Standing over a
young boy, a man grasps a nail-spiked wooden club, ready to strike a deadly blow to his
skull. “I promise never to be Tutsi again!,” cries the boy, apparently in hopes
that his life will be spared.
This devastatingly vivid image
originated in the memories of a child, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide in which nearly
one million Rwandans were killed. Similar images of the brutality they witnessed pervade
the thoughts of a multitude of other Rwandan children.
“Witness to Genocide: The
Children of Rwanda” is a collection of artwork by child survivors of the 1994
genocide.
“Their drawings may be
unsettling, but they are the images emblazoned on the minds of innocent children who
witnessed the brutal slayings of their parents, siblings, and neighbors,” writes
Richard A. Salem, editor of the book and president of Conflict Management Initiatives, a
not-for-profit organization that supports the use of mediation and other collaborative
processes to manage community conflicts.
From drawings of men with clubs to
chaotic images of families being murdered,
the book “Witness to Genocide: The Children of Rwanda” serves a purpose: trauma
relief. As First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
notes in the book’s foreword, the children’s drawings serve as a vehicle to end
their distress.
“I realized that these drawings
are not just depictions of brutal violence but are acts of recovery, healing, and hope,” she writes. “The
very acts of talking, writing, and drawing are helping these children confront their past
experiences and express their feelings about them.”
Rwandan Ambassador to the United
States Dr. Richard Sezibera also suggests that “Witness to Genocide…” is a
book of healing…both for the children of Rwanda and the memories of the dead.
In the book’s final chapter
Sezibera says the stories of the Rwandan genocide “must be told again and again and
again, not out of a morbid desire for gruesome tales but out of concern that the innocent
dead should continuously sear the memories of the living…not only does collective
memory contribute to the healing that comes with shared pain, but it also gives hope that
the world will remember and avoid the pitfalls of yesteryear.”
Richard Salem suggests that not only
are the drawings a vehicle for trauma relief, but they are a warning of how corruptive
power can be. “For the children, these
are the images that wake them in the middle of the night…. For the rest of us, these drawings are a reminder
of what inevitably happens when the international community permits power -crazed leaders
to foment genocidal violence,” he writes. “It
is important that adults everywhere pay attention to the children’s stories, as
horrifying as they may be.”
The book notes the transformation of
Rwanda from a country where discussing trauma from genocide was once unspeakable to a
place where thousands of children now learn
how to cope with their grief.
As the book progresses, so does the
artwork. The once dismal and forlorn drawings
develop into pictures of Hutus and Tutsi children holding hands and working together, with
captions like this: “I love peace all over Rwanda.”
A percentage of royalties from the
book will be donated to trauma treatment organizations in Rwanda. Contributors to the book include the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, Church World Service, Friendship Press, Conflict Management Initiatives, and
members of the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, who contributed through their 1999 St.
Patrick’s Day Walk/Run for Charity. The
48-page “Witness to Genocide: The
Children of Rwanda” is available for $19.95 by calling Friendship Press at
1-800-889-5733. Or buy online at
www.cmi-salem.org.
Each Rwandan child has a tale, and
each tale has some sorrow. “Witness to
Genocide: The Children of Rwanda” takes that sorrow and provides hope for the future.
As Hillary Rodham Clinton writes “…no nation can move ahead when its children
are left behind.”
-end-
Contact: NCC News
NCC Home Page