I was on photography assignment in the South of the country, near the Rwandan border with Burundi for a community peacebuilding campaign. The people there looked very sad and pensive. On the way to the playground where the meeting took place, I noticed some destroyed houses, they had probably been demolished during the Genocide against the Tutsi. It started raining abruptly and people ran everywhere to seek shelter. I first took shelter in front of a house, but the wind was so strong, I followed some villagers who were running towards what looked like an abandoned school. As I was rushing along, I reflected on how it was during the Genocide and how some people used to take shelter in churches and schools, for some reason I started to think about the people that survived and how they are feeling today.
I was walking fast and tried to protect my camera from getting wet and a man came running towards me and offered to walk me under an umbrella he was holding and ushered me towards the school. I thanked him and went towards the children that were playing and started to take some photos. A group of journalists who were discussing among themselves told me to move away from them as my camera had attracted hundreds of kids to where we were standing.
As I was heading to a quieter place in the room, which I found out later was an abandoned church, I saw the man that had helped me; I smiled at him and he approached me. I asked him what the name of that village was, he said “Magi” in English it means eggs. I started to laugh about the name, and I asked him if he was a farmer and he said no. He said,” I recently got my first job in 13 years, in fact, I got paid today”. I jokingly asked him “Wow, what is the first thing you are going to buy?” He said, “I am going to buy my first mattress and clothes for my kids”. He added,” I was in prison for 13 years. I was released six months ago”. I asked him why he was in prison and he told me about his life. He was in the seminary but couldn’t become a priest. Right before the Genocide, he went back to his hometown, got married and even got a job at the District. During the Genocide, he would follow everywhere the people that were killing Tutsi families. He went to prison for people that were killed on a roadblock mounted near his house. When I asked him if killed anyone, he said that he never killed anyone and added that he also never tried to save anyone.
According to him, he feared to look like a Tutsi ally if he tried to save them. He said that if he could turn back time, he would have saved some people or at least say something. His greatest regret is how his actions affected his kids, they now live with shame, everyone at their school knows that their dad took part in the Genocide and talk about them. He said that he currently resides in the same neighbourhood where he lived during the killings and every day, he sees the families of the people he saw being massacred in 1994.
Every day is a reminder of what he did and understands why some people wouldn’t say hi to him but also grateful to those who approached him to say they had forgiven him.
He was also thankful that he could get a job at an irrigation project that designs and constructs terraces.
He and his wife slept on the floor after he was released from prison, they couldn’t afford a mattress but now he has a brand new one. He had also paid school fees and bought few clothes for his wife and kids. By the time we’re talking, the money had finished. But still he felt the difference because he knew that there would be money coming in at the end of the month. He let me take his photo, he never asked my name and I forgot to ask his. I decided to call him the man from Magi. When the rain had stopped and we went our separate ways, I could not help but feel sorry for him.
