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Journey from hatred to hope

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Abbé Jean Marie, who lost nine members of his family during the genocide is involved in vital reconciliation work that provides hope for Rwanda's future

In an intensely moving poem, Nigerian writer Ben Okri reflects on the genocide in Rwanda by writing "the land poisoned and rich from which new centuries will grow harbours horror now”.

Bouncing along in a Landover along a burnt-red earth track overlooking beautiful green hills and a misty Lake Kivu below, horror seems a long way away.

There have always been ... Hutus and Tutsis. But the colonial authorities reinforced divisions.

Abbé Jean Marie

However for Abbé Jean Marie, partner of CAFOD in Gisenyi, Rwanda, the road brings back vivid memories of atrocities that changed his life forever.

Massacre of the innocents

He points to a ruined house, in which he explains his sister was killed, together with her husband and children. We later pass a small church in which 3,000 people were massacred.

The land next to the road we travelled on had seen the spilt blood of many of his family and many friends. He managed to survive by hiding in bushes, and escaping across the border into Congo during the night.

“It is difficult to understand, from the outside,” he says. “But the killing was highly organised, led by a vicious political regime, backed by the military.

"There have always been two groups in Rwanda: Hutus and Tutsis. But the colonial authorities reinforced divisions. They decided on ethnicity based on height, they made us carry identity cards and they favoured Tutsis over Hutus. This built up resentment.”

Despite such a brutal past, Abbé Jean Marie’s has a willingness to forgive and a desire to be active in creating a Rwanda free of ethnic hatred and divides.

The brother of one of the killers of his sister came and apologised to him, and he found it in himself to forgive him. “We are brothers and sisters, and have to learn to live together peacefully,” he explained.

His work with Caritas Gisenyi involves a whole range of activities - including trauma counselling and facilitating a public process whereby prisoners who committed acts of genocide can ask for forgiveness from families affected.

He says: “Reconciliation does not happen suddenly. It happens little by little. But people are starting to realise that national renewal is not possible unless we do this."