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My fellow Rotarians, This morning, I read a disturbing yet hopeful article about Rotary’s efforts in the genocide and recovery in Rwanda. The article was originally published in 2004, ten years after the genocide. It was recently re-published. If you remember, in April 1994 more than 800,000 people were killed by ethnic Hutus, believing the killings were necessary for their own survival. Most of the victims were hacked to death by gangs while United Nations peacekeepers, who were under orders not to intervene, watched. One would like to think that Rotarians did not participate in the horror. Unfortunately, that was not true. A member of the 1994 Butare Rotary Club said, “What we can say is that one half of our club’s members murdered the other half.” Rotarians weren’t the only ones succumbing to the violence: priests and nuns turned on each, teachers killed students, mixed marriage families attacked each other. During the rebuilding process, however, Rotary clubs started up again, sometimes under international sponsorship, other times under sponsorship from newly established Rwanda clubs. When the Butare club reformed in 1998, only one of the 45 members at the time of the genocide was present. The club reformed under special permission with only eleven members. By 2004, Rotary was involved in many rebuilding and healing projects, some that may not have been possible in 1994. - Rebuilding homes.
- Creating water facilities.
- Rebuilding hospitals and schools.
- Caring for orphaned children, the elderly, and folks with mental illnesses.
- Taking care of the remains of the genocide victims.
- Building memorials.
- Building public libraries.
Judy |
