Letters Project: Post-Genocide Restorative Justice In Rwanda

Noon Seminar

Letters Project: Post-Genocide Restorative Justice in Rwanda

Date: September 19, 2017

Time: 12 to 1:15 p.m.

Speaker: Delphine Furaha (Fine), Prison Chaplain in Rwanda

- with Dr. Pierre Allard, former Assistant Commissioner, Canadian Penitentiary Service and President, Just.Equipping

Pierre Allard began by explaining that after a career with the Correctional Service Canada, he and his wife, Judith, were invited to do some teaching in Restorative Justice in Rwanda. Just.Equipping—equipping in the area of justice—was founded. Juste.équipage in French conveys the idea that a whole team is needed to restore broken lives and dreams.

Restorative Justice in this context relies on Listening, Truth-telling and Reparation in a spirit of respect for the victim, the offender, and the community.

After several teaching sessions, some Rwandan prison chaplains realized that chaplaincy involves more than just preaching: that listening was essential. After several months of listening to genocide perpetrators, they were given over 400 letters written by prisoners asking forgiveness of their victim-survivors.

The questions became what to do with these letters, how to deliver them, how to approach the victims in remote communities scattered throughout the country. A protocol was developed which involved teaching sessions with prisoners, authorities, communities, and victims.

Delphine (Fine) Furaha was then introduced as a key member of the small team trained to work on the “Letters Project.”

She explained that since 2009 she had been working with prison chaplaincy and had benefited from the RJ teaching with Just.Equipping and recognized the value of listening as a step towards forgiveness.

She and her team first had to figure out how to deliver these letters in a country without house numbers or post office boxes—letters which, because of their serious nature, had to be delivered in person. It took more than three years of travelling by minibus, moto and on foot (often arriving at a mountain village only to be told that the person they were looking for was on the next mountain) before the letters were all delivered. Some victims did not want to see them, and the chaplains simply put the letters back in their pocket, left a phone contact and went home again. Most victims wanted the letter read to them, and a long and emotional process of memory, truth-finding, and retelling and reconciliation began. Many wanted to meet their offender in person and to ask many questions—questions that only the offender could answer.

So, the next challenge was to bring the victim to the Petit Sanctuaire, where around the dinner table, and for hours into the night, they were free to talk about what had happened and what they wanted from the meeting. Hours were spent listening, praying, and crying together. The next day they went to prison to meet their offender, who had been prepared for this meeting by the chaplain. Some of these meetings did not go well. The offender was unable to tell the whole truth; the victim was unable to forgive. Most went amazingly well. Seated in a secure setting, the offender offered his heartfelt regrets, the victim asked all his or her questions (Where are my sons’ bodies? How did you kill my wife?), and then would embrace the prisoner and offer forgiveness.

After these very profound meetings, both the victims and the perpetrators continued contact with the chaplains to gauge how they were experiencing this new stage in their lives. Many victims would call to say that they had covered the school fees for the prisoner’s children, or that they had given a field or a cow to the family, or left canteen money. Many offenders related how they had contacted their family to say that they had been forgiven and that their family could now walk without fear in the community.

What seems to be the results of these meetings? As painful as they are, they also seem to inevitably bring a new peace of heart and mind to all parties. The victims often say they sleep better for the first time since the genocide. Prisoners often report that their chronic nightmares have stopped. Community relations always improve. The effect of purposeful listening seemed, at the end of the day, to lead to the removal of long-standing obstacles to peaceful living.

Fine expressed thankfulness to God and to her audience.

Vern Neufeld Redekop suggested that it is important to frame what was shared in a manner that would show the significance of these events. First, given the immense obstacles involved, it becomes clear that there is a profound vision necessary to address the obstacles, and ongoing perseverance is required in the face of difficulties. Second, deep and real emotions are confronted, and emotional intelligence, wisdom, and sensitivity are required to deal with them. Third, the chaplain could be subject to secondary trauma and needs support. Fourth, this is a creative and demanding extension of Restorative Justice to the worst possible kind of violence. As such, it serves as an example and raises these questions: Can it be replicated in other similar situations in other parts of the world? How could others creatively build on this experience to deal with trauma, injustice, and broken communities?

From left to right, Evelyne Kwizera, Delphine Furaha, Judy Allard, Hortense Bleytou, Vern N. Redekop, Anne-Marie Habyalimana and Pierre Allard