Just Andy Blog » Rwanda

Finding Solace

Andy Johnson III — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:15:05 +0000

Informed by a mere paragraph in Lonely Planet and a quick glimpse at their website, I set out to find the Solace Ministries Guesthouse in Kigali, Rwanda. The vague map in my travel guide pointed in the right direction without actually pinpointing the location. Passing through multiple neighborhoods, making several phone calls, and asking anyone he could find, my moto-taxi gradually narrowed down the spot until we had found the place. Introducing myself to Denise, the manager of the guesthouse, I mentioned that I sometimes photograph and write about vital causes that I find in East Africa. She then took me to the office of the founder and director of the ministry, John Gakwandi. Listening to what must have sounded like a bizarre story of how I found my way to his organization, John welcomed me and introduced me to their work.

When I interviewed John two days later, I learned that it all began when he accepted a job working with people who suffered tremendous loss during the Rwandan genocide. The stories that he heard every day broke his heart and many of these meetings ended in tears. Wondering how to help so many hurting people, he sensed God directing him through Isaiah 40:1 to “comfort my people.” But how could he provide comfort to people who had lost not just everything they had but everyone that they loved? The material possessions would have been easy to restore but what do you do for a widow who has lost both her husband and children? Or what would you say to a child who is the only remaining member of his or her extended family? Pondering such things, John remembered that God “…comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:4). Hopeful that the comfort he had received might help bring healing to others, John launched Solace Ministries in 1995 to comfort the widows and orphans of the genocide that took over 1 million lives.

The people that came to Solace understandably did so in the midst of great pain. They discovered that gathering together those who were hurting enabled them to share their stories with each other and to find comfort in this new community. As survivors wept with each other they found that they were not alone. This prompted Solace to form local communities across Rwanda to serve as family for those who had lost their loved ones. These communities care for one another, help to raise the orphaned children, and make sure that each member has enough food and means. Led by women widowed during the genocide who have found inner healing, the communities truly become a source of comfort and healing.

My room at the Solace Ministries Guesthouse was quite comfortable and had a wonderful view.

In addition to forming these communities, Solace also provides counseling and trauma healing, helps to educate orphans either through sponsorship or educational programs at their base in Kigali, encourages forgiveness through Jesus Christ, teaches vocational skills to help survivors make progress, and provides anti-retroviral medication and community home-based care for the many women who contracted AIDS while being raped during the genocide. According to information at the Kigali Memorial Center, more than 500,000 women were raped during the genocide or in the refugee camps that followed, and often times it was by men who were known to be HIV positive. Solace is providing a vital service to these women in a part of the world where proper medication and health care has been sparse. One of the ways they fund this project is by running a guesthouse at their center in Kigali. I was grateful for a chance to spend the night there knowing that the money went toward such an important cause.

I could go on and on about all the Solace Ministries does, but like John told me, the real story is what is happening in peoples’ lives. I will focus on several of the stories that I encountered in my next post. It is inspiring to see how this organization has provided solace for so many hurting survivors. Click here to read more about Solace Ministries.

Denise manages the Solace Ministries Guesthouse, raising funds for this vital organization.

East Africa’s Finest City

Andy Johnson III — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:33:32 +0000

Kigali has a fresh feeling to it. There is a chill breeze that carries minimal smog. Colors are vibrant and unhidden by pollution. Built on rolling hills, Kigali seems to naturally connect urban with rural. It is as though the cityscape is nestled into the countryside. The rise and fall of the local terrain means that in many parts of the city you get a fantastic view of the surrounding area.

My moto-taxi driver in Kigali.

At first you almost forget that Rwanda is in East Africa. The place is too clean and the roads too smooth. Unlike the surrounding region, Rwanda actively guards against pollution. The moto-taxi drivers, as boda bodas are called here, all wear helmets and carry an extra one that their rider is required to wear. I had to check and then double-check to confirm that cars actually drive on the right side of the road here. The people are beautiful and have a distinctive look from what I have seen throughout the rest of East Africa. Perhaps it is just the areas of Kigali that I have been passing through but the people seem quite modern and disinterested in the presence of foreigners. The dress here is Westernized like normal but more current than elsewhere. Increasing prices, new high rise buildings, and signs of rapid development all suggest that Rwanda’s, or at least Kigali’s, budding economy may be moving toward affluence in the years to come. I can see why people are referring to Rwanda as the prime example of African progress.

Two things that we can hope and pray for in Rwanda are first, that the development that has benefitted the lives of those who are better off in Kigali will reach the poor around the country and improve their situations as well. Secondly, that Rwanda will overcome the tribal conflicts that have plagued its past so that all of the progress of the last 15 years will not be lost again to the problems of the past. Kigali may well be East Africa’s finest city and from the signs of things this place is going to keep on getting better.

Hotel Rwanda

Andy Johnson III — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:03:26 +0000

Here I am at the Hotel des Mille Collines, sipping a cup of tea and pondering the tragic events that unfolded here only 15 years ago. Amidst chirping birds, laughing people, quality food and the luxurious atmosphere of this place, it is hard to imagine that hundreds of Rwandans once hid here to escape the genocide of 1994 that claimed more than one million lives in one hundred days.

