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Rwandan Liberation

Yesterday, on the fourth of July, Rwanda celebrated it's liberation. Twenty three years ago, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) conquered Kigali and stopped the Tutsi Genocide. The Genocide had started three months prior, triggered by the crash of president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane. On that day, April 6th 1994, all hell broke loose. Rwandans killed Rwandans. Parents their children, husbands their wives, children their parents. Humanity was no longer part of our vocabulary. So many people's lives were destroyed then. Around a million Tutsis and sympathizing Hutus were killed, but many more lost themselves during that period.

Despite the monstrosity that occurred then, Rwanda rose from the ashes. We did what most people considered impossible. All fields are growing fast thanks to good governance. The government of unity tried real hard to foster unity and reconciliation through various programs like Gacaca. Rwandans were urged to forgive and ask for forgiveness. However, we should keep at heart whatever happened. That is why we have an annual period of commemoration. H.E Paul Kagame likes to mention, " you can't know where you are going if you don't know where you come from." We have to remember that apathy, passiveness, thirst for revenge and the culture of impunity played a big role in the outbreak of the Genocide.

I was born four years after the Genocide. I am part of a generation that did not experience the atrocities that took place then. However, I see their consequences daily. There are children who didn't get their parents’ love and affection because the Genocide numbed them of emotions. Some of my classmates had to nurse their parents to sanity when the commemoration period came. I saw and heard may testimonies that left me hollowed. A friend's father was thrown into the toilet and got burned by the chemicals. He survived though, but he never forgot how close he was to death.

I recently attended a prayer session for the sick, and we were told that forgiveness is the first step towards healing. The priest, a genocide survivor who lost all his family, dedicated his life to healing wounds caused by the Genocide. So many people had been consumed by hatred and thirst of revenge or even guilt. The priest went through the process of forgiveness, and he now lives in harmony with the murderers of his family. He told us about a Hutu woman who had to witness the killing of her Tutsi husband and children. Her whole family was buried alive in her presence, and she was only spared because she was Hutu. Twenty three years later, she decided to forgive those who killed her main reason of existence. If she forgave, we should also be able to do the same. Forgiveness is the perfect gift that helps both parties to find inner peace.

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