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I’m not leaving. Carl Wilkens finally tells his story.

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

A Review of the book,

I’m not leaving., by Carl Wilkens

Carl Wilkens was the only American to remain in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. He sent his family out of the country when evacuation orders came, and remained to stay by the side of his household employees who had Tutsi identity cards. The book title hints at the heroic themes to follow. When I consider the legacy of abandonment that the United States left in the genocide, even the title of Carl’s book, feels like cool water on a painfully burning issue.

I love this book. It’s short (only 165 pages), self-published and gets straight to storytelling. Carl does not try to extend the book with political background or much reflective philosophy. He explains his reasons for refusing orders to evacuate, and then goes on to tell countless unbelievable stories of day by day survival and his efforts to protect orphans located in various orphanages around Kigali. He makes simple but poignant observations throughout his book about faith, love and humanity, that knock you over with power of truth.

For me, the largest truth that I drew from Carl’s story, is the high value of individual relationship; the power of one to one humanity, over ideals, institutions or causes.

One passage drawing out this truth was letter exchange between Carl and the President of the Seventh Day Adventist World Wide Church, who ordered him to leave Rwanda by appealing to the greater good of the cause:

“Dear Carl,

I have tried various means to communicate with you personally and orally, but it has not been possible under the present conditions.

Thus I must resort to the written word. Your total commitment and dedication is both heroic and exemplary. Needless to say, I, and my fellow leaders appreciate you, and what you have accomplished. However, it is for this very reason that I am “asking” you to depart Kigali as soon as possible.

It goes against my very nature to use the word “order” in this context; however, that is the word that most accurately describes the sense that I must convey. I am aware that most of the UN personnel have left the area, and therefore expect you to determine a reasonably safe method of evacuation.

We must use your skills and knowledge to define future work in Rwanda. Therefore we are asking that you immediately relocate to Nairobi to work with others there in the vital look-ahead plans.

Your remaining in Kigali would deny the church and ADRA the input which you could provide, and can be counterproductive. For the greater good of the cause, (emphasis added) I want you to lay down the good work you have been doing in Kigali in order to become part of the larger task ahead.

This directive is given after much prayer and consultation. It is a decision, not a request. Please contact us immediately upon reaching Nairobi. Our prayer is that Christ will be with you and protect you as you relocate.

Yours in Christ

Robert S. Folkenberg.

President of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.”

Here is Carl’s reply:

“Dear Elder Folkenberg,

Thank you very much for your letter. I am not refusing to obey your directive, but I need your help with two things before I can comply.

First, I need your help telling my friends and Rwandan coworkers that God will be with them and protect them, and explain to them why I can’t stay and rely on that same presence and protection.

Secondly, I need your help in making arrangements for the safeguarding of the two young people in my home who have Tutsi ID cards that will surely lead to them being killed.

As soon as you are able to help me with these two things I will be glad to join my family in Nairobi.

Sincerely,

Carl Wilkens”

Let us follow Carl’s example of releasing our cause, for the sake of one or two souls! He disregarded any opportunity to “define future work in Rwanda” in order to save the life of two household employees.

There is no doubt that ADRA had done great work in Rwanda. But too often, we put the value of a great human institution, before the value of one person. Jesus radically showed us the reverse. Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep, of the shepherd’s willingness to leave the many, to rescue one desperate person.

Carl’s story goes on to describe very many unbelievable moments of decisions that lead to life or death. While he initially stayed to protect his household employees (who did indeed survive), he ended up saving the lives of hundreds of others, working alongside many Rwandans who sacrificed themselves to protect their fellow Rwandans. He describes how he learned to relate to the killers as human beings, and elicit their cooperation, in order to protect many orphans and people under his care.

I also realized by reading Carl’s story that I think about justice and fighting against evil in black and white ideals. Carl’s story teaches me that fighting for justice is a messy job that we shouldn’t judge. A person’s desperate fight to survive or to save others, confuses the distinction between good and evil, removing clear paths to justice.

Read Carl’s book. He will ground you back to one-to-one relationship, and simple truths of love and faith.

By Serena Morones

Carl’s book can be purchased from his website http://worldoutsidemyshoes.org, or here on Amazon.com. http://amzn.com/1450780806

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

From a Rwandan: We are Wealthy

Friday, July 1st, 2011

By Enric Sifa

On TV, in newspapers, on the radio, even from missionaries: when it comes to Africa, we hear negative things from all sorts of media. We hear about the wars, hate, malnutrition, disasters, and poverty of Africa. But are those really the only things Africa has? I remember, in Africa, when I was growing up, I never even thought about the things mentioned above. I thought Africa was the only place people should live. I loved the animals, the sun, the butterflies, the hills, and the valleys. I remember how beautiful the lakes and the rivers were. I remember how delicious the meat was, I remember the smiles of people, the parties every Friday, all the colors, and the rest of the beautiful things that Africa has. That’s what I remember of Africa.

