9 December 2003
PELAGIE MUKANSONERA - Kigali, Rwanda
(This story also appears on the upcyberdown website)
(This story also appears on the upcyberdown website)
"After what I saw, heard and experienced in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, I decided that I would never again attend any church," says Pelagie Mukansonera, single mother of three and disciple in the church in Kigali, Rwanda.
In the genocide that took place in Rwanda, a small central African country with a population of about 8 million, 500 000 to 800 000 people were massacred in the space of 100 days, most of them members of the minority Tutsi ethnic group. Some were shot to death, others slashed with machetes, and others were bludgeoned to death with crude instruments. Pelagie is a Tutsi and as the genocide broke out in April of 1994, it became clear that her entire family was being targeted and hunted for execution by neighbors in their rural village, members of the majority Hutu tribe. What followed was darker and more desperate than Pelagie's most horrific nightmares.
Pelagie's parents and siblings fled in different directions for safety as they sought to escape those who were hunting for their heads. For two months she was forced to hide in the bush and in a banana patch. A single mother, she had a baby with her and at one point was forced to stuff mud into its mouth to stop it from crying and being heard by the murder militia. It was the rainy season in Rwanda and Pelagie had no place to shelter. Her clothes were caked with dirt and riddled with insects. At one point she witnessed helplessly, from her point of refuge, her father being made to dig a grave by a drunken, blood-thirsty mob and then being stoned and beaten to death. Pelagie survived with the help of a neighbor who, being a Hutu, was not under threat. It was risky for both she and Pelagie to have Pelagie in her house but she would bring food out to Pelagie's hiding spot when possible.
When the genocide ended and life started to return to a semblance of normalcy, the entire experience had left Pelagie deeply scarred. Her child's paternal grandfather took custody of the child. Pelagie had also seen a priest wielding a gun at one point during the genocide and was made aware that he had raped some of her friends. Pelagie's trust in Christianity was gone. Her hatred for Hutus was intense. This combined to bring her to her decision never to attend church anywhere ever again.
Pelagie, returned to the capital city Kigali, got married and had two children, but sadly her husband passed away soon after. It only increased her feelings of bitterness and added loneliness to her fragile emotional state. "Around this time a colleague at work lost a brother of hers and I couldn't help notice the lack of bitterness with which she handled the situation. This opened my eyes and moved me."
It was at this time that Pelagie met the women's leader of the Kigali church. She accepted an invitation to come to church and started studying the Bible. Her biggest hurdle was to forgive, but with much prayer and help she did exactly that. "When I came to church the first time," she shares, "I came with the attitude of just passing by or of ridiculing those who claimed to worship God as I had seen happening in churches at the time." Instead, she came face-to-face with the word of God and became a disciple. "When studying the Bible, passages that really helped me were Matthew 6:14 and Matthew 6:33. I was not in touch with my sin and so the only sin that I focused on was that of those who killed people during the genocide, as I had witnessed and heard about."
"Those who killed my father are in prison and have confessed to what they did. Our family gets along well with their family members, who are our neighbours. We visit each other and I no longer kick them out when I find them at home with my mother or tell my mother off for being friendly with them. At one point, after becoming a disciple, when I was still working, one of those who worked under me, whom I'd known from earlier years, admitted to me that he was in the group that killed my father and even slapped my father's body, but I had no problem working with him or associating with him.
Even recently Pelagie has had several challenges to face and has done so with faith. Janet Waweru, who leads the Kigali church's women's ministry, shares of Pelagie that "she encourages me with her tenacious character. I know that she has gone through several challenges this year especially being out of work , having been wrongly accused at work of fraud and been imprisoned for a month for it before they realized she wass innocent. Being a widow with 3 children without a steady source of income in an impoversished country with a weak economy is a challenge that might have caused others to give up on their faith. Pelagie has also kept sitting for her high school diploma exams for more than 4 years, determined to pass despite failing year after year. She finally passed. Pelagie has a very persevering and enduring spirit that encourages me greatly."
Given the divisions, suspicion and hatred that pervade Rwandan society as a legacy of the genocide, the end of which coincided with the end of a three-and-a-half-year civil war fought along ethnic lines, a word championed much in the country is "reconciliation." There is little reconciliation greater than that of learning to forgive those who have hurt you deeply and overlook the bitterly painful chapters they have written in your life. There is no greater reconciliation than coming to terms with your own sin, getting right with God, and teaching others to walk the same path. That is what Pelagie has done.
