April 7
This day Rwandese observe a nationwide official day of mourning and commemoration, remembering the same date in 1994 when so many people were killed by their neighbors, friends, church members and even families. The date is one, unfortunately like many others, that will “live in infamy” as President Roosevelt said of the date Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. I feel somehow moved to write today. It is sixteen years since the terrors and horrors of the genocide happened, and for most Rwandese, the memory is as painful and bitter as ever—perhaps for some, even more so. Memory has a way of building up a kind of reservoir of feelings and perceptions that can pile upon each other press down, and become compacted into something distinct from the events that underlie them. I am pondering all this morning.
Jean McAlister
Missionary
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