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As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda

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Inspired by and building upon the two documentaries As We Forgive (Laura Waters Hinson) and We Are All Rwandans (Debs Gardner-Patterson), Catherine Claire Larson explores the dark hours of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 in even greater depth and power by retelling not only the harrowing stories of survival, but the miraculous accounts of forgiveness. The stories she recounts are heart-wrenching, stomach-turning experiences of the absolute worst of human sinfulness matched only by the awe-inspiring moments of forgiveness made possible through the grace of God in Christ.

The effect of this book is to put one's own life in new perspective. When the stories of terror are met with the miracles of forgiveness, one's own experiences of grief, trial and guilt pale in comparison. This is not only a book for those interested in the horror of the Rwandan genocide and afterward; this is a book for anyone who has ever been wronged or has ever wronged another.

Larson leads the reader through seven different accounts of personal experiences. It is difficult to find words to sum these experiences up, except to say that the reader is asked to share with the victims in the horrors of rape, dismemberment, burnings and abandonments. Relatives are killed in the sight of loved ones, fathers in the plain view of their children. Even clergy and officials participate in mass killings of Tutsi people, who they have categorized as "cockroaches." The absolute worst in human nature is on display here. With each story of horror and survival, an accompanying miracle emerges: forgiveness.

What struck me in reading was the fundamental truth that forgiveness is unnatural; forgiveness cannot naturally follow what these victims endured. It is not natural for a girl who has been mauled, raped, and left for dead to grow to offer forgiveness to her terrorizers. It is not natural for a boy who watched his father and family killed by neighbors he knew to turn to them with grace and favor. Forgiveness is an intervention. It is some sort of divine intervention that must enter from another plane of existence. In these stories, it is brought in by Christ himself, who has borne the stripes, the suffering and the death, the worst of all that human sinfulness can bring to bear, and has looked with compassion on us and called for forgiveness from the cross. And forgiveness heals the heart.

Larson provides the reader with interludes between accounts to discuss the meaning of forgiveness. These interludes engage the reader immediately with the challenge to practice forgiveness in his or her own life. They are rich in theological and psychological resource, but their real power is in their juxtaposition to the astounding accounts of Rwandan Christian faith. The reader is transformed by the application of these testimonies in his or her own life. It's not just about Rwanda, its about being a Christian and being forgiven by God "as we forgive those who sin against us."

The principles of the Christian life can be discussed in the abstract, but eventually they must be put into play in the great drama of human history. The Spring of 1994 in Rwanda is such a moment. The release of genocide participants back into their communities over the last few years has produced such a moment. Catherine Claire Larson has captured these moments for you and me. As I read I could see the faces of these Rwandan Christians. You will know them just as well when you read; and you will be moved by their witness to Christ, and the power of His forgiveness.

The prospect of reading Catherine Claire Larson's As We Forgive both repelled me and attracted me. I've got little stomach for stories of humans torturing, maiming and killing others; I want to look away. Yet the title told me that something uncommon had happened-- that victims had forgiven their brutalizers.

Larson does tell the stories of suffering in detail. Her friendship with victims and knowledge of their stories, narrated in vivid prose, is heart-breaking. Rwandans did vicious, awful things to one another. Larson does not look away.

What was so surprising, after learning of the brutality in detail, is how Larson's subjects slowly came to forgive their enemies. It's hard to believe. I think of the slights and shuns and petty avengement in my docile suburban world, and how friends will say, "I'm not speaking to him," and it all seems so silly when those who were repeatedly tormented and had their loved ones slain can forgive ultimate horror.

Larson provoked me to think about my relationships at a deeper level, but also how collectives and institutions might also contemplate forgiveness of wrongs done to them.

Through it all Larson writes with verve and wisdom that makes for enlivened reading, and she points to a depth and richness of HOPE that I've rarely experienced. This is a great book.

Catherine has taken a brave journey that few of us would wish to take, but that all of us will be the better for joining her on--a journey into the evil and terror of genocide...and back out again, on the other side, into the grace and unfathomable hope of forgiveness. Writing beautifully with the heart of a storyteller, Catherine introduces us to genocide survivors and perpetrators, ordinary men and women, boys and girls whose lives were never the same after the awful events that took place during 100 days in 1994. The stories are heartbreakingly, unutterably sad. How could neighbors wield machetes against their neighbors, their friends, children? And yet, as Catherine shows us, the madness that consumed the nation of Rwanda is the same madness that invades our own hearts when we hold a grudge, turn a back on a friend, curse that driver in front of us. The small petty grievances that we allow to pile up day after day have the same root as the unspeakable, unthinkable horror of a national genocide.

