17 years

A Hutu man who did not support the genocide had been imprisoned in the concentration camp, starved and attacked with machetes. He managed to survive after he was freed and was placed in the care of the Red Cross, Rwanda, 1994.

Today marks the 17th anniversary of Rwanda's darkest period in history. April 7, 1994, began 3 months of the gravest atrocities that humans could commit against humans, all in the name of political power and ethnic control. Today, Rwanda remembers so that they will never forget. This is a painful time for all Rwandans, as this month brings back to life memories and faces of loved ones, and stories of survival. Everyone has a story. Rwanda will spend this week in mourning and in remembrance, in prayer for their loved ones and for their government, and in hope for continued reconciliation and abounding forgiveness and peace.


In 1994 TIME photographer James Nachtwey witnessed the devastating effects of the Rwandan genocide. On the 17-year anniversary, the photographer looks back on the tragedy.

In his words...



Humans make war, and we make peace. We make love, and we make hatred – hatred and fear. Those two are the killers. Orchestrate hatred and fear, and humans make genocide. European colonialists used fear and hatred to cut an incision deep into Rwanda to divide and conquer. It was never allowed to heal and became the subtext for society long after the white rulers made their exit. In 1994, tribal enmity between Hutus and Tutsis was politically manipulated to a state of critical mass. Between 500,000 and 1 million people were slaughtered in the span of three months using farm implements as weapons. The killing by the Hutu interahamwe was committed face-to-face, neighbor-against-neighbor, and sometimes even brother-against-brother.


The number most often heard is 800,000. It’s a big number no matter what it’s applied to. Trying to imagine 800,000 people with their heads bashed in by rocks and clubs, impaled on spears, hacked to death with hoes and machetes – in just three months – stuns the mind, and we struggle to wring meaning out of words like “biblical” or “apocalyptic.”

Instead of sending more troops to prevent bloodshed as the West had in Bosnia, the United Nations Peacekeeping Force stepped aside. Because of the disastrous military operation in Somalia, our own political leaders made a conscious decision not to use the one word that could even begin to have meaning: genocide. They understood that the obligation to intervene was implicit in the language. As the world turned its back, the genocide happened in front of its eyes. Later, public apologies were made, something rare for politicians, but the gesture did not bring back the life of a single Rwandan.

Later, when the Hutu army and militias fled into Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) to escape the advancing Tutsi forces, more than 1 million people crossed the frontier in a single day. They set up makeshift shelters on rocky, volcanic earth, where it was impossible to find clean water, dig latrines or bury the dead. Within days a cholera epidemic swept through the camps. Tens of thousands died within a few weeks. Mass burials were carried out using bulldozers. Untold numbers of children were orphaned and abandoned. International relief agencies streamed into Goma to try to stem the tide of disease.

Those responsible for the genocide concealed themselves within the mass of civilians inside the camps. Relief organizations were in a dilemma. Because they could not distinguish who was a killer from who was a human shield, they were obliged to treat everyone. Ironically, the international community that had walked away from its responsibilities during the genocide was now forced to come to the rescue of those who had committed the atrocities.


All this happened in the same time frame in which Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa, as if by some infernal metaphysics the best humanity had to offer would be offset by the worst imaginable. It was our world then, and it’s our world now. We have examples from both ends of the spectrum of human aspirations. Will we take heed from the lessons taught by our own history? If we don’t, who will?


James Nachtwey is a TIME contract photographer, documenting wars, conflicts and critical social issues. On his most recent assignment, Nachtwey was one of the first photographers on the ground in northern Japan covering the devastating effects of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Nachtwey was also embedded with a United Stated Medevac unit in southern Afghanistan, published in January 2011.

came across this great editorial in the Boston Globe...

Libya is not ‘another Rwanda’



The disciplined Tutsi rebel force led by Paul Kagame (left) in 1994 in Rwanda differs greatly from the ragtag opposition in Libya today.


Stephen Kinzer / Apr 1, 2011 12:39 AM

ONE OF THE most effective arguments in favor of American intervention in Libya is that it is necessary to prevent “another Rwanda.’’ But the situation in Libya has nothing in common with what happened in Rwanda. Repeat: nothing in common.


The insurgency in Rwanda was an effort by members of an exiled communal group, the Tutsi, to make an “armed return’’ to a country from which the Hutu majority had expelled it. Unlike the ragtag bands of Libyans the West amorphously describes as “rebels,’’ the Tutsi army was one of the most disciplined insurgent forces ever seen in Africa. It had a clear leadership, headed by the visionary Paul Kagame, who today is president of Rwanda.


Kagame was a well-known figure who was in constant contact with United Nations officers and foreign leaders. Many came to admire him, and few feared what might happen in Rwanda if he took power. In Libya, it is impossible to predict what kind of a regime, if any, might emerge to replace the current tyranny. The possibility that Libya will become another Somalia, fragmented among its 140 tribes and a base for crime and terror, is vividly real.


