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| Buckets waiting to be filled for bathing |
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| Lunch time for Zamah, Jackline and Brenna in bed! |
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| Sweet Meeka enjoying a tree tomato |
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| 20,000 liter tank in Bitonga Village |
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| Locals in Bitonga |
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| The floor of the tank |
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| crops |
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| Grass mats on the outside |
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| Sam and Didas inside the tank |
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| cementing the inside of the tank |
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| Kazungu, the village builder |
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| The ladies weeding their beans |
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| Walking to lunch with the builders |
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| Village Lunch with the builders |
The boy who works at the shop across the street from my room is always eagerly waving and smiling at me, sometimes the second I step out of my door in the morning to use the bathroom; he’s there, energetically waving to me, luckily he’s sweet and very kind. When I walked into the shop last week he greeted me with, “You’re going to miss me here.” Of course I busted out laughing and said, “Am I? Where are you going?” He informed me that he is a psychologist, (which shocked me, I would have guessed him to be no more than 16!) and he needs to return to his homeland of Rwanda for Commemoration week. It’s the week every year that the Rwandan Government and the genocide survivors dedicate to the memory of all their lost loved ones. Commemoration week also serves to bring awareness to genocides that happen all over the world, even today. I’m doing my part by copying the e-mail I (at the very end of this e-mail) that I sent out in 2013 after my friend Carly and I visited the incredible Genocide Museum and some of the many churches around Kigali where hundreds of people were slaughtered by their own neighbors and families. Governments turn people against one another and brutality and violence take over out of fear. Whether they declare Jews, Tutsi’s or Muslims to be exterminated it is our responsibility as educated and compassionate beings to stop it. It is a terrible, tragedy and can only be stopped by spreading knowledge and love.
To understand others, is to be knowledgeable
To understand yourself, is to be wise
To conquer others, is to have strength
To conquer yourself, is to be strong
To know when you have enough is to be rich
To go forward with strength, is to have ambition
To not lose your place, is to last long
To die and not be forgotten, that is true long life
From The Tao TeChing; In honor and in loving memory of a dear friend, Celo. Peace and Healing to all of his friends and family in Minnesota and in Lyon, France.
RIP Celo, your wildly, wicked soul is free at last. You will never be forgotten.
Love,
Bonnie
Carpe Diem!
Resilient Uganda
P.O. Box 7
Kisoro Uganda AFRICA
Genocide is usually the act of a government and its collaborators to destroy a part of the population under its control.
Genocide is never spontaneous. It is an intentional act of multiple murders, aimed at destroying the presence of the victim group.
Genocide is never spontaneous. It is an intentional act of multiple murders, aimed at destroying the presence of the victim group.
"if you must remember, remember this...
The nazis did not kill six million jews...
nor the Intrehamwe kill a million Tutsis,
they killed one and then another, then another...
Genocide is not a single act of murder, it is millions of acts of murder."
Stephen D. Smith
The nazis did not kill six million jews...
nor the Intrehamwe kill a million Tutsis,
they killed one and then another, then another...
Genocide is not a single act of murder, it is millions of acts of murder."
Stephen D. Smith
This beautiful country I've been raving about, full of agriculture, rolling hills and so many incredibly friendly and helpful people has lived in peace amongst themselves for centuries. Rwanda did not choose to be colonized. The Germans came, and then the Belgians, the segregation and fighting came with them. The Belgians actually created the different classes of Rwandans beginning with this simple guideline: If you had more than ten head of cattle, you were a Tutsi, which accounted for about 15% of the population. If you had less than ten head of cattle, you were a Hutu, whom which accounted for about 84% of the population. The remaining 1% wereTwa, the origianl inhabitants of Rwanda. Along with this general rule they also attached distinctive physical features with each group, such as the size of the nose and the shape of the face. One guide we had at the Kings Palace told us how ridiculous this was by explaining you could also change classes from Tutsi to Hutu, depending on your job, or how many head of cattle you acquired. Completely absurd!
In 1932 The Belgians introduced identity cards, which legally stated which ethnic class you belonged to. Over 700,000 Tutsis were exiled from Rwanda from 1959-1973 as a result of ethnic cleansing encouraged by the Belgian Colonists. Massacres of Tutsis were carried out in Oct. 1990, Jan. 1991, Feb. 1991, March 1992, August 1992, Jan. 1993, March 1993 and February of 1994. Despite knowing about these atrocities the French Government continued support of President Habyrimana and his regime. Habyrimana created what was known as the "Interhamwe" a flamboyant and dangerous Hutu youth militia that gained enormous popularity. Advocating Hutu power and Hutuness at the expense of Tutsi lives.
By 1990 the genocidal ideology of Hutu power had been perfected with propaganda, the most important tool to persuade and compel the majority of the population as to why they should see their neighbors, even their own families as enemies and distrust them. They mostly used "hate radio" to promote the ideas of Hutu power. The media, once again, an ever-powerful source to brainwash the masses while the masses themselves are often not even aware they are being brainwashed. Hint: don't believe everything you hear on t.v., even the “news” channel. turn off the television…you ARE being brainwashed!!
