Cintia Feliz
10/22/15
Professor Kapstein
Lit 237 Section 13 We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories from Rwanda Philip Gourevitch introduces different stories of the survivors of the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Hearing these stories, he finds out what it was like to live through this horrific event that killed 800,000 Tutsis. During one of his interviews, he comes across Paul Rusesabagina who speaks about Father Wenceslas, a priest during the genocide, who would walk around “in blue jeans and a T-shirt with a pistol” (135). A normal priest would walk around in his clerical shirt with a Bible or rosary in hand, especially during such an atrocious event. However, this priest didn’t. Many of the people of Rwanda lose their sense of humanity and morals during the genocide, including these leaders of society that Rwandans look up to. Many of these leaders in society changed because of the chaos that disrupts the order they swore to uphold. According to Paul, Father Wenceslas fears he would be assassinated if he didn’t appear pro-militia. “I didn’t have a choice,” Wenceslas replied. “It was necessary to appear pro-militia. If I had had a different attitude, we would have all disappeared” (136). People often look up to priests because whenever people are in bad spirits or in need of hope and tranquility, they turn to religion for comfort, especially during times of chaos. However, even priests couldn’t be trusted during the genocide. Many of these leaders of society forgot their values in order to stay alive, “They’ve already killed fifty-nine priests. I don’t want to be the sixtieth” (136). This shows how Father Wenceslas’s own fear affected his values, how his own self- preservation trumps his morals. He lost himself so much that he didn’t dress the part anymore just to stay alive. As Philip interviews these