Author Archive
Andrew Himes
Kinyarwanda: Forgiveness is Freedom
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Kinyarwanda: Forgiveness is Freedom, a new movie from talented African American director Alrick Brown, is not a movie about genocide, though it is set in Rwandan during the 100 days in 1994 during which over 1,000,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutus in an internecine bloodbath.
Instead, Kinyawanda is a story of the healing power of forgiveness and compassion, and the miraculous capacity of faith to transform intractable conflict into peace and hope. In particular, although the Rwandan genocide was marked by the murderous actions of so-called Christians, including many in the Catholic hierarchy, Kinyarwanda tells of a friendship between a Muslim mullah and a Catholic priest who collaborated to rescue thousands of Tutsis threatened by Hutu gangs. Although it takes place in the past, the film looks forward to a future in which all Rwandans are a diverse and healthy community in a unified democracy.
On the Death of My Mother and the Nature of Love
Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
On Tuesday afternoon, October 4, 2011, my sister Faith called from Chattanooga and said, “Mom’s gone.” I heard a rushing sound in my ears and my heart thumped and I said the most profound thing I could think of, which was, “Oh my.” Then I leaned against the wall as Faith told me the details — our 86-year-old Mom was walking down the hall when she just fell down and was gone that fast, likely it was her heart that gave out—and Faith and I cried together for a minute before she hung up to call our siblings.
I had a concrete mixer full of contradictory emotions. Deep sadness, compassion for my sister who had cared for my mom and bore the brunt of her sickness and old age, and genuine relief that Mom’s struggle was over. Most of my life I’ve had a challenging relationship with my mom, and I never knew quite what to do with her.
