Global Encounter Africa 2007

First Article about Pastor Brian's trip to the Republic of Rwanda

On Tuesday evening, January 22nd, 2008, approximately 40 parishioners had the pleasure of hearing Pastor Brian’s presentation on his experience at the ‘Canadian Lutheran World Relief – Global Encounter Africa 2007’.  This trip took Pastor Brian to the Republic of Rwanda for 6 days together with a few days in Kenya last October 2007.   Pastor Brian’s presentation gave a overview of Rwanda; its geography, an outline of Rwanda’s history (before and after the genocide of 1994) and detailed the continuous work the Lutheran World Federation (LWF)/Department for World Service (DWS) is doing today to assist the people of Rwanda and to promote the peace building, healing and reconciliation process.

The Republic of Rwanda, is located near the the center of Africa, a few degrees south of the Equator.   It is a small landlocked country bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania.  Rwanda's countryside is covered by grasslands and small farms extending over rolling hills, with areas of rugged mountains.   Home to approximately 9 million people, Rwanda supports the densest population in continental Africa, with most of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. The capital, Kigali, (300,000 people) is located in the centre of the country. 

Rwanda has 3 official languages (English, French and Kinyarwanda) although most Rwandans speak Kinyarwanda. Before the arrival of European colonists, there was no written history. Today, the nation is roughly 84% Hutu, 15% Tutsi, and 1% Twa.  The pygmy Twa are considered one of the oldest races on earth and still pursue a hunter-gatherer type of existence.   While the Hutu and Tutsi are often considered to be two separate ethnic groups, the differences between the two groups were occupational rather than ethnic. Agricultural people were considered Hutu, while the cattle-owning elite were identified as Tutsi. Supposedly Tutsi were tall and thin, while Hutu were short and square, but it is often impossible to tell one from the other.

Ethnic tension in Rwanda is nothing new. There have been always been disagreements between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, but the animosity between them grew substantially during the last century accumulating in the mass killings which lasted for 100 days between April and July 1994.  The country was devastated by the unequivocally horrific genocide of 1994, culminating in the death of nearly 1 million people, mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutus.   The scale and the speed of the slaughter of the Tutsi tribe left the country reeling.

Even though Rwanda has had a new constitution since 2003 that forbids any discrimination based on race, ethnicity or religion, Rwandan society today still remains dislocated and impoverished 15 years after the genocide.   This constitution also instituted a balance of political power between Hutu and Tutsi. No party, for example, can hold more than half the seats in parliament. The constitution also outlawed the incitement of ethnic hatred.

The LWF/DWS program in Rwanda began in August 1994 with emergency aid to victims and internally displaced persons after the genocide.   These programs assisted with returning refugees with the construction of shelters and reconstruction of schools, health services and water systems. Trauma healing was incorporated into the program to help address personal and community rage, hostility and antagonism, and to develop capacities to come to terms with the past and to live together as a community.
From 1999, the program shifted to the empowerment of vulnerable communities to achieve self-sufficiency. An integrated approach emphasized capacity building of local partners and community based organizations, and addressed crosscutting issues of HIV/AIDS, the environment, peace and reconciliation, and emergency preparedness.
With the start up of the Gacaca courts (which are traditional courts to deal with genocide perpetrators in their communities of origin) in 2001 and the release of prisoners, the DWS program supports partners to establish community based counseling services and structures for conflict resolution, aimed at promoting healing and reducing the renewed trauma that prisoner release could cause.

LWF/DWS has also supported integrated rural development.  This focused on food security, water, sanitation and environmental protection, by working with partners to develop alternative food crops, improve food processing and storage and protecting natural habitats. Workshops on micro-credit and income generation were conducted for people living with HIV/AIDS, and communities were also supported in building shelter for AIDS orphans.

The current aim for the LWF/DWS Rwanda Program is ensuring that Rwanda's ethnic groups co-exist peacefully, restoring life back to normal, and working to ensure that genocide "never happens again" at a community level.  The peace and reconciliation program, working in partnership with Rwandan churches and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, includes promoting peaceful co-existence between Rwanda’s ethic groups, trauma counseling for genocide survivors and dealing with issues such as HIV and AIDS.  These initiatives are not easy.  The group members receive trauma-counseling skills through various workshops organized by the LWF/DWS Rwanda program. Discouraging tribalism among the community members and religious leaders remains a significant part of their work. They also provide shelter and security to those who do not have any remaining members of their families after the genocide.   Equally painstaking is bringing together people who confess to have taken part in the genocide.  But there is hope.   Thanks in part to the LWF's timely intervention and vision, victims are sitting together with their perpetrators.  Its not easy, but it is happening.  The LWF/DWS Rwanda Program with its commitment has become an immense source of reconciliation and hope for the people of Rwanda.