As depicted in the movie Hotel Rwanda, Paul Rusesabagina became the provisional hotel manager of the Mille Collines at when those above him evacuated the country at the onset of the crisis. Opening the hotel doors to refugees fleeing for their lives, Paul managed to hold off the militias seeking to kill them by paying them with the money and alcohol that he had left at his disposal. Paul saved lives through his heroic efforts and finally he and his family were evacuated in time to spare their own lives as well.

Just prior to coming here I visited the Kigali Memorial Center. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw there. I’ve read about the genocide before but to see the story unfold in such a detailed and graphical way is heartbreaking. I don’t see how one could pass through this memorial without weeping. The tragic loss of lives and the barbaric efforts of those who so brutally took them are unimaginable. Pictures of children who were later hacked to death, the stories of survivors who lost their entire extended families, and quotes from the perpetrators and the rest of the world that stood by, all need to sink in. We desperately need to realize the gravity of the plight of suffering people around the world. One of the things that pained me the most was learning that there were at least eight different massacres of Tutsis in the three years leading up to the genocide. Continuous appeals for help from people within Rwanda who saw the trouble at hand were ignored by the world until it was too late.

Frodouald Karuhije saved the lives of 14 Tutsis by protecting them for over a month in a trench that he dug on his property.

To keep this tragedy from causing despair there are heroic stories to consider as well. Besides Paul here at the Mille Collines, there were other Rwandans who risked their lives to save others. Frodouald Karuhije initially dug a trench on his property to hide himself. When he discovered though that it was his Tutsi neighbors who were in imminent danger, he decided to use the trench to hide them instead. “He put planks on top, then green banana leaves, and on top of the leaves he piled earth, and then planted sweet potatoes all along the top of the trench” (Thomas Ngirabakunzi). He saved the lives of 14 Tutsis while they were in his care for over a month. His sister cooked for them and his 12 year old daughter took food to the refugees by hiding it in a dustbin.

Damas Gisimba received around 400 orphans, refugees, and employees into his orphanage at Nyamirambo. Also rescuing the living who were thrown in mass graves, this Rwandan hero managed with help to evacuate the vast majority of these people to a safe place. In appreciation for his kindness a Rwandan said, “I can’t find the exact words to express how I feel about Gisimba’s actions. He protected more than 400 human lives. A love sacrifices itself in that way is beyond my comprehension… I don’t know if you’d call it an act of heroism or an act of love.”

In the face of such tragedy I am grieved, in the light of such heroism, I am inspired. It is time to awaken from apathy, to respond to the great needs in front of us that left to themselves will only grow worse. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. The world is flat and smaller than it has ever been, meaning that modern communications and the internet in particular, have made it possible to know what is happening around the world in real time. May we learn from Hotel Rwanda not to run from or ignore impending disaster, but step instead in front of its path and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

The Kigali Memorial Center overlooking the city.

Visiting Rwanda

Andy Johnson III — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:01:04 +0000

I have long desired to visit Rwanda. It wasn’t clear if this trip would afford the proper circumstances for a visit or if it would be too far out of the way. Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, requires a ten hour bus ride from Kampala and since there isn’t much public transport back to Kenya through Tanzania around the South of Lake Victoria, you have to bus back to Kampala again before heading East into Kenya. When I decided to go gorilla trekking, however, I realized that I would be taking a bus most of the way to Kigali by reaching my stop in Southwest Uganda.

The next question was, what would I do there? Besides adding to my country count and experiencing a new place, would there be some redeeming value to the additional time and expenses that I would incur? While reading through my Lonely planet travel guide, I noticed with surprise that under their accommodations for Kigali they featured a guesthouse run by a Christian ministry. Solace Ministries, it said, used the funds raised by the guesthouse to purchase the ARVs, AIDS medication, for women who had been raped during the genocide. Realizing that this was exactly the kind of ministry that I have been looking for to support in East Africa, it was settled and I had to go.

My initial foray into Kigali was quite challenging. Finding my way around with boda boda drivers, or moto taxis as they are called in Rwanda, was more difficult than expected because most of them spoke very little English. Since Rwanda was colonized by the Belgians, it is far more common for Rwandans to speak French than English. This is likely to change in the future, however, because there is a growing push to learn English instead. I explained to one moto-taxi driver that I wanted to go to Union Trade Centre. When he said that he didn’t know where it was, I found this unbelievable because it is the major shopping mall in Kigali. We began to drive in the general direction and when I saw the place in the distance I pointed it out to him. When he stopped he made a special point of correcting me so that I would know for next time that this place was called UTC. I guess the idea that UTC might stand for something hadn’t occurred to him.

It didn’t help that Lonely Planet’s most recent information was already incorrect on several key issues. The guesthouse where I planned to stay was twice the price. All of the landline phone numbers listed no longer work because apparently there are some major changes to telecommunications underway. The recommended restaurant that my moto-taxi driver couldn’t find to save his life, actually moved recently. When I was tired of driving in circles, I just paid him and walked off to find it myself. A Rwandan offered to walk me there. I told him that he could come along if he wanted but I was going to pay him. He said that all he wanted was a soda. When I ordered a lunch buffet at plan B, a place called “Downtown, he was right there behind me grabbing a plate as well. Finding life far more expensive in Rwanda than I had anticipated, I headed over to the Banque di Kigali to get a cash advance. The ATMs in the city do not currently process foreign check cards. Despite the rocky start, however, my short stay in Rwanda was to prove very rewarding.