A Lesson on Humanity

The last 7 months, my squad and I have been serving with an array of Christian ministries across 7 different countries. As we turned the corner into our 8th month, we crossed the border into Rwanda. It was here I was met with the realization that each place we’ve traveled has been filled with equal parts 

beauty : brokenness

joy : strife

abundance : lack. 

For next two months we reside in Kigali, Rwanda. There is an eeriness to the timing of our stay, as we will elapse the 28th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide. The timing is not coincidence. God is teaching me powerful lessons that synchronize with much of the tension highlighted throughout the world today. The unspeakable injustice Ukraine is enduring is like a broken mirror of the sharpest fragments of Rwanda’s past. 

On Monday, my team had the privilege of touring the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Its beautiful construction pays tribute to those who lost their lives in the tragedy, to educate generations to come and cultivate peace among those living in Rwanda today.  It would be an understatement to say it was emotionally heavy, eye opening and deeply moving. 

It is has been hard to put to words everything I viewed, read and heard. Divisive propaganda, horrendous crimes against humanity, and an unthinkable ethnic cleansing that ripped to shreds this stunningly beautiful country. 

Ubumuntu

Woven throughout the memorial is the emblem and inscription “Ubumuntu”. It means someone who has greatness of heart. In regards to the Genocide against the Tutsi, Ubumuntu refers to those who selflessly risked their lives to rescue or help those who were persecuted. 

 

For a glimpse at my experience at the memorial check out my short video.  

Caution: content may be triggering.

https://youtu.be/WL2dV0Gq2v4

Prior to going to the genocide memorial, my team and I watched the movie “Hotel Rwanda” to prepare our minds and hearts for the history lesson and humanity lesson we were about to experience.

One of the most jarring scenes in the movie transpires in the dialogue between the heroic Hotel Manager and an American Journalist. It occurs after he broadcasts to the West graphic footage he captured of people being murdered with machetes. He brought to attention the unspeakable slayings, carnage and attempts at a Tutsi people extermination.

Paul Rusesabagina (Hotel Manager): I am glad that you have shot this footage and that the world will see it. It is the only way we have a chance that people might intervene.

Jack (News cameraman): Yeah and if no one intervenes, is it still a good thing to show?

Paul: How can they not intervene when they witness such atrocities?

Jack: I think if people see this footage they’ll say, “oh my God that’s horrible,” and then go on eating their dinners. 

 

That conversation is powerful and exposing. It makes me feel shame because as we watch Ukraine undergo brutal attacks I verbally and emotionally grieve for the injustice occurring. But I sit here in inaction, feeling powerless to help. 

 

What can we do?

 

• Form an united front of prayer warriors: to provide God’s armor to the persecuted, for radical intervention by God. One so dramatic that it would expose to the perpetrators their own wickedness and in turn, soften their hearts towards repentance. If you’re having doubts check out these following scriptures as some reminders of God’s other past victories: 
  • Luke 24: Jesus Christ’s victory over death. The wages of sin is death. But His death was a voluntary sacrifice for our sin. Because Christ led a sinless life, death had no hold on him. The power of his resurrection grants believers redemption from death.
  • 1 Samuel 17: David, an Israeli Sheppard boy with great faith and courage, overcame the seemingly impossible: defeating the Philistine giant Goliath.
  • Joshua 6:1-27 – Joshua’s army marched around the city to penetrate and destroy the walls of Jericho.
• Break the cycles of hate by teaching compassion, love and mercy. Educate ourselves and families on world history so it doesn’t repeat.
• Give financial support to organizations that fight to protect, provide relief, or create awareness.
• Write to our officials.
• Share in the comment section below other ways we can bring aid and awareness without inserting our own political agendas. 

I am witnessing a country that is finding healing on a hard walk home from decades of injustice & persecution that culminated into genocide.  

 

The Memorial taught me that cycles can be broken. Hearts can change. Unity can be born. Rwanda is a living and working testament of visibly changed hearts.  

While here, friends and family back home are reporting horror stories unfolding in Ukraine. They confess thoughts that this may be the next World War. I agree, the world is at war. At war over our mind, heart and spirit. Spiritual warfare penetrates through poisonous messages that consume thoughts, harden hearts and puppeteer minds. 

Rooted

One quote that stuck with me from the memorial was from an orphaned child survivor:

 “There is love and hate inside each of us, it’s just what you decide to cultivate.” 

Think about it, when seeds of hate are planted, bitterness and resentment take root. When watered, any of the following can germinate: jealousy, fear, insecurity, grief, etc. The fruits that yield are even bigger: pride, greed, deceit, entitlement, hatred, malice, lust for power & domination. 

I was stuck on the thought, how do people cultivate roots of hatred and desire for violence?  I think the answer lies in the nourishment of the soil in our hearts. Each month on the World Race is comprised of some elements of manual labor. Weeding has frequented the list of jobs. I’ve never thought of more parallels to life’s struggles by way of weeding analogies until now. My favorite analogy is the backstory of my squad Leader, Kayla’s ankle tattoo of roots.

 

While serving on a past mission trip, she was pulling weeds and examining the roots. She realized it’s not how big the root is that makes it hard to remove, but it’s how deep it runs. The ones that run deep usually require some gardening tools to dig up, this of course damages the ground a little more but it’s necessary to complete the removal of the root.

 

God showed her how this is like lies. It is not necessarily the huge glaring lies, but more so the lies that have been told or believed the longest. It’s the ones that run deep that are hardest to remove. We are watching generations of lies weave deeper and deeper into the soil of our hearts. 

 

In South Africa, our fifth month, our squad underwent team changes and my new team was assembled. We selected the name “Rooted”  because we were entering the second third of our race. Our new team name is intended to remind us of what we wanted to be rooted in. Ephesians 3:17-19 is our inspired scripture.

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

 

(Left to right: Bre, Me, Claire, Caroline, Morgan C. & Kendell)

 

What roots are you going to let grow? Roots of forgiveness & love or bitterness & hate? 

 
Breaking the Cycle

As a Christian, I know the real battle over sin, evil and darkness has already been defeated. But Satan is scrounging for power. He is vying to capture souls and turn them against God. His pattern is predictable John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy”. Prying on our pride, our desires and our egos. His cunning lies are presented enticingly; like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. That’s why half the time we don’t understand how things can get so far off track. 

 

So, how do we get get back on track. How does an individual and a nation start the healing and rebuilding process? I believe it starts with a special kind of love that is shown through forgiveness. The cycles of retaliation must die, so that a new life of unity can be resurrected. 

There is no greater act of love than to lay one’s life down for another…Christ is my savior. He didn’t wait for me to clean up my act, he laid down his life for you and for me in spite of our most sinful thoughts, behaviors, and actions. And he serves as our example. We are advised to take the high road. The road less traveled…

“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:32

Some of the most powerful and hopeful messages of the Kigali Genocide Memorial came from Rwandan survivors and survivors of other world genocides. There is a depth in their maturity. Their ability to forgive is hard to comprehend. But clearly through forgiveness they have received a blessing of peace that comes through faith in something greater. 

“If we take revenge for what happened to us, then we can only expect the children of our victims to take revenge on us and our children. It becomes a never-ending cycle, so somebody has to break the cycle.”  

• Kemal Pervanic, survivor of Omarska Concentration Camp (Bosnia Crisis)

 

“At the beginning each and every person considered his own suffering as the biggest, but when we shared our own pain we began to feel compassion for others. We understood how people suffered on the other side. Now we look at what people need, not at who they are” 

• Evariste, Assoc. Path of Peace

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. What are ways you think we can impact change, champion humanity and stand against division?