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this page Newsletters - The International Year of the Family
Rwanda - Ten years after the genocide.
Rwanda, a tiny country in central Africa, featured on all radios and TVs in April 1994 due to the genocide that took place following the plane crash which killed the then presidents of Rwanda and Burundi. For about three months, killings and slaughtering went on unabated. It was only in July 1994, when the Rwandan Patriotic Front took power, that there was the possibility of evaluating the devastation and the desolation of the country: over one million killed and more who fled the country mainly into Congo and Tanzania.
From July 1994, relief and rehabilitation programmes started for the whole country. We wish that the international community had responded three months earlier to stop the killings; but there have been confessions of omissions on the part of UN and other influential countries that had a stake in Rwanda.
What has happened in the last ten years? The current Government tried its best to comfort Rwandese from within and outside the country. Settlement sites were located and built for the returnees and for the survivors of genocide, as a lot of property had been destroyed by the war; children were able to go back to school; the Commission for Peace and Reconciliation was set up. It has played a big role in programmes for repentance and forgiveness.
Churches and para-church organizations also did a lot in the healing and reconciliation processes. But we still have to face sufferings. Most survivors are widows and orphans. Many who were raped are infected with HIV/AIDS. The country still has to deal with a big number of prisoners - about 100,000 often kept in unsuitable buildings. Trying the prisoners and feeding them are challenges to the Government. The Government has come up with GACACA* courts to address the trial of so many prisoners. There are problems arising from differing understanding between the survivors and the released prisoners' families in some areas.
Poverty is a challenge to the Government, especially when it has to deal with vulnerable people (widows, orphans, AIDS victims) but there is motivation and strength in developing technology being taken even to remote areas.
HIV/AIDS is a problem to the Rwandan in general, as a lot of education is still needed for change of behaviour. There is need for improvement of the health system in general, as the cost of medical services has been growing higher and higher. Having political refugees is another challenge to the country, especially when we want all Rwandese to enjoy the same rights wherever they are.
In any case, there is hope. Rwandans together with the international community are saying: “Never again to genocide”. Many Rwandans have returned to their homeland. We experience peace and security within the country. We have a growing number of young graduates who are taking over from those we lost in 1994. We also have catching-up schools for those children who were not able to start primary school as they were in the forest in the Congo.
We hope that we shall be more responsible about HIV/AIDS and stop its spread; we hope that we shall
develop our agriculture in order to feed our people; we hope that many Rwandese families will have
family planning; we hope that we shall enjoy more democracy as the current Government was democratically
elected. And we are looking forward for a revival. Rallies, missions, intercessions take place at
different areas and different times, and our Lord will respond mercifully to our prayers.
* Traditional, popular courts designed to provide village justice with restitution through community service.
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