Genocide Memorial and first day of work!

        Visiting the Genocide Memorial on Monday was just as tough as I expected. We took a tour of the capital city Kigali on a bus with a few Italian and Australian tourists and Epiphanie’s son Olivier. The Memorial was included in the tour, so beforehand we drove by a couple important/historic places like the oldest house in Rwanda, the mayor’s house, the hotel where Hotel Rwanda was filmed (where we’re still crossing our fingers we’ll get to stay at some point!). We also stopped in the building where ten Belgian soldiers were killed before the Genocide, an event that prompted the UN and other international forces to drop their peacekeeping efforts and move out of the country. The room where it happened had hundreds of bullet holes in the walls. Talk about eerie.

 
        The site where the Memorial was built was on the side of a small hill overlooking Kigali to demonstrate what the victims saw as they fled the city in April 1994. Outside there were beautiful gardens around tombs where hundreds of thousands of people were buried. Inside it was arranged perfectly – the Memorial walked you through the timeline of the Genocide and didn’t leave anything out: the roots of the conflict (Belgians passed out identity cards; those with over 10 cows were Tutsi, the rest were Hutus, sometimes it was just based on your physical features)…the international politics surrounding the situation (apparently the French supplied $12 million worth of arms to the corrupt government)…the ways in which people were killed (one that made my stomach turn – mom don’t read this! – throwing a person in a well and then throwing rocks on top of them until the screams subsided)… how families were uprooted and separated…

 
        The worst for me was the part dedicated to the children. It was very simple compared to the hundreds of pictures, texts, videos, and artifacts around the rest of the Memorial. There were simply a couple dozen large photographs of little children with short descriptions about them that their family members filled in. The descriptions included information like “favorite food, favorite game, personality type, best friend…” and gave you this glimpse into the life of an adorable little boy or girl…and then ended with: “cause of death: hacked down by a machete in his mother’s arms.” I totally lost it.

        It’s unfathomable how millions of ordinary people like you and me can be driven to kill their neighbors. Jessica and I were trying to imagine what could drive a good, hard-working person with a family and friends to commit such atrocities…and the only way we could make sense of it was that it has to come down to fundamental facts: “I am starving, my children are starving and probably will die, but my neighbor has money and food, if I had what he has then my family will survive, and the government says he’s an evil-doer and traitor anyway. So, do I kill him and save my family or sit idle and let my sons and daughters die of starvation?” It reminds me of a quote that my dad found: "A hungry people listens not to reason, not cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayers." I really believe that's a central cause of the Rwandan Genocide.

        The tour-guide tried to cheer us up afterward. We went to an outdoor shopping area where they were selling traditional Rwandan goods like baskets, dolls, paintings, carvings, and jewelry. I behaved and didn’t buy any souvenirs for myself (applause? Thank you). Then we saw the up-and-coming section of Kigali where the wealthy Rwandan businessmen are building their sprawling white-washed mansions complete with pools, pillars, gardens, and guest houses. Of course every city has that kind of district, but it amazed me how these people could build their meccas overlooking a city landscape dominated by mud huts, dirt roads, and other signs of serious poverty.  

        We had our first round of surveys today finally! Jess and I met Epiphanie, her son, and two translators at the YWCA’s headquarters in Gitarama center where six orphans came to be interviewed. Those whom we’re interviewing in Gitarama have “graduated” from ZOE’s Giving Hope Program, meaning that they received assistance, guidance, training, and education from ZOE for three years and are now living almost entirely independently. Some of them still attend support groups organized by ZOE, but for the most part they pay for their own health insurance, education, food, etc for themselves and their siblings (which could mean five other young children). It was incredible how involved they had become in the community and how proud they were of their accomplishments. Although we were focused on their progress since they were orphaned, hints of their traumatizing histories crept into our conversations. For example, one girl’s father was killed by his younger brother during the Genocide. Another boy didn’t know his father and his mother died of “poison,” which in Rwanda essentially means HIV/AIDS. Jessica and I each interviewed three people and it took about four hours total, partially because we were adjusting the survey questions as we went. Tonight we met with Epiphanie and reworded some questions and changed the ordering around so that it will definitely go smoother and quicker these next few weeks.

        Other than that, the highlight of today definitely included persuading our driver to stop at a supermarket so we could buy Canterbury chocolate bars which were heaven in a wrapper. As a lifelong chocoholic, I have been on withdrawal since last Thursday, and it just wasn't going well so I had to give in. The food here is very good and healthy, but it’s starting to get redundant. We literally haven’t gone one meal without eating some combination of rice, beans, fries, bananas, green beans, and these weird things that look and taste like a cross between a kiwi and a tomato (kiwito?). Oh yeah, I spilled tomato sauce all over the table and myself at dinner today. Some of you know I’m a huge klutz, especially with food, but I was doing so well not spilling stuff during meals. Hopefully this won’t become a reoccurring trend like our menu already has :)

        ~Maddie