly I learned that in many cultures creating is considered a sacred act and that there is a belief that the creators of art are conduits of the spirit. And depending on what is created, for example sculpture, it is often not finished by the artist, rather the owners/caretakers of the piece finish it by using it and altering it at will or need. Rwanda is known for its beautiful items that are made for use in the home or other areas of life. It is known especially for its baskets particularly the nesting baskets.
I also read a wonderful book about the continent of Africa, titled "Africa; the biography of a continent" which was a great primer for me. I read others books specifically about Rwanda, the country and history, its people and of course the genocide. I read more when I returned while getting my exhibit together and trying to make sense of it all. The personal stories about genocide were hard to read but paled in comparison to actually hearing personal stories by survivors. This is not anything you really ever forget.
Experiencing with all my senses the dark side of this nation, I also needed to read more about the shadow in all of us and look deeper into my own soul. It felt correct to do this self examination of myself and really understand the great good we can do and the horrible evil that almost every human is capable of as well.
So yes, I prepared, but I also wanted to not be too prepared. I hoped to be a sponge and soak up every minute and every experience in order to create work afterwards that was filled with personal integrity.
I hoped to get all my facts correct, but I also wanted to be free to tell my story of what I learned and saw.
Here is a reflection that I wrote from Kigali, Rwanda at the start of our week.
3/18/02
A reflection on my first
two days in Rwanda...
Flying from Nairobi to Kigali, the earth below is
silent, while majestic clouds hang above, casting
deep shadows on salmon colored scratches that
scar the surface.
O Lord God, Creator of all that is,
we give thanks and praise.
Kigali is lush with vegetation. Hillsides cluttered
with homes stacked tightly. People and more people
always walking and walking. Where are they going?
O Lord God, Creator of all that is,
we give thanks and praise.
The CRS staff welcomes us. We sit on the porch
with stuccoed walls listening to Rwandan history,
learning about CRS programs concerned with food
distribution, orphans and micro-finance. All is told
in hesitant English tinged with a
French/Rwandan accent.
O Lord God, Creator of all that is,
we give thanks and praise.
Sharing once in a lifetime meals of traditional foods
and eating grilled Tilapia with our hands, hearing
stories that need to be told but never should have
happened.
O Lord God, Creator of all that is,
we give thanks and praise.
We pray and reflect. Each of us inspired and
heartbroken. We attend Mass. (Rwandans politely
clap with raised hands at the elevation!)
O Lord God, Creator of all that is,
we give thanks and praise.