This book is not easy to read, but it is necessary to read. We all need to know that we are forgiven and that we are capable of forgiving even the most heinous and outrageous of offenses. The awful history of Rwanda can teach us all the profound truth of our own guilt and the almost unbearable grace of forgiveness.

As We Forgive by Catherine Claire Larson is one of those life-changing books that will linger with you the rest of your life. It's not for the fainthearted. It's not for the hard-hearted or those bent toward stubborn unforgiveness. It's primarily a story of hope.

During 100 days of 1994 800,000 people were brutally murdered in Rwanda--a genocide swifter in execution than Nazi gas chambers. Imagine Denver and Colorado Springs--every man, woman and child--suddenly gone from our population and you'll appreciate the scope of the horror. (And go look on a map of Africa. Trace your finger due South of Uganda, due West of the Congo and you'll appreciate how little this country is.)

As We Forgive shares the stories of genocide survivors, recounting the unspeakable. But it does not stop there. Larson pulls back the curtain of the most ostentatious acts of forgiveness I've witnessed, where genocide survivors choose to forgive those who perpetrated such violence.

Together, through reconciliation practices and restorative justice, they are rebuilding their country from the ruins of hatred--all on the back of the One who still bears the scars for our sins today.

I came away from this book changed, deeply moved, and inspired. Having seen the power of God to help people forgive the seeming unforgiveable, it gave me hope that my own wrestling with forgiveness would end in hope. I also appreciated that none of the forgiveness modeled was simple or easy or quickly won, nor does the book purport that reconciliation is merely forgiveness while forgetting. For true restoration to occur, the person perpetrating the atrocity must first fully own his/her own sin and grieve it as such. And for the person who was sinned against to heal, he/she must revisit the place of grief in order to heal.

All this dovetails beautifully into the message God's been birthing in me--to help people who suffer silently to tell the truth about their pasts, to choose the difficult path of forgiveness, in order to heal.

If God can reach into a genocide victim's heart and offer peace; if He can transform a murderer into a productive member of a reconciled society; then surely He can transform your pain today. That's the patent hope this book gives. It's a gift to all of us. And I pray it's a gift all open.

There are many reasons to read As We Forgive by Catherine Claire Larson.

We read it to learn about the events of the horrific 1994 Rwandan genocide and the incredible human capacity for brutality to others. We need to examine how such evil could possibly come to be, and in recognizing it learn to resist its pervasiveness in our own lives and culture. Do we always discern and avoid compromise with evil?

We read it to learn extraordinary stories of individuals whose lives were shattered by that intolerable trauma. What is the secret to their recovery?

We are engaged by learning of their dramatic struggle when perpetrators are released from prison to once again live as neighbors. Imagine dealing with the consuming emotions of hatred, rage, vengeance, bitterness, hopelessness, and fear. We need to ask ourselves how we would face such an ordeal.

As unimaginably great as the horrors have been, their discovery of the pathway to forgiveness and reconciliation is showing the way to renewed life. So we come to the most compelling reason to read this book: to discover the amazing truth about genuine forgiveness which we can personally experience, and the enabling that gives us to forgive others. This is powerful, life-giving, peace-offering, too-good-to-be-true stuff. How could we not want to gain it's life-changing message?

There are additional reasons to read this book. The book's interludes are rich for reflecting on personal attitudes and improving human relationships, with special emphasis on aspects of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is eloquently and artistically written. And even though factual details are definitely gruesome at times, the entire narrative is written with sensitivity.

We should be grateful to the author for what must have been emotionally exhausting work. It is a gift to all, for everyone who reads this book has something invaluable to gain.

