Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, March 19, 2010 Page: 2 of 12
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PAGE 2 HUDSPETH COUNTY HERALD - DELL VALLEY REVIEW MARCH 19, 2010
Linda Chacon writes from Rwanda
Hope everyone is doing well. The last time I wrote about the genocide and the memorials we
visited and how emotionally impacting they were. I must apologize for the sloppiness of my letter, for I
could have easily written 20 pages on the subject of the Rwandan genocide. All the information I have
learned, I tried to reduce as much as possible to fit into a few pages. What I write to you all is only part of
what I have experienced here in Rwanda. If I could I would fill about 10 pages of information and stories
each week and write about how incredible and different the culture is.
I do have some complaints. Things like deodorants, toothpaste, shampoos/conditioners and
chocolate are incredibly expensive here, because they are imported items from the United States and so
they cost more. Never will you hear me complain about buses in the United States; here you practically
sit on top one another with smelly armpits in your face - not the best aroma after a long day.
Some of the things that stand out the most to me in Rwanda are how profound and deep their
faith and capacity to forgive runs. Rwanda is the only place I know of where the people that participated
in the genocide interact with the families of their victims in the same manner that you and I would inter-
act if we saw each other at Spanish Angels. To have the ability to forgive the person who was once your
neighbor, family or friend and who you know for a fact tortured and murdered your family, including
your children, and still so completely forgive him or her that bringing food to them, socializing with
them, praying for them and visiting them is a normal day for you is beyond my perception of human love.
I don’t think, I know for a fact that I would not be able to do what these people do every day - knowing
that I don’t have a mother, brother or sisters because a murderer with a dangerous ideology took them
away from me, yet still forgive the murderer when I’m reminded everyday that they are gone.
A few weeks back in my Issues and Peace Building class we had a guest speaker. He is a pastor
in a town an hour outside of Kigali and his job is to reconcile victims and perpetrators from the genocide.
He had an amazing story to tell about survival and forgiveness. He lost 46 family and friends including
his wife and two of his three daughters during the genocide. His one surviving daughter was saved by
an old, blind Hutu woman who somehow managed to convince the Hutu men to give her the young girl
because she told them that she needed the help around the house; this was enough for the killers to spare
the child’s life. The pastor survived the genocide because he was away working when news came of the
massacres that were taking place. By the time he made it to his home he was too late. He ran into the
hills for two weeks, and then he lived in a swamp for 41 days eating nothing but papyrus roots and drink-
ing the muddy swamp water in order to escape the same fate his family and countless others had faced.
This is not the amazing part of his story, although it is a remarkable tale. The amazing part was after the
genocide and his ability to forgive the same men that took his family members’ lives. He told how he
couldn’t sleep and lost the will to live and thought of nothing else but seeking revenge on those that killed
his loved ones. He imagined killing and torturing them and how it would feel to make them suffer as he
did. He said that it consumed his life - and understandably: Who wouldn’t think about revenge when you
had nothing to live for anymore? It took believing in God and finding his faith again that finally made
him change his ways of thinking. Incredibly he was the one that approached the murderers of his family
when they were in jail and asked for their forgiveness. Of course as students and Americans with our own
ideologies and ways of thinking, we asked him how he gathered his inner strength to find the ability to
forgive someone for such heinous crimes and if he was such a believer in God, why did he turn to Him
instead of away from Him? His answer was simple. He said, “God’s role is to not be a referee. That is
why he gave us the gift of free will. What we do with it is our decision. God’s job is to be the judge of all
that we do in this life, and I had to ask myself, if I died today would I be proud of how I have lived my
life? How could I as a Christian preach one set of beliefs and practice the exact opposite of what it is I
am supposed to be doing?” After he said this you could hear a pin drop in the room, we didn’t know how
to respond because I assume all of us considered ourselves Christians yet we practiced the exact opposite
of God’s gospel; that would make us hypocrites. With the examples of forgiveness that I have seen here,
I think about how silly the grudges I hold are. If one person has the ability to forgive the slaughterer of
their loved ones, why can’t I have the ability to forgive the person who hurt me emotionally? These ques-
tions are always going through my mind, and when I really think about it, I feel stupid and embarrassed
that my capacity to forgive is practically nonexistent. It has made me reevaluate my beliefs and how I
want to go about implementing them.
