Carl Wilkens Rwanda Genocide Story — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:05it was uh that's one of the points
3. 0:07that's really Frozen in my mind and I
4. 0:10told the embassy that I'm sending theres
5. 0:12and the kids down to the ambassador's
6. 0:14house that Rendevous point and uh she
7. 0:16came back you know we're talking radio
8. 0:18him I said Laura I'm sending teres and
9. 0:19the kids now down to the ambassador's
10. 0:21house and over and she's like what do
11. 0:24you mean sending them Carl over we're
12. 0:26all leaving over and I said no I'm I'm
13. 0:30staying Laura over and it's kind of
14. 0:33quiet for a minute and then she's said
15. 0:35well you you can't stay this is the you
16. 0:38know this is like an order that all
17. 0:41Americans are to leave over and and I'm
18. 0:44saying boy Laura I know that as a
19. 0:47private citizen I do have the right to
20. 0:50choose to stay over wow I think
21. 0:54sometimes it's just really good you
22. 0:54don't know what's ahead
23. 0:57[Music]
24. 1:05and uh as my dad was pulling out Teresa
25. 1:07and the kids were in the back of a
26. 1:08little homemade camper I'd put on the
27. 1:10back of my pickup truck and they were
28. 1:12pretty much sheltered from all of the
29. 1:14horrible sights and things I went down
30. 1:16and opened the gate and our road was a
31. 1:17dirt road in front of the house I
32. 1:18remember standing there barefoot um as
33. 1:22they were driving away and my neighbors
34. 1:24looking confused because I was stay but
35. 1:27I wanted them to know I was there and
36. 1:29and uh when I said goodbye I said you
37. 1:32know probably two weeks love that's
38. 1:35that's Max and um little did I know that
39. 1:38it would be 3 weeks before I'd ever
40. 1:40leave my
41. 1:41[Music]
42. 1:53house so were you ever in a position
43. 1:55like we are now like where you were kind
44. 1:57you were worried what you wanted to do
45. 1:59oh yeah I wasn't even going to college I
46. 2:01said to my parents I don't want to go to
47. 2:03college my parents convinced me to do at
48. 2:05least two years of college and um so I
49. 2:08was taking industrial Ed auto mechanics
50. 2:11welding that kind of stuff and then I
51. 2:13had the opportunity to go to Africa for
52. 2:14the first time as a volunteer it's a
53. 2:16program they call student missions and
54. 2:19uh I went to South Africa for a year
55. 2:21worked on a a high school campus there
56. 2:24um doing construction and purchasing and
57. 2:26that kind of stuff and Africa just got
58. 2:28in my blood
59. 2:35and it was just really rewarding
60. 2:37building schools operating Health
61. 2:39Centers and that's what we were doing by
62. 2:42the time the genocide hit we had been in
63. 2:44Africa the continent for 10 years
64. 2:46already did you feel a sort a sense of
65. 2:48kind of responsibility to stay for my
66. 2:51wife and I we had come to Africa to help
67. 2:54and and it sounds simple but if the
68. 2:57people ever needed help it was now and I
69. 3:00I couldn't say to my to my Rwandan
70. 3:02friends who had already been there for
71. 3:04four years together building
72. 3:06relationships and stuff well I'll pray
73. 3:08for you I mean it's not that's a great
74. 3:10thing to do pray for people but for me
75. 3:12in that situation I could do more than
76. 3:14pray I could
77. 3:15stay did you get Ever you say you stayed
78. 3:18in the house for 3 weeks before yeah it
79. 3:20was like total curfew you couldn't leave
80. 3:22couldn't move the house couldn't leave
81. 3:24the only ones who were on the streets
82. 3:25were the
83. 3:26killers was quite um quite Eerie the
84. 3:29first time to move out and around the
85. 3:30city these uh these people had you know
86. 3:33emptied all the homes the foreigners had
87. 3:35all left and so you had big nice
88. 3:37upholstered couches in the street that
89. 3:39were set up as a roadblock I went down
90. 3:41to my office in the industrial section
91. 3:43in our warehouses and it was totally
92. 3:44looted all of our computers the pharmacy
93. 3:47Vehicles everything was gone and as we
94. 3:49were there snipers bullets were
95. 3:51ricocheting off the shipping containers
