Memorials

This week marks a convergence of historical celebrations both in the States and in Rwanda, marked every year, but with varying degrees of fanfare. There is a great deal of fanfare for the 150^th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg, a turning point of the American Civil War, fought July 1-3, 1863. The details of the celebration are on the Internet, so even in Rwanda, we can be up to date. I have been rereading Killer Angles, one account of that battle, as my small way of remembering. That battlefield has always held an eerie fascination for me, as I know is has for so many others in the States. July 1^st is Independence Day in Rwanda, the day that the country gained its independence from Belgium in 1962, a far different story from the independence that America declared on July 4, 1776 and fought for from Great Britain. Rwanda’s was peacefully granted by Belgium, so it is not a big celebration here. Ironically, July 4^th is Liberation Day in Rwanda, the day that marks the end of Genocide in 1994, the 100 days in which over 800,000 Tutsi were killed. In the States, July 4^th will be the usual day of families and flags and fireworks. Here in Rwanda, it will be a quiet time of prayer and remembering.

New Memorial at Kirinda

As I think about these celebrations, I easily recognize the differences, but I also realize some similarities. All are designed to help us remember. One of the ways that is the same is in the memorials that have been dedicated to the events. More than anything, that is what Gettysburg is about. Within the approximately 4 square miles of the battlefield are over 1,300 monuments to brigades and to individual soldiers on both sides of the fighting, from the touching Irish wolfhound at the base of the Irish Brigade Monument to the sculpted horse that seems to be running with General Longstreet atop.. Washington DC is itself a monument to the independence of the United States and the memorials that grace the mall, especially the Washington and the Jefferson, bear testimony to that. In the same way, memorials dot the countryside of Rwanda, marking places of mass murder or of mass graves, reminding all who pass by of those who died during the Genocide.. Just last Saturday, I attended a dedication of a new memorial to over 200 Tutsi who were driven into a river and executed. Prior to the erection of the monument, family members came and stood at the riverbank to remember. Now there is a stone monument, with names, to remind all who pass there of what happened. As I sat listening to speeches by surviving family members, telling of their loved ones and horror of that day, I thought of President Lincoln’s remarks at dedication of the National Cemetery at Gettysburg, the we would little note nor long remember what was said their but we would never forget what was done there. That’s the point – to remember.

Survivors at the river, remembering

So we remember – Gettysburg, Independence Day,  Liberation Day –  each with its own meaning, each inviting us to celebrate in very different ways what happened in different places and at different times in history, but to remember the people and events that shaped the different countries. Each time we see the  memorials, we are invited to remember.