Those We Remember

We seek refuge from a lot of things in life. We seek it from work, school, politics, the banalities of the daily grind. We seek it from the real world, responsibility, reality, fate. We rarely seek it from things people actually need the refuge for around the world.

This is because we're lucky. Every person reading this blog is lucky in some way or another. We're lucky because we might have amazing families, friends, a job, a roof over our head, metro cards in our pockets, a political opinion, a social opinion, an opinion about fashion, movies, music, pop culture, other cultures. We're lucky because some of us might have all of the above. We're lucky because we're allowed to have all of the above, to seek it out, to work for it, wish for it, write about it.

Most of us do not have a day that comes around once every 365 days, where they are forced to remember and mourn the death, gruesome and brutal, of their entire family. Or the following 100 days spent hiding in a basement.

But some of us do. And for those people, that once a year has come around this week.

The Rwandan genocide began 14 years ago today, April 7. 11% of the Rwandan population was wiped out in a 100 day killing spree that engulfed the entire country. Almost an entire ethnic group slaughtered. Sure, most of us have seen Hotel Rwanda or read We Wish to Inform You Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. This is not an obscure genocide.

But it's been a little different for me this year. My client is the sole survivor in her family. She was 9 years old 14 years ago. And she has shared, in an eloquent, heartbreaking, empowering and raw way, her story and her life and her family with me this semester. Suddenly, the reality of this anniversary is a little more intense, and always will be from this year on.

So take a moment, and think about the things we seek refuge from, the things we are thankful for, the people in our lives, our families, our friends, and those who have saved us throughout our lives, even in the most seemingly insignificant ways. And then take a moment and think about those who sought refuge 14 years ago in churches, schools, basements, homes, friend's houses and fields, and the refuge they sought that did not save them.

And remember.