by
Apr 19. 2023
The cruel April is the same
Rwanda and Korea in April
The opening of April in Rwanda is so calm.
Every school and marketplace is quiet. Also, the hustle and bustle street shows few a person.
Many cars have disappeared, so the street is more desolate.
Twenty-nine years ago happened, genocide caused deep sorrow to all Rwandans.
The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group and some moderate Hutu and Twa were killed by armed Hutu militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 662,000 Tutsi deaths. -From Wikipedia-
As a Korean living in Kigali, I also felt a deep pain in April.
Even though trees and flowers start to bud to burst their fruit, history's scar stimulates deep sighs. The more I live long, the more I have to remember.
Korea's April starts at 4.3 JEJU, 4.19 Revolution, and 4.16 sewol, which are unforgettable disasters to the surviving family.
I went to a genocide memorial in Kigali again. It was a significant change when I compared the place long ago and now. At present, the facility is so well-organized and spacious.
But six and 15 years ago, I felt such a disgusting cause of the exhibitions.
The human skull, long and short born, makes me uncomfortable, over the blood-sting smell causes me to vomit.
The stench fades with the years, and a sound facility system expels terrible smells.
Kigali genocide memorialIf you visit this memorial, you start watching related 1994 genocide history films.
Within 100 days, everyone was in panic and madness, so they conduct to kill, escape, or be murdered.
Once a brother and sister, neighbor, same nationality divided by their tribes' genocide others cause of enmity.
OF course, the background is based on European imperialism.
Suddenly they invaded Africa continental, made colonies, and divided the nation.
At the end of the 19th century, Germany dominated the land, and after Germany was defeated in World War I, Belgium took over Rwanda.
The imperial country needed a partner tribe. Within Rwanda, people there are separate ruling and oppressed tribes. That is the hot potato of when they become independent from Europe 1960s.
World history of genocideSometimes I feel a cold scary through the aged person's eyes.
How many lives they might have killed, how many death have they seen,
How deep trauma may they have?
The Waste Land.
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, coveringEarth in forgetful snow, feeding......
- BY T. S. ELIOT -
Cruel, but we must remember April is passing.
Front photo: The person who died in Genocide.
You can't take a picture inside.
