(RNS) During a three-month period in 1994, Rwandan government militias organized a massive killing spree in which machetes, clubs and other weapons were provided to Hutu tribal members to kill members of the minority Tutsi tribe.
Many of the murderers were neighbors of those they killed.
“A million people hacked to death in 100 days,” said Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana of Rwanda on a visit to St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Mountain Brook, Ala., on Feb. 10. “The government premeditated it, planned it, trained people for it, imported machetes from China and distributed them.”
But an encouraging phenomenon has been happening in recent years, fostered by church leaders including Rucyahana. Survivors of the genocide have been forgiving the killers, who have come forward to repent.
It’s the subject of the documentary “As We Forgive,” which has been shown and discussed in screenings recently at Samford University and St. Peter’s Anglican Church.
Laura Waters Hinson, who grew up in Destin, Fla., produced the film as a master’s degree project at American University in Washington, D.C.
“If it’s possible to forgive after genocide, there’s hope for all of us,” Hinson said in an interview at St. Peter’s. “I saw pain and struggle and hope, all at once. I came away thinking it’s possible, but not apart from God.”
Hinson traveled to Rwanda in 2005 as part of a mission trip with members of her Anglican parish, Church of the Resurrection in Washington.
“I met Bishop John; he’s the one who told me about the reconciliation movement,” she said. “He’s one of the primary leaders of reconciliation and rebuilding.”
She returned in 2006 with a film crew, following the stories of both killers and survivors as they tried to reconcile.
Her documentary, “As We Forgive,” narrated by actress Mia Farrow, won a Student Academy Award for best documentary from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The 53-minute film focuses on a woman named Chantale, who forgives the man who murdered her father and takes part in a project to build homes for both survivors and convicted killers who have been released after confessing and repenting of their crimes.
“You have killers and survivors living together in one village,” Hinson said.
