We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

This is one of the most compelling, interesting, and educational books I have ever read! It is a lesson in humanity, tribalism (or ethnic groups if you prefer to call it that) and the tension, chaos, and ethnic competition between them, as well as a look into modern geo-political ideas. It is must read for anyone interested in current, yes current, world affairs. We can see in it's infancy some of the same tribal hatred, dictatorial states, and lack of world and UN understanding and help in Afhganistan, Iraq, and Mozambique under Mugabe.

Having spent much time in Central and East Africa, married there, and having a cousin in-law who was an early missionary in East Africa, I found the book a "must read" for a look into understanding the outside influences of colonialism, and also tribalism that has explained ethnic violence for hundreds of years. It looks at the world of brutality, horror, and barbarous deaths and how the rest of the world approached these. For years we have listened to friends from many different backgrounds in Africa tell us "It is tribal, and you don't understand that". With our trip to Rwanda and Zaire right before the genocide, we got a much better understanding of how tribalism drives most facets of African life. Gourevitch delves into the part of the UN and the West in not intervening, and we are sickened by much of what he finds, but when all is said and done, it is a basic understanding of tribalism that we must look at carefully, because it is also some of the basis for much of what we see happening with tribes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Tribalism is ancient and we must find a way to understand this before we can stop another genocide!

I was in Rwanda and (still at that time)Zaire just a week or so before the brunt of the genocide took place. We spent much of our time there listening to the locals talk of going to fight for the Tutsi's or the Hutu's, as the genocide had already started in the outlying countryside. It was divided right down tribal lines! The only form of news was a static filled radio report by the Hutu factions calling for the sytematic violent killing of all Tutsis, and working the locals into a frenzy! The fact that whole towns, like Bukavu and Cyangugu, on the border of Zaire and Rwanda, had no infrastructure whatsoever, seemed to be secondary to tribal conflicts. We cannot conceive living in a city where the schools have been shut down and windows broken out; where the post office is no longer in service, and has weeds head high growing in front of the door; where stores are all boarded up, they live on dirt floors, sometimes with little or no roof over their heads, and basic living essentials are not available. Where you buy shoes from a roadside blanket, and none of them are a matching pair; where food is very hard to come by and feeding your family is sometimes just a wish. Disease without medical care and famine are always a dark cloud. These things together might be enough for all of us to start a war, but all of it was normal for them, and they were only concerned with the line drawn in the sand between the two ethnic groups. To get out of the country, we passed through many checkpoints with young teenagers pionting AK47's at us, and talking of bodies on the roads, and what they could do in this fight, all while listening to the interhamwe militia groups. We transported mail, beer, and bread from checkpoint to checkpoint to get through, and although frightening, it became apparent that they were not that interested in us, our money or anything else, as they were singularly interested only in killing those of the opposing ethic background.
If you have seen "Hotel Rwanda" or the better told story on film "Sometime in April", you have not seen the true devastation, evil, and impoverished life of the locals. Both movies show a more prosperous scene than was actually true. The impoverished living conditions,tribal hatred, and fear were much, much worse and this book tells the true story that Hollywood films shy away from.

With this type of background, past colonialization and how it affected different ethic backgrounds, and the ensuing conflict of the UN and peacekeeping sanctions and their lack of willingness to send troops and supplies, it is much easier although heartwrenching to understand how an atrocitiy like this could take place in our world today. In reading this book, we would hope that there would be better understanding, and the hope of never seeing another holocaust or genocide.

Excellent book - telling a shocking but real story of genocide on an unbelievable scale.

This book will change your worldview. Gourevitch makes you realize how much we marginalize Africa, and how we refuse to recognize unpleasant realities to avoid the responsibility for dealing with them. While his account includes a lot of horrible examples of inhumanity, there are also some splendidly inspiring examples of humanity, which make you believe that change is possible, and even ultimately inevitable.

A lot of books I've read down through the years, even books I have enjoyed, I have forgotten almost as soon as I finished them.
This book not only have I not forgotten, but I continue to be affected by it. It is part of the reason I've "adopted" an African girl and have an awakened interest in Sudan, etc. and try and keep a soft heart for these people.

Rwanda I remember unfolding as a horrible tale at the time, but the numbers were so staggering and the tales of genocide so horrible that not only were they difficult to comprehend they were even difficult to believe. It is one reason why I've never fully bought into the idea that all the Germans were "ten miles from Dachau"- that is to say they knew what was going on. They may have, and undoubtedly some could of done more, but like Rwanda it is almost psychologically impossible to make yourself believe that humans are capable of these kind of atrocities.

And in Rwanda it all happened so fast. A few radio spots, a few speechs, and suddenly a terror campaign developed where 800,000 men, women and children were killed, mostly hacked to death by machete. Former teachers, former students, next door neigbors, even clergy could be perpetrator or victim. Like Nazi Germany, the tales of heroism are all the more poignant for their scarcity, and all the more to be marveled at. Those familiar with the movie Hotel Rwanda have some glimpses into the Schindler-like cleverness that rescued some of the Tutsi people from the Hutu attackers.

The book mostly blames the perpetrators, as it clearly should, but it also highlights by merciless observation the ineffectual and even criminal postion of the UN at that time. False hope is worse than no hope, and those counting on rescue that never came were worse off than those who took it upon themselves to become refugees- although the refugee camps were a grim escape route as the book points out in several chapters.

Well written, well told. It is not a pleasant subject, but something about the closeness of it- the intimacy between the participants, makes genocide a word saturated with sad but vivid meaning, and the mask is ripped off to reveal once again that we live in a fallen world. Almost a must read for our century, in my opinion.

This is one of the most amazing books i've read. A must read for anyone who enjoys reading about current affairs. Author makes you feel as if you were with him on his journey. I highly reccomend it.