Agathe Hug. A woman was at the door of my gynecology office, and she was looking at the picture of the MTA that hangs there with awe. The picture is adapted to a modern gynecology office. Through the partially opened door, I observed how she took out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote something. Since she was my next patient, I asked her to enter saying: “I am sorry, I had to interrupt you meditation.” “Yes, she said, it is a wonderful picture. In fact, I have copied the phrase that is below it. I believe it is the name of the store where it was bought or the name of the artist. I will look for it on the Internet.” Whew! …I thought, I do not remember what is written! How embarrassing, I pass by the picture a thousand times, I see the MTA, and everything that surrounds the picture a thousand times, and I do not know what is written on it. But I am sure that it is not the name of the artist or the name of the store. But I did not mention this to the patient, and I talked to her about her visit. Later I sneaked a peek at what she had written: MPHCEV (the Blessed Mother will take perfect care and She will triumph). Oh! I knew that this is what was written, but I had forgotten.
I recalled this event again as I now think about Schoenstatt in Rwanda. In my picture the Blessed Mother is seen with women with children of all cultures, of all skin colors. Schoenstatt, our Mother Thrice Admirable Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt is here for all cultures, she takes care and conquers everywhere. Do we truly believe this? Intellectually, yes, but do I truly believe it in the most intimate fibers of my soul?
Rwanda…genocide and a great effort to establish peace
“Some prophets in Schoenstatt say that Schoenstatt’s future is black. This could already be possible if AIDS, the lack or scarcity of food, and death through starvation is conquered. This is also a subject in Rwanda.
The population of this Eastern African country is increasing. There is an average of five to six children per woman. Although infant deaths for those younger than five years old is very high (7.6%), however, the pyramid of ages has a broad base. The government has introduced the idea of having three children per family. In any case, we must also think that the official percentage of those infected by AIDS is 2.9% of the total population, but no one believes it. It is much higher.
It was not something glorious that placed Rwanda in the headlines of the newspapers in 1994 as a result of the genocide of the Tutsis caused by their enemies, the Hutus. Presently the signs of the times are peace and the process of pacification. But …until recently I thought, presumably like many other people, that the Tutsis and Hutus are two different ethnic groups, who were enemies. But it is not this way. This opinion, which is widely held, is the consequence of an ideology that was used by the colonial powers as an exercise of power. Rwanda is inhabited by a people who have the same language and the same culture, and it has been demonstrated among many of the genetic studies, they belong to the same people, who at the same time differ genetically from their neighbors. But surely, there are also some genetic differences between the Tutsis and the Hutus that produce a different bodily structure. However these differences are found in all peoples.
The colonial powers, first the Germans, then the Belgians, used constructed social categories for centuries: the “Tutsis = cattle breeders”, the “Hutus=farmers” and the “Twa=hunters, collectors, and potters” for their indirect administration of the country. Before the colonization, the Tutsis were the governors, although they were the minority. Rwanda has a long monarchial tradition and the kings and the royal houses were Tutsis. The Germans, as the colonial powers, governed above the structures that they found. In any case, they made this an ideology that the Belgians – who followed as colonists – perfected. They established an annual census that was held in 1933 and 1934, and since 1939 it appears in the identification document that anyone who has more than ten cattle is a Tutsi, those who have less are Hutu, and those who do not have any are Twa. The Tutsis were considered by the colonial powers as descendants of immigrants that arrived from the Nile, whose features looked like the white but with a black skin. The Hutus were classified as the original black population. And this came with a “valuation of race” that cannot be sustained as such, but that in this case, it was simply based on false myths. Presently it is known, as has been said that this is not correct and one as well as the others were originally settled in the sphere of Rwanda.
However, this ideology of race had its consequences that ended in genocide. Above all only the Tutsis went to school, they also went to the schools of the Catholic missionaries, and through this they obtained access to public positions. During and after the Second World War, the missionaries changed the image that they had of themselves. They were considered as protectors of the helpless, and in this manner the Hutus agreed to go to school and a Hutu clergy emerged.
Slowly, the Belgian colonists also had problems. The Tutsis expressed their own ideas and they simply did not want to carry out the Belgian rules. And in this way the Hutus were also politically motivated. In 1959, the Hutus finally took power, and they turned things around. They assumed the racist ideology of the Europeans, and they began to treat the Tutsis as late foreign immigrants. This is how the first wave of Tutsis desertion began in 1959. Before it was calculated that they were 12% or 13% of the population of Rwanda, afterwards perhaps only 10% was left. The Twa had a subordinate role in this entire constellation. After the genocide of 1994, in which it is calculated that a million people died – there are different calculations about this – the percent of Tutsis descended to 1 to 3% of the total population. It is calculated that 90% were assassinated. It is unknown what the actual percentage of Tutsis there is in the population of Rwanda. As a result of their return from exile, the number of Tutsis increased in their nation. But finally, it is the same, since it is a peaceful country and moreover for us as Schoenstatters it is not so important… But it helps to know the history to understand, to help the reconciliation, and to help to look toward the future.
And Schoenstatt in Rwanda?
At the beginnings of Febuary 2009 – exactly, for Conference 2014 – the third International Auxiliary MTA of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign returned to Schoenstatt after its travels through Africa. For fifteen months, it was on pilgrimage through Burundi, Congo, Tanzania and Rwanda within the framework of many large and mobilizing pilgrimages for peace, which motivated the Schoenstatt Family in Burundi into preparation for the crowning of the MTA as Queen of peace and of reconciliation. These pilgrimages for peace – that were frequently accompanied by hundreds of thousands of people – that had to promote the reconciliation among people who were artificially enemies, and as of consequence of this they endured indescribably suffering, desertions, death of relatives and of countless nights beneath the rain of bullets. They had mutually hurt each other.
In July of 2008, the Auxiliary MTA arrived at Kibeho and Butare on its pilgrimage for peace in Rwanda. You can read the following on schoenstatt. org:
“More than 230 pilgrims departed from the Shrine of Mount Zion Gikungu, in Bujumbura, Burundi, taking the International Auxiliary of the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign to the neighboring country of Rwanda. Eight buses and two four wheel vehicles departed on July 4th to Kibeho. The following day, they continued on their way toward Butare. Bishop Philippe Rukamba’s enthusiasm was noticeable when he welcomed the Auxiliary to his diocese. His great desire was for the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign to be established in the twenty-one parishes of his diocese. The pilgrimage was prepared, perhaps as it was done previously, for peace with the presence of the Auxiliary MTA, with adoration at night in the Bujumbura Shrine. Many people spent the entire night praying for peace and for the success of this pilgrimage. On the road, they also prayed very much; they especially prayed the rosary for peace in the families, for peace in both countries…The Bishop of Butare wants to establish Schoenstatt in all the parishes of his diocese by introducing it with the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign. With this picture, the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt will visit all the parishes of the diocese with the hope that the Campaign will begin in all of them.
The Father Symbol was in Rwanda in April 2011 during its worldwide pilgrimage in preparation for 2014; it was precisely in two places: Kibeho – a Marian pilgrimage site – and Butare, where there is a large Schoenstatt Family. There is an article on schoenstatt.org that states: “It was a beautiful experience when all the participants prayed and sang alternately in Kiruni and in Kinyaruanda. A Family of many peoples and languages is growing around the Auxiliary Shrine and the Father Symbol…”
This Family celebrated the Holy Mass “toward 2014” in covenant with Rwanda on the Covenant day of February.
Celina M. Garza: Spanish/English translation – M.Peña-Janknegt: English edit