At first speechless, this reader is now able to at least say that if Rwandans can forgive what was done against them, perhaps we can all discover how to be forgive and be forgiven. Humanity is more broken, and more amazing than I knew -- that is, amazing when living in grace, thanks to the cross of Christ And hope in his resurrection. Those aren't just words. They are the path of new life. Thank you Catherine Larson!

this is an amazing book.it tells you some real life stories of people who experienced the genocide.but it does not leave you in despair,because it tells a story of reconciliation between victims and perpetrators. it leaves you with hope.
in fact it serves as a model for many places in the world were such horrific crimes were committed.it goes into our four walls and reveals the truth about unforgiveness and jealousy,it kills.
every normal citizen of this world can learn and benefit from this book. many of us need to learn how to overcome unforgivable acts committed against us.my children received it as a christmas present.thank you catherine larson

In As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda (Zondervan, 2009), Catherine Claire Larson tells two sides to the story of the 1990's Rwandan genocide. On the one hand, she documents the horrific scenes of mass murder. On the other hand, she describes the moving accounts of forgiveness that have taken place between victims and their abusers.

Larson begins her book by laying out a chronology of events. Readers who are unfamiliar with the history of the genocide in Rwanda will find the historical context helpful for understanding the individual stories that follow.

In short, the seeds of the genocide were planted in the bitterness between the Hutu and the Tutsi regimes. In the mid-1990's, Hutus began a systematic slaughter of Tutsis. Over 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days. The most chilling fact about this genocide is that, in most cases, neighbors were killing neighbors. The Hutus were not roaming the countryside killing strangers with machetes. These were people slaughtering people they knew.

But As We Forgive does not concentrate primarily upon the atrocities that took place during the genocide. Instead, Larson focuses upon the incredible acts of forgiveness that have since followed.

Within the past several years, more than 100,000 of the killers have been released back into society. One may wonder: How have the victims coped with these new societal developments? These are people who lost parents and siblings and children. They are people who even today bear the physical scars of violence or the emotional scars of rape. How have the Rwandans been able to co-exist with the very people who caused them such pain?

Christianity provides the answer. Larson tells the stories of several victims and perpetrators, and offers a few additional insights into the nature of Christian forgiveness.

As you read these powerful stories, you quickly come to realize that forgiveness does not come easy. The Rwandan victims do not minimize the sin by ignoring it or sweeping its consequences under the rug.

Larson is unflinching in her portrayal of evil. The line of evil runs through both victim and killer. It is not as simple as "bad" versus "good." One woman recounts how she was rescued by a man who kept her safe from the threat of death for a period of time, even as he occasionally raped her.

Larson believes that when we look at a murderer, we look at ourselves. The victims need to offer forgiveness, but even they need forgiveness from God.

The struggle to forgive is palpable at times. One woman cries out to God to forgive her for failing to forgive:

"Oh, God, forgive me for dwelling so much on the past, for pushing others away and feeling lonely, when I didn't have to feel that way. And most of all forgive me for not thinking of you, or what you have given me today. Help me, God; to start living and to start being truly thankful for the ways you are working in my life." (84)

Moments later, Larson provides the key to the entire book:

The more she had come to understand the significance of the Bible's teachings on Jesus Christ's death, the more forgiveness seemed possible. She learned how Christ had been executed in a horrible manner, more horrible than some of the things she had seen in the war. And she learned how he willingly died to pay the penalty for her wrongdoing and for anyone else who would give up their bad ways and look to him. If Christ could forgive her, if he could forgive the people who tortured him, then Joy knew she could forgive too. (86)

One might think As We Forgive would be a depressing book. It is not. It is deeply inspiring. The accounts of forgiveness help us move past the petty grievances we hold towards others.

There is also an inspiring account of a group of students who refused to divide into Hutus and Tutsis. "All of us are Rwandans here," they declared, and paid for their boldness with their lives.

My only quibble with this book is its quick dismissal of the idea of retributive justice in favor of a type of restorative justice. I am not sure that these two types of justice are incompatible. Of course, there is not enough room in this kind of book to develop some of these concepts, which makes me wonder why they were alluded to in the first place.

As We Forgive succeeds in telling a powerful story. We read of pastors and church leaders returning to Rwanda to encourage forgiveness, even as they suffer great personal cost for their decisions. We read of people sacrificing their own desires for the good of others. We read of people so engulfed in their own guilt and despair for the past sins that the offer of forgiveness becomes a liberating act of sheer grace.

These stories are Christianity-in-action. Highly recommended.

Few stories of cultural transformation are as compelling as the story of Rwanda's ongoing recovery from the unthinkable brutality the country suffered in the spring of 1994. As the 15th anniversary of the horrific genocide approaches in April 2009, a number of books, films and documentaries are being released not only to remind people of the horror but also to show them the remarkable progress toward reconciliation and healing that the country is experiencing today.

