Rwandese Flowers_ 1 to 6

"I didn't have time because until last week I was not sure to which place the Red Cross
would send me. I guessed they would appoint me to work in an Eastern country, and I expected it to
be India."
"Why didn't you go there?"
"The Red Cross focused on some domestic issues, and at the last minute, a Romanian
girl was in my place. A colleague related to me that someone from that country requested her
presence."
"Did you tolerate this injustice?"
"What could I do? As the Indians imposed another professional, I felt rejected and gave
up helping them."
"Now, this adds up! That is why the Red Cross opened up an additional post in
Rwanda. I wonder if you have read the history of India and not ours."
"Yes."
Dr. Mike took a huge map, spread it on the table and talked it over to point at the
geographical features of the country, telling me a bit about the Rwandan History. He drove home the
political divisions in provinces, districts, municipalities, cities, villages, and so on. Additionally, he
enlightened me on the economy towards farming and livestock, and on the country's ethnic
composition.
"Why do so few Twas inhabit this country?" I questioned him.
"They comprise only one percent of the population, but one sees that they are many
when considers the shocking conditions in which they live. Tutsis and Hutus are killing them
aimlessly. Consequently, the Pygmies are on the brink of extinction and doomed to die one by one."
"What a horror!"
The doctor cleared up me that the two ethnic groups were in a historic struggle for
power. Even though the Tutsis had been in charge for years, the Hutus dominated the country now,
persecuting and massacring the Tutsis in some recent occasions. As a result, thousands of refugees
fled the country, mainly to the neighboring Uganda, where they established a guerrilla movement
called Rwandan Patriotic Front. The goal of the Tutsi movement was to reach the capital and take
the central government. According to the Englishman, the situation was worsening every passing
day, as the Hutus were using brute force to intimidate the Tutsi civilian in Rwanda in revenge for the
attacks on the northern perimeter where some villages were already in the RPF's possession.
The Rwandese named the outcast rebel group, its members and supporters Inkotanyis,
a word meaning invincible in Kinyarwanda, their primal language. The Hutus dubbed the
Tutsis inyenzis (cockroaches) with a pejorative and an offensive connotation. They said that the
origin of this term with this significance dates back to the time when the exiled Tutsis were walking
around the border of the country in the dark nights, camouflaging themselves throughout the days,
what is a custom that cockroaches, nocturnal insects, adopt. The pressure on the northern front was
rising and disturbing the Hutus, who saw the possibility of being deported growing quickly.
"You still have time to give up, Dr. Isabelle. I am flexible with workers who do not feel
safe in this place."
"The professional who applies to the Red Cross knows he may work in troubled
environments."
"This is true, but the situation in this region is unusual, seeing as we do not have
narrowly restricted trouble spots. This conflict has spread all the way through this society, and I fear
that it will come to our neighborhood soon. Countless unprepared civilians are in action in this civil
war."
"You are nothing encouraging, Dr. Mike."
"I am being honest with you, since Kigali is on a war footing. This misgoverned country
is not worth the trouble, and it is not a place for a young, pretty and well-educated lady like you.
Perhaps, you can find something better in an Eastern European nation or even in Asia."