The story of Rwanda is a very complicated and amazing story. I strongly encourage everyone
to read about its history and how Christianity also played a role in the genocide; pastors and priests were
sometimes the heroes and sometimes the murderers. Rwanda should not be seen as just a sad story but
a happy one too; we should not only see the ugliness in the massacres but the beauty of what it has now
become. I talk about the awfulness but I hope to express to others how Rwanda should be an example to
everyone that achieving peace and forgiveness is attainable however deep the wound is. Rwanda is also
a place of unbelievable beauty. No wonder the French dubbed it “The land of a thousand hills.” With its
volcanoes, lakes and wildlife, it should be known and remembered for these attributes. This weekend
we’ll be spending the weekend in Kibuye and Lake Kivuu with its sandy beaches, so there’s another little
adventure for me and story for you next week. I hope everyone gets a little something from these stories,
and thank you for reading them. Maybe some people will be more aware and inspired by them.
Linda Chacon
Linda Chacon is a 2004 Dell City High graduate. She began a six-month study-abroad program
in Africa in January.
Dell City
Fourth Six-
oo
Elementary
weeks Awards
Elementary school awards for the fourth six-wOC
school year were announced at the Dell City School Op;
held Wednesday, March 10. Congratulations to all the st
Kindergarten
Israel Estrada
Star Reader
Danika Gallagher J
Luis Cabral
Enrique Gonzales |
Hannah Sanders
Super Reader
Lane Clark
Third Grade j
Independent Reader
Star Reader
Iris Aguilar
Robbie Rector
Advanced Reader
Fernando Moure
Super Reader
Jace Clark
Student of the Month
Independent Readei
Esteban Morales (March)
Jami Knight
Advanced Reader
A Honor Roll
Ashlynn Gilmore
Lane Clark
AB Honor Roll
Student of the Mont
Iris Aguilar
Jace Clark
Kaysie Burford
W
Esteban Morales
A Honor Roll
Fernando Moure
Ashlynn Gilmore /
Zechariah Rauch
Jami Knight
AB Honor Roll scp1(
Perfect Attendance
Jace Clark
Alyssa Holguin
Robert Rector
Kaysie Burford
Levi Walker
Other Awards
»e, tl
Fourth Grade
Star Reader
Michelle Burford ,
efigl
Compass Reading
Lane Clark, Fernando Moure
First Grade
Super Reader
Super Reader
Susan Sunn
Kirsten Gilmore
B
IB
Independent Readei
Independent Reader
Diego Cabral
Samantha DeLaRosa
Advanced Reader
Student of the Month
Samantha DeLaRosa
Alexis Corral
(February)
Student of the ModR"”
Michelle Burford (Ft
A Honor Roll
■ .
Kirsten Gilmore
AB Honor Roll Bpr
Susan Sunn E;
Second Grade
Star Reader
Perfect Attendance
Danika Gallagher
Super Reader
Michelle Burford ’ L
Kimberly White
Israel Estrada
Fifth Grade
Independent Reader
Star Reader
Jimena Cabral
Elsa Hernandez
Advanced Reader
Stephanie Cruz
Super Reader
Cody Gilmore
Student of the Month
1........
Glen Starbuck
Independent Reader.
Sarah Holguin
A Honor Roll
Advanced Reader |
Jimena Cabral
Felica Haake
Stephanie Cruz
i
Danika Gallagher
Student of the Mo®1 -
AB Honor Roll
Isaiah Rodriguez (Mi
Maxine Burford
K > ■
Israel Estrada
A Honor Roll
Enrique Gonzales
Elsa Hernandez pec
Hannah Sanders
AB Honor Roll ing <
Glen Starbuck
Cody Gilmore ;h thi
Felica Haake
Perfect Attendance
Maxine Burford
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Stuart, Andrew. Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 18, Ed. 1 Friday, March 19, 2010, newspaper, March 19, 2010; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1191794/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .