By Chege Kelvin (Participant from Kenya)
On Sunday 5th January, we left the comfort of Belllagio Hotel to travel to Nyanza in Huye district for a weekend away from Kigali city. Huye District is in the South of Rwanda and was one of the areas most affected by the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis. It is the home to Murambi Memorial genocide site where thousands of Tutsis were massacred in cold blood.
The journey was characterized mostly by a smooth ride of roads that wound around heavily farmed hills. We were able to see men uniformed in orange prison wear working on farm lands and we learned that these were the genocide perpetrators under the “TIG” program who had to do community service in reparation for their crimes. Indeed we could see a land being rebuilt and along the way we met scattered households that reflected a long history of poverty and destruction.
We stopped over in Nyanza where we visited the King’s Palace museum. This tour gave us a great insight into the Rwandan history and the system of kingship. We also learned about different traditional practices of the Rwandese such as their architecture, their livestock farming and their traditional worship. We got a chance to tour the palace which like many other sites we had visited had a lot of information displayed around it. We learned of the role of the Rwanda kingdom and the colonialists in creating the division among Rwandans that eventually led to the growth of division in the Rwandan society.
In the afternoon, we drove to Butare where we exchanged with a community group in Mukura Sector (la Benevolencija) or Save (International Alert). This was basically a union of various cooperatives bringing together people in groups of; genocide survivors, genocide perpetrators and the youth. We listened to tales from locals belonging to all the three grouping in this sector. A lady who had lost her husband and children told us how she had been able to master courage to forgive those that had wronged her and moved on to create a a group to reconcile people in her community. Another man who had been a perpetrator told us of his twelve and a half years in prison and his experience with the Gacaca court where he had come to confess his role in genocide, ask for forgiveness and come back to his community. He told us of the challenges he faced in reintegrating into society and how thankful he was for being given a second chance. We had a chance to ask a few questions to all the gathered people and joined in their music and dance most of which had an element of reconciliation and working together. The use of economic cooperatives to bring people together for reconciliation and community rehabilitation looked like a real great idea from what we witnessed.
We drove to St. Vincent and checked in as we prepared to spend a few more days in Huye District!
NAR Peace Building Institute 