Life and Rwanda

It seems I am phenominal at doing this horribly. The teacher (me) is going to give me (the student) another day, however, to make it right. The original assignment was actually only four days long, and it was I (the student) that changed it to five days. But it was originally the teacher (me) that assigned four days of journalling. Oh my goodness!

Yesterday and today I watched Hotel Rwanda, a movie about the genocide that occured in 1994 in Rwanda between two tribes. The Hutus mass murdered the Tutsis in a number of months, while the UN stood watch, and the west avoided acknowledging the existence of the problem. I cried over and over during this movie. I watched most of it yesterday evening, and then the rest of it today after work. It was very moving. I love people. I love Africans. In some places, they go through so very much. Countries in Africa have often gone through much more than I could ever imagine. The Rwandan genocide was a terrible crisis that was quite unfortunately ignored, and the country's economy is still paying for it. Many people in Rwanda live below the poverty line.

Last night I began to look up children up for sponsorship in Rwanda (which I would want to take on if I had the money to at this point), and noticed children born just months after the terrible genocide. This either means that they are Hutus, or that their mothers survived the crisis. While the former is more likely, the thought of the latter deeply moved me. I wanted so bad to take those children under my wing–––I want so badly to be able to help them.

The movie was a realistic narrative around a man named Paul, a successful owner of a local well-known hotel. He was a Hutu. He used his money, his connections, and his power to rescue around 1,200 refugees from being brutally murdered. He stayed with his fellow Rwandans even after he could have escaped for certain freedom, because he could not have lived with the blood of those refugees on his hands. He is still alive today, as well as his Tutsi wife and children, to tell the story. He is now one of my heros.

But the movie is over, and while I am aware of many problems in the world, I have to remind myself that I can't actually save the entire world, and that I am not responsible to do it on my own. In the Lord's timing, I will help–––I will be of service to those who need me. In the Lord's timing, I will do my best to complete his will on earth. Praise God.

Alas, I must depart from this place. I must go and complete my other studies. Until next time, remember the Africans.


Rachel A. Kennedy