Regimes that seize power by force reflect the insurgencies from which they spring. A strong, unified, and clearly focused rebel movement, like the one that took over Rwanda in 1994, is likely to run that kind of a government. A fractured, leaderless one cannot be expected to do so.


In the months before the Rwandan genocide, and as it was unfolding in the spring of 1994, no one expected or asked the United States to intervene by arming the insurgents or bombing government positions. All that was necessary was for the UN to reinforce its peacekeeping presence on the ground. The UN commander, General Romeo Dallaire, literally drove himself mad with frantic appeals to New York for reinforcements. He believed that just a few thousand peacekeepers could end the killing.


This was because the killing was not, as the West was led to believe, a spontaneous and uncontrollable spasm of “tribal violence,’’ but a calculated effort by a handful of Hutu politicians who saw it as their best hope to keep power. Robust policing by blue-uniformed soldiers would probably have stopped it. Such policing would have no effect in Libya, where there is no UN force on the ground and no one has a clear idea of who the “rebels’’ really are.


When the Rwandan genocide began, the ruling clique had been in power for less than 24 hours — not 42 years, like the current Libyan regime. General Dallaire was undoubtedly correct to believe that it would have been easily intimidated by a show of force. Staring down Moammar Khadafy will not be that easy.


Another key difference between Rwanda and Libya is that Rwanda was a wretchedly poor country with no resources. No one who intervened there could be accused of wanting to loot or pillage. Libya — surprise! — is rich in energy resources the world covets. No big power ever makes policy decisions about the Middle East without considering the oil-and-gas factor. Some, like Britain and the United States, want access to Libya’s resources, while others, like Russia, live off oil and gas exports and support intervention in the hope that it will throw the country into chaos and thereby remove a competitor from the market.


Preventing humanitarian disaster is a praiseworthy goal, but there is every chance that if Libya is engulfed in civil war, more people will suffer and die in coming years than Khadafy would have killed in reasserting control over his country. Nor is it reasonable to believe that if Western power helps install a new Libyan regime, that regime will be pro-Western.


Military interventions always end badly. They may be justified on rare occasions when the result of not intervening would be even worse than the result of intervening. Never, though, should the United States or any big power use force to change the course of events in another country and presume that things will work out well. The real winner in Libya may turn out to be Al Qaeda, which profits whenever chaos engulfs a Muslim country.


There may be urgent situations that force the United States to wage war. Libya may even be one of them. Americans should be told frankly, however, that war — not a “kinetic military action’’ — is what we are waging. Perhaps we, and our representatives in Congress, don’t want to hear this truth. Far easier to reach back into history for a parallel like the Rwandan genocide, which is as heart-rending as it is irrelevant. Libya is not Rwanda. In fact, one of the most daunting realities of this war is that Libya is Libya.


Stephen Kinzer teaches international relations at Boston University and is the author of “A Thousand Hills: Rwanda’s Rebirth and the Man Who Dreamed It.’’

Powerful Love

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may STRENGTHEN

you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so

that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I

pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have POWER,

together with all the saints, to grasp how WIDE and LONG and HIGH and DEEP

is the LOVE of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-

that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY MORE than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

~Ephesians 3:16-21

A Map of the World

A Map of the World”

by Ted Kooser

One of the ancient maps of the world
is heart-shaped, carefully drawn
and once washed with bright colors,
though the colors have faded
as you might expect feelings to fade
from a fragile old heart, the brown map
of a life. But feeling is indelible,
and longing infinite, a starburst compass
pointing in all the directions
two lovers might go, a fresh breeze
swelling their sails, the future uncharted,
still far from the edge
where the sea pours into the stars.

The Christmas Hippo (Ethan Adventures)

Note: I tried to post this on Saturday, but Blogger has been really messed up lately, and hasn't let me upload images in a while. I think the problem has been fixed though, but to make matters worse, I lost the USB with ALL of the pictures of Ethan's trip on it. Ouch. Not a fun weekend.

Hungry, Hungry Hippo, right outside OUR tent!

Christmas Barbecue dinner

If we couldn't be home, dining on turkey and mashed potatoes, and Grandma's big Christmas Eve spread, this dinner was the next best thing. We were happily exhausted from our safari, and gathered back at camp for a big barbecue meal of roasted goat, chicken, grilled veggies, and all the fixins.' The Canadian reindeer joined us. :) Before too long, Mikela (the palliative care doctor and mother of six), and her son Ruben started scheming up a way for all the guys to chase after the random warthogs in camp, mount them, and put the reindeer antlers on the warthogs. Ethan, Greg, and Joe took to this plan with delightment, but wanted to wait a little while, and really get a plan going. (or get their nerve up.) The girls just wanted them to go ahead and do it, so we could snap a picture and go to bed. Bets were made, and prayers were said. Us ladies were gung-ho at the idea (probably because it didn't involve us,), but the boys kept delaying.

