Sunday, May 23, 2004
Documenting Rwanda's Struggle to Make Sense of the Incomprehensible (article)
'Rwanda: After' (slide show)
During the genocide, some 5,000 people crowded into the church at Ntrama, hoping it would provide sanctuary. Instead, Hutus broke in and killed nearly everyone. Now the church is a memorial, one of many that dot Rwanda's landscape. An ossuary is attached, displaying the skulls and other bones of hundreds who died. Rwanda is a country of unburied dead, and many of the displayed remains still bear traces of skin. At Ntrama, survivors of genocide tend the bones, placing crucifixes and figures of the Virgin among the skulls. The church itself, which has never been fully cleaned, contains no information or explanation, only two burlap sacks of skulls.
...
The aftermath of genocide created a huge population of prisoners, and overcrowding is the norm. During the first three years after the killings, more than 120,000 of the accused, including children and the elderly, occupied prisons built to house only 10,000. The situation continues to be so severe that prisoners have to take turns sleeping since there is not enough room for everyone to lie down at once.
...
... asked prisoners why they didn't flee. One said: ''We are an obedient people. We were told to kill and we killed. Now we are told not to run away, and so we stay.''
...
Prisoners and accused sat side by side at the trials, the latter identified only by their pink prison shirts and berets.
'Rwanda: After' (slide show)
During the genocide, some 5,000 people crowded into the church at Ntrama, hoping it would provide sanctuary. Instead, Hutus broke in and killed nearly everyone. Now the church is a memorial, one of many that dot Rwanda's landscape. An ossuary is attached, displaying the skulls and other bones of hundreds who died. Rwanda is a country of unburied dead, and many of the displayed remains still bear traces of skin. At Ntrama, survivors of genocide tend the bones, placing crucifixes and figures of the Virgin among the skulls. The church itself, which has never been fully cleaned, contains no information or explanation, only two burlap sacks of skulls.
...
The aftermath of genocide created a huge population of prisoners, and overcrowding is the norm. During the first three years after the killings, more than 120,000 of the accused, including children and the elderly, occupied prisons built to house only 10,000. The situation continues to be so severe that prisoners have to take turns sleeping since there is not enough room for everyone to lie down at once.
...
... asked prisoners why they didn't flee. One said: ''We are an obedient people. We were told to kill and we killed. Now we are told not to run away, and so we stay.''
...
Prisoners and accused sat side by side at the trials, the latter identified only by their pink prison shirts and berets.
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