Rwanda 1994: The George Washington University, an Old Radio and "Never Again!

I brought my hand out from under my blanket and turned on my radio as I struggled to wake up and start another day as a poor college student! My college campus was situated close to the White House, the World Bank and the IMF. During my time there, I ran into many famous people around campus, like PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi, former Foreign Minister of Israel Abba Eban, former tennis player Martina Navratilova, and CNN’s Wolfe Blitzer, he almost ran me over with his shiny black Lexus! I said hi to students who would become famous, such as Huma Abedin who became Hillary Clinton assistant and Kerry Washington who became an actress. I too wanted to become famous perhaps become the General Secretary of the United Nations, however the best I did at the time was to become the secretary at the George Washington University International Services Office making $8.00 an hour!  

One of my most prized possession was a broken down, radio/tape-player that I used to listen to music via the now almost obsolete cassettes and listen to the radio, usually set at 88.5FM WAMU, a National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate.  On April 7^th, 1994, I woke up like most mornings, my room was pitch dark and remember turning my radio on, as the news broadcast was read, remembering there was a mention of the President of Rwanda being killed in a plane crash! I did not think much about it, it was not the first time that I had heard of a leader of a country being killed! I went on doing my daily work. The next morning I heard that there was some fighting which included the killing of civilians, and then for the next how many days, and weeks that passed, more news of death in Rwanda. And eventually after it was all said and done, an estimated 800,000 men, women and children were murdered. The population of Washington, DC in 1994 was less than 600,000! Can you imagine if the population of Washington, DC had been wiped off!

After the killing was done, the international community came out to say, “Never Again”! The “Never Again” slogan has been going on for years, starting in 1915 with the Armenian Genocide, until today we continue to say, “Never Again”!  Whether its genocide done with machete in Kigali or chemical weapons in Idlib, the fact is we have never been able to enforce our ideal of "Never Again"  Many religions, cultures, groups and individuals believe in the “Golden-Rule” of “treat people the way you want others to treat you” and “the sacredness of life” but that hasn't worked as of yet as many preach what they cannot practice.  

Though today technology connects us, most of us are yet to understand that the “Golden Rules” applies to all lives in Paris, Baga, Idlib, Shindand, Mumbai, Kigali, New York, Accra, Aleppo, Ahvaz, Rio, Mosul, Kingston, Lima and billions of other lives around the world!

Since 1994 lots have changed in my life, Huma, Kerry, I graduated! I no longer work as a secretary, and no longer own the broken down radio!! The only thing that remains constant in my life is listening to the radio, reminding me that we still have a long way to go before our last, “Never Again”!