About Rwanda

I wanted to know more about Rwanda before I went to visit.  Uganda is to the north, Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south and the Democratic Republic of Condo to the west.  It is a landlocked country situated in the central part of Africa and known as "the land of a thousand hills".  Rwanda has five volcanoes, twenty three lakes and numerous rivers, some forming the source of the River Nile.  It is in the heart of Africa.  The Volcanoes National park in the Virunga volcanic mountains with high altitude forests are world famous for mountain gorillas - timid and passive family oriented giants.  Let's hope they are gentle and passive as I am going on a Gorilla Trek when there. 

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people over the course of 100 days, from the assassination of the President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6th through mid July.  It was the culmination of longstanding ethnic competition and tensions between the minority Tutsi's who had controlled power for centuries and the majority Hutu peoples, who had come into power in the rebellion of 1959-62 and overthrown the Tutsi monarchy.

The assassination of the President in April 1994 set off a violent reaction resulting in the Hutus' conducting mass killings of Tutsis'.  This genocide had been planned by members of the Hutu power group, many whom occupied top levels of government.  It was supported and co-ordinated by the national government as well as local military, civil officials and mass media.  Many of you might remember watching the movie, "Hotel Rwanda" which is based on the hotel which sheltered over a thousand refugees during the genocide.  It is shocking to read all the information about the Genocide and horrifying to realize what the people went through and how they suffered.  The United Nations essentially ignored what was going on there.  Bill Clinton has stated that it is his "biggest regret" of his presidency is not acting to stop the Rwandan Genocide. 

The population is now 67% under the age of 18 and many households are headed by teens due to the devastation.  I had to try and come to grips with this knowledge before I go next week.  While watching the movie and reading this information, I cried and cried for these people, most of them innocent men, women and helpless children.  Living in Canada we feel so protected and can't imagine the atrocities that take place in so many parts of the world.  When I am there, I will visit the memorials in Kigali to pay my respects.