The Spirit of Rwanda

Since we are between Purim and Easter, and my last post was about politics, why don’t I just go ahead and cross the next thing off the “it’s impolite to discuss…” list. Let’s dive into the question of religion and how spirituality is affecting my and Jamie’s experience in Africa.

Rwanda as a whole is a largely catholic country, a little over half the country follows the Roman Catholic Church, a quarter are Protestant, and there are smaller communities of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists, and Muslims. There seems to be almost no practicing community of Rwanda’s traditional, pre-colonial religion.

In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. identifies the Church’s responsibility not to just act as a social thermometer, reflecting society’s status quo, but to be a thermostat that spreads the warmth of love and justice. In Rwanda, you have starkly contrasting case studies of the Church reflecting the worst of a community’s ills, and promoting the best of its intentions. In 1994, Tutsi victims fled their killers and flocked to churches in the hope of finding sanctuary; almost none of them provided safety. Some of the most brutal massacres sites of the genocide are at churches where clergy welcomed in hunted families, only to then call in the interahamwe (militia) once they were all gathered for slaughter. The most famous church massacre took place in Nyarubuye, where an estimated two thousand people were butchered in a house of God. However, since the Genocide, missionaries and members of the clergy whose hands were not marked with the blood of genocide have taken a lead role in the work of reconciliation over the last twenty years. They have done the mind boggling work of bringing together perpetrators and survivors to rebuild Rwanda’s shattered society together. Indeed, without the belief that the image of our creator resides within all of us, how could one ever forgive such wanton cruelty and determined evil?

Remains of 2,000 victims remain on display at the Nyarubuye church.

But this post is not about the Genocide. It’s about religion at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) and here at ASYV, religion matters to these kids, a lot. Students freely talk about their belief in and relationship with God, and it is commonplace to receive a blessing a long with a thank you. Every Sunday, you can see scores of teens gathered at the Roman Catholic Mass and hundreds more gathered and singing the gospel in Kinyarwanda at the Protestant service. At the Protestant service, two well-rehearsed student choirs take turns leading songs, singing the words of the Bible in Kinyarwanda to melodies that echo thousands of years of African culture and joy. When they are not signing or drumming, students volunteer to testify before one another, with Hallelujahs and Amens abounding from all chairs and mouths present.

The Catholic mass has a different feel to it. While the teens are every bit as enthusiastic, the service is far less participatory and much more passive, being led by one person while everyone mumbles along to a tune with some awkwardness. It felt like watching David Lee Roth cover a James Taylor song. The teens’ DNA tries so hard to push through the solemn European melodies with joyful African singing. The teens slowly sway to melodies that are meant for contemplation instead of dancing. It was a perfect embodiment of centralized versus decentralized rituals. While the protestant service beautifully blends African culture with a Christian ethos, the Catholic Service tries to fit an African hole with a European peg.

But denominational differences aside, the students’ religiosity is humbling, if not inspiring. The teens at ASYV are here because they were considered the most at-risk in their communities. Most of them are parentless, either by abandonment or death, and woefully impoverished. They have so much reason to harbor despair and anger and instead find strength, hope and love in one another. They rejoice in their belief in something beyond their selves or understanding. Arthur Schopenhauer, the 19^th century German philosopher declared that, “every person takes the limit of their own field of vision for the limits of the world.” But perhaps, these teens prove just the opposite when applied to what is beyond our world. To borrow from and tweak Oscar Wilde, lying in the gutter gives you a better view of the stars.

ASYV’s Jewish genes come from its founder Anne Heyman, who was guided by her belief in Tikun Olam (The Jewish Belief in our obligation to complete God’s act of creation through ‘repairing the world’) to found the village. The students’ religious veracity makes it quite comfortable for me to share my Judaism with the students. It also helps that everyone says “Shabbat Shalom!” every Friday night to each other, an ongoing homage to Anne. While none of the students are Jewish, Judaism makes sense to them, especially Tikun Olam. Tikun Olam is not a substitute for spirituality, the way it is with many American Jews (I am guilty of it), it is an organic outgrowth of their spirituality and belief that they are part of something grander than their own lives and plans.

I have come to my own belief that religion at its best is a foundation for lasting communities, healthy inter-personal relationships and provides profound guidance to individuals over the basic questions of, “Why am I here and what am I supposed to do about it?” It really works when it does this without aspiring to power and that’s usually where it goes wrong. The way these teens and students embrace religion here is an incredible affirmation that it is possible and beautiful when achieved. Religious beliefs, practice and rituals infuse their lives with meaning and this community with a sense of shared purpose.

I can’t say I speak for Jamie on this, but I only hope that we find, or help build, a Jewish community that can provide us with the same type of inspiration, support, and meaning. Maimonides, the singular 12^th century Jewish Talmudist and philosopher, said, “You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.” Those are words to live by; take it from a Jewish educator who learned about organized religion from 500 at-risk Rwandan teens.