Eric

Eric had experienced prejudice from a young age. As a young child, he never realised how things really were; until one of his earliest memories, where he’d seen his class separated into two different lines: one for Tutsis and the other for Hutus. This made him question how things were run; it confused him, seeing the segregation between himself and his friends.

As he got older, he enrolled into a football club, which led him to later become a professional footballer on one of the Rwandan National teams called Rayon Sports. Eric was not involved in politics; he was a sportsman.

After the death of the Rwandan president, when the genocide started, Eric was attacked in his home with his roommate. There were about 6 men who came into the flat, they started throwing things around and trashing his flat, a photo album fell open and it had pictures of the Rayon Sport football team. This caught the head militia man’s eye, and he asked about it. Eric said that it was his teammates and that he played for one of the national teams, then the man asked the others to wait outside and he told Eric about how much he liked the team and how he had been at a match two weeks earlier. These men had planned to kill Eric. The fact that he played on the Rwandan national team essentially saved his life.

After this incident, Eric asked his teammates, many of whom were Hutu, for help, and they hid him until it was safe. At that point, one of the teammates took Eric to one of the men who was head of the militia, and because that man was a fan of the team, he hid Eric. That man eventually brought Eric to the International Red Cross. Thus, Eric was able to get through the checkpoints because of this man. Eric was then put up in the Hotel Mille Collines and then eventually evacuated from Rwanda.

Many years later, Eric was working on a documentary and went to speak to the man who had hidden him, who was in jail, about why he had helped carry out the genocide. At first, he agreed to talk but as soon as he saw the cameras he refused to speak. Eric said that this was a tactic done by ex-influential figures in order to conceal the truth.

So what can we learn from Eric’s story and the genocide? While interviewing Eric, he was quick to point out the correct terminologies we should use; calling the historical event 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda instead of the ‘Rwandan genocide’. These corrections are out of respect for all who had their lives affected in genocide and also to overcome ignorance on sensitive matters as the language used to describe it ‘the Rwandan genocide’ would undermine the mistreatment of the different people groups which is unjust. Eric was also very keen on tolerance and unity. He encouraged us students to look for similarities instead of differences so that there would be less division and prejudice, stopping similar events from taking place again. While listening to Eric’s story we were astonished to hear about how much of his journey came down to unexpected luck and chance. We asked ourselves whether he would be in the meeting speaking to us, had the photo album not open on a picture of his football team. Would he be alive today if he didn’t have the few connections he did have? How much of his life would change without football? This also shows how privileged we are to have our safety not come from luck but be guaranteed.

This genocide stems from long term suffering of the Rwandan people under colonial rule which left ideas of hatred and separatism. In order to move forward from these issues we must learn to be tolerant as Eric himself has demonstrated to us. Eric did not hold grudges to those who may have oppressed him in the past, instead he preached forming a strong brotherhood. Many of us found this particularly helpful because especially for those of us who come from a minority background, we understand how easy it is to accumulate hateful ideas. For this reason the first step for a better future must be the change within an individuals’ own perspective.