Monday, July 28, 2008

Genocide Memorials

It really is amazing to think of how much the genocide destroyed this country and still effects it today. Anywhere between 800,000 and a million people were killed in April, 1994. Brothers, neighbors, congregations, and friends turned against each other. For more information or insight into this tragic event, I highly recommend We Wish To Inform You That Today We Will Be Killed With Our Families.

I had the opportunity to go to the Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali last week. Here are pictures of the museum, some of their gardens, and one of their 15 mass graves. I was struck with the contrast of these mass graves against the backdrop of the busy and very much alive, city. It was the stories of the young, innocent children who were killed for no reason that broke my heart.


I also went to one of the churches (Nyamata) where 10,000 people were killed. They had gone to the church for refuge and instead, were attacked there. Grenades were thrown through the windows and doors and no one survived. The church floors are covered, knee-high, in clothes from the victims. Behind the church are more mass graves. I had the opportunity to walk down into one of the mass graves to see many of the coffins and unidentified bones. It was probably the single most chilling experience of my life.
It is so easy to question how God can still be good after seeing this. I met a girl from Saddleback at the Memorial and we began talking about this. It is something that I’m not sure I can reconcile the “why” for. However, I know that it is the result of a sinful, fallen world and that maybe this helped open the doors for churches and organizations to come in and share the reconciling, restorative message of Christ.

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