April 1994~
Just two months before I graduated from High School, Rwanda, a country the size of Maryland, or the size of Haiti was at Civil War. The rest of the world had chosen to ignore the warning signs of the Tutsi Genocide and intense waves of persecution from 1990. While I was attending prom, signing up to join the Army, attending parties on the week-ends and living a care-free existence, the Rwandans were turning against one another. There was a cease fire negotiation between Habyarimina and the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) in July of 1992. They signed the "Arusha Peace Accords". Rwanda was to have a transitional government leading to a Democratically elected government. French troops were to leave, and make way for UNAMIR (United Nations), RPF and The Rwandan Army were intended to integrate, demobilize and disarm. However, Habyarimana and his allies did not want the Arusha accords to work. The transitional governement was not established. Habyarimnina and his extremist allies saw it as a surrender of the RPF. Meanwhile, the Habyarmina regime entered the largest ever Rwandan arms deal with a French company for $12 million dollars with a loan guaranteed by the French Government. France secretly helped arm and train government forces in Rwanda.
More than one million lives were taken. In just three months. The Presidents plane was shot down and within hours roadblocks were set up, house to house searches were in place. The Tutsis were being hunted, like animals. Tutsis were humiliated, beaten, mutilated, murdered, raped and dumped by the roadside. Clubs, machetes, guns and any blunt tool they could find to inflict as much pain as possible on their victims. They turned neighbors on neighbors, friends on friends, even families on families. Tutsis fled to churches and schools to congregate and hope for safetly in numbers. 100,000 people were brutally murdered inside the walls of the Nyamat church, where women were being raped and killed. 2,000 congregants took shelter at Nyange church, where Father Seromba gave the order to bulldoze the church. He murdered his own congregation in his own church, in return for his own life. Death was not the only outcome. Tens of thousands of people had been tortured, mutilated and raped. Tens of thousands more suffered machete cuts, bullet wounds, infections and starvation. There was lawlessness, looting and chaos. The infrastructure had been destroyed, the ability to govern dismantled. Homes had been demolished, belongings stolen. There were over 300,000 orphans and over 85,000 children who were now the heads of their household with younger siblings and/or relatives to care for. There were thousands of widows. Many had been the victims of rape and sexual abuse or had seen their own children murdered. The streets were littered with corpses. Dogs were eating the rotting corpses of their owners. The country smelled of the stench of death. Regugee camps in neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and The Congo held over two million people. An estimated two-thirds of the population of Rwanda was displaced.
Where does a nation go from here?
How does he even begin to pick himself and recover?
Unfortunately, this is not the first genocide to take place in the world. Over one million were killed in Armania from 1915-1918. Namibia from 1904-1905, where the Germans felt "the easiest fix was total inialation of the Herero people". Of course there’s the Holocaust of WWII, where six million humans were slaughtered in six years. Then there's Cambodia from 1975-1979 where two million were killed and The Balkans 200,000 dead. And the list goes on...currently, TODAY there are people fearing genocide.
April 1994~
Just two months before I graduated from High School, Rwanda, a country the size of Maryland, or the size of Haiti was at Civil War. The rest of the world had chosen to ignore the warning signs of the Tutsi Genocide and intense waves of persecution from 1990. While I was attending prom, signing up to join the Army, attending parties on the week-ends and living a care-free existence, the Rwandans were turning against one another. There was a cease fire negotiation between Habyarimina and the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) in July of 1992. They signed the "Arusha Peace Accords". Rwanda was to have a transitional government leading to a Democratically elected government. French troops were to leave, and make way for UNAMIR (United Nations), RPF and The Rwandan Army were intended to integrate, demobilize and disarm. However, Habyarimana and his allies did not want the Arusha accords to work. The transitional governement was not established. Habyarimnina and his extremist allies saw it as a surrender of the RPF. Meanwhile, the Habyarmina regime entered the largest ever Rwandan arms deal with a French company for $12 million dollars with a loan guaranteed by the French Government. France secretly helped arm and train government forces in Rwanda.
More than one million lives were taken. In just three months. The Presidents plane was shot down and within hours roadblocks were set up, house to house searches were in place. The Tutsis were being hunted, like animals. Tutsis were humiliated, beaten, mutilated, murdered, raped and dumped by the roadside. Clubs, machetes, guns and any blunt tool they could find to inflict as much pain as possible on their victims. They turned neighbors on neighbors, friends on friends, even families on families. Tutsis fled to churches and schools to congregate and hope for safetly in numbers. 100,000 people were brutally murdered inside the walls of the Nyamat church, where women were being raped and killed. 2,000 congregants took shelter at Nyange church, where Father Seromba gave the order to bulldoze the church. He murdered his own congregation in his own church, in return for his own life. Death was not the only outcome. Tens of thousands of people had been tortured, mutilated and raped. Tens of thousands more suffered machete cuts, bullet wounds, infections and starvation. There was lawlessness, looting and chaos. The infrastructure had been destroyed, the ability to govern dismantled. Homes had been demolished, belongings stolen. There were over 300,000 orphans and over 85,000 children who were now the heads of their household with younger siblings and/or relatives to care for. There were thousands of widows. Many had been the victims of rape and sexual abuse or had seen their own children murdered. The streets were littered with corpses. Dogs were eating the rotting corpses of their owners. The country smelled of the stench of death. Regugee camps in neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and The Congo held over two million people. An estimated two-thirds of the population of Rwanda was displaced.