That progress is nothing short of a miracle --- not by the trite use of the word "miracle" that has been cheapened by overuse and misapplication, but miracle in the purest sense: a change brought about by divine intervention in human affairs.

The reasons for the Rwandan genocide are complex and tangled up in a web of international interference in the country's government, but the result of the massive killings is clear: hundreds of thousands of members of the Tutsi tribe were slaughtered, raped, dismembered and tortured in other ways by Hutu tribe members who had once been their friends and neighbors.

No family was unaffected. What the survivors experienced and witnessed left unimaginable scars. And then, in a desperate attempt to ensure the survival of the nation and its people 10 years later, the post-conflict Rwandan government asked the seemingly impossible of the surviving Tutsi refugees who had returned to their homeland: allow some 50,000 Hutu war criminals to return to society and live among them.

This is the story Larson tells so compellingly in AS WE FORGIVE, the story of radical forgiveness sought by the perpetrators and extended by the victims. What sets Larson's book apart from others commemorating the anniversary is the personal faces of forgiveness that she portrays. Larson tells the stories of more than a dozen Rwandans, some killers, some survivors, who are all struggling to move forward even as they are unable to erase the memory of the past.

The stories are difficult to read --- the account of a four-year-old huddled in the brush, hiding with her mother and baby sister as their home is torched and her father is butchered by a machete-wielding neighbor; a young teenage boy's memory of the night his sleep was shattered by a grenade that left his mother bloodied and mangled and by the sound of soldiers brutally raping his older sister; and so many more. But in reading them, readers see the miracle, the hand of God in the lives of those Rwandans who chose forgiveness over revenge and so many other possibilities.

Larson wisely intersperses these stories with reflections on various aspects of forgiveness, providing a much-needed break from both the profound sadness and incomprehensible hope the stories convey. Larson's is no academic, historical account; it's a beautifully written, deeply touching, powerfully moving chronicle of lives once torn apart that are now on the path to restoration.

AS WE FORGIVE is among the best of the many books on Rwanda. Highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Marcia Ford

When I purchased _As We Forgive_ I was not sure quite what to expect. I knew enough about the Rwandan genocide from having watched "Hotel Rwanda" to know that it probably wouldn't be a pleasant read. But, the promised underlying message of hope drew me in and compelled me to take a look. What I found was life-changing.

The personal stories of genocide in this book are certainly difficult to read. They are vivid, and immensely disturbing ... but, they are real. As I read, I grieved alongside these people who had lived out my worst nightmares. At times I wept openly and wanted to turn my eyes away. But had I done that, I would have missed the beauty of this book ... Had I not wept over these stories of senseless killing and unfathomable cruelty, how could I fully rejoice over the miracles of grace that are now occurring in these same lives? How could I truly appreciate the weight and importance of the forgiveness extended by these victims toward the very people who murdered their families or left them for dead? How could I understand the impact of reconciliation that is now being carried out across Rwanda? I once heard a pastor say that we will never know the enormity of God's grace toward us until we understand the depth of our own sin. Catherine Claire Larsen does a skillful job of revealing the horrors of the genocide through personal stories, as a means of pointing the reader to the miracle of forgiveness as it revolutionizes lives and changes the course of Rwandan history.

But, this is not just a book about other people's journeys to forgiveness. Each story is followed by a section of application ... walking through the components of true forgiveness and reconciliation and calling the reader to exercise forgiveness in his/her own life story. After having read the details of these stories, many of my wounds that I have nursed so carefully seem as insignificant scratches in comparison ... and the forgiveness I once thought impossible seems to come within reach in light of the healing examples found in this book. Many of us will never experience firsthand the depth of cruelty found in the Rwandan genocide, but we can all relate to offense, insult, abuse, hurt, and - as a result - broken relationships. We all play the part of the offender and the offended ... on a daily basis. We see the havoc that such wrongs wreak in our lives, and we long for healing. This book holds out the hope of real and lasting healing through forgiveness and reconciliation. We would do well to learn from these examples, fleshed out before our eyes ... evidences of God "redeeming the years the locusts have eaten." (Joel 2:25)

Very well written, challenging, and life-changing. Well done.