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On the airplane......My mind is spinning out of control...tears are flowing with thoughts of dads, moms, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, killed because of an evil plan to control what I believe God had put together. Over one million people slaughtered in a hundred days, enough said.
How did this happen? Did it really go on?
All I know I visited with people who are still dealing with this nightmare. The problem is, it wasn't a dream but an event that left most people in Rwanda orphans. People don't chose to be orphans it's something that happens to them and they must deal with it. In some places, babies are adopted and will never know that they were adopted or they come to realize it later in life. What do you do when you've seen your mother and father murdered by the very people you lived with for so many years and have known you've become an orphan?
I was eating breakfast at our hotel and I noticed a women who never seemed to smile at all. I thought at first well she's probably having a bad day, but, this went on for five days. I finally got the courage to ask her, "Why don't you smile?" She told me that she lost her smile years ago. I kind of laughed and said well, "Were did it go?" She sat down next to me and looked into my eyes. "I witnessed both my parents killed violently." I asked her how she survived. "By the grace of God I was not found," she said, "but at times I wish they would have taken me too." She started to cry. I gave her a hug and started to cry with her. Jesus wept.......
I can't stop thinking about this. See, I was not ready for Rwanda at all...I just got back from Liberia with Chet Lowe from Calvary Chapel. I thought the whole time, Liberia was going to be the hard trip mentally for me. Physically, Liberia was hard because Liberia's infrastructure is completely destroyed. However, I felt a sense of hope with people of Liberia that I didn't seem to catch in Rwanda. I saw many traces of death in Rwanda. In Liberia there is a lot more destruction from the war. In Rwanda it is no longer visible. The crazy thing to me about Rwanda too is that in some communities you can swear your in Beverly Hills 90210....
If you want to learn more about the genocide in Rwanda you can watch the movie "Hotel Rwanda". I was told by many it was a good try to show the pain that these people went through. People are still trying to pick up the pieces that were ripped apart from their once stable lives.
Anyway, the most important thing I learned from this trip is people all over the world need love. The bible says it perfectly..above all things have fervent love for one another because love covers a multitude of sin...Even when people have suffered something as evil as a genocide.
I got to witness the power of love. Vic Murphy visited a reconcile camp that is home to thousands of people who live with the same people who are at first hand responsible for slaughtering there families. Vic spoke to a man who introduced Vic to the man who murdered six members of his family. That very guy reached over and gave the murderer a hug. He told Vic that without the love of Jesus Christ this forgiveness could not be possible. This was no show, this was the real deal! holy field man and a testimony to my world in a bubble that with the love of Jesus alone, anything is possible........
Uli
P.S.
That woman I spoke to at the hotel restaurant was named Hope, ironic isn't it.....
