CHAPTER 5: RWANDA TODAY: 1999-2009
5.3. Reconciliation narratives
Stories from local NGO’s working in the field of reconciliation show that amidst the many complex issues abounding in Rwandan society today, many Rwandans are open to reconciliation and want to move on from the division that caused
genocide. This section will focus on local NGOs that do a variety of work, from poverty reduction to talk shops between victims and perpetrators.
Solace Ministries is an NGO to which people widowed by the war can come together to support each other emotionally and share resources. The director of Solace, Jean Gikwanda said that people want to reconcile and they want to get on with life; they don’t want to sit around and talk about reconciliation (Personal interview, Kigali, January, 2007). At Solace, both Hutu and Tutsi widows work on practical projects like bead work and sewing to supplement their incomes. As they work together and share in each others hardships, reconciliation begins to take place.
MOUCECORE, on the other hand, runs workshops where people can talk about reconciliation. Michel Kayitaba who heads up this organization, says that talking about the process of reconciliation is important when it is coupled with action as well (Personal interview, Kigali, January, 2007). At MOUCECORE workshops people are educated around the terminology of reconciliation and then are invited to share their wounds. Workshops include both perpetrators and victims, both Tutsi widowed by the genocide and Hutu widowed by the violence of the civil war.
Kayitaba described how sharing stories has been very powerful for healing,
especially if it was followed by practical activities, such as perpetrators and victims rebuilding their homes together.
Another project that involves sharing stories is in a town called Byumba where Dutch researchers implemented a pilot project termed ‘sociotherapy’. Here, groups of people living in the same area meet together weekly with a trained facilitator and work through a program that allows them to talk about their pain but also their futures. This group supports and heals itself through the process of working together therapeutically as a group. Currently, 43 groups are meeting on a weekly basis, reaching 1300 people (Personal interview, Kigali, January, 2007).
Working from a slightly different angle, the organization PHARP focuses on Hutu refugees in the DRC after 1994. Their primary aim is to create open dialogue, especially between refugees who may collectively have been labeled ‘genocidaire’
and other Rwandans. The director, Reverend Anastase, felt strongly that practical activities are good but do not heal the underlying wounds that need to be spoken out (Personal interview, Kigali, January, 2007). PHARP creates safe spaces
where perpetrators and victims can be together and speak out their pain, repentance and forgiveness. As of 1995, they have distributed a newsletter related to reconciliation called Umuhuza, which means ‘hope’.
Shalom, Educating for Peace is a small NGO that focuses on educating people in conflict resolution and nonviolent communication. It is not working directly in response to genocide, but rather wants to foster an understanding of peaceful ways of interacting in daily life. Following a period of training with Shalom in reconciliation, a church choir in the Rwamagana area developed a repertoire of songs celebrating unity and reconciliation which they now perform for local communities. Shalom seeks to foster dialogue between people around topics of reconciliation and forgiveness, to unpack what these mean when lived out in daily life.
African Evangelical Enterprise (AEE), which was already active in Rwanda prior to genocide, works not only on the individual and group level but is influencing reconciliation narratives on the national level. Members of AEE are involved with government initiatives such as NURC. Further, they hold campaigns and events across the country that are attended by thousands of people, where victims and perpetrators share their stories and take collective responsibility for their role in the violence. International speakers are regularly invited to these events where they speak around themes of reconciliation and hope for the future.
Bernard Rutikanga highlights the role of the Church in reconciliation efforts (2003, 159). Although he mentions how the Church has been compromised due to its involvement in the genocide, it maintains a significant role in ‘eradicating ethnic distrust and discrimination and promoting respect for human rights’ (2003, 160). In 1996, many church leaders from a variety of church backgrounds came together for the Detmold Confession where “Hutu and Tutsi participants confessed and apologised for crimes committed by members of their respective groups.
“The Hutu apologised for the crimes committed against the Tutsi between 1959 and 1994 and especially the heinous nature of the crimes” ‘torturing, raping, slitting pregnant women open, hacking humans to pieces, burying people alive … forcing people to kill their own relatives, burning people
alive’ (Detmold Confession 1996, 51)’. The Tutsi ‘apologised for repression and blind vengeance which members of our groups have taken, deposing all claims to legitimate self defence’. They also apologised for ‘certain arrogance and contemptuous attitudes shown to [Hutu] throughout our history in the name of a ridiculous complex of ethnic superiority’ (Detmold Confession 1996, 51-52). Western participants apologised for having sowed the seeds of Rwandan division and violence, for having aggravated violence by delivering arms, and for having neglected the suffering of Rwandan refugees” (2003, 161).
This kind of public action by leaders of the church in a country where the vast majority of people are church going plays an important part in the reconciliation process.
This is a brief overview of some of the more prominent activities towards
reconciliation in Rwanda that were started and are sustained by Rwandans. More of their efforts will be explored at a later stage. Through interaction with these organizations it is clear that there is a desire for reconciliation and that
reconciliation narratives dominate the national discourse.