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Editorial:
Spring Fever Comment:
What is Reconciliation? From
the Director: Ireland is changing and so are we! The
Whole Gospel for the Whole World (and beyond...) Rwanda
Ten Years On Anglo-Irish
Relations The
Hard Gospel Interview
with Robin Eames: RECONCILIATION - A View from Armagh Interview
with Sean Brady: RECONCILIATION - A View from Armagh Church-based
Peacebuilding Evangelism
& Reconciliation - are they irreconcilable? Dogville
and the Drama of Redemption Blessed
are the Peacemakers? Review:
Bitter Fruit Review:
The Colour of Darkness Review:
The Lost Message of Jesus Review:
The Futures of Evangelicalism Review:
Evangelicals in Ireland: An Introduction |
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review: THE COLOUR OF DARKNESS by Lesley Bilinda tells the harrowing story of the genocide which took place in Rwanda between April and June 1994. It is the personal story of Lesley Bilinda who was living and working for Tear Fund in Rwanda and who lost her husband and many friends during the civil war when approximately one million Rwandans were killed. The twelve chapters of the book take the reader through the journey of Lesley Bilinda arriving in Gahini in 1989 as a health worker through to her marriage to Rwandan Pastor, Charles Bilinda in December 1992 and on to the genocide of 1994, which started at a time when Lesley was on holiday with her sister in Kenya. The author includes personal entries from her diary during the genocide and the many agonising weeks which followed when the whereabouts of her husband Charles, was unknown. Through these extracts she describes the anguish and uncertainty of not knowing whether her husband was alive or dead for many months, and the pain of hearing the news of friends and colleagues slaughtered during the 100-day genocide. A detailed account is given of the months following the killings and the death of Charles, including the tragic scenes of loss and destruction which the author saw on return to Rwanda during a one month visit in October 1994. The author’s account of what she witnessed on returning to the country where she had lived for five years was difficult to read because the depth and scale of destruction was so immense. Families had been wiped out, homes looted and burnt out and in certain areas the smell of dead bodies left rotting in rivers and on hillsides was a lingering reminder of what had taken place. In reading the book ten years on from the genocide I felt guilty at the realisation that I had never fully grasped the seriousness of what was happening in Rwanda in 1994. This feeling was heightened by the fact that as I was reading the book the awful news of the tsunami disaster and the ever increasing death toll was being broadcast. It brought home to me that although we often see news coverage of terrible events, both natural and man-made, affecting thousands of lives, our attention to such events can be shallow and short-lived. The conversational way in which the book is written makes the book very accessible. The inclusion of personal diary entries made me aware that the author was sharing some of her deepest thoughts and I felt privileged as a reader to share these experiences. Obviously given the nature of the book some of the text is difficult to read because the existence of such hatred among communities is hard to fathom and the numbers of people killed is difficult to comprehend. However the book also tells amazing stories of peoples’ miraculous escapes through God’s love and protection. What struck me was that even when the author was at rock bottom, she held on to God and her faith. She recognised that it was only the love of God that could give her the strength to go on and the peace she needed. This book tells the miraculous story of how God can work in the most tragic of circumstances and is a book which everyone should read. JACQUI LIVINGSTONE is PA to the Director and Personnel Co-ordinator with the Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland. THE COLOUR
OF DARKNESS, A personal story of tragedy and hope in Rwanda,
Leslie Bilinda |
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