Gardens, Granite, and Genocidaires

Ever since arriving in Kigali, I curiously wondered what the smoke billowing from the surrounding hills was caused by.  Now I know...

The smoke is from the fires stoked by genocidaires to make the granite rocks break more easily as they pound them with a sledge hammer every day.

This is part of their punishment for destroying their country.

Google "Gacaca Courts."  You'll likely find a Wikipedia page followed by a slew of international criticisms of Rwanda's solution to the 120,000 inmates accused of genocide and crimes against humanity.  Its difficult for an outsider to understand what justice means in Rwanda, but that's the reason I'm here.

During the one hundred days of killing in 1994, the majority of judges, prosecutors, and others working in the court system were either killed or fled the country, leaving no justice system infrastructure to deal with punishing those who perpetrated the genocide.  When the government realized it would take over one hundred years to prosecute all the perpetrators, they developed Gacaca, which is historically the Rwandan mechanism of settling disputes.

At Gacaca trials, the accused genocidaires represent themselves in front of seven judges chosen by the community.  These "persons of integrity," as they're called, don't necessarily have a legal background and may not even be able to read or write.  But their communities choose them because they trust they will be fair, which isn't something we, as westerners, should dispute.

Witnesses give testimony.  Those accused who wish to maintain their innocence may call forth witnesses to speak on their behalf.  Those who wish to admit to their crimes must tell the whole truth of what they have done.  This benefits the community tremendously; although it is difficult for the community to relive the horror of genocide, the survivors often find out what became of their missing loved ones and where they were buried, and then have the opportunity to give them a proper burial.

Those who admit to all their genocide crimes are given a half sentence to be served in the T.I.G., a work camp for genocidaires.  We visited the T.I.G. in Kigali, which is where we saw the men building houses, breaking rock, and planting gardens.

rocks quarried by genocidaires to be used for building roads.

tiered gardens in the T.I.G. work camp.

homes for "extremely vulnerable individuals," built by genocidaires.

After touring the work camp and the quarry, we sat down with four genocidaires, three men and one woman (women often either instigated their husbands to kill... or killd children, often by slamming them against walls) to talk with them about their crimes, their punishment, and their hopes for the future.  The woman and one of the men were being released that very day, along with 36 other inmates.

All they told us was lies.
They continually proclaimed their innocence.
And we took it all in, unaware.

When we sat down with Stefanie (our AD) and Issa (our homestay coordinator) to debrief after the visit, they told us it was clear to them that we only heard lies at the T.I.G.  They had met with these inmates before, and each time heard a different story from them.  We couldn't really understand why they would lie, espeically because they had openly admitted their crimes at Gacaca in order to serve their sentence at the T.I.G.  We assumed it was because they were either ashamed or scared, but either way we were less than pleased with this revelation.

Despite the difficult life they lead, doing manual labor and sleeping in sparse barracks, it was impossible for me to feel any sympathy for them.

They've taken lives,
senselessly and brutally.

At the end of the day, they're still alive.
They get to see their families again,
and they get to go back to their lives someday.

Although I know they must live with what they're done every day, nothing negates taking another human life, especially in a situation as wild and needless as genocide.





Despite any criticism Gacaca might face in the international community, from what I've seen, I would say its serving its purpose.  The men and women who destroyed Rwanda 16 yeas ago are now working to rebuild it, one house, road, and garden patch at a time.  Nothing will bring back the one million lives lost in 1994, but this is at least something that not only rebuilds the physical aspects of what was destroyed, but helps to reconcile the people of Rwanda, helping them to move on.