Pelagie's is a profile in courage - the courage to start over again after losing so much so painfully. The courage to let go of deep-seated hatred, the courage to raise her little children on her own, and the courage to live out true Christianity as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
In the genocide that took place in Rwanda, a small central African country with a population of about 8 million, 500 000 to 800 000 people were massacred in the space of 100 days, most of them members of the minority Tutsi ethnic group. Some were shot to death, others slashed with machetes, and others were bludgeoned to death with crude instruments. Pelagie is a Tutsi and as the genocide broke out in April of 1994, it became clear that her entire family was being targeted and hunted for execution by neighbors in their rural village, members of the majority Hutu tribe. What followed was darker and more desperate than Pelagie's most horrific nightmares.
Pelagie's parents and siblings fled in different directions for safety as they sought to escape those who were hunting for their heads. For two months she was forced to hide in the bush and in a banana patch. A single mother, she had a baby with her and at one point was forced to stuff mud into its mouth to stop it from crying and being heard by the murder militia. It was the rainy season in Rwanda and Pelagie had no place to shelter. Her clothes were caked with dirt and riddled with insects. At one point she witnessed helplessly, from her point of refuge, her father being made to dig a grave by a drunken, blood-thirsty mob and then being stoned and beaten to death. Pelagie survived with the help of a neighbor who, being a Hutu, was not under threat. It was risky for both she and Pelagie to have Pelagie in her house but she would bring food out to Pelagie's hiding spot when possible.
When the genocide ended and life started to return to a semblance of normalcy, the entire experience had left Pelagie deeply scarred. Her child's paternal grandfather took custody of the child. Pelagie had also seen a priest wielding a gun at one point during the genocide and was made aware that he had raped some of her friends. Pelagie's trust in Christianity was gone. Her hatred for Hutus was intense. This combined to bring her to her decision never to attend church anywhere ever again.
Pelagie, returned to the capital city Kigali, got married and had two children, but sadly her husband passed away soon after. It only increased her feelings of bitterness and added loneliness to her fragile emotional state. "Around this time a colleague at work lost a brother of hers and I couldn't help notice the lack of bitterness with which she handled the situation. This opened my eyes and moved me."
It was at this time that Pelagie met the women's leader of the Kigali church. She accepted an invitation to come to church and started studying the Bible. Her biggest hurdle was to forgive, but with much prayer and help she did exactly that. "When I came to church the first time," she shares, "I came with the attitude of just passing by or of ridiculing those who claimed to worship God as I had seen happening in churches at the time." Instead, she came face-to-face with the word of God and became a disciple. "When studying the Bible, passages that really helped me were Matthew 6:14 and Matthew 6:33. I was not in touch with my sin and so the only sin that I focused on was that of those who killed people during the genocide, as I had witnessed and heard about."
"Those who killed my father are in prison and have confessed to what they did. Our family gets along well with their family members, who are our neighbours. We visit each other and I no longer kick them out when I find them at home with my mother or tell my mother off for being friendly with them. At one point, after becoming a disciple, when I was still working, one of those who worked under me, whom I'd known from earlier years, admitted to me that he was in the group that killed my father and even slapped my father's body, but I had no problem working with him or associating with him.
Pelagie,second right,with other Kigali sisters
|
"When I am in church with Hutus and Tutsis (the Kigali congregation is comprised of both) it is to me as if I am with my very own sisters. I no longer think in terms of ethnic distinction." |
Given the divisions, suspicion and hatred that pervade Rwandan society as a legacy of the genocide, the end of which coincided with the end of a three-and-a-half-year civil war fought along ethnic lines, a word championed much in the country is "reconciliation." There is little reconciliation greater than that of learning to forgive those who have hurt you deeply and overlook the bitterly painful chapters they have written in your life. There is no greater reconciliation than coming to terms with your own sin, getting right with God, and teaching others to walk the same path. That is what Pelagie has done.
Pelagie's is a profile in courage - the courage to start over again after losing so much so painfully. The courage to let go of deep-seated hatred, the courage to raise her little children on her own, and the courage to live out true Christianity as a disciple of Jesus Christ.