African people are the happiest people you can ever find. One man may not even have salt in his food, but before he eats it, he says a prayer of praise to God for providing that food. He eats with a smile on his face and after he is done, he sleeps on a matt on the floor- with happiness. If a person gets a stomachache, he goes into the wild and chews a special kind of leaf that makes the stomachache go away. Another person doesn’t have any shoes, but you will still see him dancing on the hard dusty floor. He doesn’t care about shoes because he lives in paradise. He loves his life. You will see him playing soccer for ninety minutes straight with no shoes. He feels no pain. After soccer, he goes to take a bath. When he takes his bath, he may only have a bucket to use, but he is happy. That’s what I remember of Africa.

I loved to play with flowers in the streets. I loved the smell of the tall grasses beside the small roads. I loved the river that was only a mile away from my house. I loved the hills on the other side. I loved the party people who came to my house every friday. Life in Africa is so beautiful. People work hard, but they don’t let work and money determine who they are as people. The community is awesome, and you won’t find a single person who lacks friends. People are friendly and they like to include everyone: strangers, tall, short, fat, white, black…everyone. The music is amazing. Everyone, even a disabled person, has a beat. Everyone shakes the booty, man or a woman. If you can walk, you can dance; and if you can talk, you can sing. That’s what every African thinks, and it works well.

rwanda-kids

It’s frustrating that people don’t spend time talking about the beauty of Africa. It seems like they only focus on the negative. There is suffering everywhere. It’s good to help, but if we only talk about what Africa doesn’t have, Africa will always feel inferior. They won’t have the courage to achieve bigger dreams. I love Africa. I know the struggle. But I never knew the struggle until I left Africa. The thing is, we try to compare our lives with other people’s lives and then we come to the conclusion that if a person doesn’t have what we have, he must be suffering. Money and wealth do not make us people. We are people because we have life, and life comes freely to everyone. The president lives because of the free gift of life, just as the homeless person lives because of the free gift of life-neither live because of MONEY. Life is beautiful. Therefore, let us recognize the beauty in it and appreciate the ART of God.

Enric Sifa was born in and grew up in Rwanda. He is a singer/songwriter currently attending Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about Enric and his music, visit www.enricsifa.com

Tags: Enric Sifa, Rwanda
Posted in Perspectives on Humanitarian Work, Uncategorized | Comments »

Fascinated by Kagame; A Review of “A Thousand Hills,” by Stephen Kinzer

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Read “A Thousand Hills” if you are intrigued by Kagame and wish to learn a few more facets of him. As a book about Rwanda however, I was not that impressed. The book repeats much of the contents of “Shake Hands With the Devil”, by Romeo Dallaire, and also presents a disjointed summary of some notable acheivements by well known Rwandans and Westerners during the recovery period.

But if you are trying to understand this Enigmatic leader of Rwanda then do dive in. The author interviewed Kagame extensively and provides Kagame’s commentaries on several issues and points of Rwanda’s history. I find Kagame’s perspectives riveting!

This books also presents a few aspects of Rwanda’s story that I had not fully appreciated before.

For the first time I felt the pain and isolation of the Rwandan refugees who grew up in neighboring countries and struggled to live without an honorable identity or home. The decision by the Habiyarimana regime not to allow them to return was a fatal political position that caused pressure to build up within the refugees and incensed them to a level of war. Kagame ingeniously raised up a rebel army inside the Ugandan army, using Uganda’s resources and military context to train his own army. That aspect of Kagame’s story and Rwanda’s history is beyond remarkable. I had also never read about the story of the extreme suffering of the RPF army in the mountains while training, and outpouring of help from Rwandans around the world to bolster the RPF army to takeover Rwanda.

I also was unaware of the long tail of the genocide. I think many westerners believe that Kagame came in and “stopped” the genocide and began recovery. The real story acording to Kinzer, is that the Hutu extremists fled to Congo where they continued killing and invading Rwanda. For several years Kagame continued to fight them and these extremist continued to try and finish the genocide. Kagame battled to the point of overthrowing the President of Congo in order to get enough control of Congo to defeat his enemies. The hutu extremists used refugee camps and innocent populations as human shields, and the RPF armies took the innocent people down as casulties of war. The realities of these post genocide battles are harsh and messy, and give rise to huge controversies today over war crimes and human rights. I had no idea that Rwanda was violent for so long after the genocide, and had barely settled down by the time I started visiting in 2002. Rwanda’s current stability is much younger than I realized.

