Carine Gakuba, Rwanda
When I was asked to represent the Rwandan genocide survivors, I couldn't help but wonder how I was going to give a voice to thousands of people who each have a unique story. Then I realized that we might have different stories but we all have one thing in common, we had experienced what it felt like to be abandoned and betrayed.
From April to July of 1994, over a million innocent people died in Rwanda. I was eight years old at the time and I had convinced myself that the only reason nobody was doing anything to stop the killings was because in my eight-year-old mind the genocide was happening all around the world. In the meantime, there was a debate going on in Washington about whether or not they should refer to the atrocities in Rwanda as genocide. When the genocide finally ended, I was shocked to find out that we were the only ones struggling to survive; everyone else in the world was living a normal life.
Why would it matter whether or not it was genocide? Wasn't the fact that innocent people were being slaughtered a good enough reason to act? If the international community had acted responsibly and kept their "never again" promise, we wouldn't have lost our families, friends, and neighbors. I wouldn't have lost my parents and three of my siblings would still be here with us.
The world gave us false hope by sending United Nations troops into Rwanda prior to the genocide. However, the troops were pulled out when we needed them the most. It was at that moment we realized there will be no help, and it was no longer a matter of" if we were going to die"; it was just a matter of "when and how we were going to die". I remember when our prayers went from "dear God please keep us safe" to "dear God, please let them shoot me instead of being chopped by a machete."
And now here we are, thirteen years later, and the same thing is happening in Darfur. This time they have already labeled it as genocide but that has not stopped people from being killed, women from being raped, or villages from being burned.
I hope we all agree that the decision to stop the Genocide in Darfur must be made, however, I believe we tend to leave these decisions in the hands of politicians. Nevertheless as we have been reminded today, decision-makers have often made the wrong choices throughout history. I believe it is time to take matters in our own hands. Imagine that you found yourself in the presence of a child from Darfur, a child who has lost family members, a home, and is currently living in a refugee camp. What if that child asked you "Have you done everything in your power to help me?" What would your answer be?
