Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Robin Basselin.
Voice 2
And I'm Steve Myersco. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
"You killed my wife and my child. But I will not do wrong to you. I will forgive you.
Voice 4
"The only child I had was killed but I have forgiven so I will be free and I will have peace in heaven."
Voice 1
These are the words of two people involved with the Umuvumu Tree Project in Rwanda. Both people had family members that were killed during the Rwandan genocide. Starting in April of 1994, extremists from the Hutu tribe tried to kill all Rwandans from the Tutsi tribe. The killing lasted only one hundred [100] days. However, even in this short time, over eight hundred thousand [800,000] Rwandans were killed.
Voice 2
Today's Spotlight will be on the Umuvumu Tree Project and its work to bring peace between genocide criminals and their victims. This project's hope is that people all over Rwanda will speak words of forgiveness, like those you heard in the beginning of this program.
Voice 1
Almost twenty [20] percent of all Rwandans were killed during the genocide. Every Rwandan knew someone who had been killed. Many people lost their whole families and communities. Extreme hate and sadness became a normal part of life. And when the violence ended, the country remained divided.
Voice 2
After the genocide, the prisons became over-filled with criminals. The prisons had to hold ten times the number of people they were designed for. The legal courts were also over-filled with cases. The government struggled to bring justice for all the victims. They also struggled with how to reform the prisoners.
Voice 1
Finally the government recognized that it would take hundreds of years to hear every genocide prisoner's case through the official court system. They decided to release thousands of prisoners charged with lesser crimes. But these prisoners did not go free. Instead, their cases were heard through traditional, community based courts. In these traditional courts, trusted community leaders decided if a prisoner should be sent to prison, made to complete community service or be set free.
Voice 2
This new process helped increase the number of trials. This was good. However, the process also greatly increased the number of genocide criminals that were released. These released prisoners had already served many years in prison. Now they would have to live among their former victims.
Voice 1
The release of these prisoners was difficult for many Rwandans. How could these criminals and their victims learn to live with one another again? This is the question that the Umuvumu Tree Project hoped to answer.
Voice 2
Bishop John Rucyahana is the leader of the Umuvumu Tree Project. He helps genocide criminals and victims meet each other. He wants them to find peace together. This peace process is not just an idea John had to help other people. It is a process that he has had to go through as well.
Voice 1
When the genocide happened in Rwanda, John was out of the country. When he returned, he found that his niece had been killed. He also learned that the killers did terrible things to his niece before killing her - things like cutting off the skin of her arms and forcing her to have sex with them.
Voice 2
The events of his niece's death were horrible. John felt so angry at the killers. At first, he wanted them to suffer and be judged. However, he knew that because he was a Christian priest, he could not go and kill them. He knew this was wrong.
Voice 1
So instead, John looked to his Christian Bible for answers. He found his answer in the story of Jesus' death. The Bible says that Jesus was hung on a wooden cross to be killed. John shares what he learned from this story,
Voice 5
"You know, when Jesus Christ was still hanging on the cross, when nails were still in his hands and feet, and he was not wearing any clothes, and he was being shouted at by extremist religious leaders standing under the cross, he did not wait for the pain to go away. He cried to the Father, "Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." The fact that Jesus called out during his pain is a guide and a teaching for us to forgive."
Voice 2
John knew that he could not wait until his pain was gone. So, even in his pain, he forgave his niece's killers. Now, John encourages many other Rwandans to do the same thing.
Voice 1
The process is not easy. It is long and includes many steps. But this is the model of the Umuvumu Tree project. The project brings both criminals and victims together to discuss what the Christian Bible says about six important ideas.
Voice 2
First the person must accept that he or she is responsible for his or her actions. Second he must confess. He must admit that he has done wrong. Third, he must repent. That is, he would be truly sorry for anything bad he has done and he would stop doing them.
Voice 1
The fourth idea the groups discuss is victims forgiving the people who hurt them. Next they talk about making amends - trying to find ways for the criminals to pay back their victims. The last issue they talk about is reconciliation. Reconciliation is the final goal of the Umuvumu Tree Project. It would mean that both the criminals and victims would learn to find peace with one another.
Voice 2
Reconciliation requires a person to change his or her thoughts and feelings. A woman called Jeannette lost seven family members in the genocide. She recently took part in the Umuvumu Tree Project. A Newsweek magazine writer talked with her in one of the project's Reconciliation Villages near Kigali. The writer asked her "What was it like to stand next to your neighbour who admitted killing women and children?" Jeannette said,
Voice 6
"In the beginning, it was very difficult, but now I forgive him."
Voice 1
Fifteen [15] years after the Rwandan genocide, the people of Rwanda are still healing from the violence. And groups like the Umuvumu Tree Project are helping individuals and communities move past the anger and hate of genocide.
Voice 2
John believes that reconciliation is the only hope for Rwanda's future. He told a news group called ‘Religion and Ethics' about the process.
Voice 5
"You need to bring both parties together, give them time, cry with them, pray with them, talk with them until you bring them to the level of recognizing that we are... going to live together again... Reconciliation does not always work quickly. We have to give it time... We have to hold onto the process until the work is finished. We may even die doing it. But we have to continue doing it anyway."
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