So this weekend I went to an international movie, Munyurangabo, hosted by BYU. It was about Rwanda. An earlier blog of mine talks about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. I figured it would directly cover the war and the horrors of the genocide. It didn't. It was still based off of actual events but it was filmed years later and focused on the aftermath of the war and what it is like to live there now.

A young, orphaned Tutsi boy, MAYBE 15,  travels across the country looking for the man who killed his father. Other than the machete he carries in his backpack he seems like a very normal young teenanger. He has a sense of humor and shows love for his best friend, travelling companion- not stereotypical traits of a killer. I have to say the ending, when he finds the guy, is very touching.

After I the movie I went home and I was thinking about all this. My roommate started telling me about her day, and about this movie she watched the night before. It was about this father who's son was killed by a gang member. He found the gang member began beating him up, something went wrong and unintentionally killed him. The gang member's brother and friends killed either the dad or the dad's family, i forget which. My roommate then said, "If I killed anyone it would be gang members and rapists."

It's interesting to see that my roommates reaction to a MOVIE was similar to the boys- they both wanted to kill. I think the movie has application beyond these extreme examples. Hate and prejeduce don't just go away. The Rwandan Holocaust killed between 500,000 to 1 million people. Obviously, the people doing the killing are still around and it's not like they all of a sudden decided they like Tutsi's. Also, that much killing is going to leave a tremendous amount of emotional damage to the survivors. Wouldn't you want revenge? Somewhere along the line someone's just has to turn the other cheek, or the hate cycle continues.

Mozambique

 

 This is a picture of refugees from Mozambique taken in 1994 during the Mozambican Civil War.  The Civil War started in 1977 and didn't end until 1995. Along with war, a Cholera epidemic was sweeping through the refugee camps. 

You can get Cholera from drinking contaminated food or water. It's pretty much a bad case of diarrhea that can kill you in a matter of hours if not treated(MedicineNet).When Salgado travelled through Mozambique it was not uncommon to see mother's carrying with them two or three orphaned children.

It's estimated one million people were killed during the Civil War. Civilians were the main target for the rebel group. Since the War, the country has went from Marxism to Capitalism, and is now a multi-party government(Wikipedia). After years of fighting, the country is finally settling and finding peace.

"MedicineNet.com." Cholera. MedicineNet.com, Feb 2010. Web. 18 Feb 2010

"Mozambique." Wikipedia. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc., 14 Feb 2010. Web. 18 Feb 2010

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 233.

 --Pamphlet. "Southern Sudan: A Population in Distress" Migrations: Humanity in Transition.   Aperture. New York, 2000. 16.

 

 

A civil war was taking place in Sudan during the time the picture on the top was taken. Most of the war was happening in the southern part of Sudan. The war began in 1983. This picture was taken in 1995; these boys were probably born shortly after the war began and have never known anything besides war life. Sometimes young boys were taken by rebels under the idea they were being protected from the government draft; really they were being trained to fight on the rebel side. To avoid this families would send their children off to refugee camps located in Kenya. Travelling was done by foot and only at night.

The civil war did not end until just recently, in 2005. According to the United Nations, however, "more people have been killed in southern Sudan in 2009 than in Darfur, where a separate conflict drew international attention, prompted charges of genocide and led the International Criminal Court to indict the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for war crimes." On paper, the war is over, but fighting still continues.

To watch a short clip on further information of the current situation of Sudan covered by CNN click here.

CNN. "Concerns Over Sudan Grow." CNN World. Turner Broadcasting System, 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 4 Feb 2010.

CNN. "Southern Sudan Needs Help to Avoid War, Aid Agencies Say." CNN World. Turner Broadcasting System, 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 4 Feb 2010.

Salgado, Sebastiao. Photograph. Migrations: Humanity in Transition. Aperture. New York, 2000. 163.

 --Pamphlet. "Southern Sudan: A Population in Distress" Migrations: Humanity in Transition.   Aperture. New York, 2000. 11.

Walls, Jill and Wes. Photograph. "Africa." 2004. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.