June 6th

Muraho! This means “hi” in Kinyarwandan! Today was our last full day in the beautiful city of Butare, and we had a packed schedule. We started off the morning with a delicious breakfast at the Emmaus Hostel where we are staying and then convened in a classroom on the property for a lecture led by Hollie. We learned some of the reasons why individuals that are “average” by all standards can participate in something as horrific as genocide. It was a very interesting and thought-provoking lecture (as all of Hollie’s lectures are), and before we knew it, our time had run out, and we were on to the next thing on our daily agenda. 

Two Rwandan natives, Samuel Gatete and Leonald Rurangirwa, who were rescuers during the genocide, came to share their personal experiences with us. 

• ~ A quick background of the genocide in case you're not familiar: colonialism in Rwanda created two main ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi. Hutu made up the majority of the population, accounting for 84% of natives, while Tutsi made up only 15% of the population. Although they were the minority, Tutsi held positions of power and were considered the superior ethnic group. Over the years, Hutu began to resent the Tutsi for this disproportionate division of power and rebelled. Changes in political powers led to discrimination against the Tutsi. Increasing propaganda and hate toward Tutsi divided the country. When the genocide began, Hutu were not allowed to be associated with Tutsi. If Hutu decided to refrain from  participating in the genocide, they were considered the enemy. If they rescued Tutsi, Hutu risked being killed alongside them. ~

As you can see, what Samuel and Leonald did was more than heroic. They put their own lives at risk to do what they knew in their hearts was right, regardless of the threat to their own safety. Leonald has a wife and eight children, one of whom was a Tutsi infant he and his family rescued during the genocide. When asked how he decided to rescue Tutsi instead of kill them he said, “If there were no Hutus like us, there would be no Tutsi left.” Samuel was 33 when the genocide began. At that time he had two children, but today he has eight. When asked how he made the decision to rescue innocent Tutsi, he said, “I can never do evil when I know I can do good.”

Listening to these two mens’ testimonies was incredibly humbling. They told us of different individuals they saved and where those people are now and how absolutely difficult it was to stay alive during the genocide. In closing, they asked us to carry what we’ve learned here with us every single day and to share our experiences with our relatives. According to Samuel, “1) There will be an evil thing and a good thing. 2) Most people choose the evil thing.”

After this life changing session with the Hutu rescuers, we quickly ate lunch and loaded up the bus for an afternoon at the Karamar Ubutwari bwo kubaho Co-op, which is a women’s-led cooperative began by widows of the genocide and wives of the perpetrators. I am continuously amazed by the strength and willingness to forgive exhibited by the people of this country. Forming the cooperative and living in unity was not achieved easily, but the women, with their faith and help of a local pastor, were able to accept one another and live in unity in a world devoid of ethnic division.  

Tomorrow we meet with university students who are members of the Unity and Reconciliation Club at the National University of Rwanda and then head back to Kigali for the remainder of our stay! 

We miss you and can’t wait to share every detail of our experience with you all!! 

~Maggie Fragapane