The
only reason you can’t see more refugees in this photograph is because eyes
can’t see that far. Their sheer numbers are amazing; there is no end to the
people, no end to the lean-to’s or the makeshift tents, no end to the children
or to the fires or the old pots and pans dotting the landscape. It goes on
forever.
This
photograph was taken in 1994 in the Benako camp in Tanzania during the Rwandan
Genocide.
I
hadn’t heard of the Rwandan Genocide until just last year when a coworker of
mine mentioned the movie Hotel Rwanda. This
little known genocide was a conflict between the Hutus, the majority, and the
Tutsis, who were a minority. When the Rwandan President died, a Tutsi-dominated
party, The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was blamed and the Hutus began
systematically slaughtering every Tutsi they found (Thomas). An eighteen year
old refugee said that the RPF “killed everyone in their path,” but a man named
Serukato said the “Hutu militia was just as bad” (Thomas).
These
refugees attempted to escape the genocide, but the conditions they endured are
almost as bad as the death guaranteed by remaining at home. Rations were scarce
and prices of commodities such as toothpaste, which we take for granted,
skyrocketed (Thomas). With only a small lake for water and washing, and with
500,000 people at the camp, the quality of drinking water quickly dropped.
In
all the pain that the genocide generated, humanity was able to shine through
just a little. Some Hutus housed Tutsis who feared death until even the Hutus
were forced to leave Rwanda for Tanzania in order to escape the same sentence. The
UN camp housed as many as possible, but 800,000 men, women, and children died (“United”).
I just found out about this genocide, which makes me wonder how many people knew
about it as it occurred? If no one knew, no one could help. I want to let people
know.
Bonetti, David. "Bearing Witness toDesperation." SFGate. N.p., 30 Jan. 2002. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Salgado, Sebastião. Migrations. New York: Aperture. 183. Print.
Salgado, Sebastião. Migrations. New York: Aperture. 183. Print.
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