15 years ago today

Today marks the 15th anniversary of the start of the ghastly genocide that occured in Rwanda in April 1994. It is hard to imagine how the people of Rwanda could ever move past such an awful bloodshed. I am surprised however, by all the accounts of reconciliation and forgiveness that are taking place there. Recently I read an article from the US organization Prison Fellowship about a special program they help support in Rwanda called the "Umuvumu Tree Project". This program was started in 2002 to help reconcile some of the 125,000 genocidaire prisoners to their victims in order to ask forgiveness and bring about healing for both parties. This seems almost impossible on human terms, unfathomable to be able to forgive such atrocities. Yet 40,000 prisoners have been through the program already and with the help of local pastors and a lot of prayer, reconciliation is happening. Bishop John Rucyahana who works with the reconciliation program says, "Christ's love and the power of forgiveness are conquering years of ethnic tension and hundreds of thousands of vicious acts of violence. It's like a miracle to the world. But to us, mercy is an act of love."