Loving Life in the Land of a Thousand Hills

Rwanda. The Land of a Thousand Hills. If you've spent any amount of time here, you know why that's the nickname. But it's also a lie, there are at least 1,001 hills. All jokes aside, you are either going uphill or downhill in this country. This makes getting around very interesting whether you choose to go by foot, motorcycle, car, bicycle, or any other mode of transportation. It's very common to see people pushing their bikes up hills when their legs can't do it anymore. Most of the time, these bikes are carrying hundreds of pounds of food, supplies, or just about anything else. Then throw in the fact that some of the roads here consist of solely large stones and getting from point A to point B is anything but simple. It would be so easy for them to complain about the hardships in their lives, but the only thing I've seen on their faces is smiles. The Rwandese are a proud people who love their nation and want to share it with the world. It's an absolutely beautiful thing. And they don't shy away from their history, even when it has been incredibly dark in the recent past. They'll happily engage in conversation with you about anything, but they're even more eager to talk about the Rwandan Genocide that happened in 1994.

Monday morning, we woke up to amazing sun in Kigali and grabbed breakfast. We met our new Rwandan guide, Johnson. In his early 50s, Johnson has seen Rwanda through ups and downs, but his love for his nation has never wavered. He informed us that he was taking us to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, a museum built in remembrance of the victims and atrocities of the Tutsi genocide that doubles as a final resting place for some 250,000 victims of these awful war crimes. He dropped us off and told us to take all the time we needed at the memorial. He also said that once we had completed our visit, we could ask him anything about the genocide.

The memorial was poignant, touching, heartbreaking, and tear-jerking. The raw emotion that the memorial evokes from you is astounding. The outdoor area is organized with deeply symbolic gardens, walls of the names of many victims, and multiple mass graves that are constantly being added to when new remains of unknown victims are found. They want to offer the dignity of a proper burial to these many people that were denied that common decency.

The indoor portion of the memorial starts off with a video featuring three testimonies from survivors. All three were the sole survivors of their respective families and witnessed their families being murdered firsthand. For them, the memorial feels like going home since it's now the only place they can be with their loved ones. Being there makes them whole again.

The next portion involved a detailed outline of the facts and events that led to this massive atrocity. At every point in the story, it was clear that the wheels were in motion long before the genocide happened, and it absolutely could have been prevented. However, people in power in Rwanda and around the world chose to do nothing. Pressure and tensions built and eventually boiled over kicking off the mass murders that claimed over 1,000,000 lives in about a 4-month span in 1994. I implore you do some research into this genocide and try to understand that what happened in Rwanda can happen anywhere, and it's our duty as human beings to ensure this never happens again. The rest of the memorial featured real human skulls from people that were slain in the streets, their clothing, and even weapons like machetes and guns that were used for the murders. The hardest exhibit to face was the children's room which displayed real photos from juvenile victims. The displays said what their favorite sports and foods were, and then said how they were killed. Not even the youngest babies were spared in this disaster.

Propaganda played a massive role in this genocide and even turned neighbor against neighbor. One instance in which this was the case was with our very own guide Johnson. After the memorial, we began to delicately ask him questions. We started off with one simple question that set off his entire story: how old were you when the genocide began? Our guide was 20 years old at the time and enrolled in the military stationed in Uganda trying to fight back into the country to end the genocide. Johnson received news that his best friend and neighbor had murdered his entire family in "an extremely brutal way". The best friend was family to Johnson. He was especially looked after by Johnson's father and treated as if he was his own son. In the end, it made no difference to the hate in his heart and his beliefs of Hutu supremacy. Johnson spoke so openly and freely about this when I believed so many other people would simply choose to not talk at all. He said that talking about the pain is so important for many reasons. It's essential for healing and moving on in our lives. Johnson has moved on and has a wonderful family with 6 kids and a great life. But the reason most important to Johnson? Making sure that no human being ever does this to one another again. "We are all human beings. Never again."

My word of the day for Monday was "eye-opening". I thought I knew about the genocide from what I had seen in Hotel Rwanda, but that didn't even scratch the surface. There was so much more at play that the 2-hour film neglected to share. Plus, Johnson informed me that that entire story is based on a lie, and that Paul Rusesebagina is no hero to the people of Rwanda but rather a man who saw an opportunity for fame and fortune and exploited it for his own gain. It's very important to hear a people's history from the actual people and not Hollywood. But it was so eye-opening in that I realized that these events had been set in motion for almost 100 years before the genocide in 1994. There were so many chances to stop this madness, but people chose to remain on the sidelines and not get involved. I think the lesson I learned most is that we have to take action when we see oppression anywhere. It's not a choice but rather a duty as humans.

Rwanda is such a beautiful place. Not only because of its natural beauty, but also its amazing people. They've shown so much love to us in these past two days alone. I will write an update soon about our fun adventures, but I felt strongly that this story needed to be shared on its own.

Talk soon. Remember to love one another!