Where does a nation go from here?
How does he even begin to pick himself and recover?
Unfortunately, this is not the first genocide to take place in the world. Over one million were killed in Armania from 1915-1918. Namibia from 1904-1905, where the Germans felt "the easiest fix was total inialation of the Herero people". Of course there’s the Holocaust of WWII, where six million humans were slaughtered in six years. Then there's Cambodia from 1975-1979 where two million were killed and The Balkans 200,000 dead. And the list goes on...currently, TODAY there are people fearing genocide.
Genocide is likely to occur again.
Learning about it is the first step to understanding it.
Understanding it is imperative to respond to it.
Responding to it is essential to save lives,
Otherwise "Never again" will remain
"again and again...!"
Learning about it is the first step to understanding it.
Understanding it is imperative to respond to it.
Responding to it is essential to save lives,
Otherwise "Never again" will remain
"again and again...!"
Despite all this, all the horror these people have seen. Today you find a nation of hills, mountains, forest and lakes, laughing children, markets of busy people, drummers, dancers, artists and craftsmen. Eight million people in 10,169 sq. miles/26,338 sq. kilometers.
8 million people living peacefully and happily together. We have visited most corners of this small country. We visited three of the four boarders. In the West we visited the boarder to The Democratic republic of Congo, where we just looked across to war-torn Congo. Watching the people walk back and forth to work or home, imagining the unrest and fear that those people are living in. Beautiful Lake Kivu, in the west where we swam with locals, visited the natural hot springs where the locals bathe. Some of the pools were so hot they actually cooked food in them. Only one shallow pool was actually cool enough for us to sit in and splash warm water on ourselves. We were quite a spectacle in our bikinis, while the local women wore their clothes or a sarong wrapped around them. The men bathe in their underpants. Everyone is friendly and curious. They ask us questions in their local dialect along with broken English, us answering in simple English and hand signals. We are professionals again at miming and charades, just like we were in China! Carly has, of course, befriended every man, woman and child in the country and we leave the hot springs with a trail of friends behind us. When we visited the Rwandan/Tanzanian boarder in the SE corner of the country we saw the beautiful falls of the Akigirariver. Neither the height nor the width is overly impressive, but the volume of water that rages over these falls is very impressive! Of course we stand, staring at the falls remembering and envisioning the bodies that tumbled over the falls, 1-2 per minute during those terrible months in 1994. That evening we walk through the little village at that boarder town and, again, befriend every child in the village. We take photos of them and they squeal with delight when they see their own face on the digital camera screen. Even some of the women come up to us asking for their photo to be taken, they laugh and slap their friends arm when they see their face. On our way out of the village, about thirty adults are gathered around, there's music blaring and it seems like a party. Some of the women are waving us over and yelling "hello mzungu" so we walk up the little hill to say "hello". We stand there, staring at them, they staring at us. "How are you?" "I'm fine, thank you." is out of the way. "What is your name?" is out of the way, it seems that those are the basic English phrases that EVERYONE learns. When you walk down the street, they'll often say it in one continuous phrase..."Hello, I'm fine. What is your name?" Soon the women are gathering coins from each other, they want to buy us a drink! Unfortunately, it's getting dark and we have to get going. There's one little girl, about three years old, in a torn, old nightgown, she has the most beautiful eyes and she's very shy. She takes my hand as we walk, her hand is cold and dirty, I can barely stand to leave her there as we walk away.
I am beginning to see just how difficult saying good-bye is going to be.
We visited two memorial sites yesterday, churches where 5,000 and 10,000 people were slaughtered. The churches are still filled with their clothes and even their bones remain. Caskets filled with human bones, stacks and stacks of human skulls remain with cracks and holes in them from the brutal strikes to the head. Reminders of the tragedy. One guide yesterday told us he was hiding in the forest when the Interhamwe came and killed his entire family, including the thousands in the church. When we asked if he has forgiven these men who are still, today his neighbors, he replied, "I forgive, but I do not forget...we are strong. How else can we be?"
Time is a beautiful thing. So is the human, strong and adaptable.
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| Village life |
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| Beauty in the garden |
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| Sifting Sand |
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| Anson's classmates |
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| Amazing Grace School |
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| Bye Muzungu! |
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