Let humanity prevail

“We are in desperate need of a transfusion of humanity. We need to view all life as equal, not some more equal than others.”- Romeo Dallaire in his book Shake Hands with the Devil.Dallaire went back home shattered after being in Rwanda for only one year. He had witnessed only what he could call absence of humanity. He remarked in his book that all this was as a result of loss of hope in the future that heightened tribalism. This is true in essence because the perpetrators were fueled by the belief that those they were meant to kill were standing in line with their own survival. They called them cockroaches dehumanizing them before killing them. Their words and actions expressed an inner discontent that had grown into full blown hate. A hate that drove them to pick up their machetes and kill those they felt had to die for them to live. Images captured on video by British cameraman Nick Hughes show a father and his child being killed on a fateful April morning on the infamous roadblock in Gikondo. The father knelt in surrender, next to his daughter’s lifeless body and begged, he begged because the perpetrators were his neighbours, begged because he still believed in humanity but the blows to his head that followed are a clear indication that this time it was different because these people had defied normality. In a documentary, Iseta, Nick Hughes explains that what he saw in Rwanda was likened to a new form of being. “Its like human beings had come out of a shell” Nick says trying to come in terms of the genocide he captured through his camera lens. We have theories and studies on what caused this genocide. We have detailed explanations on how it could have been stopped. We have chapters on its genesis. But if you ask me, the genocide had existed long before a group decided to wipe another. It began when live and let live became just a phrase in writing. It began when people began to see opportunity in filled positions. When we looked at a country not in the eyes of opportunity but were confined in lack and scarcity. Thats when survival was threatened. That’s when people saw opportunity in the death of their neighbours and friends. That was when people started to believe in kill and take and that’s when our countrymen opened their doors to what we now commemorate as the Genocide against the Tutsi. The atrocities that were committed can never be fairly expressed in words. It would be too undermining. We know however that this did not just happen. It was brought up by peoples beliefs in ethnicity instead of a country. It was an upsurge of jealousy brought about by a believe that one can just take what they want from those they view as advantaged. It was brought about by people who expected a lot from a country but wanted to give nothing in return. By people who believed that a whole ethnic groups would be wiped out, replaced and forgotten. A belief that had been generated by selfishness that is brought about by those who believed power can give them anything they want. So yes the international community let us down by looking away from their screens when presented with real time genocide. But we also let ourselves down the day we began to think in terms of circles. The time that we started in believing that those you considered out of your circle did not have a right to live. Yes that was when we let down our own country. So fifteen years down the line we must look at our nation as a hub of endless opportunity for all of us. We must embrace togetherness that will help us create unseen possibilities for our children. It is important that we open our minds to embrace the reality that must be based on a fair understanding of each other in love rather than hate. Email: pgathoni@gmail.com