AFRICA/RWANDA - “ I have never known peace or justice, neither has my father nor has my son ”. Testimony from a displaced Rwandan refugee

Tuesday, 22 June 2004

Kigali (Fides Service)- Testimony on the conditions of refugees and internally displaced persons is worth more than a thousand speeches. On the occasion of World Refugee Day, marked on June 20, we present the following testimony, given to an Italian TV programme by Mathew Kinshane at Kiziba refugee camp in Rwanda.
“Thank you for coming here to see how we refugees live! The United Nations runs this camp and it is the largest in the whole region where Rwanda borders on Burundi and Congo.
Peace? Justice? Just Words…everyone talks of peace and justice but where are peace and justice here in the heart of Africa?
I have never known peace or justice, neither has my father nor has my son. And perhaps not even my grandchildren will know peace and justice! Here these are only empty words.
… Here in the camp we help one another to survive the hardships of every day live. I have nothing; I will leave nothing behind me. Here no one has anything, we all depend entirely on humanitarian aid and no one takes the little the other receives….
I am a Christian and I know the 10 Commandments…the elders of our village always said that when the missionaries came with the 10 commandments they did not bring anything new for us, they were known to us...not exactly as they were written down, but we knew them. Except for the first commandment. What is new for me is the first commandment, that the Father is One and we are all neighbours, or better, brothers and sisters… so we must not kill a person or steal his cows or goats or firewood”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 22/6/2004, righe parole)


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