It was difficult for me to measure time while I was in Rwanda. We actually spent less than a week there, but it felt so much longer. There was so much to take in. It is a country that would seem to have reason to suffer from national PTSD, yet it refers to itself as “The Land of A Million Smiles”. How could this have happened? A lot of the credit must be given to the new government that was led by President Paul Kagame. One of the first things that he instituted was to do away with the old identity cards that named the person’s tribal identity – either Hutu or Tutsi. The new identity cards just called them Rwandan. Another program instituted by his government is called Umuganda. The last Saturday of every month is dedicated to cleaning up the country. Once a month people go out into the streets and clean them up. Everyone is required to participate right up to the president. Because of that program Rwanda is acknowledged as the cleanest country in Africa. I saw the effects while I was there.
We visited the national genocide memorial. I appreciated one room that was devoted to genocides that had taken place in other parts of the world. We saw reminders of the 1975 Cambodian genocide, the Stalin inspired genocide in Ukraine and of course the Holocaust. We saw a mass grave where it was estimated that the remains of around 250,000 people were buried. The room that touched me the most deeply was one where there were pictures of young children with brief bios including things like their favourite toys, games and food. At the end was a brief note giving the dates of their deaths and how they had been murdered. The accounts were chilling and made me think of my own beautiful grandchildren back home in Canada. I travelled to Rwanda a second time a few years later to get a picture of a ministry called She’s My Sister that has helped the nation heal from the trauma of the genocide. I will share those details a little later.
AIDS continues to kill too many people in Rwanda. But there are other traumas associated with the disease. Many men have to travel long distances to find work and then they spend long periods of time away from their wives and children. Many come back infected with AIDS which they pass on to their wives. In too many cases these women are judged as guilty of some heinous sin and ostracized by their communities, including their churches. The Bible Society of Rwanda instituted a program called Where Is The Good Samaritan – a program supported by donations from the Canadian Bible Society. Far too many people in Rwanda didn’t understand how the disease was transmitted and thought of it as God’s judgment on sinful people, not realizing that so many of these women were innocent victims and were now being re-victimized. Through this program churches were educated on AIDS and its transmission. The churches were also encouraged to support and love the women and children that were victims of the disease.
I was amazed by the city of Kigali. At the time it was a city of about 750,000 people and I didn’t see one operating traffic light. True, there weren’t many private automobiles in the city, so traffic lights weren’t a necessity. Early one morning we took a short trip outside Kigali and the road was crowded with people carrying large plastic containers on their heads. Where were they going and what were the containers supposed to be carrying? They were on their way to get their water for the day. You can imagine how carefully each cup of water had to be apportioned out. I wonder how much water I waste each day and what I would do if I had to carry each cup of water on my head to get it home. There are so many things we just take for granted here in Canada.
We took one day to do some touristy things. What is more touristy in Africa than a game farm? We visited the Akagera National Park. We were driven in a jeep over some pretty bumpy dirt roads. I got to ride through a herd of zebras. We saw massive water buffalo and in a small lake we saw the most dangerous animal in Africa, the one that kills more people every year than any other. I’m not talking about crocodiles or snakes. It is the hippopotamus. We kept our distance. Baboons walked alongside the roads we travelled. We were told to keep our windows up as baboons, out of curiosity, often jumped through open vehicle windows and you just can’t reason with a half-crazed baboon that can’t get out of your car. As our trip neared its end, we prepared ourselves to go to the ancient city of Cairo. God was continuing to teach me to keep the Son in my eyes.