These are Rwandans convicted by gachacha courts of having taken part in the 1994 genocide. Since Rwanda’s prisons are so full — over one million people are believed to have taken part in killing 900,000 people in three months — Rwanda punishes them though the “Work in the General Interest” (TIG) program.
These men are building terraces in the village of Rutanda, outside Kigali. This is the area where they also committed massacres.
They danced for us as we arrived and said they are happy to see visitors, who can then learn that they have repented since 1994 and are capable of change. A powerful, moving message — yet not one of us left without feeling tremendous internal conflict. These were the murderers the world came to abhor — yet they claim they have changed.
Have they?
Perhaps that is an unreasonable question. Who among us can really say what we might be capable of in the future. Yet this example of “justice” and reconciliation is a striking one.
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