Rwanda Genocide
 

I have been revisiting the subject lately. I am just wrapping up the book. <b>We Wish to Inform You Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families</b> This is an amazing work that details Rwanda before, during and after the genocide.

While I was reading that, 3 Sundays ago on 60 Minutes, one of the stories dealt with a genocide survivor. She and six other women hid in a tiny bathroom (!) in a priest house for 3 months (!) while killers looked for them.

I highly recommend the book. Sometime in 2007 I may read <b>Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda</b>

Wayne-
I also saw the 60 minutes segment about Rwandan women. A very touching story but it was so true of what it was like during those months of hell.

I actually read &quot;Shake Hands with the Devil&quot; while in Rwanda last year when I was staying with one of the scientists from the Fossey Fund.

I do recommend you read it if you want to understand the genocide through the eyes of Gen. Dallaire. It really depicts his struggle trying to get help for a country that no one was interested in helping.

I also saw the 60 minutes piece featuring the genocide survivor. The thing that really struck me was thinking that, as dramatic as her story was, there are probably literally thousands of stories just like that which are never told. Every survivor probably has a dramatic story about how they made it through.
I personally found the book by Human Rights Watch, &quot;Leave None to Tell the Story&quot; to be a very informative and comprehensive account of the genocide, including a very thorough treatment of the underlying preparations and motivations of the persons involved in planning it. It is available online at www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/.
If you want to read a heartbreaking story, head over to the New Times website (www.newtimes.co.rw). There is an article today (an excerpt from a book) about the treatment of Rwandan Tutsis who were employed at the French Embassy in Kigali.
Chris

Wayne we are heading to Rwanda in Feb. I have that book as my next in line to read. I think you have previously mentioned the film. &quot;Sometimes in April&quot; that is pretty amazing also.
Thanks J

I missed the 60 minutes show but I have recently become involved with the building of a Rwanda Girls school -- www.rwandagirlsschool.org

I actually have a meeting tomorrow trying to set up the founder to lecture in Denver on genocide and fundraise for this school building effort. They need lots of help now for construction and after January 2008 it will be possible to sponsor a girl for about $600 a year. For anyone looking to help Rwanda move forward I'd urge you to take a look.

<b> which Rwanda Genocide?</b>
i know you mean the 1994 Genocide
but it's not the only one:
1962-3 Rwanda: Genocide by Hutus
1972-3 Burundi: Genocide by Tutsi

i have a feeling that when the Genocide is in Africa, the world's attitude is different...
See thge recent Genocide in Sudan...

aby

i have not seen the &quot;60 minutes&quot;
but i've just seen some reports from Darfur. Genocide-survivors (women), in a refugee camp, feel unsafe as &quot;Janjawid&quot; attacks have been carried out in refugee camps as well... UN forces cannot guard (<u>at least</u>) the refugee camps ??

Some good book recommendations. Thanks.

Hey Aby,

Yes good catch, Rwanda has had MULTIPLE genocides.

from Chris_GA_Atl:

<i> there are probably literally thousands of stories just like that which are never told. Every survivor probably has a dramatic story about how they made it through.</i>

Yes, virtually anyone who made it through could have their story made into a movie. My driver ran from a group chasing him, jumped off a bridge to the ground below, shatting a bone in his leg and sending it piercing through his skin. He somehow made it to a hospital which in theory was a safe zone, but of course the killers dragged people out of the hospital and killed them.

PredatorBiologist:

I will definitely be donating to this cause. Over on the Asia board some women put together a charity for a teacher/guide in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It only costs a few dollars to buy a child a uniform, flip flop shoes and school supplies. 100% of the donation goes to the children. Do you know yet what % of funds raised goes to overhead and admin costs?

I'm sorry I missed the 60 minutes segment, but it sounds like a book I read called &quot;Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust.&quot; I definitely recommend the book.

And to add one more to the mix. I just learned about a movie called <b>Shooting Dogs</b> which also takes place around the genocide. It seems that so far it has only been released in the U.K. and is not avaialable on video in the U.S.

Have any of our overseas friends seen it?

By the way, the title of the movie comes from the fact that while the genocide was happening, U.N. soldiers were not allowed to shoot people who were slaughtering other people, but they were allowed to shoot the dogs who were eating the dead. Insanity!

A reporter, who went to Rwanda a few months after the genocide found it strange that he never saw any dogs in Rwanda. He said that people pretty much killed off most of them because they ate the dead.

I've had &quot;Shooting Dogs&quot; on my Netflix queue for sometime now. It should be released within the next year.

One of the (ex)veterinarians of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project (MGVP), who has just recently moved back to the states from Rwanda to finish up his PhD, has a cameo in the movie.
Since I haven't seen it yet, I don't know if he's still in it or if he ended up on the cutting room floor. ;-)

Wayne

Shake hands with the Devil is a great read you should definitly check out.I found Shooting Dogs to be the best of the 3 movies i saw and i loaned it to a few friends who all agree that it was very well done.I would highly recommend &quot;finding&quot; a copy on the internet.

Well I certainly won't encourage anyone to find an inappropriate copy on the Internet... but <i>were</i> one to do so...

They would find <b>Shooting Dogs</b> to be an OUTSTANDING movie, one that would haunt the watcher for a long time. Usually I get VERY irritated by movies where they deal with the problems of an ethnic people, but they tell it through the eyes of Europeans. For some reason it worked for me here. maybe because I have already seen movies telling it through the eyes of Rwandans.

While Hotel Rwanda stayed mostly isolated in the hotel (and wasn't even filmed in Rwanda), Sometimes in April &amp; Shooting Dogs both hurl you in the midst of the killing. You also see the beautiful red soil of Rwanda and the authenticity gives the films even more power.

When Shooting Dogs is released in the States it will be retitled some generic title, I think &quot;Any Given Heart&quot;... they are afraid we Americans can't handle the ironic title.

However you come across the movie: 4 stars!

Read “Left To Tell,” so touching because it is about one woman learning to forgive with the help of God after most of her family is killed in Rwanda .

Just finished watching &quot;Shooting Dogs&quot;, available in the UK on Region 2 DVD. A very moving film, it was shot on location in Rwanda, unlike &quot;Hotel Rwanda&quot; which was actually filmed in South Africa. It depicts the early days of the genocide, centered around a technical school, where UN soldiers were based until ordered to evacuate to Kigali Airport. After the UN evacuation, 2,500 Tutsis were murdered at the school. Survivors participated in making the film. You can learn a little bit about the film at http://www.shootingdogsfilm.blogspot.com/.

By the way, SHOOTING DOGS will have a 2007 release in the US and it will now be called &quot;Beyond the Gates&quot;

www.ifilm.com/video/2820011

once again an excellent movie:

wayne: I'm glad you topped this as I never answered your question about the % of donations that goes to the Rwanda Girls School. There is a foundation that covers all the admin costs so 100% of donations goes directly to the school and benefit of the future students.

For anyone in Colorado I have the director of the Rwanda Girls School project, a well known journalist and humanitarian Rebecca Tinsely giving a lecture in Golden on February 19th.

The movie &quot;Shooting Dogs&quot; will be released on DVD in Canada on February 20. You can preorder it from Amazon.ca. It is in the North American format. I ordered it from Amazon.uk and had it shipped to my computer genius son. He was able to remove the copy protection, reformat it, and burn it to DVD . Total price including shipping was $23. As Wayne said, it is excellent.