Just as we were all sitting around the table, discussing our plan, and laughing at the day's events, a massive hippo comes walking up out of the bushes, and walks right behind our table! He was about 5 feet away from us! The owner had warned us earlier that sometimes stray hippos roam into camp, because they've had a fight with another hippo down by the water, and they've been excommunicated from their hippos family. (we could tell that was the case with this one, from the gash marks on its skin.) It's sad, but true! Anyway, we honestly didn't expect for it to happen when we were there, especially when we were right in the middle of eating our Christmas dinner! I think all of us were shell-shocked at first, and it didn't really hit us that it was a hippo! I think I yelled, why don't you put the antlers on that! Then it hit us, whoa! It's a HIPPO! Immediately the whole place got quiet, and the owner motioned for people to stay calm and don't take pictures because the flash freaks it out. So, after a few moments of astonishment, we started walking gingerly towards the hippo, as it roamed through our camp! We made sure to stay a good distance away, but we were in awe, and sooo curious to get a better look! Ethan was the bravest (or dumbest; however you wanna look at it,) and snapped this great pic of the hippo walking right in front of our tent! It was just so surreal, and actually very sobering to witness this massive creature, weighing like up to 3 tons, so near to us. Hippos are one of the most aggressive animals, and most dangerous in Africa, and they can easily outrun a human being. It was pretty awesome seeing this creature up close!

As the evening progressed, we got used to the hippo, and just went about our business; I walked right past it going to brush my teeth for bed. Then, I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, needing to find the outhouse. I looked over and Ethan's bed was empty, but I definitely heard the guys outside acting crazy. I started to step out of my tent, then heard Heather say, there's the hippo! Without my glasses on, I couldn't tell. But I soon realized the hippo was standing right in front of my tent! So I hurried and zipped it back up, and decided to wait it out. (The owner told us that a month ago, two hippos got in a fight and tore down a tent with a couple inside! They escaped unharmed, but pretty shaken up!) So I just laid still in my bed, and didn't move; hoping it would go away. Every 10 minutes or so, I would creep up and unzip a few inches of the tent, and still see it's massive body close by. Nope. Back in bed. Guess I was going to have to hold it. Finally, he walked to the next tent, and I made a careful dash/fast walk to the outhouse. That's when Heather and I saw Greg, Joe, and Ethan acting a fool. They had finally gotten up the nerve to place the antlers on the warthog, but the hippo had chased off all the warthogs, so the boys were just roaming around in the dark....Joe with a long piece of French bread, Ethan holding the antlers, and Greg with the camera. They kept having to dodge the hippo. After another half hour of watching this circus play out in front of us, we coaxed our beloved boys safely back into their tents, so they could live to see another Christmas Day. This was truly one Christmas I will never forget. :)

Bisoke

Last weekend I climbed a volcano! (No, it wasn't active. But there's still an active one I would love to climb in Congo, if they ever drop their visa price down again.) I headed up to the Virunga Mountain Range, with Clay, Mark and Wes, and we woke up at 5am, in order to be at Volcanoes Park Headquarters at 7:00. Edward was our guide, and we drove to the base of Bisoke. Bisoke is one of many peaks in the Virungas, and it actually straddles Rwanda and the DRC border. But we get to climb it, because the summit is in Rwanda! Bisoke is 12,200 feet tall, and has the largest crater lake of all the volcanos. Sadly, we didn't get to see the crater lake, because it was shrouded in fog when we finally made it up. Dian Fossey's grave was a short distance away from where we began our hike; but the weather conditions and time weren't on our side, so we didn't venture off to see it. (Dian Fossey was the American zoologist who studied the mountain gorillas here for almost 20 years before she was murdered. The movie, Gorillas in the Mist, is about Fossey's work.)

 Rwanda usually has pretty great weather, but we must have picked the absolute WORST outdoor activity day of the year! We ended up climbing in freezing cold rain, and a nasty wind chill that crept up on us. We sunk KNEE-DEEP in mud the whole way up and down. And Bisoke has NO switchbacks! They don't believe in them. So straight up we went! We looked like a complete disaster when we finally descended. Covered in mud from head to toe. I can honestly say I have never before been that muddy. The whole trek took us about 7 hours, and I think if we hadn't have been having so much fun, we would have been miserable! :) It was that kind of day! But once we realized there was no turning back, we just embraced the mud, and got going! I'm proud to say I left all those boys behind and made it up a half hour before the rest of them. :) Afterwards, we came back to the B2R house, made a big pot of cafeteria-style spaghetti, and slept like babies.   

