Blog 7 - Rwanda's Carnage

Link to article - Rwanda's Carnage

In the article, "Rwanda's Carnage" published in Christianity Today, the author, Gary Haugen tells the horrific scenes of the Rwanda's genocide that took place in 1994. Hundreds and thousands of men, women and even children were murdered in a small country in Central Africa called Rwanda. It is mentioned in the article that mostly people of the Tutsi ethnic group were the main targets of the genocide. Most of them were beaten and butchered by machetes and clubs. Back in 1854, when the Europeans first arrived, the Tutsi feudal elite had ruled the majority of the Hutu people. The death of the president at the time, Juvenal Habyarimana, was the reason why the Hutu's decided to fight back against the Tutsi which led to the horrific genocide. Haugen describes that what he saw was the most difficult part of his job when he visited Rwanda. He saw the skulls of many men, women and young children which was hard for him to see. He was able to talk to a few survivors and they told their story on what they did to survive during the genocide. A women told him that she hid for two and a half days next to corpses and severed limps after the massacre. Another survive mentioned that how he crawled among the dead in a cathedral for three days, starving and thirsty. Many of the Tutsi were dragged out of their homes, they turned to churches in order to survive but in the end, going to a church was just a trap for them to get killed. It is told in the article that many of these Hutu people who were doing the killings, were just regular, people. A neighbor, teacher, friend, etc. who did the killings.

I cannot fathom that genocide is even a thing. I wonder why it happens, and why people do it. In my opinion, most genocides happens for no reason or because of hate. In my family's home country in Laos, during the 1970's many of the Hmong people were killed because they helped the U.S with the war against Vietnam. After the war ended, the Vietnamese invaded our home country of Laos and killed everyone that they saw because in some way, they felt betrayed. Hearing the story of how different countries causes a genocide over things that are out of their control or because of hate, in my eyes, is disgusting. I can't imagine what is would be like to ever experience the horrific massacre, and even seeing how things are after in a country who had just experienced a genocide. Knowing that your family and friends be can killed for something who they are or what they've done is something I don't think anyone would want to see happen. I understand that most genocides happens in different countries, small countries to say the least. I can definitely say that I am blessed to live in a country and generation where it is less likely to happen in the United States.