The Genocide in Rwanda

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/

I saw this Frontline special on PBS tonight, it was very interesting but in the worst possible way, I didn't know any of this happened - of course during the time period in which it was occuring (1994), I was just a punk kid in middle school. I never read about this in high school history classes, never heard it mentioned anywhere. This PBS thing is the first I've ever heard of it. It was hard to follow why exactly the genocide happened but the website I linked up above makes it somewhat clearer. Watching the whole thing was frustrating, even though this happened in the past - it makes me want to go off and join Red Cross or something and go somewhere and help somebody, that sounds weak but it'd be better than watching it all happen on tv after the fact. =\ Sorry to bum anyone out.

There's always a few active wars at any time on Earth, current ones like Congo's is up there with Rwanda. If you want to do something about it you can always start small and collect funds for the Red Cross or something along those lines.

In all seriousness, it's great to see a young person interested in making a real difference in the world. Rock on.

Yeah, stuff like this is always happening. I knew (vaguely) about Rwanda and I know that insane crap is going down in random African countries all the time. Africa seems to be a magnet for the big atrocities, although other thrid-world countries have their share of things that make you wonder if, just maybe, it's time to pack in the entire damn human race.

We live in a semi-civilized section of a dangerous planet. It's scary out there.

James

My friends step dad was part of a peace force that went there. It really fucked him up. He became an alcoholic, and once he flipped out because they dug up old animal bones in their backyard.

Good thing the US is "doing the right thing" in Iraq. Our government seriously disgusts me sometimes.

JM

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Originally Posted by arjue

My friends step dad was part of a peace force that went there. It really fucked him up. He became an alcoholic, and once he flipped out because they dug up old animal bones in their backyard.

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Ouch, yeah there was a scene in the documentary following this BBC journalist who went to a church/schoolhouse out there and there were nothing but decaying bodies all over the place, I'm talking about hundreds upon hundreds, some were still intact but alot of them were decayed to the point where you could see their skeltons underneath small patches of rotten flesh. They actually showed this on camera close up (no wonder they had a billion parental advisory warnings before it started).

The creepiest thing was that in front of the church was a statue of Jesus with his arms held out wide, and right underneath the statue was a decaying skeleton with its arms held out wide as well... talk about powerful imagery.

Holy shit, my friends dad brought back photo's of that place!

really, really fucked up shit, but stuff like that is happening all the time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JM

Good thing the US is "doing the right thing" in Iraq. Our government seriously disgusts me sometimes.

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How was your tirp to Rwanda? Was it better than Sierra Leone, Nigera or Haiti?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arjue

Holy shit, my friends dad brought back photo's of that place!

really, really fucked up shit, but stuff like that is happening all the time.

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You know, it was most likely the fact that he had to shot kids that are ~13 years old in Rwanda that fucked him up the most.

You know like these guys:

http://images.google.com.au/images?q...s/01071005.jpg