Community Service in Rwanda
Jan 5, 2010 | HUYE, RWANDA — We drive to our first community service project. Children and adults watch our huge caravan of vehicles along the way. Kids wave to us and yell Muzungu – a term that has come to mean “white person” but is exclaimed affectionately by these children. We arrive at the village in the Huye district and quickly greeted by a group of curious children. They are cautiously interested in us and our cameras. The children are dressed in clothes worn with many uses and dirt marks their bodies and faces. It is evident that they don’t have many visitors – at least not these types of visitors. Our goal for the day is to help clear some land with hoes, in order to make flat ground, upon which homes can be built. It’s quite the sight; to see large groups of native people working together with these outsiders. Clearly our group doesn’t really know how to do this sort of work, but the act alone speaks levels. Solidarity. I must admit that I film while others do the work. I would like nothing more than to work alongside these people, but I think it’s important to share this place and these events with the world. The people here really seem to get a kick out of us. At one point I flip the camera LCD screen so that people can see themselves. The people are amazed by their own reflection and quickly this attracts more and more people to my camera. Mostly women, all laughing at their image; one that they probably don’t see very often. Certainly they are not as used to their reflections as we are of our own. These women are so beautiful. Their faces filled with life. Many work while they take care of their babies; some even work with babies strapped to their back. Imagine such a sight in the U.S.?! This is a truly foreign level of work. I go back to the children and am touched by one in particular, who is probably about 13 years old. He follows me around and we talk for a bit. He asks me what my white ONE bracelet is and I try to explain that it represents a campaign to end poverty and to help people around the world. He asks me for the bracelet and I eagerly give it to him. He is so happy with his new gift, and I feel so fortunate to share this moment with him. For the rest of the day, my friend follows me around. In his beautiful language, he tells me that...
Visiting the Murambi Genocide Memorial
Jan 6, 2010 | MURAMBI, RWANDA — The genocide memorial is set atop a magnificent hill – the most incredible landscape you can imagine. A panoramic view of rolling hills surrounds the memorial. It takes my breath away. And yet, such tragedy has occurred in this place. A Rwandan friend of mine, points in the direction of another hill, telling me that the perpetrators of the genocide released prisoners there, and these prisoners assaulted the old school where this memorial now sits. Fifty thousand people were killed, where I now stand. Fifty thousand. Our group of visitors is numbered at about 100. Multiple our group by 500. Still, that number is hard to imagine. Fifty thousand people were slaughtered by unimaginable brutality. The memorial is building after building of the remains of some of the victims, preserved in time. Their facial expressions and final positions before being killed are displayed for the world to see. Horror struck faces, knees bent in prayer, hands folded in pleas, children lay quiet, babies lay in their mother’s arms. I can’t bear to enter each building. The sight of these terrors and the smell of these chemicals that freeze time, burn my eyes and nostrils. I find myself wanting to express emotion; wanting to cry, or scream, or just turn away in horror. Instead I walk from building to building, silent with everyone else in my group. Maybe there is no emotion that can truly capture how I feel. Silence has a way of filling in that unknown territory. Or maybe it is just a defense mechanism that protects me from truly accepting what I am experiencing. Suddenly this genocide that I have read so much about – the one million people who were killed in one hundred days – becomes real to me. How could this have happened? How could the world have allowed it to happen? I’m terrified by what this memorial shows – the dark side of humanity. We are all capable of these acts and that is what scares me the most. Never again. Never again, we say. But it does happen again, and again, and again. What will it take to end these acts before they start? What are the root causes? How can we stop these memorials from being...
Photos from Rwanda
Check out my set of photos from Rwanda: //www.flickr.com/photos/rwandayouthforum/sets/72157623073166045/ This is just a sampling of the landscape, the people, and the events, since I was filming video for most of the trip! Check out the rest of the photo stream for pics from other participants. And I’ll keep you posted on the...
Back in the U.S.
Here I am back in the U.S. of A. It has been such an amazing journey to Rwanda and back. Each day was jam-packed and now I hope to sift through all of the experiences and share them with you. Still adjusting to the jet lag and trying to shake this cold I’ve had for a couple of weeks. It certainly is a shock to be back in 29 degree, snow-covered streets after being surrounded by 75 degree, green-covered hills. Even more of a shock is the culture though. Already the excess is making me uncomfortable; the television, the stores, the cars, the food, the ‘stuff”. I was able to journal a bit while in Rwanda and so although I was unable to share much “live” from Rwanda – there is still so much to report on. I remember while being there, wanting to capture and freeze how I felt. I think we all have a tendency, when undergoing life-changing experiences, to slowly and gradually forget them. Certainly as daily-life resumes, those experiences fade away. And yet, it is those experiences that offer us the opportunity for profound growth as human beings. My trip to Rwanda and the people that I met, will be a part of me, forever; I will do my best to ensure that. And I think this blog will go a long way towards that...
Exhausted
I was hoping to update my blog frequently during this trip, but unfortunately it’s been rather difficult to do. Amazingly, I’ve had constant phone connection wherever I am in Rwanda. The same can’t be said for an internet connection, but the fact that I’m not updating frequently isn’t so related to technological impediments. The real matter is that we have been so incredibly jam packed with events. Whether its hearing government officials discuss the progress Rwanda has made, doing hands-on work in a village, visiting museums, meeting in groups or just getting to know these incredible people I’m with over some beers; it has been very busy and digesting it all for blog updates has been rather difficult. Right now I’m on a bus, on our way back to Kigali, where we are staying. People are sleeping all around me, as we navigate the countless hills under a cloudy night sky. These two days have been the most enlightening, profound and disturbing of the trip. Our first day consisted of helping flatten land for houses to be constructed, followed by a museum trip, and then a visit to the University. And today started with planting trees/helping build a school, and then a visit to the genocide memorial. Each of these events merit more explanation, and I hope to do so in a few entries. My overall experience has been so completely emotionally exhausting, that its difficult to even discuss. Needless to say, there were many amazing...
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