Christ Walks Where Evil Reigned

Emmanuel M Kolini, Peter R. Holmes

Reviewed by Jaimie Bell

The purpose of this book is to present a case study of the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath including the devastating effects of psychological, physical, and economic trauma that are far from over as the country struggles to survive and move on. When looking closely at the events surrounding Rwanda and the serious social problems that led to the horrific one hundred days of genocide in 1994, it is easy to see that tension caused by racial hatred, exclusion, and government corruption can happen anywhere in the world, including our own country.

Although over one million people died in a short period of time, it was not because of mob mentality or mass hysteria. People did get swept away in the violence but the genocide was deliberately planned and meticulously implemented. Ordinary people actually believed they would benefit from supporting it with a redistribution of wealth and tended to ignore the threats to life, even when it came close to home.

I felt the best part of the book was a very informative history on the people of Rwanda and the events that forced their small world into big changes. A clear explanation is given of who the Hutu, Tutsi, and Twa groups are and their relationship to each other before missionaries and other groups swept in. According to Kolini and Holmes, German missionaries began to emphasize the differences between each group as later did the Belgians who ruled the region as delegated by the League of Nations. Under the “spirit of colonialism” they not only imposed their own culture, but also continued making distinctions between the Hutu and Tutsi based on race, clearly favoring the Tutsi.

Through ID cards and other means, it was decided who would be educated and given more opportunities and when free elections followed independence in 1960, the oppressed Hutu were elected and power shifted abruptly. Manipulation by official government policy was a plan to eliminate Tutsi so that the “race” would be totally wiped out.

Kolini and Holmes acknowledge that many Hutu were killed also, so typical racism as being a primary driving force is too simplistic and must be studied along within a complex system of values and ideas that all flow together.

They certainly did their homework and I learned quite a bit about the psychological and social implications of large-scale exclusionary practices. The chapter called “The Place of Justice” was a fascinating look at healing within a society when trauma continues and justice almost non-existent. Under the leadership of the king, Local Elders set up courts designed to administer justice but in cases such as rape, this is very difficult. Not only does that lack of justice create significant problems, but those who go to Rwanda to help are often plagued with “compassion fatigue”.

This compelling book not only wakes one up to grim facts, but hopefully the desire to do something to help that ruined society find some sort of closure and hope for the future. For in doing so we may find a way to prevent and neutralize the racial and economic tensions that divide so many within our own country.

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