Thank you - Part III

Sorry for not posting in such a long time. In the meantime, I moved to Berlin, started my new job and to be honest, my trip to Africa seems like from a previous life. Needless to say, I didn't forget all the amazing people I met on the trip and actually think about them and their stories a lot. However, once back home, it would be rather easy to forget about all the resolutions I decided on during the trip and just go on with regular life, but I want to force myself not to.

A few weeks ago, I send a rather substantial part of your donations to Paul (I changed his name here, just to make sure...). We met Paul during a so-called "Survivor Talk" at the Kigali Memorial Center in Rwanda. Twice a week, the Memorial Center invites visitors to these talks, where one survivor talks about his/her experiences before, during and after the genocide. Believe me, visiting this Memorial Center and listening to one of the talks gives you a reason on its own, to visit Rwanda...

It is impossible to retell Paul's story here and account for all the tragedy and horror he and his family had faced. His father was already tortured to death in a prison before the actual outbreak of the genocide just for being a Tutsi. Paul also lost his mother and witnessed numerous atrocities, "friends" turning them down and way too many life-threatening moments. Paul is about my age, BTW...

After somehow surviving this crazy time, he went back to school and later on started working as a teacher. His monthly salary was 30 USD from which he not only had to make a living himself but as the now oldest member in the family, he had to support his siblings and pay for their schooling.

Today, Paul is finishing his degree at a university in Kigali and works for the Kigali Memorial Center. He is married and has one daughter and his second child is just about to be born any day from now.

Natalie and I were deeply moved by his story and especially by his strength to share his memories and relive everything all over again. So, after his talk ended, we talked to him for quite a while and decided that instead of giving a donation to the Memorial Center, we rather wanted to support an individual that we got to know in person. Paul might not be the poorest Rwandan you can find, but he and his family are struggling to survive just as most Rwandans do and we did feel that his effort and commitment to explain people what happened during the Genocide should be honored in some way. Paul was very shy about accepting our offer and first wanted to talk about it with his wife. Later, he explained us his hesitation saying that he simply could not understand why somebody from a different country would want to help him...

We are still in regular contact with Paul and he wants to use the donation to start building a hut for his family. He is a very dedicated person and actually wants to reach out and help other victims of the genocide that are still suffering and being forgotten today.