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Deze zomer is het gebeurd!  We hebben totaal 50 koeien kunnen geven aan slachtoffer en dader 'koppels' van de Genocide (1994) in Rwanda.
Je kan dit in het laatste album zien.
De mensen die een workshop hebben doorlopen, worden in een 'celgroep' geplaatst. Deze groep gaat samen verder om elkaar te helpen met praktische dingen en ook om te delen hoe het verzoeningsproces nu verloopt.
Er worden samen inkomensverwervende activiteiten ontplooid en vaak wordt er een cooperatie opgericht. De lokale organisatie CARSA heeft aan hen gevraagd te kijken wie er in de groep het meest in aanmerking kwam voor het krijgen van een koe. Hiermee word de band onderling sterker en treedt er geen jalouzie op.
De meest arme mensen krijgen dan een koe. Dit is nu gebeurd en je ziet op de foto's hoe blij mensen hiermee zijn. De mest is goed voor de moestuin en straks als het kalf er is, hebben de families melk, die bijdraagt aan een gezond dieet en ook verkocht kan worden in de omgeving.
De twee (slachtoffer-dader) werken samen om de koe te verzorgen en dit helpt hen om weer goed contact met elkaar te hebben. Ook is dit een manier om te vertellen aan hun omgeving dat ze zich met elkaar verzoend hebben en om aan de kinderen uit te leggen wat er in het verleden is gebeurd. Voor de daders is dit een hele belangrijk feit omdat zij nu weer beter gerespecteerd worden in de gemeenschap.
In een van de districten is deze groep gevraagd te bemiddelen bij conflicten/zaken/claims van slachtoffers. Voor het Cows4Peace project waren er 235 rechtzaken, maar door de hulp van deze groep zijn er nu nog maar 15 zaken, die wachten op een oplossing.
Dit is een onverwachte ontwikkeling, die wij niet hadden kunnen voorzien en laat zien de impact dat dit project heeft op zijn omgeving.

Beste mensen,

In het nieuwste fotoalbum zie je de foto's van de eerste koeien die weggegeven worden. De eerste foto's zijn hun nieuwe stallen. De stallen in Rwanda zijn "luchtig", zo worden de koeien niet te heet. Je kan ook het stro door de muur geven aan de koe. Koeien mogen niet los lopen. Als je ze wil laten weiden, moet je meelopen of een herder huren.

On our side by tomorrow we will finish buying with the first 10 cows and will give them to the beneficiaries on Saturday. As government leaders are busy with local elections they have suggested us that we may organize a kind of official event of giving the cows on 22^nd of February. This event is good because helps local leaders and the whole village to come and know about the reconciliation process going on in the villages.

We are trying to have as many as pictures from every step of the project. We will share some of them with you next week after distributing the first cows to the people.

We took some pictures of John and Chantal story. We were there on Tuesday when Chantal was given to John the first calf. It was really a big event and very interesting to see John with his family coming in the morning to Chantal home with drinks to thank her for the cow. This is Rwandan culture! And in the afternoon Chantal with her friends and relatives have gone to John home with the cow. It was amazing to see how people from their villages have come in a big number to celebrate that ceremony.

You can’t imagine how successful this story is.  To have somebody whose have killed your father and then you are able to forgive him, to share with him a cow and to welcome him in your home. It’s a real transformation from hatred to such friendship. Someone has taken a small video for us; if we receive it we will share it with you with some pictures.

It has given us a picture of what will happen in the future when the people we’ll give cows will start to share them. To see a village where victims and perpetrators live together and share cows! Wow!

Christophe

 Today we are actually coming for the field where we were visiting all the first group of cow for peace beneficiaries. We had to visit every one to his/her home to check if he has finished with the cowshed and make sure he/she has the food for the cow.

We should say that apart from meeting them at one place for seminar or other meeting it was our first time to visit them in their homes and villages.

I tell you, it’s really hard because some of them live in the very far villages. We had to travel with motorcycle for around 8 hours to finish the visiting. Right now we are very tired but we thank God because it was a good experience. It has shows us how really we do need a car. We have prayed a very specific prayer after seeing how hard is to travel long distance in the local roads.

As everybody has now the cowshed, we are planning to distribute to them cows ether on 14th or 15th of February. We would like to invite the local government authorities and some other few people for the occasion. Normally we were planning to give the cows before the dates above but from tomorrow until February 12th we will have elections for local leaders. Distict and sector leaders are already busy preparing that and we can’t have them before they had finishing the election process. But also people will be involved to elect their leader from the village level up to the district.

We will keep updating you on every step.

Christophe

Here is the summary of the workshop we held from Monday 13th to Wednesday 15th. The seminar took place in Mugina sector where cow4P is curried out. We had invited 30 people; 15 genocide survivors and 15 ex-prisoners and/ or other people who are in conflicts related to 1994 genocide with those genocide survivors. But only 26 were able to attend the workshop. Some had participated in our previous workshops and had already started the process of reconciliation, other had only confessed their role in genocide while in prison, but had hard to approach the genocide survivors to ask for forgiveness even though they are living in the same community or village.

During the workshop they all went through the trauma healing session together. The genocide survivors brought their pains, anger, and bitterness as others brought their sins, guilty and shame. Then, they were able to ask for forgiveness and forgive. It was amazing to see how all participants were touched enabled them to do what they had failed to do before.

Below some testimonies from the participants recorded.

My name is Priscilla MUKAKALISA, I am a genocide survivor, my brothers and parents have been killed during the genocide. KAYINAMURA Boniface was among the people who killed my relatives. I was very wounded that I hated Boniface and his family, he had came to me before to ask for forgiveness, but I was not able to forgive him. But now I feel healed and I’ve just forgave him from the bottom of my heart. I’ve no more fear of him because he humbled himself, expressed deep regret and asked for forgiveness for all the harm he did to me.( Boniface had attended the workshop we had organized before.) 

