MY RWANDA

by Jacqueline Kalimunda

The figures show a glimpse of the horror that hit Rwanda in 1994. One million people killed in one hundred days. One million people killed in a population of 8 million. Just because one part of the population feels Hutu and another one feels Tutsi.

I was born and lived my childhood and teenage years in Rwanda and the horror that Rwanda went through strikes me as much as the paradox of this situation.

Indeed anyone who has lived in Rwanda has tales of friendship and love between some members of the 2 communities as much as tales of hatred and segregation. So what happened for so many Rwandans to be transformed into killers ?
One million dead… How many killers ? How many watchers ?

Furthermore as much as it seems so obvious to point out the Hutus from the Tutsis, if you ask anyone in Rwanda or elsewhere to show you who is Hutu, who is Tutsi, many, if not all, will confuse the too. Especially since everyone speaks the same language, has the same culture and live in the same areas. Identity cards – with ethnic groups marked on - were not always asked at the barriers where many were killed. So how did
the killers manage to separate, isolate and massacre 10000 people a day ? How did they know who was who ? By the length of the nose ?

On the other hand let’s not be naïve, it does seem that, although Rwandans are known to be rather quite people, they have always had to express any change in society or in politics by shedding blood : 1959, 1963, 1973, 1979, 1994.

When I was preparing this film in Rwanda, I looked for people who had personal viewpoints based on their own life’s experiences.
People with different opinions, who were ready to confront with opposing arguments.

So welcome for a journey with strong minded companions, in a beautiful land of violence, extreme beliefs and wicked politics…
my homeland.