Some Perspective
Rwanda is a small land locked country in central Africa. It is bordered by the much larger countries of Uganda, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi to the South. Rwanda is the most populated country in the whole of Africa and boasts some of the most beautiful geography. The genocide of 1994 decimated the population, massively changing the human landscape.

Much of the media coverage of the time focused on the urgent need for humanitarian relief in the refugee camps. Far less coverage was devoted to the lack of international intervention and the true horrors of the genocide itself.

Rwanda is not much larger than Wales. In one hundred days of genocide, one million people were slaughtered. A further three million fled their homes and crossed the border for sanctuary. The genocidaries rampaged through the population, firstly killing male Tutsis, but they swiftly moved on to killing women, children and Tutsis sympathisers. So many were killed, that even now, many of the victims lay in mass graves, never to be identified by the survivors. The democratic government instated after the end of the genocide is working incredibly hard to improve the country for its people, but it must be remembered, Rwanda is still one of the world’s poorest countries in the world’s poorest continent.
Over 60% of the population live in severe poverty. Most still have limited or no access to basic healthcare and education. Great strides have been taken to improve the lives of ordinary Rwandans but the perverse human legacy of the genocide still acts a as a barrier to development in huge areas of the country.