Another Soul-Searing Memorial

The month of April, that long-awaited month heralding spring and new beginnings, when frozen earth thaws and living things begin to thrust their way out of the monochromatic winter months toward the strengthening warmth of the sun and an experience of life re-visited, survivors of the Rwandan genocide, shrink from the newly-awakened memory of their dreadful loss.

For those survivors, the Tutsi people of Rwanda, many of whom scattered as refugees from the horrors they experienced, the re-awakening of spring and new life, recalls the unforgettable trauma of their experiences when Hutu tribesmen, formerly neighbours and friends, and occasionally extended family members, turned on their Tutsi fellows and slaughtered them in a bloody exuberance of rekindled hatred and tribal vengeance.

Refugee-survivors could escape their home country where their countless dead are buried, but they cannot escape the memory of what occurred, the gruesome murder spree, the endless blood-letting. Their memories are full of hiding from the murderous mob, and occasionally being witness to the slaughter unfolding around them. A slaughter that might include grandparents, parents, siblings.

"I lost my family to the genocide and for me April is a month I do not look forward to" said one survivor living in Canada. Richard Nsanzabaganwa, president of Humura, a self-help group for Rwandans explains: "Our mission is to ensure justice is done, preserve the memories and help all victims of the genocide. We want to fight those groups of people who try to deny the fact that it was genocide and bring up insulting comparatives."

The parliament of Canada passed a motion four years ago urging all Canadian institutions to observe April 7 as a significant date, one that commemorates the Rwanda genocide. "Getting institutions involved is not to please the survivors" said Mr. Nsanzabaganwa, "but to ensure this crime never happens again."

Commemorative ceremonies have been planned; masses, silent marches, flowers to be thrown into the Ottawa River to remember those who were thrown into the Nyabarongo River. All gestures of remembrance, regret, humility and self-awareness.

"We try to heal people and this usually happens when a person speaks out. Some of them have never talked about what they saw and what happened to them and we give them the opportunity to do that. However, sometimes we are satisfied with pure silence because it tells much and in a way we feel like we are in this together", Mr. Nsanzabaganwa explained.

One survivor who attends the Humura meetings explains their purpose to himself; that through them he finally understood he was not grieving in isolation, that what occurred to him happened also to a great many others. "Some people have very sad stories, a lot worse than mine, and yet they have moved on to become great people. I am inspired by them and this is what has pushed me to become what I am today."

The enmity between Hutu and Tutsi is over in Rwanda, as the country struggles to convince the population, members of each tribe, that they are cousins to one another, not enemies, and must learn to get along with one another, to appreciate what they have in common, and leave behind the perceived differences.

Tribal animosities, however, are difficult to eradicate. Tribalism equates with exclusion, separation, suspicion, distrust, blame and hatred. In Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Hutu leaders of the genocide who escaped Rwanda and justice, seek out the Tutsi populations living there, with a view to continuing their work of extermination.