This year, Rwanda marked the 15th anniversary of the genocide when 1 million people were massacred in just 100 days. Already on the ground when the violence erupted in 1994, Compassion is still walking alongside the people of Rwanda today.

The Genocide Recollected

They jostled past in their droves, gleeful and jubilant despite having just caused a six-hour traffic jam. Thousands of road users, hot, frustrated and confined to their vehicles, simply frowned and looked on as supporters from opposing parties in Ghana's 2008 election blew whistles, waved flags, mocked the competition and playfully slapped the bonnets of stationary cars.

The sight was intense, with the crowds as pliable and invasive as a mob of rampant football fans, and as potentially volatile. It was a showdown between two sides of a country divided cleanly through the middle, and in opposing camps the hive mind ticked along purposefully.

Their unified goal? To do all they could to ensure their party's success.

The tension of the elections had made the exuberant masses unavoidable, and normally that would never have fazed me. But on this occasion, I was also stuck in the traffic jam, unable to avoid casting the ubiquitous mob in the light of another incident where unified determination went horribly wrong.

I couldn't help myself. Details of research I had recently done on the 1994 Rwandan genocide stubbornly resurfaced, and while it was probably in bad taste to pursue the comparison, there was something about countless minds working as one that made me stop and think.

Ghanaians by nature are incredibly peaceful people, as I believe are Rwandans. No one would have suspected the trouble brewing until the antagonists, the Hutu Interahamwe, had well and truly encroached upon the homes of their fellow countrymen. I dare not imagine the chaos, the fear, the unbelief, or, God forbid, the massacre itself that led to the loss of close to a million lives.

If Rwanda is anything like Ghana, then prior to the genocide, machetes would have been as common as eggs. And out in the fields and on virgin land, parents with children as young as 3 years old wielding rusted blades at clumps of rampant grass would have been just as prolific a sight. I can only suppose how such an innocent scene would have rapidly degenerated at the onset of the genocide.

One thing is certain though: the 100-day massacre should never have happened. Lives were shattered, many loved ones were lost, and normality ceased to exist for those who had survived. I have to wonder how anyone could truly recover.

Promoting Hope

As I scoured the Internet collecting genocide survivor testimonies of hope and restoration, I came across scores of people who had worked hard to make a difference to the lives of others despite their own trauma and loss. Alongside other stalwarts like the Red Cross, Compassion was there from the very beginning, one of just four organisations already working tirelessly in the tiny nation.

Now they are providing fragile survivors, particularly the children, with trained counsellors, shelter, medication and copious amounts of love.

Compassion lost 10,000 of its children during the genocide and stood fast when things took a turn for the worst. It is not surprising that around 41,700 children are now benefiting from their assistance. It's heartwarming, to say the least.

As the sun bows behind Accra's skyline and the riotous crowds finally disperse, the traffic begins to move again and I am left misty-eyed at the thought of losing my entire family to a senseless war. I hope to never see the day, but for those in Rwanda who have, I thank God for organisations like Compassion who stood unfailingly by their side.

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