My name is SINDAYIGAYA aphrodice, I prayed a role in genocide, together with my father and my two brothers; we took away the property of NZABAMWITA SIKORA when her husband had just been killed. My father and brothers passed away I had fear, guilty and shame in my heart. It was too heavy for me to bear. But, I feel free now since I brought out what was in my heart, asked for forgiveness for my own role and standing in the gap on behalf of my relatives and been forgiven by SIKORA. (They decided to hold the Bible while taking the photo to prove that it is the promise of God who enabled them to be reconciled)  

Bericht van Sylvestre:

We are planning to have a meeting with the first beneficiaries of cow for peace project selected among those who have already passed through the reconciliation workshops. The meeting is planned on january14th and we will be discussing about the preparative for receiving cows such as building cowshed, and the aim and the procedure of cow for peace project.

 

Bericht van Christophe:

As for the preparation for the cow for peace, we are planning to meet the executive secretary of the sector from Kamonyi district this week to discuss with him about their participation especially the veterinary from his sector

We will have also a seminar with the beneficiaries of the first 10 cows on December 6-8. From that time up to January we are planning of the working with them on the preparations activities such as building cowshed and we will give them cows in January.

Deze maand gaan we van start met 10 koeien. Eerst worden er gesprekken gevoerd met de leiders van het dorp om te kijken wie hiervoor in aanmerking zullen komen. We kunnen nu al geld over maken voor de koop van 10 koeien, dit komt tot stand met behulp van de Wilde Ganzen en het NCDO. Uiteindelijk zullen er 50 koeien geschonken worden aan 100 mensen.

From the second workshop, we were encouraged to learn that immediately following the last session, three women who, out of bitterness accused an innocent man of participating in the genocide, promptly made their way to the jail to confess and have him released.  It is the hope of CARSA’s staff that these workshops will initiate the process of both personal and corporate healing.

Healing and Reconciliation workshops are CARSA’s primary form of outreach. Workshops have reached many in various areas in the country of Rwanda.  Members of CARSA’s staff facilitated two workshops in the month of June.  The first was held at the IFBK Secondary School in Kacyiru.  Orphans of the genocide, students from both Hutu and Tutsi families, and those coming from Uganda, Burundi and the DRC were present.  About thirty students were able to share their stories with the staff, their experiences and their trauma.

We were so amazed and challenged to see CARSA's team working as couples ; a (man/woman) couple working hand in hand to heal and reconcile others. It changed the mindset of many youth to hear Judith, a woman Tutsi and genocide survivor married to Denys a Hutu. At the end of the seminar, one yound lady said: "I have a boy friend from the other ethnic group, we love and a ppreciate each other, I was wondering how I could marry him. But I realized that we have to change and make new History." This is one of the key problems young people face as they are thinking of getting married. And most of the time they are influenced by the older generation who are still bound up by ethnic hatred. If we want a peaceful future, we have to invest more in the young before they can make new History!

From April 7-13th, Rwanda commemorated the 16th anniversary of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi. Some days before that Mental Health released a report showing 30 percent of Rwandans are living with trauma. Everyone was asking why these numbers are increasing. The report said this is because those most effected were perpetrated at a very young age.

De mensen die uit de gevangenis komen, moeten weer naar hun eigen dorp terug. Dit is moeilijk omdat ze dan weer moeten leven met degenen van wie zij hun familie hebben vermoord. Chantal en John hebben een traject van verzoening doorlopen met de hulp van onze lokale partner CARSA. Ze zijn nu volledig met elkaar verzoend en John helpt Chantal met het werk, dat ze tot nu toe alleen moest doen. Nu dat ze samen de koe ook verzorgen, brengt dit wat meer geld in het laatje vanwege de verkoop van de melk.

Op Koninginnedag hebben we een actie gevoerd in Vleuten met een leuk bord waarachter je je foto kon laten nemen. Dit was om fondsen te werven en om mensen te vertellen over ons project. Ik heb een foto in het foto album gezet van het bord.

Er is een school in Amersfoort die € 2000 euro geeft voor dit project tbv de koeien! Hier kunnen we 4 koeien voor kopen! Super he!!

In december is er een workshop geweest met een groep mensen in Rwanda. Ik heb net een foto hiervan op het log gezet. Een meditatief moment, waarin mensen hun verleden achter zich laten en zich uitstrekken naar verzoening en een nieuw begin.

Deze week wordt er een workshop gehouden in Kigali zoals er straks voor de groep gedaan zal worden, die ook koeien krijgt na afloop. Volgende week zullen we hier wat nieuws over hebben.

In dit project zullen slachtoffers en daders samen werken aan de vrede in Rwanda. Alleen door het wegnemen van vooroordelen, en de trauma, door het verzoenen en samen werken, zal er een duurzame vrede ontstaan in Rwanda.

De gemiddelde Rwandees drinkt een glas melk per week. Dat betekent dat veel Rwandezen zich gewoon helemaal geen melk kunnen veroorloven. Ons project zal dit verbeteren en melk beschikbaar maken voor een kansarme groep.

Door het houden van koeien wordt de honger van mensen gestild. De verkoop van melk genereert een inkomen van € 86 per maand. Dit is erg veel voor een gemiddelde Rwandees, die ongeveer € 15 per maand inkomen heeft. Dit kan besteedt worden aan het kopen van eten en o.a. voor schooluniformen, zodat de kinderen naar school kunnen.