In reading yet another book about the genocide in Rwanda and the subsequent healing and forgiveness between the Tutsis and Hutus, I came across information about the land itself, “Rwanda is a beautiful country—one of the most beautiful in Africa. This ‘land of a thousand hills’ is lush with fertile soil, beautiful flora, and breathtaking landscapes.” *—a garden.
The Rwandans lived in a type of paradise yet the beauty didn’t keep the Hutus from turning on their next-door neighbor (literally)—even fellow church member, Tutsis and slaughtering them by the hundreds of thousands (800,000). Why? They cared more about politics than about loving their neighbors as themselves, more than about caring for God’s creation—people, plants, the land itself; all suffered.
As horrific as it all was, slowly but surely, Christian reconciliation has been sown in that devastated land and is bearing the fruit of repentance and forgiveness (the two must always go together). It’s never easy but it is powerful.
*Emmanuel Katongole Mirror to the Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009) 20
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