Getting back to Kagame’s quotes, in sum, I would say from reading this book, that Kagame values posession of Rwanda and security of his country, above all else. All else.

Anything that threatens those values, cannot stand before him. I have to stop and deeply ponder that kind of man. For one, I have never been in a place in my life where I needed to value security above all else. I mean, everything else…before God, before my family, before my personal values. I am not sure if I believe it’s right or wrong, because I’ve never been forced to push my morality to that kind of essential choice. I confess that it doesn’t sit well with my faith and Christian values. But my Christian faith has bloomed in the highly secure and free United States. And I also know that Kagame has suffered, endured and achieved what few humans would ever experience. He undoubtedly has a perspective that few humans in history have ever had.

Here is one Kagame quote from the book that sheds light on this burden of security that he carries. This quote was given in response to his decision to put an alleged genocide criminal in a position of power in his new government:

“The moral aspect of the thing comes later. People first must be safe. The moral dilemma is always part of the equation, but you don’t just look at that. If that’s your only factor in decision making, you don’t move fowarward with what you might otherwise achieve…”

More thoughts about this book in the days to come…

Posted in Books about Rwanda, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

What people are saying about Speak Rwanda

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

“Bite from Kigali! I’ve been here for almost a month, having an amazing
experience teaching photography to 18 adults. Wanted to write you a
note to thank you for expediting the shipment of the Kinyarwanda
phrasebook, and for creating the book in the first place–it’s been so
helpful and the locals are fascinated and impressed at its existence!

All the best to you and Speak Africa,
Anahid Yahjian”
http://recollectingrwanda.tumblr.com/

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Inspiring Deeds (Part 3)

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

This is the third in a series of three short shout-outs this week about individuals or groups who are actively doing good works in Rwanda. Each of the groups has become a Speak Rwanda friend in the last week making use of our Kinyarwanda travel language materials.

picture-121

Hope for a Thousand Hills is a non-profit initiative focused on the restoration of the Cyimbili Coffee Plantation in western Rwanda. The project aims to rehabilitate a once productive plantation, and through it rebuild the local economy. The transformation will carry over into necessary community development projects which include: providing clean water, sanitary systems and electrical power generation to meet the urgent needs of a people, and to bring healing and hope to those who long for reconciliation with their neighbor… and their Creator.

Cyimbili’s lush green hills on the shores of Lake Kivu are breathtaking. The people who live in those hills grabbed hold of my heart. However, for their lives to change for the better, three things need to happen. Relief: The people need clean running water, electricity, and a functioning, safe sanitation system to reduce the risk of disease and other potential health crises. Restoration: Dilapidated buildings, inaccessible roads, and spent coffee trees need to be replaced, fixed, and renewed. This plantation has incredible potential to help the lives of its community, but it can’t reach that potential until it is restored. Renewal: As I listened to the young people who crowded around us, they spoke of the need to know–”really know”–that God has a good purpose and a plan for their lives and that He has not forgotten them. They need new hope.

–Jamie Longo, Founder

We all look forward to seeing the progress in this coffee community.
–Diana Dettwyler
Speak Rwanda Web Admin

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One Teacher’s Adventure

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Fulbright scholar, Diana Perdue, is having the adventure of her life right now in Kigali. Her blog, Rwanda Reflections chronicles her teaching and living adventures in Kigali Rwanda. Speak Rwanda has become “Facebook pen-pals” with her for several months now and I always look forward to reading the latest about life in Kigali.

-Diana Dettwyler
Speak Rwanda Web Admin

Posted in People, Uncategorized | Comments »

Inspiring Deeds (Part Two)

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

The Point Foundation is a charity based in the UK whose mission is to support orphans. The objective of the Foundation is to raise sufficient funding to bring love, care, compassion and education to transform the lives of orphaned children around the world, but principally in Africa, from birth to 18 years of age.

The Point Foundation

“Five years ago we started privately funding a school we came across in a community near Phinda Game Reserve, Kwala Zulu Natal…but it was on a business visit to Rwanda that my husband Charlie came across the Noel Orphanage, when he visited the Pfunda tea plantantion nearby…and was so heartbroken by the plight of the 700 orphans he pledged to help them there and then, and so we offcially set up and registered the Point Foundation.”

Today the Foundation raises funds and provides on the ground support for 5 major projects helping around 2500 children, most of whom are orphaned and live in institutions.

Visit The Point Foundation website and fall in love with these beautiful children!
http://www.pointfoundation.co.uk/index.html