The sign at the summit. Seriously, who's gonna attempt to swim in a volcano lake??

A view of Bisoke from Musanze town

The crater lake we were supposed to see on the top; but the fog blocked our view.

Hikers in the Mist

Dan and Frances live in Musanze, and they joined us for the hike, along with two other Koreans from Kigali.

Our guard. His gun is just in case we spotted gorillas, buffalo, or Congolese rebels. That day, we only spotted buffalos. Dang it.

We love mud.

The Gift of Hearing

This is little Alec's reaction, after he heard a SOUND for the first time in his life. PRICELESS! (That's 2006 American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks, in the background!)

I was sooo privileged this week to be able to help my friend Anna with a Bridge 2 Rwanda project to bring over 2,250 hearing aids to people in need! It was AMAZING! To witness a child hear for the first time; use one of their 5 senses for the FIRST time...I can't explain how AMAZING it was. Their faces shone so bright! People walked for hours to come get hearing aids. Watching the wife speak to her husband, and seeing him so overjoyed, he leapt in her arms, and began crying. There was joy, laughter, tears. These kids, wives, mothers, fathers, grandfathers all will walk home and hear the thunder roar, hear the motos sputter, hear the children playing with the tires and laughing as they kick the ball on the side of the road. They will hear their loved ones call out their name. They will finally begin to learn how to talk and say their names! He who has ears, let them hear! I pray we never take for granted this totally awesome and wonderful gift from God. Stop and LISTEN today....to the birds, the leaves, that person who's been trying to talk to you for weeks; call someone and LISTEN to them! What a great gift these Rwandans now get to experience! God is good!

This event was organized by my friends at Bridge 2 Rwanda, and sponsored by Starkey Hearing Foundation in the U.S. Starkey representatives were there, and they brought along some familiar faces to volunteer....NFL players Larry Fitzgerald, Adrian Peterson, Vernon Davis, Santonio Holmes, and Roy Williams came with the organization PROS for Africa to help out! Also, Jordin Sparks, the 2006 American Idol winner was helping fit the molds! We all pitched in and helped with cleaning ears (gross!)...flushing them out continuously, scraping wax out (yuck!), fitting ears with molds, fitting the hearing aids, and testing for quality, and finally, there was counseling on how to properly use the hearing aids. A busy, busy, wonderful week!

Here is an article that Anna wrote about the project that was published in the Rwandan Newspaper which explains it a little more....

"Over 2,000 people will receive the gift of hearing next week through the efforts of Starkey Hearing Foundation, an American-based charity that donates hearing aids in developing countries around the world.

Although Starkey has contributed over 60,000 hearing aids in approximately 15 African countries in past years, this is the first major gift to Rwanda.

Starkey Foundation was recruited to Rwanda through the request of the Minister of Education, Dr. Charles Murigande. He reached out to Starkey in February 2010 and encouraged them to extend their humanitarian actions to Rwanda.

With no avenue for purchasing hearing aids in Rwanda, this donation is of immense benefit and value to the hearing impaired community. The total number of individuals with hearing loss who will receive hearing aids is approximately 2,250 people from all over Rwanda, with over half of that number being children who suffer from hearing impairment.

The recipients of the hearing aids were gathered over the last few months through Rwanda’s schools for deaf children, local hospitals, faith-based communities and other organizations serving individuals with hearing loss.

Each person registered to receive the aids has previously been fit for custom-made ear-moulds, which will attach to the hearing devices they will receive next week. Starkey Foundation will donate two hearing aids to each person, totalling a donation of over 4500 hearing aids to Rwanda.

The President and Founder of Starkey, along with a team of hearing professionals, will be visiting Rwanda March 21-25 to fit each individual patient according to their degree of hearing loss. In conjunction with the Starkey Team, another US non-profit called PROS for Africa will be hosting a group of NFL (National Football League) professional American football players to volunteer with the hearing aid project. Many well-known professional athletes will be visiting Rwanda for the first time through this mission.

Several local organizations have also been instrumental in coordinating this substantial project, including Bridge2Rwanda, Liliane Foundation, and Hope International. MTN contributed by donating SMS messages to inform the recipients and other essentials to help with the distribution. Participating hospitals included King Faisal Hospital, CHUK, Butare Hospital, Ruhengeri Hospital and PIH Rwinkwavu Hospital, in which they assessed and fit patients for the custom-made ear-moulds.

The distribution events will take place in Ruhengeri on March 21-22 and in Kigali on March 23-25. Starkey Hearing Foundation plans to return to Rwanda on an annual basis to distribute hearing aids and continue to give the gift of hearing to Rwandans with hearing loss."

Anna, cleaning ears

This man, John, was estatic when he received his molds. He leapt into his wife's arms, and started crying. Then he hugged all of us, and put his hands together in prayer. It was a beautiful sight.

Anna and John