Heroes

Before visiting Rwanda I spent a lot of time during my college career researching the area and its infamous conflict.  I remember reading a specific passage from one of Jean Hatzfeld’s book that awestruck me.  I discussed it with a friend, who had traveled to Rwanda and other parts of east Africa, to get some insight, and we both just could not fathom the words.  The passage was:

"In Nyamata, however, we find not one comradely impulse among teammates, not one gesture of compassion for helpless babies at the breast.  No bond of friendship or love that survived from a church choir or an agricultural cooperative.  No civil disobedience in a village, no rebellious adolescents in a gang of budding toughs.  And not a single escape network, although it would have been easy to set one up in the forty kilometers of uninhabited forests between the marshes and the Burundi border; no convoy, no links among the herders' paths, no web of hiding places to allow the evacuation of survivors."

I remember just being stunned by that and thinking, ‘wow, there really is nothing but unimaginable horror connected to this event.’ 

But then I went to Rwanda.  And I met its beautiful people.  I befriended young women and men, and my outlook changed.  I started hearing stories directly from people who lived it, who are still living it.  It’s a shame not many of us know about the heroes that emerged from the genocide.

Father Celestin Hakizimana of St. Paul’s church in Kigali -  This man faced the genocidaires face to face to keep them from killing the 2,000+ refugees he was protecting in his church.  Father Hakizimana brought the refugees food and water and put his life on the line every day because it was the right thing to do.  He singlehandedly saved over 1,500 people.  This man is a hero.

Gakako Aron, Commander of the Bisesero Resistance-  This man led a courageous resistance movement.  He and others faced the Interhamwe with sticks, stones, arrows, bows, whatever they could find, for two weeks until they were overpowered through advanced weapons and French deceit.  The story of brave resistance is celebrated throughout Rwanda.

And there are the quiet heroes.  Ones we will probably never know the names of.  There are undoubtedly fathers who died for their families, neighbors who hid their dear friends, mothers who protected their children, friends who stood by friends.  Even if we don’t know those specific stories, they exist.  I know they exist because that is truly the spirit and heart of Rwandans.

There are today’s heroes who are choosing not to live a life of violence, prejudice, bitterness.  They are forgiving and moving forwarding and vowing to never let anything like that happen again.

I am consciously choosing to take time to remember these heroes and celebrate their unwavering courage and love.