96. 3:53and so certain sections of the city were
97. 3:55just chaotic like that other sections
98. 3:57there were people living trying to go on
99. 3:58with normal life and see when people
100. 4:01think of Rwanda they must they think
101. 4:03must be something
102. 4:05strange they're just different from us I
103. 4:07mean I could never kill my neighbor you
104. 4:09know and we think all of these things
105. 4:11and yet if anybody would take time and
106. 4:14visit the country like any country you
107. 4:17go to you find people are
108. 4:19people men love women and they love
109. 4:22their children and they want their
110. 4:23children to have a good life and those
111. 4:25General basic concerns are shared all
112. 4:28around the world and and in Rwanda
113. 4:31people incredibly hospitable um generous
114. 4:36and so I want people to know that that
115. 4:39before I ever helped any Rwandan during
116. 4:42the genocide they were Guardians over
117. 4:44the lives of of our family it was our
118. 4:47neighbors who saved our lives right at
119. 4:49the beginning the second night of the
120. 4:51genocide after they had spent the
121. 4:53previous day just stripping apart like a
122. 4:57big home it was almost like a chateau
123. 4:59two houses down from us of a tootsie
124. 5:02looted the house and everything they
125. 5:03came to our house at night unbeknownst
126. 5:05to us and it was our neighbors who were
127. 5:07at the gate who said don't go in there
128. 5:10and I could tell you more stories about
129. 5:12people who were just so selfless during
130. 5:14that time and those are the people I
131. 5:15choose to focus on it and not to be
132. 5:17devastated and depressed by all the
133. 5:20other people who
134. 5:21betrayed family and
135. 5:23friends was there ever there was I'm
136. 5:26sure fear how did you overcome the fear
137. 5:28of
138. 5:30when the bullets are flying and the guys
139. 5:31are right around your car with machetes
140. 5:33it was terrifying it was only when I
141. 5:36finally said Okay God I I I trust you I
142. 5:39trust if I die I trust you when I
143. 5:43finally made that commitment um that was
144. 5:46like the real peace that came to me that
145. 5:49took away the fear and uh and so that
146. 5:53Freedom From Fear man there's nothing
147. 5:56like that
148. 6:04you know I when I tell the high school
149. 6:07kids I work with you know they're like
150. 6:09what am I going to do in college what am
151. 6:10I going to do with my life Pastor you
152. 6:11know and what's this and stuff I said
153. 6:13look I'm on my third career and and you
154. 6:16know first I was a school teacher and
155. 6:18then I was this development Aid worker
156. 6:20in Africa and now I'm a chaplain and
157. 6:23pastor and I don't know what what'll be
158. 6:26next but I think it's just so important
159. 6:27so many people go through their lives
160. 6:29thinking well I'll work to kind of
161. 6:31support this I need to find a job so I
162. 6:33can earn enough money so I can really do
163. 6:35what I like and I'm like no don't do
164. 6:38that man there's so many things that we
165. 6:40can do in our lives and we miss so much
166. 6:42of it because we're afraid to trust
167. 6:46we're afraid to take
168. 6:47risk I'm running madly I don't really
169. 6:51know from what I've been living my whole
170. 6:54life like some phrase at the tip of my
171. 6:57tongue you know really we don't have to
172. 7:00prove anything to anyone else we just
173. 7:02have to live as we believe we're called
174. 7:04to live and and that's incredible
175. 7:07freedom because fear is in so many ways
176. 7:09I mean it's not just bullets am I going
177. 7:11to live up to my parents' expectations
178. 7:13I'm afraid I'm going to let somebody
179. 7:14down here I'm afraid I'm I work so hard
180. 7:15for this and then I'm going to lose it
181. 7:17you know all of these fears that just
182. 7:18can Dominate and just destroy your life
183. 7:20so you can live your life with one fear
184. 7:23or another or or you can live your life
185. 7:26believing that there's good stuff that
186. 7:29you have made good choices as best as
187. 7:32you can make them and then you just live
188. 7:36[Music]
189. 7:47[Music]