In Rwanda, in any case. Yesterday were the official ceremonies to mark the 15th anniversary of the genocide. I’m not in Kigali this year, but it’s still on my mind. And it feels much more strange to be here, where few people even know it’s the anniversary of…what was it again?, than in Rwanda, where no one could forget.
Most of the work I’ve done in the last three months has been leading up to the anniversary, too, so I’ll be sharing that as each project goes live.
Here’s the first one, a two-part print story and a multimedia piece for GlobalPost.
Your multimedia project on the bodies in the church really shed light on how religious symbols seem to be losing their place amidst the horrors that Rwandans have faced. The National Post recently ran a story on this, saying that the genocide has caused significant recoil from the Catholic Church. People had sought refuge within the “holy” walls of the church, only to be slaughtered by Hutu priests. I wonder if this will change the course of religious affiliation in Rwanda. Will the church make amends, or will the families of the bodies piled in your video harbor bitterness toward the church? I hope that this anniversary of such a horrible mark on the history of Rwanda will allow for reconciliation and healing instead of a continued Hutu/Tsutsi mindset, difficult as that may be.